First up we have the Famicom Mini theme! If you’ve always dreamt of a teensy version of the classic Famicom system, you’re in luck!

This theme features clean, retro artwork. The colors are soft and make for a nice muted palette.

The user interface is very well structured. The console titles are presented on square blocks, each featuring custom pixel artwork of the original hardware. Once inside the list of roms, we’re greeted with a nice, well designed page to match the overall Famicom feel.

TFT is a beautiful minimal design theme. Each console title takes up the complete display and features white lineart of their respective controllers.

This is a relatively dark theme with little coloring. Because of the minimal design, this theme is perfect for small screens and arcade cabinet projects.

This theme brings an incredible level of creativity to the table. It has everything you need, right where you want it and it looks just like the old school Amiga Workbench!

Are you a fan of old school tech? This is definitely the theme for you! Even the rom list has a classic retro highlight across the selected rom. This theme comes together very well to make a wonderfully creative experience.

Whoa, what now? The title of this theme stands for Game Boy Zero 3.5”. It features another minimal design, this time with colors!

Behind each console title is minimal artwork pertaining to the console. It’s versatile for a minimal theme. It works well for various screen sizes, making it ideal for arcade cabinets and handheld projects.

Best Retroflag GPi theme for RetroPie

GBZ35 is also the best theme for the Retroflag GPi because it accommodates the GPi’s small screen well, ensuring that text is readable.

One of the coolest themes you’ll find is the SNES Mini theme! It features vibrant, retro artwork that looks ready to take us to a Tron-like vector wonderland.

Each console title gets its own original artwork. The list of roms is presented nicely to deliver a consistent SNES flavor to the theme.

There are plenty of themes to choose from. If you want to look at the full list of RetroPie themes, visit the official GitHub link here.

Many themes are available in the RetroPie theme gallery. To tap into these custom designs, you’ll need to open RetroPie Setup.

From the RetroPie Setup menu, choose Open Configuration/Tools. The option we’re looking for on this screen is called esthemes – Install themes for Emulation Station.

On this screen you can choose to download the entire gallery or maybe just a couple of themes. Each theme needs to be shown as (installed) in order to be used.

To set the theme you’ve just installed, we’ll need to reboot and go back to our home screen. From the regular menu, you can choose UI Settings to find the selection area for your default theme. This area is labeled Theme Set.

Congratulations! You should have a beautiful, custom, RetroPie theme.

Before choosing an upgrade board, I took a look at both third-party boards and those created by the original manufacturer, Creality.

Creality upgrade boards

Creality offers an upgraded board for under $50 that uses TMC2208 stepper motor drivers instead, eliminating stepper motor noise.

This upgrade effectively reduces the printer’s sound output from 48dB to 36dB, with the remaining noise comes from the Ender 3’s fans, which are also easy to upgrade.

This is the board I’ll be using: the Creality Silent Mainboard (v1.1.5). I chose to go with a Creality-made board as they’re reportedly more stable and reliable.

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Ender 3 silent main board

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Third-party boards

There are also numerous third-party board upgrades available for the Ender 3. A popular choice is the SKR Mini E3, which uses TMC2209 stepper motor drivers and adds 32-bit support.

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SKR Mini E3 upgrade board

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Keep in mind, some third-party boards, including the Mini E3, have been reported to have issues—including input errors and power back-feeding. Therefore, third-party boards are less of a direct replacement and may require some troubleshooting. Still, if you’re up for the challenge, they’re a great upgrade option.

Before starting, unplug your Ender 3 from the wall. This is for safety reasons and also to prevent shorts when swapping the board out.

Using the M2 hex key your printer originally came with, remove the 3 screws securing the main board cover.

Then, unhook the fan connector and set the cover aside.

With all the wires still connected, use your M2 hex key to carefully remove the four screws securing the board to the printer chassis.

At the factory, Creality’s employees added some hot glue to each connector to prevent them from shaking loose during shipping.

Carefully remove these bits of glue using your fingers. You can also use a dot of acetone to help dissolve the glue, but don’t let it get on anything else (i.e. plastic) since acetone is a solvent for many types of plastics.

I just peeled each piece of glue off with my fingernails without using acetone.

You’ll need to move each wire to the new board so that everything is wired exactly the same. You have two options for doing this:

Option A: Label everything

Carefully label each wire with tape and marker and draw a map of where each label goes. Pay attention to the labels printed on the PCB. Then, remove all the old wires and connect them to the new board. Take lots of photos.

Option B: Do a 1:1 swap (my approach)

Before removing any wires, place the new board on top of the old board. Then, swap wires from the old to the new—one at a time—taking careful notice of placement. This approach can save you a lot of time if you’re vigilant. When you’re done, you can unhook individual wires to route them more cleanly.

Get to swappin’

Swap the wires from the old board to the new one using your preferred method. I used option B: swapping the wires, in place, one at a time.

In addition to swapping connectors, you’ll also need to use a small flathead screwdriver to move wires between terminal blocks. For safer and more effective conductivity, I recommend stripping and cutting the tinned solder off of each terminal block wire before reinserting it.

Reattach the new board using the four mounting screws. The front-left hole has no matching stud, so leave that hole empty.

If you have giant hands, this will probably be the hardest part of the project.

Reconnect the control panel fan to the only empty board connector.

Then, reattach the control panel cover using the three control panel cover screws. The longer screw goes in the back.

Power on your printer and run a test print to make sure everything is running smoothly. If it isn’t, remove the cover and inspect your wiring.

This version of the board is supposed to ship with an updated Marlin firmware version (v1.1.8) that adds thermal runaway protection. You can verify this in the printer menu by selecting the About Printer menu item.

If your board shipped with an older firmware version, or if you’d like to update your firmware to the latest version (v1.1.9+), check out my Ender 3 firmware update guide!

Spring upgrade

If you’re looking for another upgrade, I recommend upgrading your Ender 3 springs for under $10.