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better late than never, my minified xbox project

Posted: Mon Dec 01, 2014 3:21 am
by gcharlie84
After years of seeing all the cool minified xbmc projects different folks have posted over the years, I finally got the nerve to build one of my own. Its not the thinest, but its a whole lot smaller then the stock model.
- Inside is a 1.6 mother board
- picopsu160-xt
- xecuter2.6 chip to run the board sans dvd-drive
- 160gb slim ide hardrive
- the case is laser cut and stained with a satin finish
- steel illuminated power button/switches
- its also running xbmc with Dom DXecutioner's Xbox Extended skin

https://drive.google.com/folderview?id= ... sp=sharing

Re: better late than never, my minified xbox project

Posted: Mon Dec 01, 2014 4:14 am
by fxmech
Nice X[ ] ! Very classy

Re: better late than never, my minified xbox project

Posted: Mon Dec 01, 2014 11:46 am
by xman
Very nice machine. I like that a lot.

Re: better late than never, my minified xbox project

Posted: Mon Dec 01, 2014 12:46 pm
by asbo
I love it :)

Re: better late than never, my minified xbox project

Posted: Mon Dec 01, 2014 2:14 pm
by RoyalX
Me likey.

The case is wood, right?

Re: better late than never, my minified xbox project

Posted: Mon Dec 01, 2014 5:57 pm
by gcharlie84
correct, stained birchwood. I was worried that it would overheat easily, but those copper heatsyncs hold up very well. It does run a bit hot but within safe ranges.

Re: better late than never, my minified xbox project

Posted: Tue Dec 02, 2014 9:36 pm
by DavPow
One of the best modded Xbox i've seen! Great job! :D

Re: better late than never, my minified xbox project

Posted: Wed Dec 03, 2014 8:05 pm
by MrMajst3r
It's never too late for Xbox modding!
Interesting and well prepared project. Congratulations :D

Re: better late than never, my minified xbox project

Posted: Thu Dec 04, 2014 7:43 pm
by Nextelhalo
Amazing work Charlie, looks absolutely perfect IMO. Any thoughts on lighting?

Re: better late than never, my minified xbox project

Posted: Thu Dec 11, 2014 12:59 am
by Rocky5
Very nice, one question is the PicoPSU 160-XT sufficient for the 5v amparage & also does it work with a 2.5" hdd & stock dvd drive?

As I wanted to do something like this, but wasn't sure if the Xbox would run from a PicoPSU.

My Dreamcast runs fine with a 160w picopsu, but that doesn't have a lot amps on the 5v or 12v uses 3amps on the 3.3v (xbox is like 6 on the 5v on boot)

Re: better late than never, my minified xbox project

Posted: Thu Dec 11, 2014 3:27 pm
by gcharlie84
Rocky5 wrote:Very nice, one question is the PicoPSU 160-XT sufficient for the 5v amparage & also does it work with a 2.5" hdd & stock dvd drive?

As I wanted to do something like this, but wasn't sure if the Xbox would run from a PicoPSU.

My Dreamcast runs fine with a 160w picopsu, but that doesn't have a lot amps on the 5v or 12v uses 3amps on the 3.3v (xbox is like 6 on the 5v on boot)
The pico works great with the xbox I've left it running some of the more processor intensive games for day long stretches to test it, and it hasnt failed once. And that was when I had to have the stock dvd drive because I was waiting on the mod chip. using it on the 1.6 mobo was a tricky tho, mostly because its completely different in how it gets power from the PSU, being more heavily reliant on 5v standby ...essentially two power button are required (1 for the pico the, 1 for the mobo)

Like i said it does run a bit hot, since its stretching the 5v rail well to the max of its safe range, but since your rarely tapping the 12v rail(fans mostly, and stock dvd if you have it), and I don't think i even touched the 3v rail. So it all balances out and as long as some of the fans air flow is reaching it, you should be good.

Re: better late than never, my minified xbox project

Posted: Thu Dec 11, 2014 3:40 pm
by gcharlie84
Nextelhalo wrote:Amazing work Charlie, looks absolutely perfect IMO. Any thoughts on lighting?
Good question, I should probably take a few shots to showcase the lighting features, they're few but key. I wanted to keep the lighting very minimal and unassuming. The heat sink fans and mod-chip all give off a nice dim blue thats gets defused nicely by the vent holes. Also the rings around the power switches are lit white. but like i said I wanted to keep it unassuming, which is why i placed them in the back. Also the original green/orange/red status light is nested into the case itself. I basicly made a whole in the back panel, thats just deep enough to leave the slightest paper thin layer of wood. that way when the light is off its completly invisible, but if theres a problem then a specific corner of the wood glows (kinda magicly like the sleep light on some macbooks https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WLJqDhr8jgI). I was going to just slot it in one of the vent holes and that would have done the trick (infact the led fit snuggly, but thi seemed more fun.

Re: better late than never, my minified xbox project

Posted: Thu Dec 11, 2014 3:46 pm
by gcharlie84
Another interesting thing to note is the I/O panel in the back. Thats actually the plastic from the original case. I was worried about misaligning the screws that seat the motherboard, and the holes for the a/v port and stuff, so i just used the bottom and that portion of the case and cut it down to size, and epoxied it to the bottom wood panel. BUT i also sandpapered the I/O panel and then smoothed it out to give it a faux woodgrain finish

Re: better late than never, my minified xbox project

Posted: Thu Dec 11, 2014 4:59 pm
by Rocky5
Time to start producing & selling the case, so I can make one :-P I don't have access to a laser cutter, so it would be good old saws, chisels & drills.

How much for a precut case? (Not assembled just laser cut)

With the lid on is there space for the original heatsyncs? As I would use a blow system, where the fan sits in front of the heatsyncs attached to the lid & blows over & out the back. (I would make a air chamber to direct the air)

Re: better late than never, my minified xbox project

Posted: Wed Jan 21, 2015 6:19 pm
by gcharlie84
Rocky5 wrote:Time to start producing & selling the case, so I can make one :-P I don't have access to a laser cutter, so it would be good old saws, chisels & drills.

How much for a precut case? (Not assembled just laser cut)

With the lid on is there space for the original heatsinks? As I would use a blow system, where the fan sits in front of the heat sinks attached to the lid & blows over & out the back. (I would make a air chamber to direct the air)
In my case the lasercut was pretty expensive, I don't own a laser cuter so i had to rely on a local shop that specialized in laser cuts and 3d prints. The biggest thing was all the tiny vent holes which caused for a longer run time on the laser cutter, almost twice what they originally quoted and what the machine estimated... i could have done them after the fact manually or used a more cost effective design, but I was dead set on my original design and having it be as precise as possible.
Theres absolutely no room for the stock heat sinks since the profile is so low,since the original heat sinks are aluminum they have to be pretty tall to dispense the adequate amount of heat, you could probably find comparable shorter heat sinks if you found a copper alternative.
The internal height are only about 1 inches if not less but you have to account for the motherboard tray and adequate spacing for the memory chips underneath.

Re: better late than never, my minified xbox project

Posted: Wed Jan 21, 2015 8:36 pm
by Rocky5
Ah, may have to just go the old manual route :-( I already have a slim, but something smaller is always nicer, easier to move about & easier to fit in places.

Re: better late than never, my minified xbox project

Posted: Sat Jan 24, 2015 5:05 pm
by spicemuseum
gcharlie84 wrote:correct, stained birchwood. I was worried that it would overheat easily, but those copper heatsyncs hold up very well. It does run a bit hot but within safe ranges.
What model of cooler did you use on the CPU and GPU...?

Re: better late than never, my minified xbox project

Posted: Sun Jan 25, 2015 6:58 pm
by professor_jonny
cool xbox the xbox logo on the front is cool.
not to sure on the carpet but :-)

Re: better late than never, my minified xbox project

Posted: Mon Jan 26, 2015 5:04 pm
by gcharlie84
spicemuseum wrote:
gcharlie84 wrote:correct, stained birchwood. I was worried that it would overheat easily, but those copper heatsyncs hold up very well. It does run a bit hot but within safe ranges.
What model of cooler did you use on the CPU and GPU...?
The CPU has an Iceberq 4 Premium, its not manufactured anymore but you can still come by them. Of the coolers in that size range its the best, has the most fins, and a really great base. The GPU has a smaller generic copper VGA cooler (startech i think). The GPU seems to run much cooler than the CPU even under continuos high load, so I saved the beefier cooler on the CPU. Ideally I would have put two Iceberq4s, but the 1.6 motherboards are really difficult to work with and don't have the screw holes positioned in a way that accommodate two Iceberq 4's.

Re: better late than never, my minified xbox project

Posted: Mon Jan 26, 2015 5:06 pm
by gcharlie84
Rocky5 wrote:Ah, may have to just go the old manual route :-( I already have a slim, but something smaller is always nicer, easier to move about & easier to fit in places.
I hear you, probability and storage was my MO,thats why I made it so boxy and sturdy. It's super easy to stack and store.