XeniumMods v3.x - Dual Fan Upgrade Kit

[MadMartigan]

On 2/20/2024 at 10:10 PM, 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

Here's a link for American users.

https://a.co/d/3XY5Udf

[MadMartigan]

On 2/22/2024 at 4:05 PM, MadMartigan said:

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? 

Figured I’d reply to myself since I didn’t get one response here. My only assumption is that nobody else had a suggestion. So, I return bearing gifts(sort of). I finally found some decent, silent fans to match my design. I try to keep a steady theme throughout, if I’m going to put my time and money into them. So here are two grey Noctua 80mm fans and a black/bluish purple 60mm fan. I will never buy one of those hideous Noctua fans as I can’t bring myself to putting a two toned brown fan in a gorgeous Skeleton xbox. Links can be provided if there’s interest. Pics can do for now. 

[Bowlsnapper]

2 hours ago, MadMartigan said:

Figured I’d reply to myself since I didn’t get one response here. My only assumption is that nobody else had a suggestion. So, I return bearing gifts(sort of). I finally found some decent, silent fans to match my design. I try to keep a steady theme throughout, if I’m going to put my time and money into them. So here are two grey Noctua 80mm fans and a black/bluish purple 60mm fan. I will never buy one of those hideous Noctua fans as I can’t bring myself to putting a two toned brown fan in a gorgeous Skeleton xbox. Links can be provided if there’s interest. Pics can do for now. 

Nice! I'd like to see that one running!

[lightwish]

My kit arrived today, and I'm using this same redux fan from noctua. The quality of the kit is amazing, and the support of Nemesis. Here in Brazil where I live the Xbox was reaching 62 celsius, now with kit installed, it's 52.

[MadMartigan]

55 minutes ago, lightwish said:

My kit arrived today, and I'm using this same redux fan from noctua. The quality of the kit is amazing, and the support of Nemesis. Here in Brazil where I live the Xbox was reaching 62 celsius, now with kit installed, it's 52.

Nice to see that you’re pleased with those fans, since I wasn’t even able to get mine done last weekend being that the third fan hadn’t arrived. I’m really looking forward to getting it all together, but I ran into a problem. The third fan isn’t truly 60mm and was 57.8mm, leaving some bad wiggle room around the enclosure. I have a few more days now to think of a solution. 10 degree drop in temps is insane. 

Edited February 28 by MadMartigan

[MadMartigan]

On 11/27/2023 at 5:15 PM, COO-589 said:

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.

Has anyone tried this adapter yet? I'm close to buying one, but don't want to waste time if it wasn't a good experience. 

[GoTeamScotch]

My experience with the dual fan + dvd elimination kit mod-

Overall feedback is that I very much enjoy having this mod in my main build. I haven't played an actual game disc in years at this point, so the DVD drive was just taking up space. The Xbox I installed the fan kit into has an upgraded motherboard, with 1.4ghz CPU/128MB RAM, and I wanted to run a more quiet exhaust fan without sacrificing cooling. I installed a 60mm Noctua fan as the main fan and paired that with two stay quiet! 80mm fans.

The system is extremely quiet, even at 100%, and I'm not seeing CPU temps go uncomfortably high, as was somewhat the case before. I haven't done temp testing yet (though I intend to), so I can't speak too much about the cooling difference with the mod yet, but so far so good!

I also got a fan splitter and cut it down to a small size, then stuck it on the caddy. I didn't want to solder things together so that I could plug in the stock fan while working on my Xbox and be able to remove the fan caddy completely.

I wasn't sure if the stock fan header would be able to drive 3 fans instead of one, but I haven't noticed any issues, even with all at 100%. I wanted to wire the 80mm fans off the regular CPU fan header to be able to control it in software. Quiet in XBMC and loud in games.

Both parts are very well made and drop in place effortlessly.

I spliced together a molex connector onto a DVD power cable. Works quite well and looks tidy.

Praise:

• Very well made parts.
  • Nemesis dialed the design in so that it all fits together effortlessly. The sturdiness of his prints are top notch. And they even manage to look good. His design lets you swap in different colored faces to the top of the fan shroud, which is a nice touch.
• Fitment is great.
  • No alignment issues. Parts just drop in as if they were stock.
• Does what I expected.
  • Blasting air directly down onto the CPU and PSU helps keep parts cool. I'll have to get a thermocouple and dig into it more, but seems to work, even if the 80mm fans might be recirculating some warm air.
• Well thought out / well laid out.
  • The fan caddy has channels for running wires, and with my fans routing their wires was easy.
  • Nem included a bracket for mounting SATA-IDE adapters with my kit, and it holds the adapter in place.

It's not a cheap mod, but you get what you pay for. It's a niche product for enthusiasts, and it is well suited at its price point. I'm very happy with it and would get another in the future.

Suggestions:

• Offer alternative way of mounting DVD bezel. Screw posts can break if you're not careful.
  • Removing your DVD drive includes moving the DVD bezel from the drive to Nem's included mounting bracket. The bracket then screws into the Xbox's front screw standoffs. This has the side effect of allowing for situations where if you have the top case taken off and accidentally bump the DVD bezel, it puts pressure on the screw standoffs at an angle, instead of the usual lateral or downward pressure. This can lead to the screw posts breaking.
• Offering a DVD power cable would be helpful!
  • After moving the HDD, the molex wire is no longer near the HDD. Running the power to the drive's new location requires an extension cable or similar otherwise. I made a cable by splicing a DVD connector to a molex connector, but it would be convenient if something like that could be offered/included.
• More room for running fan wires.
  • This is more feedback for the 60mm fan bracket, but with dual-80mm fans mod too, there's probably going to be wires running between the fan caddy and the 60mm fan bracket. It's a bit tight and maybe would benefit from leaving an open channel in the 3D print for wires to rest in.
• Some means of powering the fans. Maybe also controlled via temp curves. I know Nem is working on a different method to power the fans (PWM, etc) so this may be a moot point later.

Other Parts Used:

• Noctua NF-A6x25 FLX, Premium Quiet Fan, 3-Pin - https://a.co/d/3mci3zu

• be quiet! Pure Wings 2 80mm Premium Low Noise Cooling Fan | Black | BL044 - https://a.co/d/cok8ECZ

• FBHDZVV PWM Fan Hub Splitter 4-Pin/3-Pin pc 5 Way Splitter - https://a.co/d/8jixxL4

Edited March 8 by GoTeamScotch

[MadMartigan]

I've had to put my build on hold due to similar issue with fitment of wires. I've resorted to ordering a whole new bundle of fans and cables to try a cleaner method. Work picked up with the warmer weather and my time is limited now.

I'm searching for a right angle ide adapter to plug directly into the motherboard to eliminate the IDE cable entirely. There's a cool Syartech adapter that does this, but doesn't have clearance with the disc tray being in the way. If anyone has ideas of an.adapter like this, please share. Hopefully we can compile a list of all the best fitting and highest quality parts for future buyers of Nemess' kit. 

[lightwish]

The worst xbox case mod you will see today, but changes the temps about -3c with this lol. Now my xbox temps is 44C ~ 47C, before dual fan kit about 58C ~ 62C

[Cr1ms0n]

22 hours ago, GoTeamScotch said:

My experience with the dual fan + dvd elimination kit mod-

Overall feedback is that I very much enjoy having this mod in my main build. I haven't played an actual game disc in years at this point, so the DVD drive was just taking up space. The Xbox I installed the fan kit into has an upgraded motherboard, with 1.4ghz CPU/128MB RAM, and I wanted to run a more quiet exhaust fan without sacrificing cooling. I installed a 60mm Noctua fan as the main fan and paired that with two stay quiet! 80mm fans.

 

 

How are you keeping those heatsinks secure?

[k0mpresd]

here is mine.

i have since gone back and removed the x3, installed an openxenium with no_dvdrom and 128mb patched m8 bios.

also installed xboxhd+ (pre-stellar), along with the 2.5" hdd caddy recommended (and turned the ssd the other way around).