ThunderPSU for Dreamcast (ThunderDream)

[~ VEGETA ~]

https://thundertronics.net/product/drea ... er-supply/

it is now in stock and it is a rev2.

all shipping damage issues have been solved, please check the description of rev2 in the product page for more details.

for any question please visit and contact me on discord: https://discord.gg/8RdykVHh for some reason previous link got bad.

now with rev2 there should be no issues especially that annoying AC connector thing, now replaced with sturdier version. circuit got changed to use more modern and available parts and overall better design.

price is -10$ too.

[bingobongo]

Never had any problems with the 15-20 euro DreamPSU from ali to be honest. I've also never heard anyone complain about them either. It's a fraction of the size, light as a feather, and does what it needs to do.

It seems to me that the Chinese have perfected it, to be honest. I also have stacks of 12v PSUs from external hard drives lying around - which is another plus (for me)

Can someone explain to me what these upper 60-100 euro PSUs do that mine don't? I'm genuinely curious to know why someone would pay so much more. I'm struggling to see what more they offer that realistically affects the console experience.

The only thing I can see is this quote here:

"The Dreamcast sips power at 50-60 hz intervals which inflects this behavior in power circuit itself. This can cause noise, ripple, or instabilities in cheap power supplies but not this one."

But I've not found the DreamPsu unstable at all - and it's had some heavy use of hours long sessions. Noise and ripple are beyond my ken - maybe someone could clarify those in relation to these vs DreamPsu?

[DarkSynbios]

One problem I had identified with the DreamPSU was the behavior of the GD-ROM, many times it had difficulty reading the games correctly and made a lot of noise. When I put the old power supply back in, the GD ROM worked perfectly without any problems.

[OatBob]

Never had any problems with the 15-20 euro DreamPSU from ali to be honest. I've also never heard anyone complain about them either. It's a fraction of the size, light as a feather, and does what it needs to do.

It seems to me that the Chinese have perfected it, to be honest. I also have stacks of 12v PSUs from external hard drives lying around - which is another plus (for me)

Can someone explain to me what these upper 60-100 euro PSUs do that mine don't? I'm genuinely curious to know why someone would pay so much more. I'm struggling to see what more they offer that realistically affects the console experience.

The only thing I can see is this quote here:

"The Dreamcast sips power at 50-60 hz intervals which inflects this behavior in power circuit itself. This can cause noise, ripple, or instabilities in cheap power supplies but not this one."

But I've not found the DreamPsu unstable at all - and it's had some heavy use of hours long sessions. Noise and ripple are beyond my ken - maybe someone could clarify those in relation to these vs DreamPsu?

The biggest criticism against the DreamPSU is in it's design. Bob (not me) from RetroRGB has it outlined better. The layout of the device is a simple buck converter, which may not be best suited for the task. Noise may not be obvious through simple use, as an oscilloscope may be needed to read the waveforms. The article outlines it better than I can articulate.

https://www.retrorgb.com/dreamcast-repl ... lysed.html

To me, DreamPSU's popularity hinges on low cost and ease of install. That seems to be the winning combination for any gaming accessory, without any regard to quality.

[bingobongo]

The thing is, I've never seen someone complain that the DreamPSU doesn't work or underperforms in some obvious way when they're using it.

Surely that's the benchmark here?

Please note, I'm not knocking these alternative, more expensive options—I'm sure the science is there - but in practical terms, is it really worth paying that much more? And if I do, what specifically am I going to notice compared to the cheaper alternative? That's all I really want to know. It seems to me that the most obvious difference is that they utilise a USB-C port for power - which I could see as a decent selling point for someone who prefers that option.

[Xiden]

https://thundertronics.net/product/drea ... er-supply/

it is now in stock and it is a rev2.

all shipping damage issues have been solved, please check the description of rev2 in the product page for more details.

for any question please visit and contact me on discord: https://discord.gg/8RdykVHh for some reason previous link got bad.

now with rev2 there should be no issues especially that annoying AC connector thing, now replaced with sturdier version. circuit got changed to use more modern and available parts and overall better design.

price is -10$ too.

Any other consoles in the works? Like Sega Saturn?

[~ VEGETA ~]

https://thundertronics.net/product/drea ... er-supply/

it is now in stock and it is a rev2.

all shipping damage issues have been solved, please check the description of rev2 in the product page for more details.

for any question please visit and contact me on discord: https://discord.gg/8RdykVHh for some reason previous link got bad.

now with rev2 there should be no issues especially that annoying AC connector thing, now replaced with sturdier version. circuit got changed to use more modern and available parts and overall better design.

price is -10$ too.

Any other consoles in the works? Like Sega Saturn?

Yes, the Saturn version is finished and will go through a final prototype stage but would need some time. there are images for it in the discord server.

Notice that Rev2 of this PSU for Dreamcast is 75$ and I added cheaper shipping option so that the full total cost with all fees is less than 89$ which I think a nice addition. that is for US and UK, Europe stays the same for now.

we'll check the stupid tariff situation in the upcoming days to see the new status of US shipping.