• Some users have recently had their accounts hijacked. It seems that the now defunct EVGA forums might have compromised your password there and seems many are using the same PW here. We would suggest you UPDATE YOUR PASSWORD and TURN ON 2FA for your account here to further secure it. None of the compromised accounts had 2FA turned on.
    Once you have enabled 2FA, your account will be updated soon to show a badge, letting other members know that you use 2FA to protect your account. This should be beneficial for everyone that uses FSFT.

MeHoo's Xbox 36O²

M

MeHoo

n00b
Joined
Apr 17, 2005
Messages
48
Ok I think this project is along far enough now to not be vaporware so I thought i'd give the overall idea and post some images [will post more later].

I just upgraded to a pro account at photobucket so images shouldn't be an issue where they are hosted as stated in the FAQ.

So to summarize.. i'm taking this:
Xbox360full_500x526.jpg


and modding it into this as seamlessly as possible:
SGI_O2.jpg


Not my links because i don't have any stock pics before modding. Sorry.

Also this is an xbox 360 mod using a computer case.. technically its computer related but i leave that up to the mods to decide. I felt some of the people here would get a kick out of this [hopefully]. The main goal is to integrate it with the use of some soldering, desoldering, switch re-placement, and an integrated power brick IN the case. I have also added cooling enhancements such as the 12v mod [not finished], 5 x 40mm case fans to be added as intake, x-clamp mod, some exhaust fans, and I *should* have a fan per heatsink once this is all done with as well. the best part out of all of this is that I've started all of this with a Red Ring of Death console that i bought for $50 and fixed with the x-clamp.

And I am a very busy man so if updates don't come as often as some would like feel free to ping me and encouragement is always welcome. I mod a ton of things at once, whether it be computers, game consoles, paintball guns, etc. so I basically pick which one i want to work on that night. Community push can help determine that.

Ok without further delays here are some started pics and i'll describe the progress you don't see [earlier work].




The ring of light board was removed from the motherboard and extended using wires in sleeving. Hot glue serves as an aid in keeping those connnections soldered. I changed the LEDs on the ring of light to blue and also still have red for error LEDs [hope i never see them again].

The dvd eject button was removed from the board and will be under the dvd drive tray cover.

The RF input receiver was also desoldered and moved. The goal here is to cut both of these and use 3-pin fan connectors so they are capable of being removed. Basically i want to be able to take this xbox motherboard out of the case without having to un-glue everything.

The ring of light board has a white cover that goes over it and that will be superglued to spacers that are super glued to the inside of the button that was mounted in the front of the O2 case. Basically this means when i want to remove the motherboard i can simple unhook the ROL board from its clipped on cover and it comes right off.

I've dremeled out some fins in the front of the case that are not finished. They look rougher than they are. These are for the 4 stacked 40mm x 10mm fans i have to mount in the front of the case. The fifth case fan will go where the stock o2 speaker was down in the front bottom right. Its a 40mm x 20mm fan. These are all quiet and move very little air, but a little air is better than the no air the stock 360 has for intake.

The rear fans will most likely be swapped out for some 80mm enlobal enermax fans, but i've not tested that yet.

The indents on the side of the case for the original sound board connectors [the hole on the left side of the case] have been filled with milliput and sanded smooth. The USB connectors and controller connectors will be moved to this location at a later date via some more wires.

Oh, i also fixed the stuck DVD drive this console had originally too by super gluing some cardboard [non-corrugated] onto the magnet. Works fine now. This console really was in bad shape when I got it.

The final exterior of the O2 will be painted black with Alsa Soft Touch Clear sprayed on if all goes according to plan, too.

I'll update more when i get home and pull some pics off the camera and upload them.

Hope this interrests some of you and I hope it qualifies to be in this section of the forums. I would rather post this here than on the 360 forums elsewhere to be honest.

So far i've ran into numerous problems with desoldering that pics can't describe.. let me just say that lead free solder SUCKS and it should never be used IMO. I've got to invest in a $300+ soldering station now just to finish desoldering so i don't damage anything else.

I'm no Ben Heck so its possible this whole thing doesn't work when its done lol. But there's no fun in not trying. I had one soldering accident thus far but the console still boots fine so.. crossing fingers.

I am looking for ideas for the stock O2 buttons on the bottom.. i'd like to use them to be honest. There were two volume buttons on the right hole, an LED on the far left, and two more buttons in between [or two LEDS and one button.. cant remember]. I was thinking of maybe covering up the hole i drilled for the dvd eject and putting it down there, but i'm clueless for the rest. Any ideas would be nice. Otherwise thats a ton of milliput to cover them all because i'd hate to just leave them in non-functional.

L8r
 
you could place some sorta lighting in the case behind the fans or something to that sort and use the buttons to control say....color /on and off. if I was not completely broke at this point I would love to get my hands on a 360 and mod it.

man An SGI O2....Im feeling old now.... cool case to put it in though.
 
I've got two of them actually so i figured hey why not lol.

Good idea with the lights. Normally not a fan of lights and windows and stuff in a computer case, but Mashie's O2 did turn out fairly slick as it wasn't over done with the lights. My one concern with lights is the vent slits I cut aren't the cleanest cuts ever due to the shape of the case and how thin they are, so I don't want light pointing that out.
 
I really don't want to hear what those 5x40mm fans sound like running!

Good luck with this project though.
 
dead silent. they only push like 16 cfm.

If you have an xbox 360 you know silence is not an option anyways =]

thanks.
 
That case looks like a toaster with a cover. Anyways good luck with the mod, would like to see how it will look when its finished. By the looks of it you could have put a single 120mm fan up front on the case. but thats your choice.
 
It was nicknamed the little blue toaster for a reason. =]

For those of you that don't know, this computer was very significant in the beginnings of the 3D animation industry. In its prime the O2 was the powerhouse rendering system for computer graphics and for the $7k base price tag, it shipped with a mere 96 megs of ram. Fully loaded these ran around $64k and at one point in time ILM had around 150 of these rendering 24/7. Since this is my chosen profession I feel that paying homage to this beast is definitely needed. I would have done an SGI Indigo² mod but they were so ugly lol. And we had a Tezro at work but i can't seem to find that case anywhere on its own and $250k isn't in my budget. =]

As far as putting a 120mm in the front.. IMO, while thats totally function over form, thats ugly as hell and is far from the subtle styling i'm going for. not to mention i don't have that space in the case. I'm going to go against the grain here but it pisses me off when i see a computer with a window, some CCFL's and a 120mm tunnel in the front and its called a mod. People lack vision these days unfortunately. Each to his own but i wish more people did true customs these days because one of my favorite hobbies used to be going through the worklogs here. That being said, technically others have used an O2 case before, but not for a 360 that i'm aware of, and it surely won't look like mine in the end.

And as i've said.. ANY fans is better than what the 360 shipped with = no fans.

In any case.. was desoldering the front USB ports and blew two of the leads out with the posts.. pretty pissed. They are the data leads for the USB and i have NO idea where to trace them to on the board. Either gonna lose the front USB [never used it anyways] or figure out where those leads go to.

I did get the controller ports desoldered without a problem, though. I'll say it again.. damn lead free solder blows.
 
MeHoo said:
It was nicknamed the little blue toaster for a reason. =]

For those of you that don't know, this computer was very significant in the beginnings of the 3D animation industry. In its prime the O2 was the powerhouse rendering system for computer graphics and for the $7k base price tag, it shipped with a mere 96 megs of ram. Fully loaded these ran around $64k and at one point in time ILM had around 150 of these rendering 24/7. Since this is my chosen profession I feel that paying homage to this beast is definitely needed. I would have done an SGI Indigo² mod but they were so ugly lol. And we had a Tezro at work but i can't seem to find that case anywhere on its own and $250k isn't in my budget. =]

As far as putting a 120mm in the front.. IMO, while thats totally function over form, thats ugly as hell and is far from the subtle styling i'm going for. not to mention i don't have that space in the case. I'm going to go against the grain here but it pisses me off when i see a computer with a window, some CCFL's and a 120mm tunnel in the front and its called a mod. People lack vision these days unfortunately. Each to his own but i wish more people did true customs these days because one of my favorite hobbies used to be going through the worklogs here. That being said, technically others have used an O2 case before, but not for a 360 that i'm aware of, and it surely won't look like mine in the end.

And as i've said.. ANY fans is better than what the 360 shipped with = no fans.

In any case.. was desoldering the front USB ports and blew two of the leads out with the posts.. pretty pissed. They are the data leads for the USB and i have NO idea where to trace them to on the board. Either gonna lose the front USB [never used it anyways] or figure out where those leads go to.

I did get the controller ports desoldered without a problem, though. I'll say it again.. damn lead free solder blows.
Click to expand...

If you use a powered USB hub you'll be fine. :)
 
i thought about that and just finding the power somewhere else on the board but i actually found the leads with a really high power magnifier =] soldering now

the problem wasnt a power issue anyways it was the data and AFAIK you cant run a usb hub off the rear xbox 360 ports?
 
Did a bit more work this weekend but forgot to take pics again. The 4 power wires for the fans were wired into one wire with a 3 pin. I used the 12v lead on the bottom of the motherboard for the fans and hooked that wire up to another 3 pin which hooks into the rear 2 fans and the wires going to the new fans. Sounds complicated but its not.

Got the memory card slots and USB ports finished up and cleaned up. Will try to remember to take pics later when I get home. I have to wire in another button for the wireless controller sync button and then i'm ready to start fitting this all inside that case i think.

Still don't have the power brick though. And i think i also decided to hook up this xbox using an old wireless adapter i've had laying around. The main focus of this xbox will not be for online usage so it would be a precaution basically, but i've got an adapter laying around anyways so i might as well use it.

l8r
 


Case sanded, modded, filled, painted with Krylon fusion for plastic textured shimmer, then with black paint to kill the shimmer.

then i hit it all with alsa soft touch clear which i properly mixed this time and it worked great. Its got a great finish to it that photos really fail to capture. Its hard for the camera to focus on it due to the way it doesn't reflect light well. I should have sanded the bottom of the case down to remove the seams, and the O2 logo.. but in all reality the camera pulls those details out.. you can't see them at all really normally.

I still have a problem.. i'm having one hell of a time masking off the little power icon in the center of the power button so i opted to just paint the rest of the case and deal with that part later when i have more time. So once i take that tape off its still going to be a white button under there that i need to cover somehow. I'm almost out of ideas on that one.. was thinking possibly working up a mask in photoshop and having it printed out in vinyl as a one piece sticker so to speak.. not sure yet. Or i could just get a better xacto knife and a big magnifying glass.

I also got alot more soldering done and wanted to show. Its not the cleanest job but the fans are removable, and thats nice. I am addind another three pin connecter in line for the two fans that will end up on the heatsinks. Still have to do that yet.

 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top