Nintendo GameCube becomes a gaming PC thanks to a modder on YouTube

A Nintendo GameCube relives a second youth thanks to the enterprising spirit of the YouTuber Tech by Matt, which turned it into a real PC gaming. The work is impressive: you need a lot of tools, you need to know how to weld and have a lot of patience.

The modification is extremely invasive for the parts that make up the body, but the end result is surprising: you can use the original console gamepads and even the power button. Unfortunately, the optical drive is not working – also because the GameCube used a slightly smaller proprietary format (NOD, Nintendo Optical Disc) than the CD, DVD and Blu-Ray that are the most popular today.

The GameCube is very compact in size – so much so that not even a Mini-ITX motherboard is enough. It was necessary to contact the Mini-STX format, hard to find and very lacking in functionality – it even lacks a PCIe 16X slot and only supports SODIMM RAM. The choice of processor fell on an AMD Ryzen 3 3200G, with integrated GPU.

Needless to expect performance to scream, but more than adequate for console emulation – in particular there are positive confirmations for GameCube and Wii. For Wii U, and therefore mostly for Zelda: Breath of the Wild (Review), the experience is much worse, with heavy and very frequent slowdowns. Windows native games side, Fortnite in 1080p reaches 60 FPS and CS: GO with the same resolution stands at around 100 (settings competitive). Far Cry V, on the other hand, which has far more important requirements, remains on the 20-25 FPS at low details.