DECLO

Hello guys, am Claude a newbie in this forum and I would like to share some pictures and fun from the htpc with ps2 box that I am building. It's nearly finished!!!!! I built it especially for the gaming so I have a direct start on the front end (Bigbox or emulationstation) and I modified the windows logo by a custom one ?. I play at Zelda Botw and shadow of the Tomb Rider with almost full graphics options. I am not sure if I post in the right place so let me know if am wrong and sorry for my english ?. 
 
A video : 
Photos :



Specifications :
- PlayStation 2 Fat
- MSI B150i gaming pro
- EVGA GeForce GTX 1050 Ti SC GAMING 4G
- Ram 8 go ddr4
- i5 6500
- ssd m.2 Evo 860 500go
- Pico psu 16V-24V 160w from aliexpress
- Pci Express riser cable 30cm LINKUP
- usb to 2 x dualshock 2
- 2 x led + 2 x resistor + 2 x buton - For the buttons of the front in 5v.
- A brick charger 24V 170w.- 4 x Dualshock 3 + Bluetooth key for wireless.

And here it is, next to one of my other, real Dreamcasts;


 

 

 

 
 
Yes I know they're different colours...Dreamcasts are notorious for fading/yellowing, OKAY?!?  It's actually the real Dreamcast that's the faded one...

The 'DC-PC' could do with the lid being spaced upwards ever-so-slightly at the back, and maybe mesh over the controller ports...but I'd say the sleeper look was 100% maintained, don't you? It now lives on the shelf above the TV, runs windows 10 and is loaded up with all manner of emulators and retro PC games
 

I heard that the new gtx 1650 low profile have a height of 32 mm. Could it be fit on it? 
I saw some test about 4x to 16x pcie and you loose only 5 or 10% of performance. That's alright ?

It's feel like you're pretty close to  this dream, isn't it? ahah ????

Hello guys, am Claude a newbie in this forum and I would like to share some pictures and fun from the htpc with ps2 box that I am building. It's nearly finished!!!!! I built it especially for the gaming so I have a direct start on the front end (Bigbox or emulationstation) and I modified the windows logo by a custom one ?. I play at Zelda Botw and shadow of the Tomb Rider with almost full graphics options. I am not sure if I post in the right place so let me know if am wrong and sorry for my english ?. 
 
A video : 
Photos :



Specifications :
- PlayStation 2 Fat
- MSI B150i gaming pro
- EVGA GeForce GTX 1050 Ti SC GAMING 4G
- Ram 8 go ddr4
- i5 6500
- ssd m.2 Evo 860 500go
- Pico psu 16V-24V 160w from aliexpress
- Pci Express riser cable 30cm LINKUP
- usb to 2 x dualshock 2
- 2 x led + 2 x resistor + 2 x buton - For the buttons of the front in 5v.
- A brick charger 24V 170w.- 4 x Dualshock 3 + Bluetooth key for wireless.

First thing to do was to clean the ps2

 
and use epoxy to glue screws and cut the USB to Ps2 joypad to glue it inside the PS2. 



 
After I unsold and sold new wires in the USB to Ps2 joypad. And I unsold and sold new wires on the Pico Psu ATX plug because It's impossible to close the ps2 if I let it like that. 



 
It's very tight to pass this kind of Pico Psu into the ps2 box. I think, it would be more relevant to use kind of 250w Pico psu like in the picture bellow :

 
After, I just have to find the good plug for the power brick and Voilà!! 


 
Now I had to do 2 new buttons for the front. I used the "power on" button for the power and I used the CD open buton for the reset. I can't use the original ps2 circuit bord for it because it's micro sold and I have ... big fingers... So I cut a part from the original CD driver plastic of the ps2 and Adapted to accommodate my buttons, resistors and LEDs. It's ugly but it works ??





 
I cut a piece of plastic for the back, it's a little bit shity, I will re-do it and I still have to put 2 x usb port in the front panel of the ps2 for the charging and the Bluetooth of the Dualshock3 wireless pads. For the moment a use mother's board usb from the behind.


 
Voila Voilà, it's all for the hardware of the beautifull PS2 ?
 
I used some tricks for softwares like :
- to change the indows boot logo with HackBGRT
- create a offline and inline shortcut in bigbox for steam with batch files. Needed for when I bring my ps2 to play with friends. 
- Set the leds of Dualshocks 3 in real order with scpserver and devreorder to working.
 
Thx Linustechtips for the free place to share with other

First thing to do was to clean the ps2

 
and use epoxy to glue screws and cut the USB to Ps2 joypad to glue it inside the PS2. 



 
After I unsold and sold new wires in the USB to Ps2 joypad. And I unsold and sold new wires on the Pico Psu ATX plug because It's impossible to close the ps2 if I let it like that. 



 
It's very tight to pass this kind of Pico Psu into the ps2 box. I think, it would be more relevant to use kind of 250w Pico psu like in the picture bellow :

 
After, I just have to find the good plug for the power brick and Voilà!! 


 
Now I had to do 2 new buttons for the front. I used the "power on" button for the power and I used the CD open buton for the reset. I can't use the original ps2 circuit bord for it because it's micro sold and I have ... big fingers... So I cut a part from the original CD driver plastic of the ps2 and Adapted to accommodate my buttons, resistors and LEDs. It's ugly but it works ??





 
I cut a piece of plastic for the back, it's a little bit shity, I will re-do it and I still have to put 2 x usb port in the front panel of the ps2 for the charging and the Bluetooth of the Dualshock3 wireless pads. For the moment a use mother's board usb from the behind.


 
Voila Voilà, it's all for the hardware of the beautifull PS2 ?
 
I used some tricks for softwares like :
- to change the indows boot logo with HackBGRT
- create a offline and inline shortcut in bigbox for steam with batch files. Needed for when I bring my ps2 to play with friends. 
- Set the leds of Dualshocks 3 in real order with scpserver and devreorder to working.
 
Thx Linustechtips for the free place to share with other

@GrogStache cheers man!

It's really getting to the finishing touches stage; Cable lengths, gpu mounting, mesh over the vents. When I reassembled it after making the power button, I could see better options for cabling in the front, not to mention I'll trimming the sata one down too.
 
Once it's cable managed a bit in there, I can see the controller ports being even more effective as ventilation. But I'm planning on taking one and making it a passthrough for all the front I/O that's currently hidden  

I still want to drop the motherboard down a little with low profile ram, for more gpu space... but that can come at a later date and probably not effect much of the above  

I heard that the new gtx 1650 low profile have a height of 32 mm. Could it be fit on it? 
I saw some test about 4x to 16x pcie and you loose only 5 or 10% of performance. That's alright ?

It's feel like you're pretty close to  this dream, isn't it? ahah ????

@DECLO 32mm wow really... That's not bad. I landed on the plan of using the 6gb version of the 1060, but doing the same as I already have, putting a low profile cpu cooler on it. They're becoming really cheap now. But that's a decision for a later date! 
 
The riser, that sounds like exactly the one I was planning on getting, it has two ribbon cables instead of the single style I have now. Card is running at pci 1.0 speed or some shit 
 
 

I heard that the new gtx 1650 low profile have a height of 32 mm. Could it be fit on it? 
I saw some test about 4x to 16x pcie and you loose only 5 or 10% of performance. That's alright ?

So, I got my power cable made up, to avoid having to mess with the very neat original cables, we soldered to the underside of the pcb. It's a pretty neat job.
 

 
In the next picture, you can see I've got the board powering everything using my new cable. The riser card, and the ssd are both powered by the on board Sata power header in this configuration. Just to check the cable worked to be honest, in reality there wouldn't be that many parts drawing power through the board itself. The next step is offloading those two things to the KMPKT Mini.
 

 
I don't have any suitable gpu's to test with, only the slot-powered 750 right now. So for proof of concept, I'm going to power the aforementioned riser and ssd using the Sata header on the KMPKT Mini. Just to prove that it works.
 
To signal the Mini to turn on and off with the system, it needs a 12v trigger signal. That's where my beautiful, temporary, non-soldered cable comes into play! It goes from the motherboard fan header, taking 12v, and goes to the molex plug on the Add2psu, which is an immitation 24-pin that holds the KMPKT Mini. The relay on this is what tells the Mini to turn on and off. Also...it holds it upright and should help with mounting  


 

 
And this last picture is the system successfully powered using it's twin-source layout; You can see the ssd and the riser cable are now both powered using the black cable, which is drawing it's sata power from the KMPKT. 

The next step is to work out my M.2 slots...because I realised that my storage and riser are both full length M.2's and I only have one full length slot...the one below is a stubby one for wifi cards etc...

I spoke to an independant electronics shop, and they advised that I don't need super heavy duty wires...I was paranoid about it being a power lead, but in reality it'll only be drawing small amounts. So they soldered me up a cable, if I'd known just how skinny eh wiring was going to be, I'd have just done it myself....

ANYWAY....

It's working, as per the diagram on the previous page. input power being split between the motherboard and the pico psu.I have no single PCIe plug graphics cards, only dual plug ones, so I couldn't set it up exactly as it would be...but I powered the SSD and the gpu riser using the pico, which is a proof of concept. The trigger wire works too, telling the psu to turn on and off with the system. I'm a happy chappy  

Further update with pictures coming over the rest of the weekend hopefully. Now I can start finalising component locations, and dremeling the case, which is the part of the process I enjoy far more  

@Ross Siggers yes Ross, PS2 gonna be terribly easier ?...
I saw your post of your dreamcast. I get so much trouble too with 2 cheap irons of 10 box. I am not good at it but finally with patience it s working even if you have to solder hundreds of wires.?
For example, I solder so many wires for the fxxxing screen of this build below :

So much pain ?? But working Ahah! ?

First thing to do was to clean the ps2

 
and use epoxy to glue screws and cut the USB to Ps2 joypad to glue it inside the PS2. 



 
After I unsold and sold new wires in the USB to Ps2 joypad. And I unsold and sold new wires on the Pico Psu ATX plug because It's impossible to close the ps2 if I let it like that. 



 
It's very tight to pass this kind of Pico Psu into the ps2 box. I think, it would be more relevant to use kind of 250w Pico psu like in the picture bellow :

 
After, I just have to find the good plug for the power brick and Voilà!! 


 
Now I had to do 2 new buttons for the front. I used the "power on" button for the power and I used the CD open buton for the reset. I can't use the original ps2 circuit bord for it because it's micro sold and I have ... big fingers... So I cut a part from the original CD driver plastic of the ps2 and Adapted to accommodate my buttons, resistors and LEDs. It's ugly but it works ??





 
I cut a piece of plastic for the back, it's a little bit shity, I will re-do it and I still have to put 2 x usb port in the front panel of the ps2 for the charging and the Bluetooth of the Dualshock3 wireless pads. For the moment a use mother's board usb from the behind.


 
Voila Voilà, it's all for the hardware of the beautifull PS2 ?
 
I used some tricks for softwares like :
- to change the indows boot logo with HackBGRT
- create a offline and inline shortcut in bigbox for steam with batch files. Needed for when I bring my ps2 to play with friends. 
- Set the leds of Dualshocks 3 in real order with scpserver and devreorder to working.
 
Thx Linustechtips for the free place to share with other

Hello guys, am Claude a newbie in this forum and I would like to share some pictures and fun from the htpc with ps2 box that I am building. It's nearly finished!!!!! I built it especially for the gaming so I have a direct start on the front end (Bigbox or emulationstation) and I modified the windows logo by a custom one ?. I play at Zelda Botw and shadow of the Tomb Rider with almost full graphics options. I am not sure if I post in the right place so let me know if am wrong and sorry for my english ?. 
 
A video : 
Photos :



Specifications :
- PlayStation 2 Fat
- MSI B150i gaming pro
- EVGA GeForce GTX 1050 Ti SC GAMING 4G
- Ram 8 go ddr4
- i5 6500
- ssd m.2 Evo 860 500go
- Pico psu 16V-24V 160w from aliexpress
- Pci Express riser cable 30cm LINKUP
- usb to 2 x dualshock 2
- 2 x led + 2 x resistor + 2 x buton - For the buttons of the front in 5v.
- A brick charger 24V 170w.- 4 x Dualshock 3 + Bluetooth key for wireless.

Hi man, no gauge problems, even a 0,5mm is alright. I used some arduino buttons, wires and leds for my buttons. 
But for the led you have to put a resistor in series with it. 
In general, 12v switch button are style with led inside if you need. 
https://www.amazon.co.uk/s?k=12v+switch+button&sprefix=12v+switch+butt
 

@Ross Siggers
Yep buddy, so I watch for other SFF and yes they have holes everywhere... 
I like your idea of a grid pattern in the underside with little legs to let the air passed. 
I already drill holes in the back for the graphic card and the PS2 already have a little barbecue grill in the front. 


 
So I will :
- drill the back (more) 
- put a big grid pattern for the underside with a filter. 
- put a intake fan on the grid patern
????
 
No crash in 100 hours of gaming for the moment but "summer is coming"

@Mr. horse yeah they were originally going to be USB ports, but now they're being left open for a tiny bit more venitllation. I think removing it or replacing it would be an unacceptable compromise to the sleeper look

Yes normally if you don't use the inverter circuit you don't need to have big power for the lcd back light. But It's hard to find the datasheet from the constructor and wires diagrams so when I had the same problem like you, I just bought a universal lcd controller board in banggood or ebay for 20 box. Like that :
https://fr-m.banggood.com/M_NT68676_2A-LCD-Monitor-Controller-Board-Converter-Driver-Kit-HDMI-DVI-VGA-for-1920x1200-LM240WU2-SLB2-p-1438310.html?rmmds=search
In ebay the seller ask you for the reference of the screen to provide you the good inverter. Normally, you don't need it. A controller board is not to much expensive so if I was you, I just try... Black is the ground ?
Can't help you more... Sorry

Hello guys, am Claude a newbie in this forum and I would like to share some pictures and fun from the htpc with ps2 box that I am building. It's nearly finished!!!!! I built it especially for the gaming so I have a direct start on the front end (Bigbox or emulationstation) and I modified the windows logo by a custom one ?. I play at Zelda Botw and shadow of the Tomb Rider with almost full graphics options. I am not sure if I post in the right place so let me know if am wrong and sorry for my english ?. 
 
A video : 
Photos :



Specifications :
- PlayStation 2 Fat
- MSI B150i gaming pro
- EVGA GeForce GTX 1050 Ti SC GAMING 4G
- Ram 8 go ddr4
- i5 6500
- ssd m.2 Evo 860 500go
- Pico psu 16V-24V 160w from aliexpress
- Pci Express riser cable 30cm LINKUP
- usb to 2 x dualshock 2
- 2 x led + 2 x resistor + 2 x buton - For the buttons of the front in 5v.
- A brick charger 24V 170w.- 4 x Dualshock 3 + Bluetooth key for wireless.

Hello guys, am Claude a newbie in this forum and I would like to share some pictures and fun from the htpc with ps2 box that I am building. It's nearly finished!!!!! I built it especially for the gaming so I have a direct start on the front end (Bigbox or emulationstation) and I modified the windows logo by a custom one ?. I play at Zelda Botw and shadow of the Tomb Rider with almost full graphics options. I am not sure if I post in the right place so let me know if am wrong and sorry for my english ?. 
 
A video : 
Photos :



Specifications :
- PlayStation 2 Fat
- MSI B150i gaming pro
- EVGA GeForce GTX 1050 Ti SC GAMING 4G
- Ram 8 go ddr4
- i5 6500
- ssd m.2 Evo 860 500go
- Pico psu 16V-24V 160w from aliexpress
- Pci Express riser cable 30cm LINKUP
- usb to 2 x dualshock 2
- 2 x led + 2 x resistor + 2 x buton - For the buttons of the front in 5v.
- A brick charger 24V 170w.- 4 x Dualshock 3 + Bluetooth key for wireless.

For sure man, the extra room of the PS2 make all the difference but IT IS A DREAMCAST ??. You did it !!!! 
 
Keep going on STX, I will go on STX too (thx for tips) but maybe with APU... Too much time and problems with a GPU my friend ?. 

@Mnky313 was there a conclusion to this build? I'd love to know!

I was thinking about trying an OG PS2 as my next build, the space restrictions of my Dreamcast build are killing me(but it's getting there), and I think the extra room in a PS2 might be what I need lol.