Mini ITX Xbox 360 Mod

[SchaibleTech]

Yup. i decided to do it. i got some extra cash coming from my tax return, and i decided i would like to build a second little computer. one i can have to listen to music, use for communication, (aim, skype, email), have pc game guides open while im playing on my Gaming rig, and stuff like that. maybe make a little tv station.

I decided to go with a Mini itx board instead of a micro because of space issues. mainly because with a micro i would have to have a beefy external power supply, but with this Zotac board i picked out, it comes with a laptop looking power cord that just plugs right in. bad***. its a 90w power supply.

So i figured i would see what you guys had to say about the setup i picked out! for the motherboard i got a ZOTAC IONITX-A-U Atom 330 board. It comes with a 1.6ghz Dual Core Intel atom CPU and a heatsink/fancombo. here is the link.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813500027

in addition i just picked out some gskill 2gb DDr2 ram, and a 250gb segate Barracuda, 7200rpm with a 8mb cache. this is where i was thinking of asking for help, i wasnt sure if i needed to look for a low power consuming hard drive to suffice for the small powersupply. or if any company made extra slim hard drives meant for small builds.

i just noticed that my power supply does not have a 4 pin connector. i have a 80mm fan i picked out from before that i was going to attach to the case to cool the heatsink. with that mobo can i only have 1 fan hooked up? cause i would like to do a fan on the side and the fan on top. The fan i have now had a 4 pin connector and that mini 3 pin connector that plugs into the board. can i use that 4 pin connector to attach to another fan so i can have 2?


for now i think ima go net book style and roll without a optical drive. i have an external CD drive, but come to think of it i think its a firefire output. who knows. but i'll just hook up another drive of mine to intall an OS ( think i might go Ubuntu style this time) and then ditch the Drive. maybe later after i get a few more $$$ i might invest in a slim blue ray drive. who knows!

go big or go home, i might grab a 200mm fan and cut a hole in the side. or a slim slipstream 120mm. still gotta look into it!

My other question was that when i took apart my xbox, i removed everything, so that it was just the plastic casing. what i was wondering was do i have to have that metal tray the motherboard was screwed too? cause if thats the case then i was just going to cut out the metal tray the same size as the mobo and mount it. im not very smart when it comes to grounding stuff. i shorted out a mobo before. cause if i put out the metal i will have an inch or two extra to work with.

any suggestions would be aweome!

also, thinking of painting yellow to match my gaming rig. i used Duplicolor engine enamel to paint my case, will the same work with plastic?


edit: also one more thing. how would i go about making a switch to turn on the computer? because im not excatly smart enough to try and rig the front power button to turn it on...so what are my alternatives?

http://img121.imageshack.us/img121/1933/dscf2030z.jpg (http://img121.imageshack.us/i/dscf2030z.jpg/)
http://img684.imageshack.us/img684/9032/dscf2029d.jpg (http://img684.imageshack.us/i/dscf2029d.jpg/)
http://img169.imageshack.us/img169/4442/dscf2028.jpg (http://img169.imageshack.us/i/dscf2028.jpg/)




so basically in a nutshell, here are my questions:

1. can i use any hard drive with a mini itx board? something that uses low wattage?
2. with that board, is it possible to have 2 or even 3 fans hooked up? im looking to have 1 for the heatsink, and possible two 60mm fans on top for some extra air.
3. do i have to mount the mobo to metal? or can i screw it to plastic with the riser screws?
4. can i buy just a power switch that i can install on a different part of the case? cause im not using the xbox power button.

[DuroMentis]

From what I understand, as long as your PSU can run the HDD it'll be fine. Same with the fans, riser screws should be fine, after all what was your 360 motherboard mounted to? and yes you can buy a power switch at www.frozencpu.com www.xoxide.com look for bulgin style switches.

[SchaibleTech]

the 360 mobo that used to be in there was mounted to a metal cage. but i just took the metal cage out.

edit: and thanks for the links

[SchaibleTech]

ok so here is my new question. i've decided to make this a HTPC as well, in addition to being a back up PC.

to the mobo i picked out has a the laptop looking power adapter that comes with the board. that plugs into the board.

but i was thinking of buying a different board, and a intel 2.5ghz dual core separately. but other mother boards, even tho they are mini-itx as well, have a 24 pin connector for a power supply. im trying to steer away from having a giant power supply. does this mean that the board has to have the giant powersupply? or is there a way i can make the laptop power cord turn into a 24 pin adapter?

some mini itx take the small 12v power adapter, but others take a giant powersupply.

need help!

the board i want to buy, i see lots of people saying they are turning it into an HTPC. how are they getting a cable line to run into thier pc without a TV tuner card?

basically my motive is stay close to my price, get a mobo that has a open pci slot, but one where i dont need that huge power supply.

by the looks of it, it seems that im stuck with the board i picked out.

[x88x]

Ok, let's see..

For the power switch, any momentary switch will be fine, so you should be able to use the original one form the 360 without any problems.

For the HDD, yes, the SATA power leads coming off that MBB will power any SATA HDDs without a problem.

For the fans, you could either branch the fan connector on the board or tap into the SATA power leads; either should work fine.

The MBB does not have to be on the metal plate; just make sure that no metal is touching the bottom of the board or you run the risk of shorting stuff out.

For the TV tuner, there are plenty of good USB tuners available.



Other than the PCI slot, is there a reason you want to switch to a different mini-ITX board? The IONITX-A-U is a very capable little board, and if you use CUDA accelerated codecs, it can push 1080p video without issue. Here's a tutorial on setting up XBMC with an ION powered system:
http://www.mini-itx.com/projects/xbmc-ion/

If you do want to go with a different mini-ITX MBB, you can get a picoPSU that'll take a 12V input from a power brick (like the IONITX-A-U), and splits off into the various connectors you need.
http://www.mini-itx.com/store/default.asp?c=10&currency=2

[SchaibleTech]

thanks for your answers homie.

for the fans, do you mean like a 4pin molex splitter? cause if so, i JUST bought one of those for my buddy as a surprise. good thing i havent told him about it yet. HA!

that pico psu looks amazing. i might look into it.
if i could buy just that board alone, i would. but it only comes in the board/psu combo.
i was going to buy a separate board, and a better CPU (775 socket)...but every other board needed a 24 pin power connector. and i was like WWTTFFF.

but it seems that the board i picked out will work good. its already got hdmi, built in wifi, the processor.

idk. still have to do some price comparing.

[x88x]

Yeah, a molex splitter should work. You won't be using it the way that they're normally used, but electrically there's no reason why it shouldn't work.

[SchaibleTech]

awesome.

ordered the parts! got 2 day shipping with rushed processing, so the parts should be in by friday!

then the drilling for the fans begin, and then painting, and assembling. work log for this and my gaming rig shall follow!

[pheenix]

Kinda makes me wish I didn't let my kids beat the hell out of my Xbox360 with baseball bats when it died.