Pre Drilling Phase 1

So far the fitting is going quite well.  The MB, Processor, Fan, and Memory all fit into a tiny corner giving me tons of space for the Blu Ray and HDD.  Let me know what you think.

The idea that I had for the power leds and hdd leds should be fine.  I did some research online and spoke with a buddy of mine who knows WAY more than I do about circuits.  I told him my idea and he said it's super easy and should take about 20 minutes to do.  I will be picking up those parts and will be sure to document the entire LED setup for anyone who cares.

Blu Ray Player & HDD in hand

Ok, I received the Blu Ray player and the hard drive in the mail today.  Next step is to put everything together to make sure they all fit properly.  I'll post some pics soon of the pre stages before drilling and cutting begins.

The updates will be more frequent now that all the parts are in.  Let me know if you have any questions.

Blu Ray Drive and Hard Drive ordered

Ok, I jumped the gun on this one and ordered the blu ray drive from Amazon for $103.  That is a nice deal for a blu ray drive with CD/DVD burner. http://www.amazon.com/LG-Super-Multi-Blu-ray-Combo-CT21N/dp/B003E91KM6/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1317512128&sr=8-1 .  There was a Sony one for $100 but I preferred LG.  Which you choose is up to you.  Seems the average going rate for these drives is $129-$200. While I was in the ordering mood I decided to just order the HDD.  I wish I could go for a nice 1TB but remember our power limitations, so I went with a 250GB drive for $44.99 from Newegg.com http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136387  250GB
This should be more than enough space for OS, Boxee/XBMC, and game emulators.

Today I decided to not only make it a HTPC but also a emulator box.  I mean why not be able to play legacy games as well as watch whatever movies I want.  I'd like to hear what you guys think.

Well, once the parts come in then construction will begin.  See you then.

First 3 items have arrived

The motherboard, processor, and memory have arrived by mail today.  This weekend I will post images of the motherboard fitted to the XBOX metal case.  After I order the hard drive and Blu Ray drive I will start cutting the items.  I just want to make sure everything fits.  Here are the images of the items

Keep it in MEMORY :-)

Ok ok that was a really bad pun for a title.  I found some memory on newegg (again).  Seems newegg has the cheapest prices around.  Anyway, I found some memory on newegg for a nice cheap price of $23.99 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820139659).  I know you all want more than 4GB of power for your HTPC but you shouldn't need more than that to run good streams from your server or to play DVD/Blu-Ray smoothly.  The memory only uses 1.5V which is nothing on our power supply so we are styling there.   

Let's look at a price breakdown of what I have purchased so far:
picoPSU-150-XT + 102W Adapter Power Kit - $68.00
ASRock A75M-ITX FM1 AMD A75 Motherboard - $89.99
AMD A4-3400 Llano 2.7 GHz Dual-Core Processor - $69.99
Kingston Value 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 Ram - $23.99

For a grand total of $251.97 - shipping

All that's left to buy now is the DVD drive, the hard drive, and some LED's.  I know that I'll probably put that off for 2 weeks to recover from paying this much. 

Electricoant used the XBOX 360 rings to make his work but I have a different idea in mind.  It will still make use of the rings but with my own flavor of LED light.  See you guys in two weeks.  If you have any comments I'll check the blog constantly between now and my next post.  Laters

Motherboard woes

So in my hunt for the motherboard and processor I ran across a lovely deal on newegg (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813138327) .  I mean what an awesome deal for such a nice board and at $69.00 US it's a steal.  The con is the processor for this mighty board is a whopping $124.99 US. (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115078).  I looked other places but basically the price to own an intel product is not cheap at all.  So with a heavy sigh I continued my search.  I came across this guy in my travels (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157273).  Now he is $20 US more making it $89.00 for the board.  It does come with HDMI and SPDIF which is a must have for this box.  The icing on the cake was that the CPU was only $69.99 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103955).  With a price difference of $35 bucks.  Some may not care but I am on a limited budget so AMD wins the battle hands down.  Now it's on to memory.  See you next post.

Tools of the Trade

Ok, so here is what I have so far. 

• A broken dead XBOX 360
• A micro bit set to unscrew the ridiculously small screws from the XBOX 360
• A mini flat head screwdriver to  pull the system apart.

Day 1 will just deal with pulling this machine apart and scrapping the "junk" I don't need.  Ok, here we go.

Using the force of the gods, or so it seems, I have pulled apart the XBOX 360 by using the mini flat head screwdriver to pry the box apart.  Now it lies in a heap on my floor.

Power Supply Purchased

Ok, I just bought the Power Supply from Amazon.  It was a decent bargain for I bought the "Ituner PicoPSU (150W) +  Ituner AC-DC 12V 150W power adapter" for about $68.00 brand new.  Here is the link: http://www.amazon.com/picoPSU-150-XT-102W-Adapter-Cyncronix-Rating/dp/B00316TM22/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1316862003&sr=8-3
I will keep posting as I buy the items I need.  The next hurdle is getting the motherboard.  Anyone have any ideas for a nice mini-ITX motherboard that is under $80.  I do need it to have HDMI.   Since the PSU will be using 150W, I need to make sure it's not going to exceed that.  Wish me luck.  I'll update once I have the next part.

Day 1

Hi all.  I am brand new at blogging and doing this mod.  The story is this....I bought an XBOX 360 RROD for $40 off craig's list and thought I could do the pennies trick.  Well that didn't work and the XBOX died soon after I put it back together.  Anyway, I noticed the youtube post of a guy name "electric0ant" He seemed to have a slick idea of putting a micro ITX computer into his dead XBOX 360.  I figured what the heck...I can try to accomplish the same thing.  SO this is my documentation for trying to accomplish this goal.  Hopefully you readers can help me accomplish this feat.  Wish me luck.