Is this an Xbox One S — or is it a gaming PC?

Loknath Das 19/08/2017 Comments off

In the four years since the launch of the current console generation, Eddie Zarick has donejust about everything you can with the Xbox One’s chassis. Well, now he’s stuffed a gaming PC into it.

It fairly raises the question of why, as just about any gaming PC worth the money should have some leg up on a console’s performance. It’s sort of like disguising a Porsche inside a Oldsmobile. But we’ll grant that fitting those components in something like the Xbox One S took a lot of planning and effort. And case mods are the cosplay of hardware, so practicality isn’t necessarily the goal.

Pulling this off required using a laser cutter to fabricate a back plate that could accommodate the necessary ports while maintaining a factory look. But that optical drive slot is cosmetic only — with space at such a premium, Zarick had to go for a solid state design throughout. (“I mean, who uses those things anyway,” he says.) Instead the slot lights up to serve as a power indicator.

Here’s the parts list: