Micro ATX component help

Hey, basically i'm trying to get a micro ATX motherboard into an Xbox shell. The mother board is

MSI KM2M Combo (MS-6738) Socket A mATX VGA LAN board

with an amd Duron Xp processor, i want the PC to function as a media centre, with snes emulator, just wondering a few things.

First off can i use a PicoPSU with this board, if so which size? and if not is there another very small PSU i could use? lacking space i cant afford to have a large PSU.....Icant afford to have a PSU at all to be honest lol...

also can i use the onboard graphics to out to a phono connector using a VGA phono cable?

and finally, will it melt????? :confused:


any help or advice how to make this system tiny would be apreciated..

might be better to use a miniITX board + suitable components. You can get tiny psu's to run them.

Failing that a laptop motherboard would be good then you could use a laptop power supply lol

i dont think you'll be able to use a picoPSU, simply because the current draw could be too much. You could try a shuttle PSU which are long and thin, or some kind of DC power brick coming out the back. I agree that there isn't much space, but make sure you check the dimensions of the xbox case to make sure you can fit a m-ATX motherboard in. Slotloading DVD drive is a must, as well as low profile components.

What kind of screen are you outputting to? a CRT?
Also, i'd recommend using a laptop HDD, as its nice and small.

You'll need to think about air-flow in the case. The xbox cases are ventilated on either side aren't they? you could fit some push pull fan setup using 60mm fans, you'll need to pay slightly more to get quieter ones, I reckon.

Good luck and get some piccies :D

I used the PSu calculator recomended in another post somwhere on the site and found that i need less that 200w on my set up... you can get pico psus that are 200w, does the fact still stand that it wont work?

I have tried the board in the xbox shell, and with a little bit of dremel work its like a glove... just need to get an avg riser and a power supply, plus a laptop dvd drive...

does anyone have any idea how i can bypass the disc drive switch so that i can use the switch from the front of the Xbox which is basically just 2 wires?

Thanks for the help guys.

Pictures will come as soon as i have sorted it out

take the casing off the CD-ROM drive. look on the circuit board on the bottom, to see the solder points for the push switch for the ejection of the CD. Solder the wires onto these points, and you should have an alternative way of routing the switch.
Thats the procedure for a full-height drive, so I assume a low-profile laptop one would be much of a muchness.
Its not the Wattage that I'm worried about for the picoPSU, its the current draw that a full mATX board would have on the supply. Verify that the pico rails can deliver substantial current to allow full function. Bearing in mind, you'll also have a VGA card on there as well.