PS2 High performance PC Build

[Opencircuit74]

3 minutes ago, Ross Siggers said:

It's worth finding out from the manufacturer what the maximum power draw you can have is, because STX and ThinITX are direct DC power, there's normally a pretty reserved limit on what they can handle.

For example my STX board has a max rating of 120W. But a ThinITX may be higher becasue they still have a PCIE x16 on them, right?

Okay, so the specific board I am after is this one, the Intel DH61AG. I chose it because it supports older, cheaper processors, has a PCIe x4 slot (so I really am maxed at like a 1060), natively supports mSATA, with a half-slot mPCIe slot for a wifi adapter. https://ark.intel.com/products/54875/Intel-Desktop-Board-DH61AG

 

It takes 19V (just like all thin mini ITX boards), and supports up to a 65W CPU. Now, the problem that I have is that I don't have enough power for the GPU, so I might get a dedicated 12V power supply and a relay to turn it on with the motherboard, just to feed the GPU. I might also attempt my original idea and steal it from the motherboard. Either way, it's going to require some modification.

[Mnky313]

Another Update!
Desoldered the controller ports/memory card ports from the board attached to them where they connect to the PS2, the plan is to solder the usb adapters upright to save space while keeping the original ports intact, also cut the case a bit more to make room for the board, after we shave the GPU's heatsink down 5mm or so everything should fit, something interesting we just discovered was the WiFi antennas hold the Wireless card inside the metal housing as well, it's just a normal m.2 Wifi card... interesting... Next update should be Monday, though we won't be able to cut down the GPU heatsink until around Tuesday. Also picked up a 40x20MM noctua fan to increase cooling hopefully.

[Mnky313]

Completely forgot to take pictures today, but progress is being made, the case is mostly done being cut and the controlller port usb adapters are both ready for soldering to the inputs on thursday, the plan is to run the USB wires from them directly into a USB 2.0 header on the board, the biggest thing left to do is the milling of the GPU heatsink in order to meet height clearances and wiring up the bottom board in order for it to work with the motherboard, we are planning to not just keep the buttons but the LEDs as well. edit: I found an actual schematic lol

[Mnky313]

Couldn't do much today but I'd figure I better give an update, The heatsink was cut down (ended up using a band saw to cut it) to a level that should be low enough to fit it in the case, part of the soldering of the controller ports is finished, some other small things, there will be one last update on Monday but after that there will be a break until after Christmas break (probably nothing until the beginning of January).

[thevicparable]

Awesome thread, I'll be keenly following your progress.

 

I've had my own PS2 build brewing for years and I'm finally getting around to it this summer. It won't be high end, just enough to run some emulators and HD movies etc. I've got a 140w pico psu I'm hoping still works, some old laptop ram, SSD from the failed family HTPC project (just get your parents a chromecast guys). Motherboard should arrive next week.

 

My biggest goal is to keep the original power buttons. I've got some front panel cables from an old case I'm hoping to somehow solder to the buttons. Really interested to see how OP goes with this step. That schematic is a godsend.

[Mnky313]

14 hours ago, thevicparable said:

Awesome thread, I'll be keenly following your progress.

 

I've had my own PS2 build brewing for years and I'm finally getting around to it this summer. It won't be high end, just enough to run some emulators and HD movies etc. I've got a 140w pico psu I'm hoping still works, some old laptop ram, SSD from the failed family HTPC project (just get your parents a chromecast guys). Motherboard should arrive next week.

 

My biggest goal is to keep the original power buttons. I've got some front panel cables from an old case I'm hoping to somehow solder to the buttons. Really interested to see how OP goes with this step. That schematic is a godsend.

The main plan for the buttons is to just get an old USB 2.0 male to male cable, cut it in half and solder it to the button board on the PS2, the pin placement is the same on the front panel port on the motherboard. The other half will be used for the controller boards

[RollinLower]

awesome progress so far! really looking foreward to the end results, tough it's cool to see what stuff you run in to when doing a mod like this, and how you work around the obstacles.

[Mnky313]

Couldn't get much work done today, but confirmed that the height should be fine, and stared a 3D print for the backplate but I won't be able to work on it or update until at least the beginning of January, sorry for the lack of progress but hopefully it should be done soon after I can start work again!

[Mnky313]

Sorry for the lack of updates, we are currently printing an updated backplate, If I remember I will give pictures and an update on Monday!

[Mnky313]

I forgot to update yesterday! Whatever, here's the update: re soldered the controller ports to an internal header instead to save space, decided to use a keyboard emulator for the eject button (we were going to tap into the eject button, but couldn't get it to work and the only connection was on the tray & it would probably rip the cables out or jam, so we decided to leave it), it will be plugged in via USB and just be shoved somewhere in the case, the plan for Thursday is to remove the unnecessary PSU cables and make sure the new back plate works.

[RollinLower]

man, those thick USB cables look like a pain in the ass to work with in such a cramped enclosure.

[Mnky313]

8 hours ago, RollinLower said:

man, those thick USB cables look like a pain in the ass to work with in such a cramped enclosure.

Yeah, the USB 3 cables are annoying, we are probably going to remove the end plastic in order to shrink that down a little, but the cables are still going to be annoying to work with...

[Mnky313]

Small update: set up the Teensy combined with nircmd to eject the disk drive by shorting 2 pins on the teensy which will be wired up to the eject button on the front.

[SukaroBlue]

With that recent LTT video I think we are gong to see more builds like this popping up.

[Mnky313]

sorry for lack of updates, I'm not sure how much longer until an end (I don't know whether it will be a good or bad ending).  But everything seems to mostly work, the USB connections are wired in and the wires mostly fit ok, but thermals are still a major problem... even with the top off the CPU gets to TJmax within a minute and throttles back, the GPU even with a fan attached to it hits 80+ C, here are some pictures...

I have no doubt with a few compromises *cough* useless optical drive, external PSU *cough* and more time it could probably get done, but we are running out of time and he kind of needs a PC so we might just end up building it into a mini itx case.

[Ross Siggers]

I stand by the 'back-to-back' configuration I previously mentioned(downward facing motherboard). I was planning on laying things out like you in my build, but I looked at my extremely limited cooling possibilities, and I deemed it essential for not throttling the CPU. And because the vent will be on the underside of the console, it shouldn't be an issue; Hell, a PS2 is black, so it'd be even more subtle. 

Although the most obvious solution is changing CPU...is there any way of using a lower TDP chip? The 8600 you listed is 65w and probably kicking off a fair bit of heat. I'm using a 35w chip, a 7600T, and under stress from Aida64 it sits at 80-85*c. That is without having my gpu idling inside the case, but I've also not fitted my exhaust fan yet, so swings and roundabouts. Only vent currently is the cut out for the rear I/O, when I take the top off it's like a wall of heat excaping, so I can only imagine with that cooling fan in, the temps will come down even more.



 

[Mnky313]

11 hours ago, Ross Siggers said:

I stand by the 'back-to-back' configuration I previously mentioned(downward facing motherboard). I was planning on laying things out like you in my build, but I looked at my extremely limited cooling possibilities, and I deemed it essential for not throttling the CPU. And because the vent will be on the underside of the console, it shouldn't be an issue; Hell, a PS2 is black, so it'd be even more subtle. 

Although the most obvious solution is changing CPU...is there any way of using a lower TDP chip? The 8600 you listed is 65w and probably kicking off a fair bit of heat. I'm using a 35w chip, a 7600T, and under stress from Aida64 it sits at 80-85*c. That is without having my gpu idling inside the case, but I've also not fitted my exhaust fan yet, so swings and roundabouts. Only vent currently is the cut out for the rear I/O, when I take the top off it's like a wall of heat excaping, so I can only imagine with that cooling fan in, the temps will come down even more.



 

I think that even with the 65w tdp chip and the 1070 it could work, but at minimum the internal PSU would have to be replaced with an external one and the Optical drive would need to go, moving the GPU to that side. Running Cinebench with just the CPU running and the 92mm fan removed (which was the plan) resulted in the CPU hitting 93+ degrees after only 1 run of cinebench... The GPU even with the 92mm fan sitting on it still sat around 85-90 degrees...

[Ross Siggers]

@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. 

[DECLO]

Great work, Congrats man!! I would like to have this quality of work! Nice! 

[Mnky313]

On 5/3/2019 at 4:37 AM, Ross Siggers said:

@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. 

 

On 5/7/2019 at 8:47 AM, DECLO said:

Great work, Congrats man!! I would like to have this quality of work! Nice! 

I did *technically* end the project but only because we didn't make any progress and had to RMA the motherboard, but we have still been trying to work on it in the background, this Thursday is our last day we have to build it pretty much (we can work on small things after but the bulk of it has to be done Thursday...) We are attempting to 3D-print a completely new bottom that is ~20MM taller in order to fit everything.  That is being printed as I type this to have it done by Thursday.  It will have to be printed in 3 parts (left, right, and vent) and plastic welded/glued together, it's still going to have the Aesthetic of a PS2, just not authentic, but either way hopefully we can get it done. I attached a picture of the model, if we cannot get it to work we will have to end up just putting it together in an ITX case for now.  Sorry for not updating for a few months, but I thought we would run completely out of time before we could finish this.

[TVwazhere]

9 minutes ago, Mnky313 said:

I did *technically* end the project but only because we didn't make any progress and had to RMA the motherboard, but we have still been trying to work on it in the background, this Thursday is our last day we have to build it pretty much (we can work on small things after but the bulk of it has to be done Thursday...) 

So this is a school project them?

[Princess Luna]

I gotta give it to you, surprising project!

[Ross Siggers]

woah that's cool. Someone suggested I do scaled up dreamcast to fit all my parts but I thought that wasn't in the spirit of a sleeper. But I like your ide of just adding a little bit in one direction, it'll still have the impression of a regular PS2  

[Mbowen]

I would seriously suggest looking into a HD plex just to make more room inside the case for airflow. 

[Mnky313]

3 hours ago, Mbowen said:

I would seriously suggest looking into a HD plex just to make more room inside the case for airflow. 

We are using the HDPlex 400W.

7 hours ago, TVwazhere said:

So this is a school project them?

Yes, we are working with a teacher of ours after school

3 hours ago, Ross Siggers said:

woah that's cool. Someone suggested I do scaled up dreamcast to fit all my parts but I thought that wasn't in the spirit of a sleeper. But I like your ide of just adding a little bit in one direction, it'll still have the impression of a regular PS2  

Yeah, we didn't want to have to resort to scaling up parts, but we ran out of time and figured it would be more in the spirit of a sleeper than putting it in a normal case.