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Project: Think Outside of the (X)Box (Updated 4/6/07 - Done)

Discussion in 'Project Logs' started by blackflag, 15 Feb 2007.

  1. blackflag

    blackflag I Kill Dremels

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    This is the brother worklog to Project: Ever-So-TightLi that I started earlier this afternoon. I didnt get a chance to start this one until now because of the nice snow/ice storm that slammed NY today.

    Anyhow, if you bother to take a look at the other worklog you will see that I converted my Lian Li V2000 from a gaming machine into a 2+TB media server that will store my DVD ISOs. In order to play these on my TV in the living room, I need something that will act as a liasion between my PC and my TV. XBox Media Center fits the bill, and then some. I got my hands on a slightly defective XBox (read: broken DVD-ROM and GPU fan) in December and did some slight mods on it back then and was pretty happy until the fan noise and temps started grating on my nerves. So, what else to do? Mod it even more.

    This is what I had when I started. I put a metallic silver skin on it.
    [​IMG]

    Inside view. Note the upgraded heatsink on the GPU (the gold one). I have an Xbox v1.1 and they come with a noisy, whiny 40mm fan on the GPU (the only version that does). Since the GPU fan was broken when I bought it, I just installed this Zalman heatsink on it and was satisfied. Looking back now I wish I hadn't done this (you'll see why in a minute) but.... :eek: You will also see the internally mounted Logitech cordless controller. The hard drive has been swapped out for a 200GB Maxtor.

    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]

    I also swapped out the crappy 60mm fan with an 80mm Arctic Cooling fan that claimed to be near silent when operating, but once XBMC began doing its thing, the fan got louder and louder and I just couldn't take it anymore.

    [​IMG]

    So, the best thing to do in this situation to kill 2 birds with one stone (heat and noise) is to watercool. As I mentioned in the other worklog, I have a bunch of watercooling parts I'm shuffling around at the moment from my V2000 and my parts bin. I had nearly all the things I will need for this project but there were several missing that I needed to pick up.

    Here's everything I ended up with:

    [​IMG]

    One-by-one...

    CPU Block - This is an Alphacool SLI block- I need the thinness because I plan on using the stock Xbox CPU mount that has a lever on it; any thicker block and the lever will not click into place. Now you see why I regret thermal epoxying that heatsink on the GPU as it is now permanently on there and I can't watercool the GPU. :duh:
    [​IMG]

    Pump - I had this Eheim 1048 with Full Metal Jacket left over from the V2000 project. The one thing I changed was that I swapped out the stainless socket cap screws in favor of black oxide button heads. I like how it turned out, even though the FMJ needs a good cleaning.
    [​IMG]

    Radiator - I removed this Black Ice Xtreme from the front of my V2000. Using Plug&Cool fittings should work nicely in a loop with only one block and a small space to work with. I also picked up a 3 x 120mm AC Ryan black grill for mounting of the rad and some other goodies...
    [​IMG]
    [​IMG]

    Reservoir - I bought a Danger Den fillport and acrylic res that should meet my needs nicely.
    [​IMG]

    Wireless Access Point - I got this D-Link because it will allow me to theoretically get 108mbps between the Xbox and my D-Link "Game Fuel" router. Before anyone says anything about client mode, yes, the access point supports it. :thumb:

    [​IMG]

    Now, with all these snazzy items, I've got to get something to put them all in, right?

    How about this.

    [​IMG]

    Why, that's a Lian Li PC-C31B! :naughty:

    Here's what she looks like unboxed (mind the hairy legs):

    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]

    IMO, an awesome looking HTPC case with 120mm fan opportunities... woo hoo!

    First order of business was to cut the wires from the USB ports as I will not be needing them.

    [​IMG]

    To avoid the hassle of fitting the OEM XBox DVD drive (it's broken anyway) I picked a Samsung 616T DVD-ROM up from Ebay. This drive is the only PC DVD drive that can be modded to be used with an Xbox. The dude I got it from was actually nice enought to solder in the 12 pin power port that the drive requires. What's cool is that the drive will eject by either the eject button on the Xbox, or the eject button on the drive itself, which will come very much in handy when it comes time to relocate buttons. I also used a 36" dual device rounded black IDE cable for the DVD and hard drive. To make sure the DVD power cable would reach the motherboard, I had to solder 24 points to elongate the wires another foot or so.

    [​IMG]

    So now, let's take a look how this is going to turn out. A rough mock-up.

    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]

    WAP may end up here:

    [​IMG]
     
    Last edited: 6 Apr 2007
  2. blackflag

    blackflag I Kill Dremels

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    I planned on cutting out the entire rear of the case (since I wont need mATX or a regular PSU) and installing the AC Ryan rad grill over the hole. This way I could mount fans or the radiator and allow even greater airflow inside the case. This was the idea:

    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]

    Time to start work:

    [​IMG]

    I also needed to remove the mATX motherboard standoffs. A hard tug with some pliers and they came out easily.

    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]

    Next, I installed the fillport in the top lid
    [​IMG]

    Followed by the reservoir:

    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]

    Now came the (un)fun part of cutting out the back. Since the back of the case didn't really follow the pattern of the AC Ryan grill, I just cut a big ol rectangle out of the back.

    [​IMG]

    Yikes! That's rough and ugly! After A LOT of sanding and filing, I was left with this:

    [​IMG]

    Not too bad. Should allow me to mount what I need to, allow air in/out, and also, I can run the proper cabling inside through a slit in the grill or the right side gap (yeah, I know, it's not perfect, but the back of my entertainment center isn't going to complain when the Xbox is in there after it's done...). Since this isn't a PC everyone will see out in the open, I'm okay with the gap and don't feel like doing any metal fabbing to cover it up (time is of the essence!).

    Here's a couple looks into the cage... now you know what it's like to be incarcerated... haha j/k

    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]

    Well, that's it for now, hopefully I can keep this momentum and make some progress in this (and my other) project log. Until the next time, I salute you!

    :thumb:
     
  3. crazydeep74

    crazydeep74 What's a Dremel?

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    Mount the wifi router inside.
     
  4. allforcarrie

    allforcarrie Banned

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    its like pimping a neon, by hte time you are done, you still have a neon..... Just buy a 360 and mod it.
     
  5. sui_winbolo

    sui_winbolo Giraffe_City

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    Wow, you must have some serious cash flow to fund all your mods. I like it, the Xbox with a modchip can be a useful inexpensive computer.
     
  6. modsquad

    modsquad Grease Monkey Undergraduate..

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    Glad to see you back at the bit-- mj.. It's been a long time. Brings-back old (fun) recollections. AND (2) projects at once.. GREAT..
     
  7. calib3r

    calib3r What's a Dremel?

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    Looking good.
     
  8. Duste

    Duste Sierra my delta, bravo!

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    I'd have to agree with crazydeep - just mount the access point inside the case with the antenna sticking out the back, or even the top (but painted black). It'd add a little bit of excitement to the case, I guess. :p
     
  9. blackflag

    blackflag I Kill Dremels

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    Yeah, but can Xbox360 run Xbox Media Center? i really dont care about the gaming aspect the Xbox provides- I've got a PC for that. I'm using it solely for the Media Center functionality and you'd be hard pressed to find a more feature rich product as inexpensively (the cost of the Xbox is about it).

    I should be able to fit the WAP back inside the case too, that pic was just when I was playing around with placement.

    @MS-

    Thanks buddy, it's great to be back. You know how it is with 2 projects at the same time... I've been lurking in your BR thread since you started it. Whenever I view it I usually get upset because I'm at work reading it and wish I was home in the garage doing some :dremel:. Great work as always.

    Next up I will be mounting new mobo standoffs to match the xbox mobo hole pattern and psu...
     
    Last edited: 15 Feb 2007
  10. airchie

    airchie What's a Dremel?

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    Looks interesting.

    Keep up the good work... :)
     
  11. Noni

    Noni What's a Dremel?

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    1. Please put some clothes on

    2. Why did you cut the wires? Is it not easier to tuck them away or even un-screw the USB thing all-together?

    3. Why an XBOX? They are outdated now, and I dont think its worth investing money in it- espically with the water-cooling and all, if you wanted silent I would have just modded a Scythe Ninja on it.

    4. With the fill port at the top will it not be VERY hard for you to get back inside the case?

    Otherwise, good choice of case.
     
  12. guysy1110

    guysy1110 What's a Dremel?

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    nice idea, think it will look mint when its done :)
     
  13. blackflag

    blackflag I Kill Dremels

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    @Noni:

    To answer your questions in numerical order...

    1. They're shorts... it's hot in my place with the new baby... Doctors say it should be between 68 and 75 F, which is fine for my wife because she's always cold, but not cool for me because I'm always hot :duh: .

    2. There's going to be a lot of wires in there once I put the 2 wireless controller receivers, the power switch panel, controller ports, and the PSU. I didnt need additional long wires that serve no purpose. I didnt want to remove it because then I'd have several holes in the front shaped like USB, Firewire and audio ports and I dont feel like modding the front panel- I'd like it to remain as stock as possible, since it's so clean looking. I may look into removing the Lian Li logo and replacing it with the Xbox logo from the OEM DVD.

    3. YES XBOX'S ARE OLD. I've already mentioned that. It's not to play games on. Sure, I have the option (this is why I am putting 2 wireless controllers inside the chassis instead of one) but gaming is and will be done 99.99999999% on my PC (why I'm building Ever-So-TightLi ). The only time I will use the Xbox to game is when my wife wants to play (once in a blue moon) or I have friends over and we want to play something NOT available on PC. Anyone who wants to know why I am continuing to use an Xbox should look here: XBMC Wiki. I, along with 1000s of other people, don't care about the gaming functionality, we just use it as a HTPC of sorts. The feature set in XBMC is so rich that it's hard to look elsewhere for the price (free AND it has tons of options, codec support, etc). It is really damn cool- probably the coolest software I've gotten my hands on recently (take that Vista!).

    4. I'm leaving a long loop of tubing as coiled as it can be inside the case (hence why I dont need more wire clutter from the USB). By my calculations, I should be able to remove the lid without disturbing the water cooling.
     
  14. DougEdey

    DougEdey I pwn all your storage

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    I agree with mj, since 2004 I've been making Xbox's into HTPCs. When you can get them for ~£35-£40 second hand, spend £25 to modify them you have a very nice, very quiet little PC.

    Btw. V1.0 does have a GPU fan on it. I'm trying to modify one for a friend but my Soldering iron appears to have died :'(
     
  15. Evenge

    Evenge Minimodder

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    Hey this looks realy interesting! I'm a big fan of fury pc and can't wait to see more this project! :thumb:
     
  16. crazybob

    crazybob Voice of Reason

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    I'm looking forward to seeing how this turns out. However, I would caution you to test out streaming over wireless before you start cutting holes for the access point. XBMC is the reason I switched from a G wireless network to a wired one. Granted, your theoretical bandwidth is twice what mine was, but if I'd been able to get theoretical max out of mine it would have been plenty. And I also encode my DVDs to 800mb AVI files, which should require less network bandwidth than your ISOs.
     
  17. blackflag

    blackflag I Kill Dremels

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    I'm not necessarily worried about total bandwidth (800MB vs. 4.7GB) but more about bitrate. You would think, though, that a 108mbps theoretical bandwidth would be enough to stream ~9mbps DVD video... How far away was your access point from your router? The good news for me is that mine will only be about 20 ft diagonally, so there are literally no obstacles and I have a completely clear line of sight. Also, my cordless phone is 5.8GHz so I dont have to worry about crosstalk there, and I rarely use my microwave.

    I'm planning on doing some speed tests before making anything final but I dont have a ton of choices since my living room area has hard wood floors and no rugs to hide any Cat5. :wallbash: I can't even use that plastic wire molding stuff, since I already have normal molding on the bottom (no gaps either) and crown molding on the top. :wallbash: :wallbash:
     
  18. modsquad

    modsquad Grease Monkey Undergraduate..

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    IMHO, this is a very interesting project.
    Just how-much gear can mj stuff-into that little box..
    only time (and this project log) will-tell.. :thumb:
     
  19. crazybob

    crazybob Voice of Reason

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    My XBox was plugged directly into the router and my computer was connected through a wireless card about 15 feet away through one wall.

    However, I will admit that I've had a lot of problems with my wireless network, despite being the only person in my building on that channel. I think it's due to the low quality of my wireless router, a Linksys WRT54G version 5, so there's a decent chance you won't have any problems with your setup. All the same, you should give it a try before you commit to it.
     
  20. blackflag

    blackflag I Kill Dremels

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    Absolutely.

    I got some new goodies from McMaster today - some electrical insulation for the Xbox PSU, and some other tools and such for the V300 that I will post pics of later when I get home.

    After I mocked up the parts for pictures I noticed that 2 of the Logitech controller receiver wires had come free (they are fairly fragile solder points). I will be fixing those this weekend and hope to get some mobo standoffs mounted.

    We'll see. I'd like to get some work done on both projects because I have some cool ideas to try. :idea:
     

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