Project: Building personal 20 anniversary edition with some questions

[astonmarkus]

Hello together! (Sorry for my bad englisch i‘m from austria)

A bit of a forword: My name is Markus and i'm from vienna in austria. I'm 23 years old. I grew up with late PS1, PS3, Xbox One/X and Series X. As an hobby i collected video game consoles (MS, Sony, Nintendo, Sega), as well as clean/service them. I realized that i didnt have the time to play them all, so i reduced the collection a bit.

I have a special place in my heart for the OG Xbox, because i was always fascinated how the modding scene is still active and cares for the console. So i had the idea to „rebuild“ or „build“ my first console…..and i wanted to be an OG Xbox. My contact with that console, is restricted to having a stock 1.6 and later a softmodded (Splintercell-Softmod) one. But i sold them long ago. But after the last years 20th anniversary of the OG Xbox i saw that as a good time to make „the wish come true“.

So here is how it goes:  

First i had to upgrade my tools, so i bought some tools to do the work properly. I solder/work on other things for a long time now, but for the future (to work on console/motherboards etc.) i bought a desoldering station, a smd hot-air soldering station and a new soldering iron. (A better soldering station is on the way.) I bought some tools like new iFixit kits, painter knifes, tweezer sets and much more:

The case/the outer shell comes from a near mint/barley used Crystal Edition 1.6. (I killed the motherboard because of working with inproper tools )

The technical Basis is from a old 2004 1.4 Xbox. I bought it with a defect drive, just for the old motherboard revision. (I want to go for the older revision because its easier to mod, better mod support and for further upgrades not possible with the 1.6)

 

As you see, on this board a few caps are balged and defect. (The badest ones are those around the CPU and the silver 1500uf ones.) I bought a 1.6 recap kit a long time ago and i realized around 80-90% of the caps are usable for the 1.4 aswell. So i recaped the motherboard. 

In the same time i installed, the pinheader for the LPC port and grounded D0. I also resoldered everything because i dont were satisified with the solder joints. I repasted the GPU/CPU with Arctic MX-4 and installed the headspreader and the brackets for it.

The next step was to install the new Noctua 60mm Fan with the help of a 3D printed mounting bracket. Aswell as install the motherboard, psu etc. for a test.

I serviced/cleaned the drive of the mint/ barley used 1.6 and installed a new belt. I installed the original HDD for the first test/bootup.

I tested it and it boots right up (I was really relieved that it did )!

Here are the next steps i will/want to do:

Install a WD 500GB with 80 wire IDE cable and IDE/Sata Adapter.

Install the custom dashboard/software etc.

Install a custom made 20th anniversary edition Jewel on the Xbox and the controllers. (Will take some time until they arrive) 

Install 128MB of Ram (i dont really use it, but i want to do the installation out of interest. But this will also take some delivery time)

"Install/Use" of Bitfunx Xbox2HDMI adapter

Paint the button board (the one in the front) black/matte black

Work to the metal shield? (Questions following)

 

So up to my question....its about the metal shielding. I know its for signal noise reduction....but i saw a few clear case mods on that forum where they removed the complete shield. Is it possible without troubles/problems?

If not, i thought about the idea to only remove the top shield and paint the lower one inside and out in black/matte black. (With sanding the paint of the grounding points.)

Whats the better option? Or is it better to just paint the complete top/lower shield on the outside and leavet it that way....(with the complete shield in the console)

Also what is your opinion of my first console motherboard work/ first console modding? 

Edited February 12, 2022 by astonmarkus