PS2 High performance PC Build

[Mbowen]

The 400w is nice, but I assume that you're trying to keep it inside the PS2 chassis? Why not try to use a HD plex with a brick configuration? It wouldn't require the brick be inside the case. Plus, most game consoles have bricks now. (the 360 did for like 10y)

[Ross Siggers]

I like the pico psu idea personally, I actually floated it on the first page....But I thought more about it, the more I realised that you would be compromising space and/or power, to match what you're getting from this SFX...

 

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Consider method #1, and you choose to have an external brick. You could use a Dynamo 360 and a Dynamo Mini(direct plug) daisy-chained together, to give a theoretical max safe wattage of 400W+. But it's very hard to find a brick that powerful, if impossible. I'm have one of the larger commonly available external bricks and thats 360W I believe. Anything above that is uncommon and expensive as all hell.

Then there's method #2, you convert the AC-DC internally and remove the brick from the equation. So you'd need an internal converter, a 360, and a Mini into the motherboard to achieve the same result. At this point, you're only gaining a little space really, although you could argue that breaking up the components means you're at least a little bit more flexible.

 

There is another way...method #3; scale down to an DC-barrel powered STX mobo. If you were also willing to step down to ~360W max, you could eliminate the mini from the equation entirely due to no need of a 24-pin connector, and then use a more readily available external brick, AND free up a TON of internal space. But this causes compatibility issues, such as having to use an adapter to run a graphics card.

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I realise on the first page, I waxed lyrical about saving "TONS of internal space", but I didn't think that being ITX with a 24-pin power cable would mean multiple pico's at once. So teh gains are slightly less than anticipated.

[Mnky313]

37 minutes ago, Ross Siggers said:

I like the pico psu idea personally, I actually floated it on the first page....But I thought more about it, the more I realised that you would be compromising space and/or power, to match what you're getting from this SFX...

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Consider method #1, and you choose to have an external brick. You could use a Dynamo 360 and a Dynamo Mini(direct plug) daisy-chained together, to give a theoretical max safe wattage of 400W+. But it's very hard to find a brick that powerful, if impossible. I'm have one of the larger commonly available external bricks and thats 360W I believe. Anything above that is uncommon and expensive as all hell.

Then there's method #2, you convert the AC-DC internally and remove the brick from the equation. So you'd need an internal converter, a 360, and a Mini into the motherboard to achieve the same result. At this point, you're only gaining a little space really, although you could argue that breaking up the components means you're at least a little bit more flexible.

 

There is another way...method #3; scale down to an DC-barrel powered STX mobo. If you were also willing to step down to ~360W max, you could eliminate the mini from the equation entirely due to no need of a 24-pin connector, and then use a more readily available external brick, AND free up a TON of internal space. But this causes compatibility issues, such as having to use an adapter to run a graphics card.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I realise on the first page, I waxed lyrical about saving "TONS of internal space", but I didn't think that being ITX with a 24-pin power cable would mean multiple pico's at once. So teh gains are slightly less than anticipated.

 

1 hour ago, Mbowen said:

The 400w is nice, but I assume that you're trying to keep it inside the PS2 chassis? Why not try to use a HD plex with a brick configuration? It wouldn't require the brick be inside the case. Plus, most game consoles have bricks now. (the 360 did for like 10y)

So, I must of thought I posted more than I did about what the current plan is:
The new plan is to use the HDPlex 400W PSU with a 330W dell laptop brick outside the case for power.
We were also trying to use the 3D-printed PS2 base to replace the current base but the print will take significantly longer than expected... so we still might me able to just not by tomorrow (one half takes about 3 days to print because of the higher resolution needed...) it is printing as I type this but who knows if it will work and how long it will take...
I don't know what the current plan is, either it will be built into a standard mini ITX case or we will wait for the PS2 print to finish, I will update tomorrow 

[Ross Siggers]

Ooooh....I've never seen that 400W before. That's perfect then! As long as there's some light cooling flowing over it, you should be golden.

[Ross Siggers]

Sorry for bumping such an old thread, @Mnky313 did this build ever get compelted?

 

I've been tidying up little bits of my Dreamcast build in my spare time, it's gotten to quite a high level of polish which I'm pleased with. I recently picked up a PS2 for my next build, and started thinking about how I could cram stuff inside...

[Mnky313]

2 hours ago, Ross Siggers said:

Sorry for bumping such an old thread, @Mnky313 did this build ever get compelted?

 

I've been tidying up little bits of my Dreamcast build in my spare time, it's gotten to quite a high level of polish which I'm pleased with. I recently picked up a PS2 for my next build, and started thinking about how I could cram stuff inside...

Sadly no, we ran out of time. (we were working on it in a club in senior year)
He does still want to build it but we both have college to deal with so if anything changes I'll update.

[Ross Siggers]

2 hours ago, Mnky313 said:

Sadly no, we ran out of time. (we were working on it in a club in senior year)
He does still want to build it but we both have college to deal with so if anything changes I'll update.

Ah okay, shame but no worries. Hope you get a chance to give it another shot!

 

[banana_havoc]

I know this is older and the problem has likely since been finished. But IMO, you could just get an SFX (or even an ATX) power supply and wire in something like a deutsch connector to the case in line with the power wires, and just use the power supply like an external brick. At least that way replacement is easier and you free up space inside. Wiring might be tedious, but at least a little more standardized. Not sure how well the coolers would work that close to one another though, as it seems like they'd starve each other for air.

[Opencircuit74]

If anyone is trying to build this for themselves, I would recommend using a thin mini itx motherboard. I was able to cram an i7 and 2060 into the fat PS2, but a power supply brick would have made that impossible.

[Ross Siggers]

6 hours ago, Opencircuit74 said:

If anyone is trying to build this for themselves, I would recommend using a thin mini itx motherboard. I was able to cram an i7 and 2060 into the fat PS2, but a power supply brick would have made that impossible.

If I can get a hold of another, I may use an STX. The ITX board barely fits in the wider portion of the PS2, but the STX will go in the narrower section with a little room to spare in either side. It takes the same 19v barrel connector that a n ITX does

 

 

[mariushm]

Oh man... didn't see this thread when it was launched... sucks.

There's lots of room but you have to be smart about how you arrange the hardware inside.

 

The PSU is too big. You can buy smaller power supplies. 

There are also 12v only power supplies and you could technically use a picoPSU or something like that to produce 3.3v and 5v for the motherboard, and just pass through 12v to components.

You could also use 2 12v power supplies and use one psu just for the video card, enabling it when the first psu is turned on.

 

There's even laptop charger style power supplies you can buy, here's some examples:

 

80$: 220w : https://www.digikey.com/product-detail/en/xp-power/VES220PS12/1470-VES220PS12-ND/10440642

92$: 250w: https://www.digikey.com/product-detail/en/mean-well-usa-inc/GST280A12-C6P/1866-2119-ND/7703681

125$: 300w: https://www.digikey.com/product-detail/en/tri-mag-llc/L6R300D-120-C14/364-1313-ND/8038550

 

Also see these industrial power supplies:

 

38$ 350w : https://www.digikey.com/product-detail/en/mean-well-usa-inc/LRS-350-12/1866-3344-ND/7705030

70$ 450w : https://www.digikey.com/product-detail/en/mean-well-usa-inc/SE-450-12/1866-4473-ND/7706606

75$ 350w narrow : https://www.digikey.com/product-detail/en/mean-well-usa-inc/UHP-350-12/1866-4966-ND/7707252

117$ 500w miniaturized high eff (5.2" x 3.4" ) : https://www.digikey.com/product-detail/en/mean-well-usa-inc/RPS-500-12-TF/1866-5601-ND/10129195

 

If you go with sfx or atx, you can customize the atx connector, reduce the number of wires... you won't need 5  5v wires, 5 3.3v wires, 2-3 of them is enough. Don't need -12v, you can use thinner gauge for pson and powerok ... you can make your own cable and make the cables as short as possible.

 

I would remove the bracket of the video card and make custom bracket to make the bracket 1 slot, leaving 1 slot worth of bracket for ventilation to push air out. If the card is out of warranty i'd go as far as to desolder or just cut the DVI connector off.

 

You could consider blower fans, and arranging the cpu cooler and the video card so that a blower fan would push air through the blades, from one side to the other of the motherboard (so that ram sticks would not interfere)

You can remove the case from the psu so that 1-2 blower fans could also provide airflow for the power supply. tiny 40-50mm fans are noisy

 

You can make extra ventilation holes on the sides, maybe add some dust filters to hide the holes.

[Ross Siggers]

46 minutes ago, mariushm said:

Use 2 power supplies and use one psu just for the video card, enabling it when the first psu is turned on.

 

Quote

I would remove the bracket of the video card and make custom bracket to make the bracket 1 slot, leaving 1 slot worth of bracket for ventilation to push air out. If the card is out of warranty i'd go as far as to desolder or just cut the DVI connector off.

 

I actually did both of these things on my Dreamcast build, you should check it out I'm going to add another follow-up post this weekend hopefully

 

I used an external Dell AC-DC brick, combined with an internal 200w pico. I essentially split the power in two once it entered the case, one lead went straight to the STX motherboard which accepts a single 19v input...and the other lead went to the pico, that powers the GPU riser, and the SSD. The Pico is triggered to turn on and off when it sees voltage through the motherboard fan header. I was entirely new to SFF and non-standard power supplies though, so there was a lot of confusion at first.

 

The GPU was rigid mounted against the motherboard, and have the bracket removed entirely to assist airflow, because my god, it needs it  

 

#shamelessplug

[Mnky313]

On 2/28/2020 at 1:53 AM, Ross Siggers said:

If I can get a hold of another, I may use an STX. The ITX board barely fits in the wider portion of the PS2, but the STX will go in the narrower section with a little room to spare in either side. It takes the same 19v barrel connector that a n ITX does

 

 

Yeah, when we planned this SFX wasn't really a thing, especially SFX boards that supported newer CPUs.
It is probably possible (even when the ITX board we have) but we just don't have the time and are several hours away because of university.