If you know your PS1 history, you'll be aware that not all of Sony's 32-bit consoles were created equal.
Like any hardware maker, the Japanese tech giant made revisions to the core PlayStation build, swapping out parts and streamlining the internals to reduce costs and (sometimes) improve performance.
With this in mind, it's hard to pinpoint which is the 'best' PS1 model to go for, so thank goodness that modder Secret Hobbyist has taken the hard work out of the decision by creating an all-new Printed Circuit Board (PCB) that lets you craft the ultimate 32-bit PlayStation.
As spotted by Engadget, Secret Hobbyist's custom PCB is populated with parts from the PM-41 v2 motherboard (PSOne) and the PU18 (an original model). This means it has the coveted Asahi Kasei digital-to-analog audio converter (DAC), which was only featured on the older PS1 consoles, as well as a component which allows the board to communicate with the X-Station mod, an ODE that runs games from a MicroSD card.
The PSOne supplies its GPU and CPU, which are more efficient than those found in older variants – and the whole package is rounded off with an FPGA chip, which enables HDMI output.
Another big bonus is that this tiny board has low power demands, which means it could potentially be factored into a handheld build.