Project: Mame Cabinet in an XBox 360 case.

[ZombieRyushu]

I received the donation of an XBox 360 case from a local game store. The owner had like 50 of them. Then the thought occurred to me, Why can't I take mini-ITX PC Hardware and "cram" an x86_64 PC Motherboard in there for an XBox 360 that would actually work and never ever 'Red Ring'.

The truth be told, I already have a "Mame Cabinet" that exists as a full sized computer. It has connected to it Four Sega Genesis controllers. But I'd like a Mame "Console" that I can take places, and can look like a regular console.

So I guess what I am asking is, would anyone be willing to help me cram a bunch of X86_64 PC hardware into the case of an XBox 360? I can pay the cost of the components, and ship components in the US and Canada.

[XYXZYZ]

:?

This post is confusing, it seems like you're saying "MAME cabinet" when you mean "emulation box" or something. MAME cabinets are big, heavy (usually wooden) arcade machines with monitors, control panels and some kind of PC inside running MAME.


Three MAME cabinets and a Neo Geo
http://www.videogamecollectors.com/gallery2/main.php?g2_view=core.DownloadItem&g2_itemId=51807&g2_serialNumber=2

[ZombieRyushu]

Of course. Maybe a more appropriate term may be "Mame Console", or "Emulator box". But I get it, my request remains the same.

[Ed Oscuro]

This post is confusing, it seems like you're saying "MAME cabinet"
Oh man, I totally believed that ZombieRyushu pulled a Honey I Shrunk the Arcade and there's a bunch of little people running around inside that 360, tripping out to the gently futuristic curves of the case design.

Anyway, I think the 360 case would probably be decent furniture for a low-power project, to double as a supergun project box, or for an Intel Atom (dual core better for most things obviously; performance should be in line with Pentium IVs though for MAME) or maybe something else micro-ATX.

I think you will get just as worthwhile help looking around the 'net to see if anybody has made a regular mini- or micro-ATX computer motherboard fit in there and built a computer around that. There are of course some particular details to a MAME cabinet but it's still a computer with (ideally) USB ports for input, and as fast as a CPU as you can get in there the better. You ought to get plenty of hits...I had no idea so many dead 360s were around though, I thought they all got sent back. Apparently they aren't worth the cost of shipping to Microsoft ROFL

I'd keep in mind, though, that a lot of the new CPUs I'd consider running MAME on are going to be warmer. There's a reason those 360s are dead in the first place, and for me personally the sleek looks and easy portability of the 360 does not overcome the problems with it not having easy hard drive mounts, probably different motherboard screw mount hole positions, airflow (overheating) issues, and so on.

[Flack]

I'd keep in mind, though, that a lot of the new CPUs I'd consider running MAME on are going to be warmer. There's a reason those 360s are dead in the first place, and for me personally the sleek looks and easy portability of the 360 does not overcome the problems with it not having easy hard drive mounts, probably different motherboard screw mount hole positions, airflow (overheating) issues, and so on.

People cram those Micro-ATX motherboards into everything from NES cases to Star Wars toys and everything else. I wouldn't expect any of those things to have motherboard screw mount holes or hard drive mounts either. Obviously a project like this is going to take a little creativity and manual work.

[Flack]

Google "mini itx custom 360" or something like that. Several people have pulled this off already.

http://itxfans.org/videos/xbox-360-mini-itx-pc-mod/

[ZombieRyushu]

Yes I know. Thats What gave me the idea. I need someone with the soldering skill to actually do the manual labor as my disability prohibits such things.

[Hovoc]

Wouldn't it be easier to just slap a mod chip and a larger HDD in the classic xbox and be on your way? :D

[ZombieRyushu]

No, because by demands are above and beyond that. This is a Linux based project anyway.