How to Convert 60gb PS3 to high end gaming PC.

[Smoke&Slide]

Hi peeps, well my 60gb PS3 broke about 5 years ago and is a big paper weight stuck in my wardrobe draw.I have seen people who have converted them to HTPC's.Is this a good idea ? I say this because of the confined space inside and the heat the components might generate.I wouldn't want it to catch fire whilst using it or at the very least melt into molten plastic.What decent components can I get for relatively cheap money.I know I need a graphics card, sound card, wifi, maybe a disc drive and possibly a power supply too.What else do I need folks.By the way is this worth doing ? or should I just buy a small pc for my television ? By the way i know nothing about how to do this.

Cheers Nath.

P.s. don't know if this is in the wrong section.

 

[Samus]

By the way i know nothing about how to do this.

Then I would advise not to try. Building a PC inside a custom case is not for novices. For a start I'm pretty sure you aren't going to get any PCI cards in there, it's too small. Nor anything big enough to cool it. I imagine these HTPC builds are low-power, low-heat systems with everything on the board.

 

[Grayfox]

HTPC builds do not or should use any PCIe GPU.
The iGPU is more than enough for H.264 video decoding.

I would advise against it as @Samus said it, custom case builds are hard.

If you want a HTPC in a tiny form factor get a NUC.

 

[JakeMR2]

Hi peeps, well my 60gb PS3 broke about 5 years ago and is a big paper weight stuck in my wardrobe draw.I have seen people who have converted them to HTPC's.Is this a good idea ? I say this because of the confined space inside and the heat the components might generate.I wouldn't want it to catch fire whilst using it or at the very least melt into molten plastic.What decent components can I get for relatively cheap money.I know I need a graphics card, sound card, wifi, maybe a disc drive and possibly a power supply too.What else do I need folks.By the way is this worth doing ? or should I just buy a small pc for my television ? By the way i know nothing about how to do this.

Cheers Nath.

P.s. don't know if this is in the wrong section.

I can give tips, try making the base console x2 to fit most components in, like the power supply, gpu, motherboard, and other stuff. Also make sure to alter your custom case, the PS3's power button alignment is different from a normal gaming PC. Look for tips online if you can.

 

[bluemoon_19]

it would be a hard build Luke from Linus tech tips attempted to put a high end computer in a fallout mini nuke and that didn't look to pretty.

 

[Grayfox]

If you want to go ahead with this you will need to use those 3M PCB standoffs and a SFX or a TFX PSU.

 

[sesselpupser]

I don't know if you already have a PC, but if you do you could use a Steam Link to connect it to your TV instead of building another, but that's only really worth considering if you can run a network cable to it. 802.11ac wireless can also work - that is if they even have ac, I'm not even sure that they do - but you'd have to be careful to avoid any heavy network use while you're playing (so forget it if you live with several Netflix users or even one person into torrenting terabytes of stuff they'll never watch) and you'd still want the PC wired to the router.

But yeah, a HTPC without a graphics card won't match up favourably to a PS3, fortunately there are tons of compact cases designed to take a card and compact versions of powerful cards to go in them. The only downside to them is the cooler is smaller so they run hotter and will probably throttle back their speeds sooner than a full-size card would.

 

[AOS-]

If the root reason for wanting to turn a PS3 into a PC is because you just don't want a bulky plastic box sitting around for nothing, you could gut the inner stuff, clean it, and polish it up into some sexy tech decor.

You also could turn it into a emergency kit housing that you mount to the wall.

 

[Tornado]

If the root reason for wanting to turn a PS3 into a PC is because you just don't want a bulky plastic box sitting around for nothing, you could gut the inner stuff, clean it, and polish it up into some sexy tech decor.

You also could turn it into a emergency kit housing that you mount to the wall.

Or, lest we all forget:

 

[NLxAROSA]

By the way is this worth doing ? or should I just buy a small pc for my television ?

Doing custom stuff like this is almost never worth doing from economical perspective as you can get cheaper out-of-the-box or build-it-yourself solutions.

HTPC is definitely possible with a mini-ITX motherboard and a low-profile GPU (or no GPU), and power consumption will be low so cooling won't be an issue. Easiest to do since you'll have plenty of room to fit everything.

High-end is going to be a bit more tricky, but it might work. You can go with a mini-ITX motherboard again, so that will fit. GPU is not going to fit (no high-end low profile cards on the market right now) upright. Might fit sideways (with a 90-degree angle riser), as long as you make it go to the side where the CPU is not. Haven't done the measurements, but might fit. CPU is not going to be an issue, you could fit a Skylake i7 in there no problem. Add a low profile cooler like a Scythe Shuriken to keep it cool. Will fit. An SFX-format PSU of a decent brand at about 550W should be enough to power it. Add some fans to get decent airflow.

Only question I would have here is how to keep it cool.

That said, if you're looking for a nice PC for under the TV, there are easier options in terms of case, like my Fractal Design Node 605 or other cases.

 

[Robin]

I love the idea of re purposing stuff like this and it would be great to give it a go but it's not for the faint hearted. The PS3 casing is actually kinda small inside, a micro HTPC would fit in OK but anything for gaming you will have difficultly. The PSU for one is probably not going to fit. For cooling you could have water cooling pipes running out of it to an external box, something like this.

 

[TB]

While I do appreciate everyone's helpful nature, you guys do realize that he has a history of starting threads like this and never returning, don't you?

 

[BobK]

If it's going to be an HTPC and not for gaming why not slap a Raspberry Pi running Kodi in it?

Certainly no lack of room for something like that.

 

[Robin]

If it's going to be an HTPC and not for gaming why not slap a Raspberry Pi running Kodi in it?

Certainly no lack of room for something like that.

Is there an old piece of tech that hasn't had a Raspberry Pi shoved in it?!

 

[sesselpupser]

While I do appreciate everyone's helpful nature, you guys do realize that he has a history of starting threads like this and never returning, don't you?

I knew that before I posted, but other people wanting to do the same thing will probably find this thread and might get something useful from it, maybe. I have people PMing me maybe three times a year about things I was talking about years ago, which is cool.

 

[NLxAROSA]

I knew that before I posted, but other people wanting to do the same thing will probably find this thread and might get something useful from it, maybe. I have people PMing me maybe three times a year about things I was talking about years ago, which is cool.

Same here. And I liked the thought process of seeing what would fit. Much to my surprise, I think a high end rig might actually work with this case. Hardest thing is getting the GPU and the connectors to fit nicely.

The PSU for one is probably not going to fit.

SFX (instead of ATX) is your friend in this case. (pun intended ) I used one of those in my shoebox PC.

 

[Robin]

SFX (instead of ATX) is your friend in this case. (pun intended ) I used one of those in my shoebox PC.

SFX PSU's a great, it's funny because it's one of those PC components that don't really need to be ATX sized but have just stayed big and ugly because it's easier to stick to that spec for the manufacturers. They are 50% air now!

 

[NLxAROSA]

Got an old PS3 here, tempted to take it apart and do a little mockup to see if it would fit with a GTX0170.

 

[syntex123]

Why not do this the easy way. Buy a Steam Machine and fit those parts snuggly inside the PS3 fatty case with some modding. Should work, right? Or if you work at an office with terminals instead of computers. Rig your PS3 on the desk with the terminal parts and voilá. that should be really easy as those terminals are wayyy smaller than a fatty PS3. Bet you could use the PS3 super slim and still make it work.