360 in an original XBOX case? HELP!

So I had seen on youtube a couple videos where someone put their 360 in an original XBOX case. Why? Who knows. Other than showing their final product though no information was given on how this was accomplished (gotta love those who show off something they did but give no details on how it was done) I thought it was kind of neat though and is it stands I have a 360 where the outer casing is in horrible condition and an original XBOX case in very good condition sooooooo...........

Keep in mind my knowledge is just good enough I have been successful putting a mod chip into a Sega Saturn and can built a PC from scratch. That is about it, so I can understand the basics and follow direction pretty well but by no means do I match skills with many here. So far I have cleaned the XBOX case and removed old shielding and original XBOX components (obviously) and my 360 sits in it's metal shielding top and bottom. Simply dropping it into the case it does not match up with the CD door as one would expect. I removed some of the protruding plastics form the top and bottom insides of the case. I know I have a long way to go for sure so I am asking if anyone has done such a mod or has any info, details, links, pictures, anything that might help me eventually complete this task I would really appreciate your input, THANKS!

 

I do not have any first hand experience with taking apart an original Xbox but have taken my old school 360 apart a few times. Can you not align the 360 DVD drive to to the original Xbox drive door? There is a decent amount slack on the cable to move mine around and I thing you can join two 360 drive cables together if you need more.

 

I'm assuming you've got an older 360?

Some thoughts:
1)The shielding on the top/bottom of the XBox case will interfere with the RF transceiver for controllers. You'll do well to remove and relocate the connector for it or you could run an antennae to a section of the case where its purely plastic.

2) As you mentioned the DVD drive doesn't match up completely. You might be able to modify a stock XBox DVD holder dealy to hold a 360 DVD drive nicely. You might also be able to swap the face plates for both drives. I'd also suggest painting the tray to match the black motif.

3) The harddrive connector can also be relocated without too much trouble. I believe Benjamin Heckendorn has pictures of the connector as well as the pin out from when he did his 360 laptop.

4) The original A/V connector would be awesome to be able to reuse but honestly it is limited compared to the 360. You could easily custom build cables for your purposes but I don't believe the XBox "HD" kit would work on a 1:1 basis with the 360, even with wiring adaptations. Then again I've not examined what is inside the case. You should decide what you want to use for video output and work from there as there is copious amounts of space for mountable connectors on the rear of the XBox case.

5) The power brick is a problem. You could cut a larger hole into the space where the XBox power cable used to connect while relocating the power connector there from the 360 board. Or if there somehow manages to be enough space you might consider internalizing the power brick but if you do be damned sure there is enough cooling. Especially if its a 175w Xenon brick.

6) To parlay from that, I would highly suggest using a Jasper or even a slim 360 for this build. Both produce considerably less heat and use considerably less power than the Xenon, Opus and Falcon.

7) You could attempt to recreate the ring of light from the 360 on the XBox power button. Normally its a single RGB LED IIRC but I don't see why you couldn't pull the board out and partition it with smaller LEDs.

8) The 360 USB connectors could be mounted on the front of the XBox case, perhaps under the "lip" of the front bezel? Unless you don't care about them then at least you could leave them inside just in case. Ethernet is a no brainer as both consoles have the jack in roughly the same place.

9) Make sure you have ample cooling. Lap the heatsinks, use diamond based thermal paste (it transfers heat considerably faster than AS5 or any other "premium" thermal paste. The only things better out there are phase change TIMs and I don't believe the Indigo Extreme guys make anything for the 360) and try to find an aftermarket heatsink that is compatible with the 360 with a low enough profile to fit comfortably inside the XBox case.

Preferably one that blows air to the sides rather than straight up. Personally I've found blow holes in the top of the case to be a bit of a cop out of a solution but if you can't keep the heat under control you gotta do what you gotta do. The stock heatsinks in the earlier 360 models were solid aluminum IIRC and the CPU heatsinks in later models had some copper. I'd shoot for a copper base as even if they only make the difference of 1-2°C it will help on top of the thermal paste and lapping.

10) I'd also replace the stock XBox fan with something better. Speed (RPM in this case) doesn't matter nearly so much as the CFM rating (cubic feet per minute, how much air it physically moves). Larger fans that spin slower with a high CFM rating typically are quieter than their faster, slower brethren. Might also be worth putting in a fan in the front of the case somewhere to pull air into the case to help with overall air flow. Ensuring there is enough air flowing in will help with cooling considerably and is a point many people seem to forget/ignore.

You can have as many fans as you want spinning as fast as they can go but unless there is air coming in as fast as it is going out they're just wasting good energy and likely putting themselves into an early grave.

11) Budget. How nicely this will turn depends entirely on the budget. A high quality heatsink is easily $30-40. Diamond thermal paste is $12 for a small tube. Sand paper for lapping? Probably $5-8 depending on how anal retentive you go with it (any lapping will show a huge improvement but if you go all out nuts it will really show).

Using your current 360 will make this cheap, using a Jasper will add ~$100 to the price tag but will be a better choice for its heat profile than a Xenon by far (though you didn't say what model 360 you had).

Keep in mind I've never done most of this and I'm absolutely terrible with most case mods. This is mainly theory stored in my head from years of reading about these sorts of mods but I can tell you from personal experience that lapping and diamond thermal paste are awesome little tricks to have in your bag.

 

I did not want to quote your entire post, but YES it is an original 360.

I really appreciate your response and will keep a copy for reference, certainly gives me a lot to think about and hey if (that's a big IF) I manage to eventually pull it off maybe I will of gained some skill. Much appreciated.

@brainpann
Yes I believe that should be do-able.

 

I haven't seen the video in question, but I assume it would be possible to fit a small PC PSU inside the original Xbox case and use it to power the 360 motherboard. Obviously the lower your Xbox 360's power requirements, the better.

To elaborate on some points made by APE, as the Xbox controller ports are USB (only with a non-standard connection), you could wire them up as they leaving them intact and then use adapters if you wished to contact anything to them. There's not too much more I could suggest regarding the DVD drive or hard drive, but the power display uses 2 LEDs positioned to the right and left of the power button - it may be possible to connect 4 in order to create a "ring of life", but not easy.

As for the rear I/O panel, it shouldn't be too hard to solder the component connections in order to preserve the original AV connector, but given that they're analogue, there's always a chance of interference. You would have to lose HDMI if you wanted it looking clean as possible, though. Obviously the ethernet connection can remain the same and the power input can easily be changed to a figure-8 one if you replace the 360 power supply with something smaller that can fit inside the case.