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MacBane - A worklog/modding guide for a new way to convert G4 Towers to ATX


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If my case was badly scuffed I do admit I would be painting it grey and white or black and white like you. I kept it stock because I wanted to be able to surprise people with it. Take a look.

 

Looks pretty good, and nice to see that you reused the door latch. Most people ditch it or give up on it that I have seen.

 

I envision this happening at least once:

Unsuspecting coworker: "Ha Ha, nice crappy old Mac you've got there"

Me: *flips open side of case*

Unsuspecting coworker: "Oh sh**!!"

 

I am sure to hear that once or twice, but knowing my coworkers they will grill me at to what model it is. A friend of mine had a look at it and is now referring to it as "The Imperial Storm Trooper Mac".

 

I think the red and white LED's will be a nice touch for a case such as this, the polycarbonate should carry light nicely. If I wasn't such a nite-owl I would probably light up the side panel Apple logos on mine. The raised bottom with lights underneath evokes images of tuner cars in my head. This is sure to look nice. However, the power supply placement is probably the coolest thing I've seen in a long time. Especially now that my Arctic Cooler 64 doesn't fit with such little clearance, PSU relocation almost seems worth ruining the whole goal of my case.

 

I look forward to completion of this case.

 

It will still look stock from all sides except the back.

 

 

One more time, your job is awesome…

 

Your sprays are basic acrylic paints or it's some special ?

 

Thanks MarioMac, the paint I used is made especially for painting plastics. It is Krylon brand and the variety is called Fusion.

 

 

Great log, thanx for sharing :) I 've really enjoyed it so far

 

No problem, I have lots of ideas hopefully worth sharing and I'm happy to get a little input back :)

 

I managed to get the new HD rack completed, now to get it painted and put into the case and really start getting this project closer to completion.

 

The 120mm fan and HD rack will mount to the top of the inside of the case, and no that is not the fan or drives that will be used (just shop parts for comparisons sake):

 

4407888520_ce22120a17_o.jpg

 

And on its own:

 

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Won't the red paint start to chip off the latch panel after a while where it bends?

Krylon does a surprisingly good job at sticking to flexible plastic, so long as the flexing is within a certain tolerable amount. Ive painted plastic office chairs with flexible backs and 2 years later I havent seen any chipping on them. You just need to have a clean, sanded surface.

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Beautiful work, great to see somebody doing something completely new different. :)

 

Thanks, like somebody used to say "Think Different" :)

 

Good Show Photograph! I really enjoyed reading this. When do you think the project will be complete? Also I am curious, if you don't mind, what do you do for a living?

 

Thanks man. I'm a developer who often gets to test a lot of software, I also dabble in multimedia, some stock photography and thanks to a few friends at work I'm also an aspiring writer (starting to try my hand at some tech writing). Work has had me on the road a fair amount lately so it has cut into my "project time", but I hope to have everything together before next weekend.

 

Krylon does a surprisingly good job at sticking to flexible plastic, so long as the flexing is within a certain tolerable amount. Ive painted plastic office chairs with flexible backs and 2 years later I havent seen any chipping on them. You just need to have a clean, sanded surface.

 

Once it had dried fully its not going to come off without a lot of wear and tear, Fusion is much more durable than run of the mill spray paint.

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This thing is officially a little monster. I found a pair (Crossfire config :)) of Gigabyte Ultra Durable 5770's for cheap and pulled the trigger. I have always had great luck with Gigabyte's components plus the warranty is 3 years and I know that the service if ever needed is pretty fast.

 

vga_productimage_gv-r577ud-1gi_big.jpg

 

Yes, it's the model with the Batmobile cooler cover ;)

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And now for some work updates:

 

The rear IO panel shield is now complete:

 

4414639866_7fd7c19040_o.jpg

 

I made a diffusion box to soften the light for the power and HD status LEDs (please disregard the cat hair on there):

 

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And all of the new rack components have been painted, the dark items are fan mounts and IO plate holders, they have 2 coats on them:

 

4414640080_f8644c1e82_o.jpg

 

4413872597_5fa552cf38_o.jpg

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Impressive, buddy. I never thought a G4 case could look better than a Mac Pro case. I am especially amazed in the side panel with a black Apple logo there. :blink:

 

Thanks, the panels look even better now that they are complete. I'll post those tomorrow as I have to get back to work and family stuff with the rest of my day.

 

And today's big news: Assembly has begun!!!

 

All fans and drives are insulated from the case with rubber washers to help keep this machine nice and quiet.

 

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Front Panel USB 2.0 and E-SATA connections installed, with red hardware. And yes that fan is missing a side on purpose in order for the PSU to clear it when the door is opened or closed:

 

4417646035_1f536dd618_o.jpg

 

And I got to work installing the Venomous X onto the motherboard:

 

Venomous X box contents:

 

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Cleaning the CPU before getting started:

 

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On goes the back plate:

 

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Base nuts done up and ready for the rest of the cooler. These were a pain as there is not a lot of room for big hands to tighten these little things.

 

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The Venomous X is very nicely polished, much nicer base than the TRUE:

 

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Adding 70lbs of pressure with this little knob, making it ready for some overclocking :)

 

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And I even had time to paint a few more little parts:

 

4418409846_8f5a1e6312_o.jpg

 

More to come soon :D

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I got a little more work done than I thought I could:

 

I will start with something boring first:

 

The diffusion panel got put in next:

 

4418074035_a9aba4fd6e_o.jpg

 

Tadaaaa!

 

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And the IO shield is done, much better looking now:

 

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Next up....body panels start along with drives and exhaust fans, I will let the pictures do the talking for the rest of the post:

 

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:whistle: X 100!

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More work has been done ;)

 

Latch plate and u-channel for all holes completed:

 

4421462846_539e687402_o.jpg

 

Bottom intake fan mounted:

 

4420697005_3642279b4b_o.jpg

 

A 120x12mm Scythe fan that will be mounted between the metal and plastic parts of the case providing the 5770's some fresh air:

 

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And Mounted:

 

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Next the PSU Was mounted:

 

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And now it is the motherboards turn:

 

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Fiber and rubber washers cushion all motherboard mounts:

 

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When closed everything fits...just barely. I have less than a millimeter between the ram lever and the edge of the bottom SATA drive.

 

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And next... I turned it on :D

 

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And with the lights out:

 

4420697555_6cea67a56a_o.jpg

 

More to come tomorrow.

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Great concept and painting job. Congratz.

 

beautiful mod! i think i'm getting a g4 case myself :D

 

Thanks :)

 

but as far as i know ati 5xxx is still not supported in os x.

 

That's not an issue as this machine will be running Windows 7 64 bit, I am building it up to be my gaming computer. There will be two 5770's in a CrossFireX configuration, CrossFireX will likely never be supported under Mac OS X. I have a GeForce 9800GT in my other machine that acts as my Hackintosh. I would have loved to have used this case for my Hackintosh build but it uses a full ATX board with just one PCIEx16 slot.

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