Nucore Experience ? Pinball 2000

[Caveoftreasures]

Has anybody on the forum had any experience with the NUCORE package, as well as changing the original monitor to a LCD monitor on a Revenge from Mars or a Star Wars Episode 1.

I am wondering if u can change the orig CRT monitor to a LCD vesion, without having to use/purchase the NUCORE equipment.?

I think the NUCORE stuff is great, and eventually I may go that way, but wondered if anyone had any results/experience with chopping n changing the pinball 2000 monitor types/viewing/usage etc.? 

[Caveoftreasures]

ANYONE GOT ANY ANSWERS  ?   

[Strangeways]

Shoot off a PM to Chuck - He can help you out through there and update this thread..

[Pinballer]

If you install a Nucore in a Pin2000 machine, you can plug a CRT or LCD monitor to suit a PC straight into the Nucore system.  As Nucore runs on a PC motherboard.  No different to your own PC really.

If you want to use the original WMS CRT monitor you need to buy a PC to RGB adapter to allow the original monitor to display the signal.  

Today the two PC systems (motherboard, cpu, RAM, Hard drive & powersupply) to build up for both my RFM & SW:E1 machines arrived.  I am waiting for my Nucore base system to arrive from PinballLife in the US.  I will be able to give a detailed reply of setting up a system from scratch as soon as the Nucore kit arrives.

[Caveoftreasures]

I want to add a new LCD monitor to my existing Williams original Revenge from Mars set up.

All my original RFM stuff works perfectly but want to see just how much difference a new LCD monitor will make.

[ddstoys]

Cool a step by step of building up the base system would be great.   Even the base system is out of my price range unless mine dies completely.   But wouldnhe great to see what's involved incase I ever need to

[ajlaird]

The Nucore system is fascinating and I look forward to seeing the setup in detail.

I assume an LCD monitor will work as well as the original CRT?

[Pinballer]

The original Pinball2000 CRT as installed by WMS, will only work with Nucore if an adapter card is used.  Something like this...

http://www.ultimarc.com/avgainf.html

[Pinballer]

After consultation with Chuck from the Nucore team, I was able to gather a list of suitable parts to build the Nucore system.  There would be many other suitable PC components and prices, the main thing is getting a compatible CPU & motherboard without spending more than is really required.  The DVD drive list below, is only required to load the initial Nucore software.  So you could save the $29 and borrow the one from your own PC to install the initial software.  Anyway, below is a list of what we settled on.  I purchased these items from PC Case Gear http://www.pccasegear.com  here in Melbourne, I've listed each item with links to their website so others can see the parts and compare specs if considering doing this themselves.

  1            Vantec ION2 460W Ultra Quiet PSU                    $44.00    http://www.pccasegear.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=15_1110&products_id=11137

  1         Samsung SH-S223C SATA DVDRW Drive            $29.00    http://www.pccasegear.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=658_667&products_id=13068

  1         Seagate Barracuda 500GB ST3500418AS            $45.00    http://www.pccasegear.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=210_344&products_id=13263

  1         AMD Athlon CPU II X2 255                           $75.00    http://www.pccasegear.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=187_345&products_id=1337

  1         Kingston RAM KVR1333D3N9/2G 2GB DDR3    $39.00    http://www.pccasegear.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=186_774&products_id=13719

  1         ASUS M4N68T-M Motherboard                    $56.00    http://www.pccasegear.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=138_803&products_id=15230
                                                                      
                                                                      Total  $288.00


 
   

[Caveoftreasures]

The Nucore system is fascinating and I look forward to seeing the setup in detail.

I assume an LCD monitor will work as well as the original CRT?

AJ, I saw a video someone had made on youtube and the LCD monitor they stuck in their RFM  worked amazingly better. The clarity and vibrant colours left the std monitor for dead. Thats why i want to work out a way to add a new LCD monitor instead of the std one.

[pinnies4me]

After consultation with Chuck from the Nucore team, I was able to gather a list of suitable parts to build the Nucore system.  There would be many other suitable PC components and prices, the main thing is getting a compatible CPU & motherboard without spending more than is really required.  The DVD drive list below, is only required to load the initial Nucore software.  So you could save the $29 and borrow the one from your own PC to install the initial software.  Anyway, below is a list of what we settled on.  I purchased these items from PC Case Gear http://www.pccasegear.com  here in Melbourne, I've listed each item with links to their website so others can see the parts and compare specs if considering doing this themselves.

  1            Vantec ION2 460W Ultra Quiet PSU                    $44.00    http://www.pccasegear.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=15_1110&products_id=11137

  1         Samsung SH-S223C SATA DVDRW Drive            $29.00    http://www.pccasegear.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=658_667&products_id=13068

  1         Seagate Barracuda 500GB ST3500418AS            $45.00    http://www.pccasegear.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=210_344&products_id=13263

  1         AMD Athlon CPU II X2 255                           $75.00    http://www.pccasegear.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=187_345&products_id=1337

  1         Kingston RAM KVR1333D3N9/2G 2GB DDR3    $39.00    http://www.pccasegear.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=186_774&products_id=13719

  1         ASUS M4N68T-M Motherboard                    $56.00    http://www.pccasegear.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=138_803&products_id=15230
                                                                      
                                                                      Total  $288.00

Thanks heaps for posting that, very useful stuff for the P2K fans. I've added a link to this thread to the Technical thread.

[Private Gimp]

I thought that this Monitor arrangement might be the go for you.

http://www.niemandisplays.com/nieman_video_displays_013.htm

I think I might go this way. Seems more plug-and-play and shows both boot up screens and normal video.

Cliff

[Caveoftreasures]

Well done for finding that.

I will study the changeover process before i buy one. The clarity of LCD is 5 times better with the colours and detail showing up the original programming and illustrations much beter. When the original programming was done on a 1999 to 2001 year model VGA computer monitor, the clarity would have been better before the CRT monitors lost some of the detail.

[chillie]

Guys, As I have spent time talking with Chuck and had the chance of viewing the standard CRT and the LCD with new core I can assure you there is a massive difference. In the thread it has been mentioned that the picture is 5 times better I do not know about the metric here but what Chuck stated at Expo 09 was that the programming and graphics design was ahead of the CRT's ability to display.

What is not talked about here is that with a CRT you loose a lot of the picture as the CRT needs to fit inside the cabinet therefore you loose about 50mm of picture display capacity. When you use a LCD display you get the picture to within about 10mm of the cabinet edge (Assuming you buy the max size you can fit) You can then view parts of the image that were simply not viewable on the CRT.

The image displayed comes alive Night and Day difference.

I am building a full Nucore RFM in the new year and will post some stuff when it comes to life.

Don't forget positives like with the nucore program you can have SWEP1 & RFM roms loaded and it auto reads, the juke box is cool, but one of the neatest features is you can invert the screen so as you can take the glass off and work on the game with a readable display

Just a few thoughts

[ajlaird]

After consultation with Chuck from the Nucore team, I was able to gather a list of suitable parts to build the Nucore system.  There would be many other suitable PC components and prices, the main thing is getting a compatible CPU & motherboard without spending more than is really required.  The DVD drive list below, is only required to load the initial Nucore software.  So you could save the $29 and borrow the one from your own PC to install the initial software.  Anyway, below is a list of what we settled on.  I purchased these items from PC Case Gear http://www.pccasegear.com  here in Melbourne, I've listed each item with links to their website so others can see the parts and compare specs if considering doing this themselves.

  1            Vantec ION2 460W Ultra Quiet PSU                    $44.00    http://www.pccasegear.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=15_1110&products_id=11137

  1         Samsung SH-S223C SATA DVDRW Drive            $29.00    http://www.pccasegear.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=658_667&products_id=13068

  1         Seagate Barracuda 500GB ST3500418AS            $45.00    http://www.pccasegear.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=210_344&products_id=13263

  1         AMD Athlon CPU II X2 255                           $75.00    http://www.pccasegear.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=187_345&products_id=1337

  1         Kingston RAM KVR1333D3N9/2G 2GB DDR3    $39.00    http://www.pccasegear.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=186_774&products_id=13719

  1         ASUS M4N68T-M Motherboard                    $56.00    http://www.pccasegear.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=138_803&products_id=15230
                                                                      
                                                                      Total  $288.00

Thanks heaps for posting that, very useful stuff for the P2K fans. I've added a link to this thread to the Technical thread.

Critical thing to note when selecting a motherboard for Nucore is that it needs a parallel port - and if it inbuilt then this helps a lot. However, over time the parallel port is becoming more and more obsolete and even now is a legacy function, so if you are interested in Nucore then it may be worth investing in the computer parts sooner rather than later, while you can still easily get boards with the parallel port built in.