Choosing My PS2 Model
So there’s 2 obvious choices when it comes to choosing a PS2, Fat or Slim.
There’s a sizable fan-base of the fat model and it’s the one I had growing up (lost many years ago). However I knew I wanted the slim.
Why Choose Fat
Before I go into why I chose the slim, let’s go over some of the reasons you may choose the fat.
- There’s a bay to insert a hard drive on compatible models.
- That can be later used to load games onto rather than use disks that may deteriorate over time.
- Final Fantasy XI requires a HDD and I think a couple other Japan-only titles. However I’m in the UK (PAL region) so that was never released here anyway.
- All fat models are considered compatible with FreeMcBoot, for the slim later
SCPH-90000models patch the BIOS. There are apparently workarounds for the later models such as modchips but that takes quite a bit more effort. - Internal power supply vs external brick on the slim. Though later
SCPH-90000have internal power supplies again. - I read a few people note better build quality of the fat where the slim may have ribbon cable issues that scratch disks or how the hardware was adjusted in the slim causing some glitches in gameplay (but these honestly seem rare and a little overstated).
Nothing on this was a deal-breaker for me but the slim has some benefits that really sold it.
Why I Chose The Slim
Looks & Size
First reason I think it just looks cooler. The thing is tiny, it’s sleek and amazes me how they fit so much that was in a fat into the tiny form. The looks however are subjective so would understand if people prefer the fat look. Aside from looks my setup is in my workshop where I want to pursue many other things so space saving is a nice plus so I have more room to store my other crap.
Power Usage
After size comes the lower power usage. My thinking is because it runs on 8.5 volts it would be easier to have it run on a 12 volt battery (via DC-DC converter). That would need some more research on exactly how to do that but I’m pretty sure when I saw PS2 setups in cars they were the slims (size also likely played some factor there too).
I have no intention of pimping my ride and adding the PS2 to my car but having owned a small boat a while back and aspiring to one day get a boat again having a low power gaming setup would be pretty cool in my eyes.
I’m sure you could get a fat working on a 12 volt supply but because of the internal power brick you would need to do DC to AC conversion to then have the PS2 convert that back internally which just seems like more steps to lose efficiency during these conversions. That plus the fact the slim is considered more power efficient in general.
Choosing a Specific Model
As noted before some slim models don’t play so nice with FreeMcBoot. Right now I’m using physical PS2 disks bought when I see a cheap deal on eBay on games I’m after. However later I will likely load these via FreeMcBoot + Open PS2 Loader (OPL) to preserve my collection. Though it does feel nostalgic in a nice way rooting through a pile of boxes to find the disk I’m after.
See FMCB Compatible PS2 Models Chart for a full list of models and FreeMcBoot compatibility & quirks.
Anyway that means I had to be specific on what model I bought so was checking specific model numbers.
I went for a SCPH-70003 in the end. An early model of the slim for the UK (PAL) region (where I’m located).
Where I Got It
I got mine from eBay, quite a few people listed them without pictures or details of the exact model so these were ruled out just to be safe. Though I think you can tell the difference by the slight variations in the case but I found what I wanted pretty quick anyway. Paid ~£75 and that came with 2 controllers (one of which was a knockoff brand), memory card, original box (bit rough but fine), an eye toy (I’ll likely never use) and 6 games. The PS2 was in great condition with no major scratches I could see and it’s been playing games solidly since I got it.
