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Hardware Hacking PlayStation (Games) XBox (Games) Games Build Hardware

Stuffing a PS3 and an Xbox 360 Into a PC Case 96

An anonymous reader writes "A man identifying himself as 'Timofiend' has posted a detailed walkthrough of how he built an impressive case mod that fits both a PlayStation 3 and an Xbox 360 into a mid-tower computer case. He used one of the newer Slim 360 models hooked up to an ATX power supply, and one of the bulkier old PS3 units, with its standard power supply as well. After arranging the internal boards, persuading the two optical drives to fit and loading up on fans to prevent overheating, he wound up with a very cool (and functional!) blend of gaming platforms."
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Stuffing a PS3 and an Xbox 360 Into a PC Case

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  • by Anonymous Coward
    Requires two supplies, no switch box for video output just multiple video outputs.
    • Don't forget he also replaced 2 small(ish) form factor, boxes into one large form factor box. Not really saving any space.

    • by Lumpy ( 12016 )

      Why? you got a crappy TV with only 1 HDMI IN?
      My set has 4 HDMI inputs. more than enough. Plus who plays games on only the TV. all my game consoles go through the Surround Reciver. Playing Halo:Reach with full surround on gives you audio clues in the surround channels so you can hear behind you. So now I have 4 more HDMI inputs.

      • by iainl ( 136759 )

        One of my TVs has 4 inputs, the other 1. Although I've got an auto-switching HDMI box to go with that one, anyway.

        However, such a box would have been a trivial, and sensible, addition to the build I'd have said.

  • It's a cool trick but I don't see the point. Proving you can dissassemble-reassemble a game system?

    • Re: (Score:1, Insightful)

      by cachimaster ( 127194 )

      Now I see the tag. "Hardware hacking" ?!? Hardware hacking my ass. The xbox 360 glitch hack is hardware hacking, this is, at most, pointless hardware assembly.

    • Re:What's the news? (Score:5, Interesting)

      by Eraesr ( 1629799 ) on Tuesday September 06, 2011 @03:09AM (#37313602) Homepage
      I don't understand these sorts of replies. You may think it's a waste of time, but this guy clearly enjoys fiddling around with electronics, using his hands to craft something unique and using his head to make sure everything works out. Some people like to do all their home-improvement themselves, designing and building their own bathroom or kitchen. Some people like gardening. Some people like to get greasy with the inner bits of cars, Some people spend hours on end playing video games. Why does someone's hobby suddenly need to have a point or be validated against some kind of level of usefulness when it involves computer parts, electronics and little LED lights?
      • by m50d ( 797211 )
        It's not computer-specific. Stamp collecting gets mocked as a hobby on similar grounds.
        • Re:What's the news? (Score:4, Informative)

          by slackbheep ( 1420367 ) on Tuesday September 06, 2011 @03:24AM (#37313658)
          While I will not berate someone for their stamp collection, I would advise them not to submit a Slashdot story about the AMAZING new binder they'd made to hold them, which is simply two ordinary binders taped together.
          • But think of how much, um... shelf space it sav–no, I guess not. Um... hmm.

            Yup. Good use of time, this. Maybe it was for the schadenfreude of forcing the consoles, well-established mortal enemies, to share the same body? I'm pretty sure that's a staple of vaguely sciency/magical Saturday morning cartoons.

        • More so - this is to electronics tinkering what subscribing to the "stamp sheet of the month" club is to stamp collecting.

      • Re: (Score:1, Insightful)

        by Anonymous Coward

        Probably because said hobby was posted to Slashdot as if it were something newsworthy. Why wasn't this story put under the idle section?

      • Why does someone's hobby suddenly need to have a point or be validated against some kind of level of usefulness when it involves computer parts, electronics and little LED lights?

        When it's posted on a site marked "news for nerds"? Hmm, let's see..

        They should have put this in idle.

      • "fiddling around with electronics"
        No. This guy is at most, plugging and unplugging connectors that were designed to not be plugged in the wrong socket. This needs zero skill. You need much more skill to fix a car engine, and I don't see that in the news. Nice hobby. Why it's on slashdot?

        • He acting like a geek, which used to be praised here on this site.

        • by vux984 ( 928602 )

          No. This guy is at most, plugging and unplugging connectors that were designed to not be plugged in the wrong socket.

          Its a case mod. Nothing more nothing less. But as case mods go, its a pretty ambitious one, and well beyond the skill of most of the people here... probably including you.

          This needs zero skill.

          The devil is in the details.

          This case mod element requires a fair bit of skill. Or did you think the motherboard tray in the average mini-ATX case has the space and screw hole mountings to simultaneousl

        • by cffrost ( 885375 )

          Why it's on slashdot?

          To piss you off, apparently.

      • by RDW ( 41497 )

        I don't understand these sorts of replies. You may think it's a waste of time, but this guy clearly enjoys fiddling around with electronics, using his hands to craft something unique and using his head to make sure everything works out.

        I guess it's because, historically, this sort of approach doesn't always end well:

        http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rSCBvu_kijo [youtube.com]

      • I thought the whole point of buying a console instead of buying a PC to put next to the TV was that the console would have a more attractive case than a typical full-size tower.
      • by Gripp ( 1969738 )
        I think had he managed to get one disc tray, one power button, one power supply, etc. and got it to recognize which system it should pump AV out of people would have been impressed. at this point he may as well have taped the two systems together and stuffed them into a new case.
        • by vux984 ( 928602 )

          If your daughter comes home with a well crafted bird house she made in wood shop do you mock her for not successfully mating two endangered species in it?

          Do you tell her that without a baby Ivory-billed woodpecker bald eagle hybrid living inside she might as well have just taped the whole thing together?

          I think you've missed the point "case modding" which is the skill that was on display here. This was a pretty ambitious case mod all things considered. Even if it wasn't an avian crossbreeding experiment.

          • by Gripp ( 1969738 )
            okay.... i'll agree. as case modding in-and-of itself goes this was a decent feat. but my point was more a matter of "that would be news worthy, this is not"
      • If he likes doing it, sure, why not. But why is it on /.? How is it news for geeks? There's nothing technically interesting about what he's done. Should we have articles about everybody's hobbies? I don't see how this would have even made idle.
  • by Anonymous Coward
    Is it supposed to make this article stand out? In which case, I didn't get how this story is so special, compared to most others.
  • Meh, I'm in the unimpressed camp, it's hardly of benheck's level with no water/custom cooling, board mods or anything special at all really. He may as well have thrown both consoles in a cardboard box (a partucularly ugly one) and stuffed the cables through holes in the side. Not to piss on anyones bonfire or anything, I'm sure he got a lot out of it personally. I see a lot of mods and that's not a good example for a front page submission.
  • by flimflammer ( 956759 ) on Tuesday September 06, 2011 @03:28AM (#37313684)

    I personally think this is a bit lame. I think the idea is pretty cool (and I don't blame the guy for doing it, do what you love to do!) but the execution seemed to fall short. If it required one power supply and at least had some sort of switch for the video, it would have been a lot cooler. But fitting 2 power supplies and requiring 2 monitors (or to manually switch when switching systems) is kind of lame.

  • by ModernGeek ( 601932 ) on Tuesday September 06, 2011 @03:45AM (#37313752)
    I know that I'm going to get modded down for this, but this isn't news worthy at all.

    This is a total hackjob that required no real knowledge of electronics or real craftsmanship to accomplish.

    I really think that everyone on the Internet has gone soft. We used to drive excellence through insults, and when an insult came along, everybody else insulted the person until they either left or got better at what they did. The Internet used to breed excellence and anything short was seen as a waste of bandwidth. Now someone just chops together two video game units and gets all sorts of attention on the front page of Slashdot.

    Get off my lawn! I don't want to see this garbage on the front page of Slashdot!
    • by Khyber ( 864651 )

      And in the meantime, news about things like me figuring out a method of partially bypassing photosynthesis to achieve greater energy efficiencies in indoor commercial horticulture just get dismissed.

      • So what you're saying is you've bought blacklights for your grow-op?

    • by drinkypoo ( 153816 ) <drink@hyperlogos.org> on Tuesday September 06, 2011 @05:30AM (#37314104) Homepage Journal

      Agreed, this looks like dogshit, and it's something people seem to do all the time. Which is puzzling, because if you have two consoles, it would seem to be valuable to be able to turn them both on at once. And putting them both in one box makes that a questionable thing to do at best. Noise city...

    • by serviscope_minor ( 664417 ) on Tuesday September 06, 2011 @05:58AM (#37314200) Journal

      Frankly not all of us here have the l33t sk1llz to make the world's best case mod evar. I count myself among those lacking the skills. So I actually do find it informative and interesting to see what can be done with mere uncoordinated and ill-equipped mortal level of skills.

      I really think that everyone on the Internet has gone soft. We used to drive excellence through insults, and when an insult came along, everybody else insulted the person until they either left or got better at what they did.

      No, we used to troll and insult because it's fun to cut others down when you can't see the effects of nastiness and also much lower risk than doing it in person, where one risks a real-time punch in the face.

      The Internet used to breed excellence and anything short was seen as a waste of bandwidth.

      I think you have rose-tinted spectacles so thick that you can't actually see anything through them. Were you actually on the internet... well... ever?

      Get off my lawn! I don't want to see this garbage on the front page of Slashdot!

      Slashdot always has been a random mix of things from the amazingly excellent and high tech to random small hack jobs. I find the spectrum interesting because while the amazing stuff remains as amazing as ever, I'm far more likely to be able to do one of those small random hack jobs myself.

    • This is a how-to. So while it is understandable about raging against someone bragging about a bit of ingenuity. This guy should be commended for taking the time out to inform instead of brag and I assure you, it is much easier to brag or insult than it is to inform.
    • by Borland ( 123542 )

      I know that I'm going to get modded down for this, but this isn't news worthy at all.

      If I had mod points you'd only get modded down for this self-pitying sentence. Just say what you have to say dude.

      Besides, failing to be a l33t engineer, this is a pretty good first try. We don't have to hug it out, but being a dick doesn't really help either old timer. People used to be the crap out of people that did these things too. Now we have an international forum for who can do cool, nerdy things better.

    • Besides, I just noticed your user number. You get off MY lawn sonny.

    • by Ihmhi ( 1206036 )

      Exactly! That same Internet work ethic is why Slashdot's code works so very well to this day!

    • Pffff and you call yourself a geek, the "hack" itself was fairly easy, but he has done it extremely well, that's the noteworthy part of this "hack"
      You are right about one thing though, when the masses got on to the web the level of excellence went down, but that's not my problem.

    • by tecnico.hitos ( 1490201 ) on Tuesday September 06, 2011 @08:09AM (#37314956)

      We used to drive excellence through insults.

      No, you used to drive away poor quality jobs through insults. Don't fool yourself into thinking you are responsible for someone else's success.

      Besides, when the internet was younger, it's users were far more likely to be technologically adept.

    • I agree with you for the most part.

      He hasn't done a bad job but it's nothing unique, maybe I'm getting old but I'm sure I've seen stuff posted damn near 10 years ago with a PS2, Dreamcast, SNES or something in a case AND the PC - I'm pretty sure there were quite a few of these articles, years and years ago.

      I want to see more articles on people hooking up their PC to other gadgets in the house or easy monitoring solutions or something.
      It's 2011, why the god damned heck do I still ride on PT to work each mor

  • Stuffing a broken game system into a garbage dumpster.
  • And he used a capture card, so you'd get the PS1's output in same screen as the computer.

    http://www.afrotechmods.com/psxpc1.htm [afrotechmods.com]

  • I've been of the opinion since the PlayStation 2/DreamCast/original XBox era game consoles should have standard notebook optical drives in them since it's the most likely part to fail. We could use tool-less removal systems like most 1U servers have to swap them.

    Not only would this make salvaging a system after the most likely component failure possible it would make cool hacks easier to pull off. Do you have any idea the pain it is to try to keep an original XBox working with optical disk still in play?

    N

    • by jimicus ( 737525 ) on Tuesday September 06, 2011 @05:47AM (#37314158)

      I've been of the opinion since the PlayStation 2/DreamCast/original XBox era game consoles should have standard notebook optical drives in them since it's the most likely part to fail. We could use tool-less removal systems like most 1U servers have to swap them.

      I don't get it. If they do that, you might not buy a new console when the old one packs up.

    • game consoles should have standard notebook optical drives in them since it's the most likely part to fail

      A standard notebook optical drive in a game console would make it easier to emulate the optical drive and play infringing copies of games.

      Now to convince Nintendo they don't have to change the shape of their 5v delivery Jack with every portable unit

      The original DS used a GBA SP jack. Is it that they change the shape of the connector when they change the voltage or current that the adapter is rated to deliver? Or that they make each connector smaller on the motherboard (like proprietary-B to mini-B to micro-B in the USB world)?

      • Yes, they did use the same connector between GBA to SP.

        Then they introduced the DS Lite and the Gameboy Micro connectors. They're both different.

        At least the DSi, DSiXL and now the 3DS all have the same connector. I can see no reason why they didn't stick with either the Micro or DS-Lite connector since they're all the same voltage. Micro USB actually would be the best choice, but I would be okay with mini.

        I don't know about the current differences, but they're all very close to 5V, so close I have a aft

      • Forgot to address the copy protection bit:

        All the little drive/format attempts at piracy prevention have failed anyways. I do give the Gamecube a little credit for taking a little while to crack.

        • by tepples ( 727027 )

          All the little drive/format attempts at piracy prevention have failed anyways.

          They have succeeded in a court of law, which acts as a deterrent for the general public. Watch Nintendo, Sony, and Microsoft shut down Lik Sang. Watch Nintendo shut down homebrew tools like R4. Watch Sony shut down George Hotz.

          • I use most of the tools of a pirate, but I don't pirate. I have my PSP hacked, rip my own games, put them on a Memory Stick and play them that way. I rip DVD's etc... Yet I don't pirate. If everyone who used the tools did what I did I don't think the companies would mind as much.

    • Do you have any idea the pain it is to try to keep an original XBox working with optical disk still in play?

      I know you're making a general point, but bad choice of example. Chip/TSOP/softmod, replace hard drive, copy games to drive (you'll need to pirate the ISOs or have access to a single working optical drive to do this once, never have to do it again). It's a better experience in every imaginable way.

      • I have this on the agenda to get around to, haven't done it yet, but yes, I was making a point. I can do exactly what you said I should, but I don't imagine the average soccer mom with kids born in two year increments spanning a decade could, especially when a kid friendly game from the console sort of becomes a family tradition to play together.

        I've got my eight year old playing some of the NES/SNES games I used to play when I was closer to her age. Not as easy to do with optical drive consoles.

  • it doesn't appear he did anything to accommodate EMI separation between the two motherboards? Did I miss that part?

    • by iainl ( 136759 )

      It's not perfect, but from what I see he's not removing the big heatsink / fan assembly from the PS3, which encases the whole motherboard in a metal shell. So I don't think it's going to be much of an issue.

  • Take the plunge buy an actual PC.

  • but still cool to an extent. Now you have a gimped double computer.system.
  • But if you want to make it that big and ugly, even I could accomplish the same exact thing (without sketches). Putting it all into a smaller form factor or more attractive case would make this somewhat notable. Or throw a real computer into the mix. As it is, you could do just as well by taking the two consoles, strapping them together, and calling it one hybrid machine. Good effort, and nice write up, I guess.
  • Sorry for your attempts, but please try again.

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