Question Making a trimmed, non-portable Wii

[JerryJenkem]

I asked a few questions on the FAQ thread but figured I'd create a new thread so I don't clog it up.

I am working on trimming a Wii so that it can be small enough to fit into a 5.25" bay of a PC case. Since it's not going to be portable, I don't have many power/size/cooling concerns. I only have a few requirements:
- HDMI out (plan is to leave the AV port intact and use my Sewell HDMI adapter)
- The front of the Wii has to have GC controller ports and be small enough to fit in a 5.25" bay
- The virtual console has to work

I was originally planning on following the standard trim, but with the above points in mind I got to thinking that maybe I don't need to trim that much of the board. My current plan is to cut an L shape out of the Wii-- trimming the controller ports out as well as the front, all the way to where the Wifi chip is. My thinking is this would prevent me from needing to relocate USB, the voltage regulators, the U10 chip, and the MX chip. Is such a thing at all possible? Or is there a similar trim that will work, like trimming out the Wifi chip area as well, or relocating the U10?

If so I'd like to experiment with that a bit while I am waiting on my voltage regulators to come in, otherwise I'll just wait until they arrive.

 

[Dustin Fisher]

The main issue with the Wii is that the fewer things cut off the more it will tend to complain about other things. From what I hear, it's just easier to do the OMGWTF trim and softmod your console, it'll save some headaches for sure. that trim will definitely be small enough to fit and if you have a 3d printer you can design a case to make it fit snug in your HDD bay. I honestly don't know how to relocate the GC ports though but I'm sure somewhere here does and there is likely a thread for that. this sounds really cool!

 

[cheese]

I would suggest the standard trim, since it's much more difficult to sand inner angles (which is why the standard has all outer angles). Alternatively you can keep the ports if you trim like the attached image. You'll still need to rewire the MX for VC games, but this keeps most ports on the back (and doesn't cut through the gamecube ports, so you can keep those as well). If you're planning on powering the Wii from the computer's power supply, you'll probably want to remove the power plug and replace it with a molex or sata power jack, as those have 12v and 5v.

Just make sure to install some kind of softmod before trimming otherwise it won't boot!

 

[Diminuendo]

Could probably get some ideas off Gmans project.

 

[JerryJenkem]

Thanks for the advice everyone!

I think I'll go with the trim that cheese linked. My current plan for power is to splice the +5vsb line from my power supply (should be good for 3A) and use that instead of molex/sata so that I can use the Wii even with the computer off.

 

[cheese]

That would work, just make sure to check on your psu. You'll probably also want something like this to cleanly get the hdmi out the back

 

[SkyWulf]

Hi, wondering if you ever followed through with this? I'm currently working on a nearly identical project.