The Dreamcast 'DC-PC' sleeper build

Windfall

Shrink Ray Wielder
SFFn Staff
Nov 14, 2017
2,117
1,584
Nicely done, I love it!! I've considered doing something similar with my dead gamecube.

Is mounting the motherboard upside down the best option from a thermal viewpoint?
 

Ross Siggers

SFF Lingo Aficionado
Original poster
Nov 10, 2018
105
108
Nicely done, I love it!! I've considered doing something similar with my dead gamecube.

Is mounting the motherboard upside down the best option from a thermal viewpoint?

Do it! There's a gamecube build on here, they're very cool.

It was definitely best option, not that there were many... If the motherboard were facing upwards, it would be suffocated by the gpu. Looking at temperatures, in hindsight the gpu on the bottom and cpu on the top might have been marginally better, but it's hard to say.
 
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Windfall

Shrink Ray Wielder
SFFn Staff
Nov 14, 2017
2,117
1,584
Do it! There's a gamecube build on here, they're very cool.

It was definitely best option, not that there were many... If the motherboard were facing upwards, it would be suffocated by the gpu. Looking at temperatures, in hindsight the gpu on the bottom and cpu on the top might have been marginally better, but it's hard to say.

Thanks!
 
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Ross Siggers

SFF Lingo Aficionado
Original poster
Nov 10, 2018
105
108
Any chance we could see a video of this dream build running >.>
I'll even take shaky, vertically orientated phone camera footage.

I'll do a quick walkaround, then show it running a benchmark. I dunno what's the standard these days, but superposition is a fun looking one and it's free. So I'll use that
 

BonfireOfDreams

Average Stuffer
Mar 14, 2019
68
32
As requested ?

I didn't end up running the benchmark in the video, but there is a result
You are my favorite person today. It's so quiet! I must have missed an update somewhere because I thought the disc tray hinge was just trimmed/modified but you went with full removal. This is honestly probably the coolest emulation device out there. 10/10.

that PS2 sneak peek though ?
 
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Ross Siggers

SFF Lingo Aficionado
Original poster
Nov 10, 2018
105
108
You are my favorite person today. It's so quiet! I must have missed an update somewhere because I thought the disc tray hinge was just trimmed/modified but you went with full removal. This is honestly probably the coolest emulation device out there. 10/10.

that PS2 sneak peek though ?

Yeah I wanted to keep the hinge mechanism on there so you could just pop the lid like a normal dreamcast...but space limitations got the better of that idea.

And it's very quiet on idle and content consumption, it only really ramps up when gaming, where admittedly it gets quite loud. I messed around with the fan curves a lot! It's literally sitting on the desk right next to me, if it was underneath say, your TV, it would be even less noticeable.

The basis for the PS2 arrived today, an ASrock Deskmini A300... mock-up has already begun ;)
 

DaFinn

What's an ITX?
New User
Apr 11, 2024
1
0
*clipped*

First, apologies for digging up this years old thread but I had some questions. 😔

Second, want to say amazing build. Your's and a couple others I've seen has inspired me to do the same thing for Quake Con this year!

Finally, my questions:
  1. What power switches are you using? I'll need to use two for power purposes as I'll be using a mini pc and a portable GPU with separate power buttons. 😣
  2. Based on the pics and video, it appears that the pico PSU is the only thing in the modem/network adapter space. Is this correct? I'm trying to get a feel for space since the portable GPU I plan to use is 175mm length which is just larger than an itx mobo.
Bonus!
If you ever want to add USB ports to the controller ports let me know. I'm currently working on a solution for this and have a 3D printable file for space fillers to reduce the controller ports to USB size. The only drawback is it requires about the same amount of space as the original controller daughter board does for the USBs and the USB Hub that controls them. I also haven't solved where/how to mount them yet as I am still in the very early stages of planning this build.