Tools needed:
-PC Motherboard Standoffs - x12 (extras come with
case, you can also pick them up locally or online).
-6NC32 Tap - (found at almost any hardware store)
-76mm Hole Saw - (optional, if you have one great but these things can
get expensive plus you can get away with a file)
-1/8 Aluminum 6 1/2x9 if you are using the same case! - with a
finished side (found at almost any hardware store, you can also pick it up at a
scrap yard, make sure 1 side has a protective coating on it). Every place
I have been they will cut the pieces for free, if not they wont want anymore
than a couple of bucks maximum.
-1/16 Aluminum 11x11 if you are using the same case! - (same as above)
-Scrap pieces of aluminum that include 5 1/4x1, 3 1/2x1, 1 3/4x1, and the
optional mod chip bracket 4 15/16x1 (or 5x1) all 1/16 thick
-RJ45/Cat Cable - 5 feet (length may change for you)
-100% Disassembled Xbox - (see the other various guides for doing this)
-Cheiftec/Antec/Cheiming Full Tower Case - (optional choice of case)
-Drill
-Dremel
-Jig Saw - (optional *IF* you are using a dremel)
-Dremel Grinding Stone(s) - (optional, you can use files)
-Dremel cut off wheels
-Files of various sizes - you will want rounded files in a couple of
sizes along with flat ones of various sizes. You can get away with 1 of each
easily.
-22-18 AWG Heat Shrink Tubing - you will want a couple feet of it, if you
can find smaller pick it up but this will do.
-Riveter with 3+ rivets - I used 1/8 x 1/4 rivets for this project, it calls for a whopping 3 rivets but its nice to have some more just in case. (both optional but recommended)
-"T' Square - (optional but recommended for ease and speedy marking)
-Ultra Fine Tipped Sharpie - (it has to be ultra fine tipped, not just fine tipped)
-Ruler
-Punch
-Following Drill bits - 1/16, 1/8, 3/16, 3/8, 7/16, 1/2, and 3/4.
-3 pin Y splitter - you can find this just about anywhere online or at a local pc shop
-2 50mm slim fans - (same as above)
-Masking tape - (optional but recommend, any tape will do).
-1/16 bolts - x2
-1/8 bolts - x5
-Double sided tape
This mod obviously completely and utterly voids your Xbox warranty. www.xbox100.com, their affiliates and me (custompccases) are in NO way responsible for any damages you may incur following this guide.
At first glance some of you might already have your mouse over the back button, simply because this looks way out of your league. If you follow this guide and have the required tools (or at least if you can get a hold of them) then you've got nothing to worry about, other than time. The soldering skills you picked up by installing your mod chip makes up for a good chunk of this project, remaking the PC power supply plate is the hardest piece but mainly only requires attention to measurements and some patience. I spent almost the same time soldering all the little wires than doing any other part of this mod, if you can believe that.
Now this guide doesn’t absolutely require the stated case
but I will be using it in this guide, you should easily be able to modify this
guide to meet your requirements (as long as space permits but even this can be
adverted, sometimes, I will talk about alternatives throughout this guide).
This is the most widely used case so I thought it was the best candidate, this
case is also quite inexpensive for what it offers.
I decided to show some of the finished
pictures first so that as you're reading you will have a better understanding of
the placement.
Hybrid goodness. Left hand side of the case.
Not a whole lot going on here. Right hand side of the case.
First off you will need a mounting plate for your Xbox Motherboard (MB), the 11x11 aluminum square is used here. As you can see in the picture below, line "A", there is 1/2 inch gap between the left edge of the plate and the Xbox MB. The distance isn't critical here so you can choose what best fits your needs. The MB is actually quite easy to mount. Using a "T" Square I marked a line on the protective coating 1/2 inch from the edge. I then lined up the left edge of the MB to the line I drew, along with the top of the MB to the top of the aluminum. Holding it firmly in place I marked the mounting holes with a ultra fine tipped sharpie. Then using a 1/16 drill bit I drilled the 9 holes required (its a good idea to use a punch before drilling, this will keep the drill from "walking" off the mark). After the holes are drilled tap them with the 6NC32 Tap, screw in your MB Standoffs and your finished... for now so keep the protective coating on.
I highly recommend
attaching 2 50mm fans to the heatsinks and using a 3 pin Y splitter to power
them. I used 2 1/16 bolts to attach the fan over the VPU (the
smaller heatsink) and 2 1/8 bolts for the CPU heatsink. Your fans
should NOT look like mine, mine are reversed, yours should pull air off the
heatsink to work in tandem with your PC power supply fan. Flipping the
fans may cause them to catch or grab on the heatsink fins, to remedy this you
will need to place 1 or 2 rubber O rings between the fan and the heatsink
(around the bolt itself), this will also help with vibration.
Finger prints may vary :), keep the protective coating on to prevent this.
Alternatives: If you don't have a space large enough to fit the Xbox MB you can resort to some not-so-drastic measures. The 1 solution that comes to mind would be to keep the shown mounting plate and make mounting brackets that actually mount the plate to the inner left hand door! Sounds crazy right? Its really not if you can find at least 1 area on top and 1 area on bottom to screw/rivet to and you can work off that. I don't mean drill holes in the visible parts of your door, just the parts where the door is bent to meet the top/bottom of the case (so you cant see it). This way the Xbox MB comes off with the door, but there is a easier way. That would be to attach it to the case itself. This takes longer getting into your case since you have to remove the door then the Xbox MB plate as well, but should be easier and much more of a universal way of doing it since not all doors have the required lip/bend. NOTE: The only thing preventing you from doing this would be any obstruction of your PCI/AGP cards, most cases should be wide enough to fit the Xbox MB.
Now you need to mount the MB tray. In the picture below you will see line "B" points 1 & 2. Point 2 comes pre drilled and tapped on this case so no worries there. Point 1 requires both actions, you can pick any distance you want from the CDROM cage, I picked 1/4 inch. Simply punch, drill (with the 1/16 bit used earlier), tap and your done. Now you can set the tray into place, if you're following this guide to the letter you will notice the 11x11 plate fits perfectly, sliding to the very back of the case and resting on the "lip" of the PC motherboard plate (you will see what I'm talking about when your looking at the case). Once its in place, using the super fine tipped sharpie, mark through the drilled and tapped holes (line "B" points 1 and 2) from the opposite side of the case ONTO the MB tray, remove the tray and drill the marks with a 3/16 bit (shown above, line "C" points 1 and 2).
Now take a look at line "D" points 1, 2 & 3 below. Here I drilled 3 1/8 holes centered between the two small pre cut out slits. Next you will need a piece of scrap at least 5 1/4x1. Take the piece of scrap and hold it behind the 3 holes you just drilled (as shown below) leave roughly 1/2 inch of visible material below, but this doesn't have to be exact, then transfer the 3 previously drilled holes (line "D" points 1, 2 & 3) onto the piece of scrap, punch and drill with the 1/8 bit. Now rivet the piece of scrap behind the top case rail.
Nice easy to follow labeling, thanks Blackbarn!
Next take a look at line "E" points 1, 2 & 3 above.
These holes are drilled 1/4 inch down from the edge of the rail (the metal
line between line "D" and "E"), getting the holes spaced evenly
is easy, just take the ruler and draw a line halfway down the rivet to the piece
of scrap below then mark 1/4 down from the metal line. Punch, drill and tap. Take the
Xbox MB tray and screw it into place (line "B" in the above
picture), make sure you do this!
Once the tray is temporarily installed go to the opposite side of the case and
mark through the tapped holes (line "E" points 1, 2 & 3) and onto the
mounted Xbox MB tray. Remove the tray, punch and drill using the 3/16
bit. Other than the optional mod chip bracket your all done with the tray.
When the Xbox MB is attached to the tray the piece of scrap previously worked
on will actually slide between the Xbox MB and the Xbox MB tray, as long as you
don't use outrageously long screws there will be no chance of shorting.
Alternatives: You can get away with only 1-2 holes if you don't like doing more work than you have to, I used 3 for added strength. Also, you don't have to use rivets, you can use very flat screws, or you can drill/cut out where the door will hit them when its attached if you cant find screws that are flat enough. The door will NOT close if you use anything with a head taller than a rivet, unless you modify the door. Modifying the door requires you to either drill or cut sections out of the "lip" of the door to allow the screws to be any height you want.
Optional Mod Chip bracket: If you want the quick and easy way of doing
this simply stick the mod chip on top of a capacitor (the tall round things), if
you want a more professional look then keep reading. Remove the Xbox MB
tray if it is installed, install the Xbox MB and take a good long look at where
the mod chip is mounted in the pictures below. Measure how high off the MB
tray the mod chip's wires will allow when the mod chip is laying flat (this
measurement determines line "F" section 2) . My old xecuter chip
wires only allow 1 3/4 inches worth of height to be achieved (subtract
the thickness of the material your using and you have your final number).
I have taken a look at newer xecuter chips and they allow for even less height
so make sure you measure! Also newer xecuter chips come with 2 pcb's, you
can mount them side by side if you wish. I will show a easier way of
making the mod chip bracket rather than what I did, you will only be doing 2
simple right angle bends. Line "F" section 1's length is 1 inch
long, line "F" section 2's length is determined by your configuration
(for me it was 1 3/4 but after subtracting the material's thickness it
came out to 1 11/16), line "F" section 3's length is 2 1/4,
you will see mine is actually different but if you follow this measurement you
should be able to mount both pcb's side by side. All
you do is make bends at the required marks and your done, well almost. You
need to mount it.....
The board was tilted slightly, that's why the lines aren't exactly perfect.
This can be tricky because if you mount it too close to your Xbox MB it will prevent the MB from being mounted (not good at all). To remedy this you will need to attach the xbox MB with 2-3 screws (you will be taking it right off so this saves time), take your newly made mod chip bracket and slide section 1 under the Xbox MB (as shown in the picture above). Leave about a 1/16 gap between the mod chip bracket and the Xbox MB for slop. Mark how far the back of line "E" section 2 is ONTO the Xbox MB tray (this now shows how far back the bracket needs to be so you don't interfere with the Xbox MB mounting). Remove the Xbox MB along with the mod chip bracket. Punch, drill and tap the mod chip bracket in the center of section 1. Put the mod chip bracket back onto the Xbox MB tray making absolutely certain line "F" section 2 lines up with the line you just drew earlier, mark through the hole you just drilled with your sharpie onto the Xbox MB tray. Remove the piece and drill a 3/16 hole through the Xbox MB tray. Remove the protective coating from the Xbox MB tray, attach the Xbox MB, screw on your mod chip bracket (from the backside), and now your completely done with that piece. Put it aside for now.
Next you need to work on the Xbox PS mount. This part
requires more measuring more than anything else. First to get everything
ready, remove the original case PC power supply mounting plate and remove the
Xbox MB (and tray) if it is installed. Once all that is out of the way you will need
to create 2 "L" brackets. If you are using a newer version of the Xbox
(anything above 1.1) the mounting is just ever so slightly different, in fact you pretty
much just switch the two "L" brackets you are about to make (you will see what I
mean), there is more to it than that though so measuring is required. Find 2 pieces of scrap, the first piece of scrap should measure no
less than 3 1/2x1 and the last at 1 3/4x1 (the 1 3/4x1 piece of
scrap should stay the same for each Xbox PS version, the 3 1/2x1/2 may or
may not change so take a ruler to yours and find the distance between the two
screw holes on the back of the PS. To help with this take a look at the
picture below. Notice the red rectangle and how it is wide enough for both
holes to screw into your brackets (the red square and rectangle are the
photoshoped "L" brackets), this is what you may or may not have to compensate
for.
Shown is a v1.1 PS, if using a different version the screw holes should actually
switch with each other, so that 2 mounting holes are closest to the power socket
(they are the farthest away in this picture). If you are using a v1.1 you
should have already noticed yours is different, v1.1 doesn't actually have 3
mounting holes as pictured below, instead they have 2 mounting holes and 1 hole
that's apparently used for nothing (the yellow point shown below is the
modified one). Here I just took the tap and made my own threads. The
hole is the perfect size, you have to be careful though. Some of the
traces come kinda close so make sure you don't drill out the hole or anything,
if you just tap the hole you will be fine. The red lines drawn below
should give you a better idea of how the "L" brackets come into play. The
remaining 3 motherboard standoffs are used here between the Xbox PS pcb and the
"L" brackets to prevent shorting.
Back of the Xbox v1.1 PS
Now onto making these aforementioned "L" brackets. These are very simple and are going to be easy to make. Take each piece of scrap ( the 3 1/2x1 and the 1 3/4x1) and mark 1 inch from any end of your choice. Bend at that mark making a 90° angle, now your almost finished. Punch and drill a hole in the center of the 1 inch section of both "L" brackets using the 3/16 bit (line "G" points 1 & 2 in the picture below should clarify if you don't understand, ignore the placement of the brackets themselves for now though).
Hey it's this picture again.
Now in the picture above the the hole I just told you to drill in each "L" bracket is again line "G" points 1 & 2, for my setup point 2 is 2 1/8 inches from the back of the case (just take a ruler and butt it up to the back of the case for measurements), point 1 is 7 5/8 inches from the back. Make marks at both of these measurements on the same side as line "B" (shown above) is photoshoped into the picture this prevents the marks from being covered up as you place your "L" brackets. Take your first bracket (the 1 3/4x1, the smallest one) and set it on the support bar like it is shown above (line "G" point 2). You will notice the bracket overhangs (this is good), butt the bracket's 1 inch section (the part you drilled earlier) to the front of the support bar (the edge closest to the side that has line "B" photoshoped on it), making absolutely certain that the right angle bend section is the part that is overhanging. Left/right justify the center of the hole (again line "G" point 2 in the picture above) with the mark at 2 1/8 inches. Once you have it held in place take your sharpie and mark through the hole you drilled (once again line "G" point 2) ONTO the case support bar. Remove the bracket, punch, drill, and tap your mark. Install the first "L" bracket with a case screw. Follow the same procedure for line "G" point 1 except at the 7 5/8 mark. Now with the brackets almost completed its time for a "dry" fit of the Xbox PS to ascertain the placement of the mounting holes.
Sorry for jumping from line to "R" and "S" on you all of a sudden, I switched things around at the last minute.
Line "S" points 1, 2 & 3 are of interest here. I will show you how to find these points for yourself. What you do now is place the Xbox PS into the case and push the back of the PS against the front of the "L" brackets you just made (shown below). With the PC power supply bracket removed, of course.
Once the Xbox PS is temporarily set into place as shown above take your ruler and press it against the back of the case as shown. Slide your Xbox PS to the left until the power socket is flush with the ruler. Now that it is left/right justified its time to justify the top/bottom. To do this peer through all 3 screw holes on the Xbox PS move the PS up and down until you can see aluminum through all 3 holes. If the Xbox PS is placed too far left/right you can move it as needed (it doesn't have to be flush with the ruler), you have 1/4 inch of slop to play with so you don't have to worry. Once you are satisfied with the placement take your sharpie and mark through all 3 holes onto your installed "L" brackets. Remove the Xbox PS, punch, drill, and tap the three holes you just marked on your "L" brackets. Install the 3 remaining motherboard standoffs onto the "L" brackets and your all done with the Xbox PS mounting! Leave it uninstalled for the time being.
Now take a look 2 pictures up at line section "R". The support bar gets in the way of your A/V port. To fix this you will need to measure off the back of the case 4 inches and mark on the TOP of the support bar. From your 4 inch mark (the first line on the left on section "R" two pictures up) measure another 1 3/4 and mark on the TOP of the support bar. Remove your marked section (section "R" two pictures up) with your Dremel cutoff wheel. Now measure 4 1/4 off the back of your case and make a mark on the BOTTOM of the support bar. Measure another 1 inch off your 4 1/4 and mark on the BOTTOM of the support bar. Cut that section out with your cutoff wheel. If this part gives you trouble like it did me (hard to get the Dremel in there) use your Dremel grinding stones, you don't have to remove a lot of material since the tapered end of the A/V plug doesn't require a whole lot of space.
Ah the last big segment of this guide. As you know already your PC power supply's widest parts go from left to right, normally. You may have already noticed from the above pictures that the PC power supply will now have to go up and down from its widest points (flipped 90° CLOCKWISE). This is going to require you to make a new PC power supply bracket obviously.
This is actually much easier than it looks, again like almost everything in this guide once you have all the measurements the only thing against you is time. Take your 1/8 thick 6 1/2x9 piece of aluminum and place it in your case by having it rest on the two case support bars. Using the support bars as a guide left/right justify the piece of aluminum, this doesn't have to be perfect all you need to do is make sure the aluminum doesn't go past the left hand side support bar. When this happens it interferes with your Xbox MB plate. Once its in place take your sharpie and mark out the 4 screw holes and trace the case cutout area ONTO the piece of aluminum (in your case you would be tracing the cutout onto the protective coating side). You can probably see my red sharpie marks around the edges :). Once everything is marked go ahead and remove it. Punch, drill and tap the 4 screw holes.
Take your T square (or ruler) measure and mark
1/4 inch FROM the right hand side trace mark you made earlier (when you
traced the inner dimensions of the case cutout), look at line "I" for
clarification (shown above) . Now measure 5/8 down from the top trace marks,
line "H" for clarification and mark. Take the stock PC power supply
plate you removed, this will aid as a perfect reference for the needed cutout.
Place the stock PS plate over the previously marked piece of aluminum (spin it
to match the cutout in the picture above), line the top and right side of the
stock cutout with the two marks you made earlier (line "H" and line
"I"). Make sure everything is squared and trace the PS cutout and
mounting screws onto the piece of aluminum's protective coating. Here you
can either use your Dremel or jig saw if you have one to cut out the inside of
your trace marks to match the above picture. If you have a 76mm hole saw
you can quickly cut out the fan hole, if not take your jig saw/Dremel to get
about 1/16-1/8 to the line of the round fan cutout. From there you
can use your rounded file(s) to get a nice round shape, finish the flat edges
off with your flat file(s). After 5 minutes of touch up work you should
have a PC power supply plate identical to the above picture, all that's needed is for you to punch and drill
the PS mounting holes you marked and your done.
Well almost done :). All that's left to do is make a cutout for your Xbox
PS socket to "poke" out the back of the case. With your PC power
supply plate uninstalled install your Xbox PS onto the brackets you made (make
sure you screw all 3 screws in). Go to the back of the case and measure
from the bottom cut out area (factory cut out area, its all open now that you
removed the PC power supply plate) to the bottom of your Xbox PS power socket (as
shown in the above picture, line "J"), write this measurement
down. Now do the same thing but for line "K". Remove the Xbox
PS and transfer your measurements to the aluminum PC power supply plate (again
do this by using your traced marks as a reference). The marks should be
similar to the ones in the above picture, all you need is the left and bottom
justification (what you've done). There are two ways to do this now.
One way would be to measure 1/2 inch past your line "K"
measurement (1/2 inch is the thickness of the power socket) then add on
an extra 13/16 to your line "J" measurement. You now have
drawn a rectangle encasing the Xbox power socket. Then you would take your
1/2 inch drill bit, stand it flat end down and trace the curves
within your newly drawn rectangle. Secondly you could take your Xbox PS and
stand it on end, the power socket end facing down on your PC power supply plate,
using your left and bottom justification marks line up the bottom and the left
side of the oval Xbox power socket. Take your sharpie and draw around the
oval power socket. This is the easiest way of doing it.
From this point you would use your 7/16 bit, drill a hole on either end of the oval (leave 1/16 extra material or so from the bottom and top lines). Use your Dremel or jig saw and cut out the extra material between the two drill holes. File the flat sides of the oval till you get to your marked lines move onto the rounded part with your round files till you get to your lines (or you can use your Dremel grinding stones if you have them). If the rounded areas are looking a little misshapen use your 1/2 drill bit and actually use like a miller (or like a router if you don't know what a milling machine is) to even out the circles. Note: the reason why you wouldn't use your 1/2 drill bit right off the bat is because without the help of a drill press it would be close to impossible to get both holes perfectly lined up with each other, you would just end up with a larger misshapen hole.
Alternatives: Well if your not using the same case as I am your kinda stuck without a removable PC power supply plate, or are you? You can easily make your own removable power supply plate by cutting a rectangle similar to the cheiftec/antec cutouts. Mark out 4 lines that suite your case dimensions and cut away with your Dremel/jig saw removing the once stationary original PC power supply plate.
Above you can see the back of the 5 3/4 drive bay cover. Take a close look at the controller ports. Normally both controller ports fit into your Xbox like the bottom one shown in the picture. To make things fit you will need to flip your other controller port as shown. This presents a problem... Either your 1&2 or the 3&4 ports are now reversed which can get confusing when picking players during gaming. To fix this you will need to swap the wires on your choice of controller ports (I recommend controllers 1&2). I will remind you later when I talk about wire lengthening later :). If you are still having problems with the correct ports on the front corresponding with the games player 1, 2 or 3, 4 simply swap the ports they are plugged into. You will also notice I have cut the extra plastic off from both sides (the section that allowed them to be screwed down). Next I drilled between the two controller ports (you can see the head of the screw in the picture above) with the 3/16 bit and used a 1/8 bolt and nut to secure the two controller ports together.
Well its all down hill from here this is your last
difficult part. Your next project is mounting your controller ports along
with your eject/reset power buttons. Scrounge up one of your spare drive
bay covers and cover it with masking tape for protection (a few layers is good).
Flip the drive bay cover over and remove the reinforcement casting lines, a pair
of pliers works great here. From the picture above look at line
sections "M"
and "L", both of these have a 1/8 buffer from the top, right hand side
and the bottom for all the controller ports. Mark these boundaries out on
the masking tape (your T square comes in handy here). Once you have your
1/8 gap marked on the top measure 1/2 inch down from the 1/8
mark (or 5/8 down from the top of the bay cover, same thing), this is the
distance between line sections "P" and "E". From
that mark measure down another 7/16 this now gives you the top line of
the bottom controller port (line section "P"). Measure down once more another 1/2 and
this now gives you the height dimensions of your controller ports. Repeat
this for the other 2 controller ports. Now for your width dimensions, from your
right side 1/8 mark (remember its 1/8 all the way around) measure
to the left an extra 7/8 and mark (space between line sections "O" and
"L"). From that mark measure over
another 9/16 and mark (line section "O"). Once again add on another
7/8 and
mark. Now you have figured your side to side dimensions, repeat this for
your remaining 2 controller ports. Now that you have all your dimensions
for your controller ports you need to remove the material within the rectangles
you have marked out (just like in the above picture). Center your
1/8 drill bit within 1 of the 4 rectangles and drill, SLOWLY work your
way up to the 3/8 drill bit (make sure you don't go out of your controller port
boundary). When I mean slowly work your way up I mean it. I ruined a
few of these bay covers by trying to use big bits in the beginning, the bit will
tear these thin pieces of plastic easily. Once you have all 4 holes
drilled use your Dremel or files to finish off removing the extra material.
When you get close to your lines switch over to your FILES, the Dremel will only
make things worse.
Once your happy with the controller ports it's time for your power reset/eject
buttons. Points 1, 2, & 4, 5 on quadrant "N" are equally spaced at 1 7/16
to the center of each button (points 1 and 4 are the edge of the
cover). Draw a line similar to the one above between points 3 & 6
(quadrant "N")
using the 1 7/16 measurement you made on your bay cover. Next the measurement from point 6 (which is the edge of the
cover) to point 5 is 9/16 (using the strait line you just
drew as your guide) make a mark. Next make a mark 1/4 up from point 3
(which would mean the mark is point 2), still using your original strait
line as a guide. Now you have your 2 points for the power eject/reset
buttons. Drill both holes centered at the marks you made with your 1/16
drill bit. With the top hole (point 5) drilled, slowly work your way
up to your 3/4 drill bit. Now once you've pre drilled point 2,
slowly work your way up to your 7/16 drill bit. Once both point
5 and point 2 have been drilled to their required size you are on the
home stretch of this drive bay.
All that's left to do is mount the controller ports and the
power reset/eject buttons. Simply push your controller ports through the
cut out holes, if they are giving you trouble Carefully take any access material
off and test fit after each modification making certain you don't take too much
material off. Once they are in place its time to keep them there.
Looking at the picture above you will see the two points on line section "Q".
Measuring 13/16 down from the top of the bay cover make a mark, using
your T square (or ruler) make a strait line similar line section "Q"
(left to right line). With your height line marked measure off the right
hand side of the bay cover 1/4 and mark, measure 1 15/16 from the
right hand side of the bay cover and mark (you just marked the 2 dots on line
section "Q"). With these marked center your your 1/8 drill bit
over these marks and drill strait through the cover and into your mounted
controller ports (just be careful not to damage the wires on the back, tape them
out of the way) all the way through the back of the plastic part on your
controller ports. Now take your 1/8 bolts and use them as a tap to
screw in your bolts to keep everything secure (no need for nuts this way).
Now to mount the power reset/eject buttons. This is quite easy.
First you need to remove a small section of the pcb. Set your pcb into
place as it is shown 2 pictures up. Mark the the very small over hanging
peice of pcb and cut with your dremel. You might think im crazy but there
are no traces here, its just a lot of extra space being used for nothing.
With this removed the pcb fits right in place like it should. Once
you put your buttons and pcb into place as shown 2 pictures up you can either
hot glue it into place or use epoxy. The hot glue can be removed. If
you epoxy and ever need your controller ports back you can purchase replacements
from the affiliates of this site.
NOTE: If you are using a different case from mine and your case does NOT have drive rails do NOT follow this below procedure. Skip down to the next "Alternative:" section!
Ah the end is in sight! Now its time for drive mounting, the CDROM to be exact. You have probably noticed you can't see the Xbox CDROM in my pictures, this is because I "stealthed" it behind a drive bay cover. To do this you will need another PC CDROM drive. First though you need to cut off the extra tid bits of plastic on your Xbox CDROM. Once that is done remove the covers from both the Xbox CDROM and the PC CDROM. Put the top shells side by side lining up the fronts of the shells with each other (its alright if the sizes don't match, just as long as you match up the fronts you will be fine). Mark through the stock holes that have been taped on your PC CDROM shell onto your XBOX CDROM shell. Punch, drill and tap the holes you marked, repeat this for the other side of the XBOX CDROM shell.
Take 2 extra drive rails and elongate the holes. (shown below) this isn't exact so take a good amount off. Once the drive rails are modified find another spare drive bay cover. Using your Dremel cut off wheel remove the bottom left and right sides to your drive bay cover plastic (also remove the inside reinforcement molding by using your pliers). Take your double sided tap and cut a section about 4 inches long remove the backing and place it on the front of your Xbox CDROM. Place your modified drive bay cover on top of the double sided tap that is placed on your Xbox CDROM push it firmly in place making sure you get a good contact. Once this is completed install your modified drive rails (as shown below), just screw them in centered in the elongated holes for now. Install the drive bay and make a mental note of how far in or how far out the drive is. Remove the drive bay and adjust the drive rails as needed. Repeat this until your stealthed Xbox CDROM is even with your other drives.
I just installed my Xbox HD into my floppy slot right below the Xbox CDROM. You can also mount it in a swappable CDROM cage if you wish.
Sorry this is a crappy picture but you can see the top left screw and the hole that's oblong.
Alternative: Well not all cases have these drive rails so there needs to be another way to do this. The steps are similar to ones with drive rails so it wont be anymore difficult. Install your drive and make certain the front is flush with your other drives. Mark the pre drilled CDROM cage mounting holes in correspondent where your Xbox CDROM needs to be. Elongate these holes with your Dremel. Install your drive bay and make any necessary changes.
Now that you have everything completed you will need to
lengthen the wires on your controller ports and your power eject/reset buttons.
Use your Cat cable for lengthening your controller ports. Measure the
needed length of your wires and cut your Cat cable accordingly. This is
pretty easy since your used to soldering on your mod chip. Just make sure
you put your heat shrink tubing on BEFORE you solder the wires together.... I
know this sounds obvious but I kept forgetting and had to keep unsoldering the
wires and start over. Reminder: Remember I mentioned that you
will need to swap the wires for your controller ports 1 & 2 earlier.
When you move onto your power eject/rest buttons it becomes a bit tricky since
they are all the same color. In this case you will need to cut 1 wire at a
time (DO NOT CUT MORE THAN 1 WIRE AT A TIME YOU WILL GET MIXED UP) in the middle
of the wire. Measure the needed length of your wires and cut your Cat
cable accordingly. Bend the Cat cable in half to make soldering 1 wire at
a time easier since the power reset/eject wires are very short.
If you followed my guide and used the same case you will not need to lengthen
your CDROM wires. If your using a different case you probably will.
Just follow the same steps as you did for your power eject/reset wires.
From this point you can do a few minor things such as put expandable sleeving
over all your wires. You can run your A/V cables out a empty PCI slot.
If you want it to look more professional you can install panel mount RCA jacks
on the back of your case (or your PC power supply plate) and wire them in
accordingly inside your case. The same can be done for your Lan cable from
your Xbox. They sell wall mount Cat jacks that will allow you to do the
same as the RCA jacks. Or just run it out a PCI slot.
Well there you have it. All the steps you need to install a entire Xbox
console along side your PC in the same case. This was a very long tut but
is packed with all the needed info and measurements to pull this off. The
time to do all this is pretty much your only concern if you can work with power
tools and can read a tape measure. This is the only complete guide to my
knowledge that allows you to have your computer and your Xbox in the same case.
Thanks for sticking around and good luck!
Pictures modified by Blackbarn
Original pictures and content done by Custompccases