XeniumMods v3.x - Dual Fan Upgrade Kit

[NeMesiS]

On 11/11/2023 at 11:23 AM, COO-589 said:

Would love to see how it flowed with a smoke machine, which would definitely provide proof-of-concept for the sceptics...

 

On 11/11/2023 at 5:51 PM, Bowlsnapper said:

This should be done with a Crystal console and a smoke machine.

 

Yes, it would be an interesting test to perform.
Some blue smoke would go well with a crystal console

 

 

On 11/12/2023 at 2:46 AM, ChriZz said:

Hey nemesis, where did that picture come from? Looks like a pdf and seems very interesting. Maybe you could share this or send it to me. Greetings

 

On 11/12/2023 at 6:45 AM, Bowlsnapper said:

Seconded. I would LOVE to have this document. For example, I've always wondered what the ICS chip by the Ethernet controller was for. I always assumed it was an IDE controller... Or responsible for the clocking of the CPU or GPU.

 

This document was forwarded to me, I was told they found it on a Facebook group for console repairs.
I can't even remember who gave this to me and that's about all I know. File attached...
But it does have alotta handy information, the "SMC Fan Control" title stood out to me.

 

 

 

Advanced_Repair_-_Xbox_PCBA_Repair_Technical_Training.pdf

[NeMesiS]

On 11/12/2023 at 6:29 AM, Ernegien said:

The fan speed SMBus/PIC command controls the fan PWM duty cycle so any kernel, app, or i2c hardware peripheral would be capable of regularly querying (ideally listening for) temp and adjusting the fan speed accordingly to target a certain temp etc.

 

Definitely... Ryzee's SPI2PAR for an example:

Ryzee119/spi2par2019: Open source recreation of the spi2par, a board that allowed you to use HD44780 compliant LCDs on the Xenium modchip for the OG Xbox (github.com)

 

[NeMesiS]

Or you can get a device like the EMC2101...

Adafruit EMC2101 I2C PC Fan Controller and Temperature Sensor [STEMMA QT / Qwiic] : ID 4808 : $5.50 : Adafruit Industries, Unique & fun DIY electronics and kits

 

 

Edited November 13, 2023 by NeMesiS

[ChriZz]

4 hours ago, NeMesiS said:

 

 

Yes, it would be an interesting test to perform.
Some blue smoke would go well with a crystal console

 

 

 

 

This document was forwarded to me, I was told they found it on a Facebook group for console repairs.
I can't even remember who gave this to me and that's about all I know. File attached...
But it does have alotta handy information, the "SMC Fan Control" title stood out to me.

 

 

 

Advanced_Repair_-_Xbox_PCBA_Repair_Technical_Training.pdf 958.62 kB · 3 downloads

Thank you very much

[extra-ordinary_]

Great work! Is there any pics with the power/data cables and SATA bridge attached? I was wondering if the IDE/SATA conversion could be done right at the board IDE connector so that just the thin SATA cables would have to go any distance. Would def improve air circulation.

[Jay Yardley]

Can I just say, after a few very short emails to NeMesiS, they were able to completely blow me away with a modified version of this kit 

I'd like to post the results here on their behalf just to show what this kit looks like with a little bit of an Evangelion twist

I'm very excited to receive this and continue with my themed console Excited for plastic

[COO-589]

On 11/14/2023 at 7:38 AM, extra-ordinary_ said:

Great work! Is there any pics with the power/data cables and SATA bridge attached? I was wondering if the IDE/SATA conversion could be done right at the board IDE connector so that just the thin SATA cables would have to go any distance. Would def improve air circulation.

There is this StarTech adaptor that I believe has been used successfully in the XBOX:

https://www.startech.com/en-au/hdd/pata2sata3

(This adapter can be plugged into the motherboard and a SATA data cable run to the drive)

It uses a SunplusIT SPIF223A chip and only supports up to SATA I at 1.5Gbps (which is obviously far in excess of what the XBOX is capable of and it's unlikely that a modern SATA III drive wouldn't be backwards-compatible with SATA I) and up to 133Mbps for PATA (which is UDMA-6).

Potentially also saves the hassle of an 80-wire IDE cable upgrade, but not sure how this adapter actually goes with UDMA-5 or UDMA-6 in the XBOX.

[NeMesiS]

Hope everyone had a Happy New Year and a Merry Christmas. For those that weren't aware that I had a few weeks break over the holidays and am now slowly getting back into the swing of things. Finally came to a conclusion on which filament I will be using from now and would like to discuss a couple of things in regards to 3D printing in general.

Filament:

I ended up settling on Polymaker's "Polylite PLA+ Pro" filament which is considerably more expensive than most other filament brands but is well worth it. Print quality has noticeably improved, layers are very consistent, almost no stringing, great bed adhesion and not a single print has failed yet. I can start prints without having to worry about anything going wrong, overnight prints won't be a problem.

When I tried eSun and Sunlu I had nothing but problems and many prints would fail mostly due to poor bed adhesion. Overall the print quality was acceptable but would have considerable stringing and would need cleaning up by hand. I found I had to spend a lot more time on bed leveling and monitoring prints. I would set my alarm every hour to make sure I checked on the prints of any potential failures.

1kg roll of eSun/Sunlu PLA+ costs around $25aud and a 1kg roll of Polylite PLA+ Pro costs $40aud. Even though eSun and Sunlu costs $15aud less per roll they end up costing me more than they save due to failed prints, especially when it comes to longer prints such as the HDD and Dual Fan Caddy's not to mention the extra time and effort I have to put into checking prints and cleaning them up by hand.

Now if you print as much as I do you'll see how this all adds up quickly, I've already recommended Polymaker filament to others, whom are also having a better experience using premium filament.

3D Printers:

Whenever I buy something important, I always do my research but the problem with 3D printer reviews and YouTube videos is how misleading they can be. One video on the Ender-3 the host deliberately broke off the hotend with a shifter before he had even had a chance to turn it on and test it. This was a reviewer with significant followers which then proceeded to give the Ender-3 a bad review.

What annoys me the most is comparison videos, for example comparing and Ender-3 to a Prusa. Which by the way are very comparable printers until you factor in the price, where you can get 3x or even 4x Ender-3's for the price of 1x Prusa. The question should be how does 1x Prusa compare to 3x Ender-3 S1 Pro's. Well it doesn't, I now have 3x times the print speed at equal print quality. Having 3x printers gives me redundancy, if one printer were to breakdown and need repairs I can continue to print with the other two, not to mention wear and tear is now divided by 3x printers.

My plan is to update my 3D Printers every couple of years or so and Bambu Labs printers do look promising which are being sold at a much better price than Prusa. A couple of P1P's would be equivalent to 4x Ender-3 S1 Pro's from what I can tell, maybe even more.

In the meantime, I'm still getting excellent prints with my Ender-3 S1 Pro's and replacement parts are still readily available so I'm in no hurry to upgrade them for some time. I think the biggest thing that makes a print good or not is the slicing profile one is using. I put a lot of time and effort into my slicing profiles and shouldn't need to modify them again anytime soon.
 

Edited January 13 by NeMesiS

[Bowlsnapper]

3 hours ago, NeMesiS said:

Hope everyone had a Happy New Year and a Merry Christmas. For those that weren't aware that I had a few weeks break over the holidays and am now slowly getting back into the swing of things. Finally came to a conclusion on which filament I will be using from now and would like to discuss a couple of things in regards to 3D printing in general.

Filament:

I ended up settling on Polymaker's "Polylite PLA+ Pro" filament which is considerably more expensive than most other filament brands but is well worth it. Print quality has noticeably improved, layers are very consistent, almost no stringing, great bed adhesion and not a single print has failed yet. I can start prints without having to worry about anything going wrong, overnight prints won't be a problem.

When I tried eSun and Sunlu I had nothing but problems and many prints would fail mostly due to poor bed adhesion. Overall the print quality was acceptable but would have considerable stringing and would need cleaning up by hand. I found I had to spend a lot more time on bed leveling and monitoring prints. I would set my alarm every hour to make sure I checked on the prints of any potential failures.

1kg roll of eSun/Sunlu PLA+ costs around $25aud and a 1kg roll of Polylite PLA+ Pro costs $40aud. Even though eSun and Sunlu costs $15aud less per roll they end up costing me more than they save due to failed prints, especially when it comes to longer prints such as the HDD and Dual Fan Caddy's not to mention the extra time and effort I have to put into checking prints and cleaning them up by hand.

Now if you print as much as I do you'll see how this all adds up quickly, I've already recommended Polymaker filament to others, whom are also having a better experience using premium filament.

3D Printers:

Whenever I buy something important, I always do my research but the problem with 3D printer reviews and YouTube videos is how misleading they can be. One video on the Ender-3 the host deliberately broke off the hotend with a shifter before he had even had a chance to turn it on and test it. This was a reviewer with significant followers which then proceeded to give the Ender-3 a bad review.

What annoys me the most is comparison videos, for example comparing and Ender-3 to a Prusa. Which by the way are very comparable printers until you factor in the price, where you can get 3x or even 4x Ender-3's for the price of 1x Prusa. The question should be how does 1x Prusa compare to 3x Ender-3 S1 Pro's. Well it doesn't, I now have 3x times the print speed at equal print quality. Having 3x printers gives me redundancy, if one printer were to breakdown and need repairs I can continue to print with the other two, not to mention wear and tear is now divided by 3x printers.

My plan is to update my 3D Printers every couple of years or so and Bambu Labs printers do look promising which are being sold at a much better price than Prusa. A couple of P1P's would be equivalent to 4x Ender-3 S1 Pro's from what I can tell, maybe even more.

In the meantime, I'm still getting excellent prints with my Ender-3 S1 Pro's and replacement parts are still readily available so I'm in no hurry to upgrade them for some time. I think the biggest thing that makes a print good or not is the slicing profile one is using. I put a lot of time and effort into my slicing profiles and shouldn't need to modify them again anytime soon.
 

I really do love my Elegoo Neptune 4. It's VERY fast and I haven't had a single leveling problem. I've only leveled once. Mine was 250, which seems to be worth every penny. 

Dude, does this room ONLY have 3 3D printers in it and nothing else?

[Bowlsnapper]

1 hour ago, Thairanny said:

The Elegoos are nice. I would love one of these:

https://phrozen3d.com/pages/sonic-mega-8k-s

I think with a large enough resin printer I could print entire shells.

Why are figurines always the example on these pages? They use so much resin and are kinda dumb. I used my resin printer to print X3 Control Panel buttons. Now THAT was a worthy cause.

It would be interesting to see how shells turn out when made of resin... however, you would have to deal with support points and that can be messy and shitty.

[NeMesiS]

 

On 1/13/2024 at 2:59 PM, Bowlsnapper said:

Dude, does this room ONLY have 3 3D printers in it and nothing else?

Pretty much, LoL...

Plus general storage for household items and Xbox stuff, most of which is on the built in wardrobe.

[Bowlsnapper]

2 hours ago, NeMesiS said:

 

Pretty much, LoL...

Plus general storage for household items and Xbox stuff, most of which is on the built in wardrobe.

I envy your roomy living space, dude!

[Cr1ms0n]

Hey Nem, does the current dual fan kit accommodate the relocated CPU heatsink used with the ACE Console Repairs 1.4GHz CPU upgrades?

Or does the dual fan caddy only support the stock heatsink position?

[NeMesiS]

11 hours ago, Cr1ms0n said:

Hey Nem, does the current dual fan kit accommodate the relocated CPU heatsink used with the ACE Console Repairs 1.4GHz CPU upgrades?

Or does the dual fan caddy only support the stock heatsink position?

Unfortunately, it won't fit a 1.4GHz Tualatin CPU upgraded motherboards due to the extra height of the heatsink.
The heatsink could be trimmed to fit though I have not seen anyone do this.
There are cleaner heatsink installs getting around, but I don't think these mods are available to the public as yet.

Alternatively, a "Trusty" 1.0Ghz Coppermine CPU upgrade which doesn't increase the height of the heatsink will work.

[Cr1ms0n]

On 2/3/2024 at 9:40 AM, NeMesiS said:

Unfortunately, it won't fit a 1.4GHz Tualatin CPU upgraded motherboards due to the extra height of the heatsink.
The heatsink could be trimmed to fit though I have not seen anyone do this.
There are cleaner heatsink installs getting around, but I don't think these mods are available to the public as yet.

Alternatively, a "Trusty" 1.0Ghz Coppermine CPU upgrade which doesn't increase the height of the heatsink will work.

Thanks for the feedback. I'm pretty keen on one of these dual fan kits, nothing super urgent, is there any means to have a modified version of your caddy made? I'd be happy to send you my modded motherboard if you wanted to work on it in slow time.

[NeMesiS]

 

On 2/3/2024 at 10:10 AM, NeMesiS said:

There are cleaner heatsink installs getting around, but I don't think these mods are available to the public as yet.

One of my friends came across this on eBay some time ago, not sure who credit for this amazing work.
 

20 hours ago, Cr1ms0n said:

I'm pretty keen on one of these dual fan kits, nothing super urgent, is there any means to have a modified version of your caddy made?

To suit the 1.4Ghz upgraded motherboard?

The biggest problem is finding thinner 80mm fans that are of quality, in my opinion.

I've been down this road with a couple of people already...

You've got me tempted to go down to the local machine shop and get the OG heatsink milled down, LoL...

[NeMesiS]

 

Installation Guide:

Dual 80mm Fan Caddy Conversion by Nemesis - News - Xbox-Scene

Special thanks to Xbox-Scene...

[Cr1ms0n]

On 2/5/2024 at 9:14 AM, NeMesiS said:

 

One of my friends came across this on eBay some time ago, not sure who credit for this amazing work.
 

To suit the 1.4Ghz upgraded motherboard?

The biggest problem is finding thinner 80mm fans that are of quality, in my opinion.

I've been down this road with a couple of people already...

You've got me tempted to go down to the local machine shop and get the OG heatsink milled down, LoL...

Yes to suit the 1.4GHz upgraded board. 

I figure you need either a low profile heatsink or a slim 80mm fan (which as you mentioned, aren't particularly common or high quality).

I would have a guess you are aware roughly how much needs to be milled off the heatsink?

[xboxdad72]

Available yet?

[Dempsey_86]

14 hours ago, xboxdad72 said:

Available yet?

Yes. You can buy the dual fan kit on his ebay store. 

[NeMesiS]

 

XeniumMods eBay Store

• eBay struggles a bit with combined shipping, it's best to add items to cart and request a total/invoice.
• eBay fees are forever increasing but I've always offered direct sale discount from 10% off via email.

[SamFromMichigan]

Had mine for a couple weeks now and I'm loving it. Not sure if anyone else has tried the kit with Iceberq's but it all fits with no issues. Can add pictures if anyone wants.

Has anyone successfully converted the HDD Tray to 2.5" for SSDs?

[NeMesiS]

 

39 minutes ago, SamFromMichigan said:

Has anyone successfully converted the HDD Tray to 2.5" for SSDs?

I'd recommend the Orico 2.5" to 3.5" HDD adaptor.
It perfectly matches up the SATA connector as if it were actually a 3.5" HDD
It can easily be found on either eBay or AliExpress.

The below link currently has 50% off...
ORICO HDD Enclosure 2.5 to 3.5" Internal HDD Adapter - AliExpress

Edited February 21 by NeMesiS

[SamFromMichigan]

21 hours ago, NeMesiS said:

 

I'd recommend the Orico 2.5" to 3.5" HDD adaptor.
It perfectly matches up the SATA connector as if it were actually a 3.5" HDD
It can easily be found on either eBay or AliExpress.

The below link currently has 50% off...
ORICO HDD Enclosure 2.5 to 3.5" Internal HDD Adapter - AliExpress

Oh, nice!

[MadMartigan]

I finally got around to getting this. Superb kit along with the others items purchased from Nems. Haven’t had the time to install everything so I’ve got my weekend plans now lol. I’ve already ordered my two 80mm fans, but can’t for the life of me, find a 60mm quiet fan that is black and worth buying. I just can’t bring myself to install that brown abomination that is the Noctua. Does anyone have the lowdown on another fan option for the rear? 

Edited February 22 by MadMartigan