You are definitely going have to make the PSU external. Even an SFX PSU is going to be hard pressed to fit in there.

I would do an Impact with a full cover block and then something like a Fury Nano or Fury X with a block and then offset it with a PCIE extension. The top vents on the XB1 should be perfect for a 240mm rad which should be enough for the entire system.

AMP_US wrote:
You are definitely going have to make the PSU external. Even an SFX PSU is going to be hard pressed to fit in there.

I would do an Impact with a full cover block and then something like a Fury Nano or Fury X with a block and then offset it with a PCIE extension. The top vents on the XB1 should be perfect for a 240mm rad which should be enough for the entire system.

WHAT?? have you seen this already?


well hello again. let's tear apart the casing shall we.
so everyone see all these plastic lines/spacers. they need to go.



So lets grab a dremel and start cutting away. (sorry for no in progress shot)



so that's the initial cut where I made room for the mobo and io shield, also yes those screw's are going to be the mobo stand off's.
After this I had to do a test fit with the mobo to see if I've messed up.



And it fits like a charm, so lets get going on the top panel.


that's a nice beginning however there's one more problem.


the entire shroud needs to be exposed without cutting in to it.:o
so let's hope I've got a steady hand and the right technique.


Seems to be going alright.
so how I managed to do this is put a screwdriver in between the panel and mesh to keep them separated and cut away little bits at a time:


NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO I messed up, not to bad though:


and mostly finished here:



not bad if I may say so myself. In the end there were only 2 mis cuts and you can barely see them, so mission accomplished.
so now lets get back to the bottom panel because we where not done yet.
we need to drill some more holes in order to cool this machine.
first let's see how far we want them seperated:


seems to be alright, lets draw some more and start the tedious work.


luckily I don't need to use a hand drill because that would be murder to my arm.


and yes that is a really old machine.
and then now the finished result


now I'm almost done because I decided to change it up a little bit, so some more drilling and cutting was necessary.


and done. at least for now.
If you are wondering about those wire's, I'll need them as a ground since I don't use a metal case on the inside.

now last but not least the front-panel, I really wanted to keep the touch sensing so I had to make something up for that.
So I bought some touch sensors to mount to the front ribbon cable.


So i got those but it doesn't work like that sadly enough. so lets get creative.
I needed to tap into the capacitive sensor so I could wire it to the ribbon cable, I had 2 options, number one solder a wire to this little pin:


But that thing is so tiny you would almost need a magnifying-glass in order to solder on it.
so option 2 it was, actually quite simple, drill a hole, scrape away some solder mask on the front, feed a wire through and solder it on there:



then all I needed to do is mount it to front ribbon cable:


but it still doesn't work, I need to power the thing and make it work with thew mobo.
so grab a servo wire mount it to the sensor and remember what color is what.


then grab a relaid and wire it up to the sensor.




Now the last part about the front panel, lighting up the xbox logo:



seems like a perfect fit to me.

now here is the finished result, I just glued the led that's why the tape:


Power to the touch sensor comes from the on-board usb 2 header, because those things have standby power. and I definitely need that.


Lets leave it at that for now, was already more than planned 😉

AMP_US wrote:
You are definitely going have to make the PSU external. Even an SFX PSU is going to be hard pressed to fit in there.

I would do an Impact with a full cover block and then something like a Fury Nano or Fury X with a block and then offset it with a PCIE extension. The top vents on the XB1 should be perfect for a 240mm rad which should be enough for the entire system.

Psssh, you need to check out smallformfactor.net where there are a number of builds with HDPlex, FlexATX, short 1U PSUs, and the like.

The BIG reveal
Let's start talking hardware,
to keep the suspense don't scroll to fast 😉


The psu I'll be using. A SilverStone 450W sfx psu. the thought process behind this was actually pretty simple, I wanted an external psu which wasn't any/much bigger compared to an xbox power brick. so sfx or tfx was the way to go.






Honestly I was amazed at how small this thing actually is. so to give you guys an useless comparison her it is next to an xbox 360s power brick





Now I also know what you WANT to tell me.
DAT FAN



And I know, so I came prepared, it is going to be replaced with a noctua 92mm fan







And yes I believe it is going to fit, at 14mm thick it'll even fit inside the chassis. I just have to move the power plug a tad bit.

Next up on the hardware list is going to be storage.
For games l'll be using a 750GB WD Black 2,5" hard drive. yet again one of those things that is impressively small for what it delivers (hur hurB|)




Now to cash this drive and for the OS l'll be using a Samsung 850 EVO 250GB





Keeping in line with flash storage, here is the memory I'll be using. and what can I say about size again 😛




Uuuuhhhhmmmm wait that's not what I meant with size.:dry:



Ah a lot better:D, I mean like, these are really small, just see for yourself

top left some random ddr2 stick, top right old corsair vengeance ddr3, bottom left uhmmm.... sdram I believe (no I'm not 50 years old) and bottom right, my stick^_^

so these sticks barely get out above the memory slot




And wait what's that??
that looks like, like, like...uhhhmmm a water block?


Indeed it is. A maximus VII impact from asus with an EK full cover water block
Also explains the random placement of the mobo in the case.

In between these bad boys there is sandwiched an intel core i5 4690k



Yes I could've gone with an i7, however it won't provide a performance benefit in gaming scenario's (that is what this machine is for) so spending that extra €100 wasn't worth it to me.
anyway back to the mobo:







That was enough eye candy for today guys. I hope you enjoyed once again and keep the guess work coming as to what's in it more

Small form factor and water cooled. :cool: Count me in.
Can't wait to see how this turns out and the temps you get.

My next build will hopefully be small, well it has to be smaller than my TJ07 lol.
But a small, quiet gaming rig... that's what I'm thinking of going for eventually.

Thanks for posting all this.

INHALE ALL THE FUMES

well, apparently it'll take up 3 posts for this update

Yes guys it's soldering time.
I have to make the psu completely external, and to go with that I have to make a wire harness for inside the xbox.

Lets start with the simple stuff, the ground wire's


seems to be ok.

now lets go on to the other simple stuff, 8pin psu and 6pin pci-e








When inspecting the 24 pin from the psu I was a little surprised to find what looks like a capacitor.



so lets see if we can reuse it, take of the sleeving and pull out the pins.



and done. now lets connect all the 12V wires.



I used the same technique of in line soldering on the negative leads.

don't enter guys crazy scientist at work:



now lets get going on the 5v




here's the 3.3v with sense:



and here's where I made a mistake, nope even I am not perfect 😞

I just put a bit of solder in there and everything was just fine.

And BAM here's the finished result:



All the connectors and wires in place, it does get a bit crowded doesn't it.
in the meantime I had to also make a fan cable so I'm able to control at least 1 fan by the gpu.


but now the other end of the cable


I'm going to be using 3 of these capacitors in order to smooth out the incoming power. one on each voltage.



So here we go lets make it modular



both 12v and ground are like this.






not to bad of a result is it.

but we're not done yet. we now have all the connections in the pc but no power coming in yet.


welcome back my old friend, let's tear you apart



Damn this thing is packed, but i managed to get her out.
now let's see what we have over here:



Not a whole lot special however you notice those 3 capacitor's there's 1 for each voltage, sounds familiar doesn't it.



now that's something I didn't expect, apparently this psu also uses a 5v sense tracing into the 24 pin. I'll make sure he gets a home as well.

but first lets de-solder, I want to get all the cables out of the pcb so I can install my own into them.


well, turns out to be a problem, all the wires are crimped together and it's holding them in there when I want to pull them out. so plan b it is. solder the wires to the wires

let's start with the smaller single ones

that's easy

on to the big ones
5V



3.3v


12v


and ground



and here is the end result:


now lets make the case fit:



and continue on the cable. this one's gonna be sleeved



now that that is out of the way, lets tackle the modular part again


get my 2 remaining capacitors ready and lets get going




now this is where my 5v sense has gone, about 10cm off of the t-connector togheter with the capacitor


And here is the finished result



now lets put this fan inside the psu


I'll have to move the power plug and mount it upside down in order to make the fan fit




next up is some more cutting,
I'll have to make the top part fit as well, so get rid of the little tab and make the fan grill a little bigger




now let's see if it fits




fit's like a charm(ish) getting the top part over the psu was actually a really tight fit.

now that all of the above is done it's time to measure the voltages and see if everything is hooked up correctly


here's the ps-on voltage


and here the 5v standby


seems to be alright, now lets turn her on



12v is fluctuating a bit but probably because nothing is connected.


both 5v and 3.3v where all right

now let's bring in an old motherboard



no explosion so everything is still good. lets continue measuring





all looks good so lets call it a day and go home. ehmmm wait I am home :rolleyes:

I hope you've enjoyed the little....... uhmmmm BIG update.