This is the pricing for the Nucore system.

Nucore System
(which includes)
The Nucore Software
The USB module/IO board
USB Cable
Installation instructions (on the CD)
90 Day hardware warranty
Price: $400
Available from: Pinball Life

The additional items required or optional to make Nucore function

Computer system
Ubuntu Linux 8.04 LTS (free online)
(minimum specifications)
AMD X2 5000+ processor
2GB system ram
Minimum 10GB of storage (hard drive/SSD)
Motherboard with integrated audio
CD ROM Drive (only required for installation)
ATI or Nvidia (ATI preferred) graphics adapter (on-board or Ultimarc VGA)
Estimated Street Price: ~$200-220
Available from: Online Retailers

Audio Amplifier
A replacement audio amp that will work with the existing pin2000 speakers and even includes the correct connectors
A plug-and-play solution
Price: $99
Available from: Pinball Life

Ultimarc Arcade VGA Graphics adapater
This is the preferred adapter that will allow you to connect Nucore to an original pin2000 monitor
This will not be required if you choose to install a LCD monitor. If you plan to use a LCD you will buy a motherboard with built-in video.
Price:$97
Available from: Pinball Life

Integration Fee (optional)
This is a fee for building and testing a complete system. You will receive everything ready-to-go and you will just have to load the ROM (simple process.)
This is for people who don't want to hassle with building/configuring their own system.
Price:$150
Available from: Pinball Life

Case (or mounting bracket)
This is being finalized and we have no pricing at this time. You can choose a standard (edit - corrected spelling) computer case and mount it any way you like. More on this later.

We have made everything optional to allow people to pick and choose what best suits their needs. The items that are available from Pinball Life will be part of a pre-order that will be available shortly. We will update you when it's online.

Wow! Not a bad price at all much cheaper then replacing the existing hardware!

I will be placing an order as soon as it is available.

As for the case is it hard to fit a normal PC case in the pin? Do you have any details on how you have yours mounted at the moment?

Great stuff! For some reason I was expecting $400 as a cost. So it is inline with what I personally was expecting.

Looks pretty reasonable and pretty well laid out with the choices.

The only real negative I see is the extra $100 for the audio amp. I can imagine people wanting to get Nucore swapped in and running first and then spend the extra $400 or so to redo all of the audio at a later date. But they are kind of forced to do it all at once with this model (which is getting near a $1k investment) OR spend $100 on something they will not need down the road.

Another point -- I know you have only tested on the AMD processor. But there are a lot of old Pentium machines out there...it would be nice to know if you could use an old P3 or P4 based machine. I personally am curious as I have at least 3 of them laying around and no AMD machinery anywhere to be found. Any plans to test it with a Pentium-based CPU?

Thanks for all of this hard work...I sure hope you sell a ton of them. Congrats on working with the licensees too. I know how hard that must have been.

- Kevin

Fantastic. What about pre-orders?

That's good to finally have... now I can figure out what config to go with and plan out when the cash is available since I have a total...

Is it going to require a specific version of the AVGA? I have a PCI AVGA just sitting here...

I'll be honest and say that the price is higher than I expected. Not an ungodly amount more, but more. For the $400 price point, I would have expected the audio amp to be part of it. I also assuming that the following recent factors contributed to the price: no longer 100% software due to need for USB board; licensing fees assuming they'll be paying to Gene and Wayne; decision for a 3rd party distributor which means there is a markup there as well.

So, that said, I am still planning on purchasing NuCore. I do feel the product warrants the price. However, I'll go on record now and say that I will have a much higher expectation of support for any issues that may come up with hardware now and in the future. For a $400 investment plus computer and possibly amplifier and video (card or LCD) in some fashion, you are not going to be able to get away with what you've said in the past about doing the best you can to support people.

Great job guys and I look forward to the pre-sale going up.

Keith

We consulted with a whole lot of people about the price. Our goal is not to make a ton of money on these but to make them available and affordable. One of the Williams guys thought we would be charging over $1000 for it and was amazed at our target price. We really tried to go 100% software but really couldn't do it and have the system be reliable. That piece of custom hardware didn't really effect the price it really affected our profit. The target price of $400 has been a goal from early on. When we nailed down final costs on everything there really was a compelling argument to sell it for $500. The price is what it is and I think it's extremely reasonable.

As far as the support goes we will post our support policy and let everyone decide if it's sufficient. We aren't trying to get away with anything as we really care about users having a good experience with Nucore. These forums will be a main base of support where we can address issues and have a record of common issues to build a knowledgebase if you will. We will do our absolute best. We will also give our alpha and beta testers tags and give them escalated rights to help support the community.

We really do care about our customers and their experience with Nucore. If anyone doesn't think Nucore is for them I would rather they don't buy it than buy it and be unhappy.

Chuck

Heh, well, at least we'll have a couple of us working the bare min cost angle right from the start... I'm going to have to start scavenging around for a PC that meets those specs. Let's see just how close to the $400 this can really be done!

sorry if i have missed this but what exactly is the USB custom hardware for? what does it do?

It provides hardware based non-volatile storage that the pin2k system requires. You can't create a stable, software only version of it. Since we had to build the board we also created an expansion port for additional functionality in the future (a real cabinet knocker will be the first item.)

Thanks... can i ask what pin2000 uses this for? what is stored in there?

It constantly writes data on game statistics and stores other crucial info.