PC-Playstation 2 Hybrid

[justblair]

Hi all.

This is my first post on this forum... Please be gentle with me.

This worklog I'm afraid starts morethan half way through the build. But as it is a fairly unique (please correct me if its been seen before) mod, I thought it may be of interest to peeps.

Now to the story.

This is a lesson how "That seems a simple idea" turns into "How many of those things have I trashed now"

First of all lets start with a simple idea.

For my living room I wished a silent HTPC. It had to be silent as I intended it to run 24/7 and I like my piece and quiet. I also play some gentle jazz from time to time and the whine of a fan ruins the effect. So a plan was born.

Make a 100% passive HTPC.

On reflection this turned out to be the easier aspect of this machine.

Inside

2100XP palamino Undervolted 10 1.4v and underclocked to 1133mhz. Cooled by a modded typhoon.

Abit NF7 mobo. Modded with a 6cm CPU copper cooler, running the NB passive. The power regulators are heatsinked with a cut up PII heatsink. The SB has a PII heatsink shaped and added. The thing runs stable with no forced cooling

2x512mb DDR 400 ram heatsinked with nexus memory sinks. Running in dual channel mode.

Silverstone 30NF 300w power supply. 100% passive piece of alu gorgeousness!

ATI 9600 pro AIW (tuner now no longer required)

Asus 7131 DVBT card

V-Stream/K-World DVB-T100

So I thought take a standardish cheapo ATX Midi tower case. Stripped out the bays, cut out the front, panels at the rear and rear sides. Make a new front panel I have a cover made which is meshed at the rear as well. More of that to follow...

I then thought (and this is where I have to say a lesson could be learned about how dangerous thoughts are!) There is space in their for other stuff, what else could I fit in there. The answer was staring me in the face. My playstation 2.

This was the killer. Or to put it more exactly I became a playstation Killer....

I stripped the first PS2 down. I seem to recall it was a V7. Worked out a placement, built brackets. Removed its own power supply, Soldered a molex onto it and tried it out. Bingo, power and it worked. Now all I had to do was

1. Extend the controllers and Mem cards to the side of the new case.

2. Extend the graphics output to the back of the new case.

3. Work out how to get the power and eject buttons to the front of the case.

4. Add drive bays to the (at this time non existant) front facia panel

Easy?

I searched the web, but noone seemed to have done this mod before.

Now the piccies...

I will be stripping the thing down for painting and further filling. When I do I can take some photos of the playstation conversion to give an idea on whats involved.

I would also welcome positive suggestions on how to take this case further.

Justblair

[justblair]

Well the fact its a passive pc is limiting certainly, couldn't say put an intel in there. But its still ATX at heart, so I can change in the future to an AMD.

The playstation bit of course is limited, not only is the 3 on its way (Though I wont by the first ones) but I have a horrible fear of breakdown. That happens I have to source another V10 or mod again. But might not happen.

I suspect though that I will have built another one long before I want to change anything on this project. I have a few idea spinning around just now for another HTPC.

Oh yes and I have just bought a playstation one 5'tft screen for playing with. Not sure where I will use it. Either in this case or part of a remote viewing screen with a tv extender. Ill try it for size and see how I feel. Got it on fleabay for 20GBP new and unused (its described as) Expect to see it crop up somewhere.

[justblair]

so, its a wild idea, but its completely possible, and you strike me as the sort of person thats crazy enough to try it.... id try it. all you need to do is find some fine metal mesh, or you could weave some 50 gauge copper wire.

I'm not sure wether to take that as a compliment or not...

Initially I dismissed the idea...

Then I started thinking

Then I definately dismissed the idea....

For a bit at least...

Then I made this...

Only joking!

I think for the mean time I will leave it. The processor stays below 60c even in the scorching hot summers Scotland is famous for. The machine is stable and does enough for the moment. Even when I add the partially meshed top I am fabbing at the moment. One benefit I did think of was this... I smoke, Ionisers are very effective at cleaning the air of dust and tobacco fumes. Trouble is the dirt litterly falls out of the air around it, which of course would be the inside of my case.

My other problem with this idea comes down to power consumption. The Silverstone 30NF certainly is no slouch. It has oodles of current. But I have to consider that it is a passive PSU and more watts means more heat. I still am toying with the idea of squeezing a playstation screen onto the front.. Thats another couple of amps of power used up.

At the moment certainly there will be a few left. The PS2 is rated at 45w including its own psu (Which cant be that efficient judging by its design) probs about 30w now. The undervolt to the processor takes the processor down to 30w max (It only ever runns at 40% of its power, so I guess about 20w. the Graphics card is setup to handle as much of the output as possible.

I'd guess that I am drawing round 100-110 watts and the PSU is warm to the touch but not burny. I'm not sure how much extra burdon I want to give it though. Its not just that it will tax the PSU, the processor is very close, so that would be more heat generated in close proximity. Again I have probably got some headroom... Rather keep the headroom there tho.

That said I am sure my folks had one of those ionisers at one time, it may still be in a cupboard back at theirs. Mum didn't like the dirt that it attracted. You get a fair bit even in an obsessive compulsive clean freaks house (sorry Mum) I am tempted to give it a try one afternoon... If I do I will report.

[justblair]

Not so well...

I used pretty thick sheet steel for fabbing the wraparount top. But I am not sure I am going to use it. I bent the corners on metal edges, and though It fits the front and sides very well, where I tried to bend a lip round the back I didn't get as good a result.

I'll post some photos when I get home, you can maybe tell me how far off the mark I am. ie can it be rescued?

But then I had an idea that I hadn't thought of before. I had contemplated an entire mesh grill for the top and sides. But I discounted this at the time, it is a living room pc, so should be discrete in appearance. But thinking about it, I could start with modders mesh (the type with the holes punched from a sheet, rather than the extruded stuff that I am using on the back.) and just use filler to cover the stuff I dont want seen. Any thoughts?

as you can tell, im concerned mainly with airflow for this. ill keep trying to come up with other great/stupid ideas.

Dont worry to much about it, The machine has performed in this config through months of experimenting and touch wood has never had a thermal crash.

actually, another idea would involve fans. why not take a couple 120mm fans, slap a couple resistors on to lower the voltage, and use them. the lower voltage should make them spin slower. some 120mm fans are already fairly quiet, and if you drop them to somewhere below 500rpm, well im sure theyd be pretty much silent. on your strict power budget, id only say you need 2 fans in the bottom blowing upwards, and providing you place them right, they should do the job.

That cant be done for this one. i set myself the goal of a passive HTPC right from the outset. Of course any reasonable person would not have set this goal to begin with. 120 MM Fans as you suggest are very quiet once undervolted. Though I haven't played with any that will go as low as 500rpm and start reliably. Nexus 120mm (very quiet fans) in my experiance will start in the 700rpm region and will be silent paractically from about 1m. This would have been a more reasonable plan.

Now someone is going to dig me up on the playstation having a fan. Thats only because I havent come up with a practical method of running it passive. Particularly as I dont want to kill another one! However I rationalised this to myself because the thing sits on standby most of the time. The DVD that comes with it drowns out the very quiet fan. (Thats a V10 system, the older ones I have demolished were whiny wee buggers) So Apart form a couple of hours a week it is passive as intended.

[justblair]

Update...

Gave up on the case cover in a fit of huffiness.

Been out all weekend living it up... Tonight I was feeling a bit flat, but decided to take on another task.

The playstation 1 screen I have now recieved and disassembled. I was going to start soldering it to a VGA plug, but shakey hands and a lack of mental agility put paid to that idea.

Instead I had another look at Samurize. The software I intend to use to control the screen. I had previously searched the forums there for how to use it with MCE. Answer was... Noone had managed it yet....

Yet!!!!!

I however had a come across some software from an Australian company called Axcis. The software was MCIS

MCIS

This is intended to be used with LCD Smartie (for character LCDs one of which I have ready to fit above the drive bays)

However reading the tech manuals on it I discovered it outputed state info to a local host service.

So tonight I have been playing with scripts and have discovered a method of displaying the info I want (track title, recording status etc) onto a 5'tft screen.

Bad news is that I may have to rip apart the front panel of this project to allow a TFT screen to be fitted. More soon!

[justblair]

Well I had my first try with my playstation screen. Had to wire the dcc to the 5v line to get it to power up...

Fired in a composite image and its looking great.

The plan though is to use this as an RGB device. Using powerstrip.

Cant wait till tomorrow to have a go with it.

Powerstrip I have tried in the past and its a pain in the buttocks. Hope I have more luck this time.

No piccies yet... batteries on the camera died.

[justblair]

Time for an update, got some new batteriesfor the camera!

First of all we'll start with my playstation screen... No doubt you will have seen these before. Its UK Pal version and looks like this now...

As you can see I took it apart. Wired it up to a vga cable and got rid of most (will trim further before fitting) of the cabling/speakers etc that I didn't need. The other loose cables I couldn't identify so left on. Now I know I dont need them I will snip them. I also intend building a power regulator to run the screen off of the silverstone PSU. Doing the circuit building last on this project so that I can make one bulk order for chips, resistors, leds caps, mosfets ect.

Next up... This week I have been looking at making a case lid. I had already built one from sheet steel, but as mentioned before, I am not happy with the result. Instead I had this brainwave. I am using alu modders mesh, anodised alu strip and L channel to make the lid. The materials are in this picture...

In the top right corner you can see my first experiment with the anodised strip. I formed it into a band which will wrap around the case. There will be 3 of these bands. One at the front, which will also frame the pespex facia, one in the middle to join two sheets of mesh and the L channel at the back to finish the rear of the lid. I have some 3mm by 12mm zinc plated countersunk screws that will fix the bands to the mesh/case. I intend doing these in double rows around the bands. This gives me a chance to try out my drill press! This is kinda hard to explain, perhaps when you see the lid it will become clear.

The lid was formed from the modders mesh. I made myself a bending rig to allow me to make precise right angled bends. The "former" was a 1/2' metal pole that was part of a weight lifting set. Everyone has a set of weights at the back of a cupboard or garage! This is the first time I have found a use for it. I used a sheet of scrap mdf, attached a few bolts in it to hold the metal bar. Then clamped the alu mesh to it, fitted the bar and bent it. Worked very well (only made two mistakes which were easily recitfied)

Here you can see the modders mesh being formed into a lid.

Did this with two sheets, one cut down to fit... The end result i am pleased with!

I think that once the chasis is plainted black, with a few more panels cut out for ventilation this is going to look pretty good. When I held one of the anodised strips in place, the contrast was subtle but distinctive.

It should also provide excellent ventilation for the system.

Bad new is that I am going to have to redo a lot of the playstation extensions. I am having to move it to the right of the case (looking from the front) and upwards to make space for that screen. Here by the way is the extended mem card and joypad ports...

I will probably start afresh with this one. I have a couple of spare ports from the playstations I killed.

I am now considering adding a few leds to the case interiour. Just for laughs really, they will be switched as practically speaking I wont want that distraction while watching TV. I think though a blue glow through the mesh will look good.

Happy to hear your thoughts?

[justblair]

A very quick update...

Was going to finish the case before I added these images, but I got a bit over excited and started the update.

I just completed 2 of 3 of the anodised "bands" that finish the case lid. The result is exacly what I hoped for!

Dont know how long the next one and the facia will take, but these images give a pretty clear impression on what the finished result will be...

First how I made them... I used the same bending rig as before, this time though I put the origional mesh in as well as the strap. 2 benefits to this..

1. Gives me a very accurate fit, mm perfect in fact with little effort.

2. No measuring or compansating for the mesh in my calculations Yey

Pretty easy this time, in fact a 20 minute job at most.

And now the results

The level of precision required scared me off starting this job for a few days. Turned out a lot easier than I thought. Any small gaps you spot here will disapear when its screwed together. Nothings fixed yet.

Unlike the sheet steel I used before, the alu is a lot easier to manipulate, and is forgiving of mistakes (just bend back)

I'm getting excited. Going to try and not get too drunk tonight (My mates away to Australia to live, tonights his leaving do). If I dont have the shakes too bad tomorrow, I might get the majority of the exteriour done!

[justblair]

Not expecting any problems with vibrations.. The only moving parts are the HD unless the ps2 is on. The HD is going to be encased and suspended on elastic by the end of the build.

As for liking the mesh? Well this is a cases of function dictating style. The system must be meshed to allow it to run passive. However I do have an option to add some 2mm thick perspex to the case to cover some of it if all that mesh starts to annoy me... Currently I'm thinking its quite a cool look, and very distinctive... But time will tell, I'll reaappraise this when the novelty has worn off.

I am considering putting some blue leds into the case, though I cant imagine using it with them on... But it might make a nice final glamour shot for the project. I have an idea for a switch, but It will have to wait till I get the rest of the electriconics. I have a shopping list for chips, caps leds and resistors. Once I am sure that it is exhaustive, I will bung an order over to farnell.

I'm going to have a bit to eat, then take some final shots for the worklog tonight. Hangover is still with me!

[justblair]

Here are the last few shots of the project as it stands at the end of the weekend. I'm a bit disapointed with my progress, But I had to take frequent naps today. In my defense I am stuggling with the cold, though the drink did have a devastating effect on my effectiveness today.

What I did get done today on top of my earlier failed attempt was

1. Got another alu strip from the hardware store.

2. Made the third band for the case top.

3. Cut and shaped a thin alu sheet for the front facia. I have not though cut the relevant holes for drives, screen and switches yet. I wanted to wait till my head was a bit clearer before doing this design orientated stuff.

So here are the shots...

You can see in the last shot the rear of the machine. There are two 1.3 cm gaps at the sides. I had intended using the L angled alu to fill this and make up the last band... That was the cutting and shaping I could not get right this morning. Instead I will fill this gap another way.

Probably going to use perspex dyed black for this. It should finish off the rear of the case nicely.

So thats it so far folks... Hopefully I will get a few hours done this week in the evenings. I hopefully will recieve the pci matrox g200 card tomorrow. Thayt will be dedicated to the psone screen, should make controlling it a bit less complicated . I intend soldering the RGB and sync connections either direct to the card, or add a header to the card that allows me to keep the cabling internal.

I was just looking at the mobo etc which is scattered around the living room. I will need to make a post covering the mods I have made there. I took pictures at the time... I'll see how I feel after a cup of tea.. Might do some of it tonight.