Ouija's HTPS2 - Working on: Putting it all together

Firstly, I'll set off by saying that I know this has been done before. I've wanted to do this project for a long time, then I saw that someone on mini-itx.com had attempted it and to be perfectly honest, I was less than impressed with the results. It looked a bit of a botched job that was thrown together in a hurry and half the cables were hanging out of both the front and the back.

Anyway, this project is for a HTPC. Duh The plan is to make it look 100% exactly like (aside from the motherboard I/O, etc) the original item the case was designed for, that is the PlayStation 2. There will be no glowyness, no extra fans, no watercooling.

I have the case along with the original circuitry for the reset and eject buttons, which will be used. The original purple and green/red LEDs are intact too

If I can source the original USB ports, this would be a bonus but if not there are plenty USB ports that can be used. The iLink port will be covered in tinted plexi. Behind it will be an IR receiver for keyboard/mouse, or possibly a remote. The only part of the case that I'm looking for is the front for the DVD drive. No store I found with PS2 cases and parts had the DVD front, only the entire module which is too large.

The specifications of the system will be:
Epia M10000 Motherboard
512Mb DDR
60-100Gb IDE HDD (7200RPM will suffice)
Slimline DVD drive

Some pics of the case:


The entire case


Case top


Buttons/LEDs


Vertically mounted


Lid removed


Rear parts


Sketchup

 

w00t first post.

wow ouija another mod. good luck it dude. Gonna be a hard task.

 

I've begun to trim off the excess material inside the case to make room for the components. Because of the depth of the case (front to back), the motherboard must be mounted in the upper part as opposed to the "floor". And because the DVD drive will be mounted on the ceiling of the case, the motherboard must be mounted upside-down.


Front screw hole removed


Another screw hole removed


Floor of the case half way through material removal


Completed floor


Illustration of how the motherboard will mount. This is an Epia C800


Rear view with lid on

As you can see, the lid doesn't close properly. This is because the motherboard's IDE and power connectors prevent it from sitting flush against the lip on the front of the case. The M10000's power connector is in a different location, so that is no problem. The only remaining obstructions are the IDE connectors and a few capacitors. For this reason, they will be removed... ... and soldered onto the bottom of the board (which faces upwards). I may solder the IDE cables directly to the board, because if the connector is on the bottom the pins will be in the wrong order and something will fry.

 

oooo looking good

 

Yeh. YAY! Got in between oujia's 2 posts. pwnt

Good luck. Hope it fits

 

It does

 

Im so mad!!!! I got a broken ps2 for cheap i coulda used it for a project like this, but made some money selling it on ebay

 

Humble

Seriously though, this is going to be sweet. Subscribing

 

interesting mod, could turn out quite nicely, but no extra fans? you may want to think about adding 1 or 2, we wouldnt wanna see that thing go up in smoke!

and this thing needs a name...

pc2?

caff.

 

I will probably be replacing the heatsink(s) on the motherboard. I may cool them passively, or I may use small fans in there as well. The problem with the fans is that they will be so close to the bottom of the case, they may have to be exhausting from the heatsink (downwards) rather than blowing air onto the CPU. I may simply have twin exhaust fans at the rear. The PS2 case does have a mesh grill at the front for air intake.

Hehe, I actually said earlier on IRC that anyone who tries PC2 or PS2PC gets a slap

 

lol, well fair enough... ill have a think about names...

but for now... you know the expansion bay... how covered up is that now... any chance of a pic there, cuz i may have a nice little idea for you to keep this bad boy cool ... also it could be an idea to perhaps out some 80mm fans slots, perhaps on one corner... mesh it up and have a fan on there... i mean its hard for me to see where everythings going to sit at the moment, but i dont think cooling is going to be that major an issue in the long run

as for names...

fus - f00k joo sony
jackblack - jacked blackboard - also fits in with the blackness
darkstation - obvious

any of those help?

 

Yea, the 80mm slot coolers are an option. The only component in the expansion bay will be the power supply. I'm hoping the morex DC-DC convert I'm using will be powerful enough. It should be ok with a slimline DVD and a single HDD.

I was having a discussion with Sc0rian on MSN about watercooling it. A custom radiator made from a couple of copper pipes with fins soldered on would be ideal. A custom block epoxied on and some thinwall tubing would be perfect. If I had a spare sysfx pump (tiny things) and they were more realiable than I've had experience with, watercooling could be a possability.

 

Looking from the back, the dvd, sits in the top left, there is the "expansion" slot under that, bit longer than a dvd drive. Then top and bottom right is where the mobo is sitting.

The expansion slot is about 40mm high at the biggest, so it might be hard

What are you doing about a psu?

gd luck mate ill be keeping an eye on this

*edit, you beat me too it.

what PSU qre you going to use?

 

watercooling would indeed be godly... and it is possible... although space is an issue there...

well i await your next lot of pictures so i can give more detailed advice... until then... happy modding!!

Caff.

 

well i was just thinking about modding one of those drive bay fan sets... the ones with 2 80mm fans on... very easy to mod, and would be ideal... also if cut would fit nicely in the drive bay... ill go and measure up my ps2 2morrow and see if i can come up with anything else

caff.

 

The only problem with those are that the fans would be facing either the top or the bottom of the case.

kill_me_quick, I'm using a Morex 55w DC-DC converter for power.

 

This is the most likely cooling solution, obviously internally mounted and probably with better fans.

 

So are you going for a complete stealth job?

 

Oh yes

 

not even changing the logo on the side?
should be a great project!

edit: thought of a name: xPS.
(as in 'ex'-PS) not sure about it though.