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."
Meh (Score:1)
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Don't forget he also replaced 2 small(ish) form factor, boxes into one large form factor box. Not really saving any space.
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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.
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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.
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Why?
Well I wouldn't do it, but if its something he enjoys doing then why not?
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Completely agreed... also, what's it achieved that just... you know... putting an XBox 360 in an ugly case wouldn't?
Re:Uglification process succeeded (Score:4, Insightful)
Thereby turning a perfectly good game platform into a crappy console.
To me, 1Xbox 360 + 1PS/3 PC + HD6870 + 8gig RAM
Two long-in-the-tooth-and-not-expected-to-be-upgraded-for-some-time consoles are not as good for games as my PC.
Have you seen what Deus Ex HR looks like on a PC compared to the other platforms? It's like day and night.
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Well, most missions in Deus Ex do play at night :) :D
I just love the guys awful chin, he can open cans with that one, that would be awesome the chin/canopener augment
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Yeah, I noticed that. At least he had the good taste to grow a little chin spinach to try to hide it.
What's the news? (Score:2)
It's a cool trick but I don't see the point. Proving you can dissassemble-reassemble a game system?
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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)
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Re:What's the news? (Score:4, Informative)
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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.
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More so - this is to electronics tinkering what subscribing to the "stamp sheet of the month" club is to stamp collecting.
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Probably because said hobby was posted to Slashdot as if it were something newsworthy. Why wasn't this story put under the idle section?
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Because this guy wasn't idle :)
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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.
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"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?
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He acting like a geek, which used to be praised here on this site.
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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
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Why it's on slashdot?
To piss you off, apparently.
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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]
The point of buying a console (Score:2)
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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.
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What do the red bars mean on /. posts? (Score:1)
A gaming PC wouldn't let you play... (Score:2)
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Well, not until the emulators are working anyway.
Thanks, but I can wait 5 or so years to play God of War VII.
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21" monitors seem to be fairly standard for desktops these days, yes. Most decent-sized HDTVs have a VGA input. Most decent-quality graphics cards and gaming laptops have HDMI outputs, as well.
Hooking up a PC to a big telly is a piece of cake.
Spouse acceptance factor (Score:2)
21" monitors seem to be fairly standard for desktops these days, yes.
Thank you. That takes care of two players, but not necessarily four [pineight.com].
Most decent-sized HDTVs have a VGA input.
I've talked to a few Redbox customers in August 2011, and many of them appear to still use a CRT SDTV as the primary living room TV. Most people don't know that VGA to SDTV cables [sewelldirect.com] exist.
Hooking up a PC to a big telly is a piece of cake.
But the public doesn't know this. I've done a lot of asking around on Slashdot about a PC using a TV as a monitor. It appears a lot of people disagree with you that it's a piece of cake (see 1 [slashdot.org] 2 [slashdot.org] 3 [slashdot.org] 4 [slashdot.org] 5 [slashdot.org]). And one still has to buy or build a gaming PC for the T
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Kids these days. We played 4-player Asteroids on an Atari 400 and a 15" telly, and WE LIKED IT.
Fair enough on the PC to TV thing, I suppose. If others find it difficult, they find it difficult. Possibly because I'm a sad git, I've never bought a HDTV that couldn't take the VGA output from my Dreamcast, if nothing else. But it's still easier than getting good performance out of an emulator, which is what the grandparent was discussing.
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Oh, the joy of remote mines and pressing A+B at the same time...
Could have at least put it in an attractive case (Score:1)
Falls a bit short in execution. (Score:4, Interesting)
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.
Complete and utter garbage (Score:4, Insightful)
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!
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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.
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Forgive the audio (the camera hates any light level that can't make a quantum meter register and spazzes out until I get back into brighter area)
http://tinypic.com/player.php?v=2r5gleg&s=7 [tinypic.com]
On the left, practical zero-light system. The only light being used in that area is the light above our head for vision. On the right, LED-based rapid production system - 90% less water, 19 days from germinated seed to harvest. That's on a measly day 8.
Not only is it happening, but I'm essentially the field leader. Nob
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All I have is the video, and one measly picture of me doing a little research on the same lettuce batch in the video - http://i.imgur.com/lCMsw.jpg [imgur.com]
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So what you're saying is you've bought blacklights for your grow-op?
Re:Complete and utter garbage (Score:4, Insightful)
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...
In defense of a Complete and utter garbage (Score:5, Insightful)
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.
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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.
ePeen Rebuttal (Score:1)
Besides, I just noticed your user number. You get off MY lawn sonny.
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Exactly! That same Internet work ethic is why Slashdot's code works so very well to this day!
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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.
Re:Complete and utter garbage (Score:5, Insightful)
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.
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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
And for the next "hack" (Score:2)
Afrotech done a PSX + PC hybrid a while back (Score:2)
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]
only slightly related to article, (Score:2)
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
Re:only slightly related to article, (Score:4, Insightful)
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.
Copy protection (Score:2)
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)?
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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
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
What About EMI separation between them? (Score:2)
it doesn't appear he did anything to accommodate EMI separation between the two motherboards? Did I miss that part?
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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.
Don't tease yourself... (Score:1)
Take the plunge buy an actual PC.
Not quite Yoshi's Boxx... (Score:1)
Nicely done... (Score:2)
Still not a pc.... (Score:1)