Yeah this project is definately continuing a good direction. As for killing that cable, oops! Pretty sure the glue would be the best way to go, and won't be too bulky.

wow... extremely tedious work there..


and btw, "liquid electric tape" would work better than heatshrink, electric tape, or even glue. as its a really rubbery goop, that dries(but still is very flexible).

u can get a decent amount for 5 bucks in a little yellow can at walmart(in automotive). i used it on my capacitors on my latest project.

i had a question for you, how did you month the GPU HSF? it appears to be just set there.

i don't see any screws... so did you use thermal paste? or was it like one of those little "stickers"(thermal tape) that came with the iceberg pro?

do those fans cool the xbox well, alone? how loud does it get?

anyways awesome project so far.

Thanks for the suggestions, all. It's nice to get ideas even when I'm not showing much progress. Progress is being made (slowly), though.

NiC_CC: The GPU is just mocked up there, it will be held in place by mounts I made that attach at the motherboard screw holes.

I'm still trying to figure out the best way to do the dvd drive on the front panel. Since the box is narrow, I can't make it symmetrical. A couple of things I was thinking:



The white is where the lit plexi will be. I could leave a gap on the metal faceplate for the dvd drive. This would leave a space on the right of the drive, which I should probably fill with something (maybe cut "XBOX" out of the metal?)

I could also just try to get the pieces as close as possible, though I don't know how well that would work. There would still be a gap of sorts, but would that be better or worse than just making one to fit a design? What do you guys think?

i like the first one better..
it seems to 'flow' better.

ok, thx for letting my know. i have some more plans for my next project(i know, i know. i should stay focused on my current project).

Basic cuts (still need to smooth some parts out, obviously)

Looks good I like that metal alot

When you first test it let us know how the temps are.

I'll be gone for a week, but I'll be sure to post the final box once I get back.

ahh this is gunna look awsum especially with white LED's but just a couple quick questions:

-Are you gunna keep it square or round off the corners? (if thats even possible)

-Is the stainless-steel going on all the sides or just the front?

-How are you gunna attach the metal to the plexi??? rivets (sp?) would look sick

-Can you make me one???

I like this case project as it is custom and goes down a different road for styling etc.

Having said that I am waiting with baited breath to see what your temps are. Your HDD is on top of the VGA cooler you have ised for the CPU which I think will stave it of air. Have you got a backup plan to solve any issues you may come across.

nice work.

dude, this looks awsome! i'm going to do a similar case when i get some money for material. but dont worry, it wont be the same

wow...this is gonna look amazing...thats a crazy custom case..this si going to look great frosted and lit up!

this does indeed look awsome

Thanks all.

I too am curious about what the temperatures will end up being, but I'm not too concerned. This is a similar setup to the previous mini I had, and I never had any issues with that. There will be smaller fans to direct air throughout the box, and I'm hoping that will help.

The corners will be (and most are) rounded. I'm thinking I'll just epoxy the metal to the plexi; I know it sounds lame, but while I could do rivets it wouldn't look as clean, especially on the front with all the different panels.

Still waiting for the LEDs to arrive, but for now I did the power button assembly. Small stuff, hope to get some bigger updates later.




The assembly so far.



Little springs to give the button some feel.



The edges will be hidden behind the metal, as seen.

Amazing work. I'll definitely be anticipating the final product

-68K

that is a very unique, but smart alternatives for a power switch(talking about a vandal switch)

there is always like 1 or 2 mods that blow peoples minds and i would say this is one of them!!!!!

I can't wait to see this thing finished and lit up.



It tis my "life force"

dew rocks! o and i love this project, that button is sick. good job.

I want to see this finished!

lol

Wait til you get a kidney force. (Stones)

I'm lookin forward to seeing this completed, too.

looking awesome. keep up the good work mate

yeah this is disgusting... real smooth looking, and small as shit. cant wait to see it up and running

Some more small stuff. Tomorrow I hope to get all the get all the mounts done and figure out the cooling, then maybe I can get some real updates.



The GPU heatsink+fan mount made from some plexi



And mounted in the box



The controllers and power unit in their basic places. Still need to get rid of the old black brackets, but the controllers plugs mount pretty solid on the posts that attach to the front plate. LEDs on the power unit are in and wired (sort of). You can see a bit of the dvd eject switch embedded in the top middle of the plexi. Idea is that the end of the dvd plate will be pressed to activate the switch.

kick ass, like the mount.

hey man im making a xbox. and i need the heatsinks to be lower so what kind is that Tt fan heatsink. and is the other one an iceberq pro or something. maybe a link or something. andything would be helpfully.

The "Tt" one is a Thermaltake Crystal Orb VGA cooler, which you can find here. It's not a whole lot shorter than the stock GPU heatsink, though. The other, like you said, is the Iceberq 4 Pro.

cant wait to see the final product

I'm interested to see what kind of temps you get. Keep us informed.

I started wiring up some of the LEDs today (5mm white LEDs from LEDshoppe) and noticed that many of them are not really white, most slightly blue, green or purple. I shaved the LEDs down, but assume this is not what caused the problem. Is it normal to get something like this in a batch of LEDs? Or is it possible that it was something I did when sanding/wiring them. They also only have 3V running through them instead of the 3.3 they will have in the xbox. The pictures really don't show the color difference well, but it's very obvious in person.





I guess I'll just try all the LEDs until I find ones are similar in color.

man that is coming along nicely, well done

Did some venting on the back to help air out the PSU. Still trying to decide if I should do this on the sides as well, or if I should come up with some other venting for them...what do you think?



Marked up and drilling the holes





Glad to be done with that...now I get to do it again on the metal plate



PSU was extended, not real happy with it, though; I'm having some problems now with the fit in the box. Hope it will all work out, may have to change the position of the PSU. One step forward, two steps back


Sorted out the LEDs too, seem to be about a third each of the blue, green and purple "whites." I'll try to just use one color for the box.

Niiiiiice box its coming along nicely!
keep up the good work! cant wait to see it finshed and glowing!

I like the vent holes, it looks slick. I would recomend having some side vents so you get good airflow however

No question that there will be side vents, just whether I should do them the same as the ones in the back or not.

I think slots will look better then a bunch of holes. Too many holes and it'll look weird.

That PSU looks crazy. You must have some steady hands for the tedious soldering you've had to do (especially on the IDE). How long did that back vent take you to drill? It looks really good.

Thanks for the input. I like the idea of slots as well, though I'm debating between vertical and horizontal ones.

The back took a while to drill, mainly because I was trying to go slow to avoid chipping the plexi. It wasn't too bad, though. I've started on the metal and that's actually going faster so far as I can just punch it through, but cleaning up the other side will be a pain. The metal holes are bigger than the plexi ones so you can see the ring of light around each hole (check the pictures for the basic idea).






(Try to ignore the jagged edges, they will be cleaned up once all the holes are drilled)

very nice idea with holes and plexi

nice work your xbox is coming along nicely,fresh and original. cant wait to see it finish.

Thanks guys, I can't wait to see it finished either

Nice to hear from you grim, really liked your work on Project Umbrella

Finished up all the holes, I'm happy with how it came out. Makes me want to make everything holy, but then it would just be a ripoff of the G5s







Sorry for the blurry pictures...guess my next project should be a tripod The metals looks a bit dirty, mostly debris from the cloth I wiped it off with, but it's pretty clean overall.

thats nice i like it a lot

wondering though...what are you gonna use to clean up all the edges so it doesnt take 12 years ?

I like what you're doing. Ace patience too.

Nice one....

Damn man. That looks sick.

Can't wait to see it finished. Keep up the good work.

Just when I liked the back panel...you made me like it even more . Great job lining up all the holes.

wow! this has got to be one of my favorite xboxes on the scene man! keep up the good work!

I think vertical would look best.

A question about the Iceberq 4 Pro. Do you think it is possible to fit two of those next to each other (one on the CPU and one on the GPU)? I'm trying a small mod of my own.

By the way, nice mod.