Xbox Series X case houses a full Wintel PC

It looks like an Xbox Series X, but contains a full Wintel PC

The creator behind the PhasedTech YouTube channel, who had previously converted an Xbox One S into a gaming PC, has repeated the project with an Xbox Series X. This time, he managed to fit fully fledged PC hardware inside the console’s case while even retaining its optical disc drive.

Intel NUC hardware inside the Xbox Series X

The modification is built around an Intel NUC 12 Extreme PCIe Compute Card featuring a Core i7-12700 processor, 32 GB of DDR4 memory and a 1 TB NVMe SSD. According to the creator, his initial plan was to use a system based on a Mini-ITX motherboard, but the Xbox Series X enclosure proved too narrow for it. He therefore opted for Intel’s more compact solution.

Graphics are handled by a low-profile Gigabyte GeForce RTX 5060, while power comes from a 600-watt Flex ATX PSU. The compact nature of the components made it possible to position the power supply directly above the graphics card within the case. To make this arrangement work, the enthusiast used a 3D printer to produce numerous brackets and mounting parts, as well as an entirely new rear panel with openings for the ports.

Optical drive and cooling

Particular care was taken to integrate the optical drive, which was taken from the original Xbox Series X and adapted for use with the PC. The modder also modified the front power button so that it would work correctly with the Intel NUC system.

Following assembly and start-up, both CPU and GPU temperatures remained at around 75°C, which the creator described as a good result for such a tightly packed enclosure.