[Worklog] Project Gravitas - Sponsored G5 Mod

[WhatTheTech]

Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm..... Love love sleeved cabling. So I wonder how do you get it clean without using heatshrink? I wonder as well if it would look better to heatshrink the entire cable set as one instead of each? Either way, sexy sexy stuff. Excellent photos by the way.

 

Hey Ira,

 

Well, it's a bit of a process, but using 1/16" sleeving means you can sort of twist it in to the connector as you go. If you do it right, it will be squeezed by the connector and not come out. Ideally, I would be crimping the wires manually, then you can crimp over the sleeving, but this works too.

 

I personally don't like single-sleeved cables for the motherboard stuff. I do single sleeve on Molex and SATA cables, but I love the individual sleeve on motherboard, ATX12V and PCIE. I'm almost done with the motherboard, and will have more pics. Thanks for your compliments!

[WhatTheTech]

Well I have most of it finished - I realized that my second length of sleeving had some snagging every few inches, right out of the package, but FrozenCPU is really good about things and sent me a replacement out already:

 

 

Here's how it looks, I'm really pleased with the no-shrink look!

 

 

Definitely going to look really nice in the G5!!

[Ira Aduro]

Sorry didn't mean sleeve the 12v wires as one. I meant the end with heatshrink tubing might look better if you heatshrink all the individually sleeved cables as one. Hope that makes sense.

[WhatTheTech]

I see what you're saying, and I think you might be right!

 

UPDATE:

Well, my CPU came in, and the motherboard and RAM have shipped and should be here soon! This means I have to step up my modding, but I've been on pain killers for some tooth issues, so I'm trying to wait for the pain to go away before I start drilling!

 

For anyone who is interested, I put together a very quick tutorial for somebody who asked for it on Bit-Tech, about sleeving wires without heatshrink. It's iPhone quality, but it gets the point across. Hope it helps someone!

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xyAW_-KC4zw

 

I'm done with all the sleeving, finally!!! Now I just need to mount the hard-drive cage, run some wire management, and test everything to make sure I didn't screw up the PSU!

[NightRyder]

That's a real nice way of doing it. I believe it A. Looks better than with heat shrink, and B. Is cheaper for obvious reasons. I may purchase some sleeving and get on to doing my PSU in the coming weeks.

[WhatTheTech]

That's a real nice way of doing it. I believe it A. Looks better than with heat shrink, and B. Is cheaper for obvious reasons. I may purchase some sleeving and get on to doing my PSU in the coming weeks.

 

It's a fun project for sure. There are times that I've hated it, got sick of rope-burn type blisters on my thumb, and cursed when I messed something up (like the snag in the video), but once you start seeing the rainbow wires disappear it really becomes worth it!

[WhatTheTech]

How do you connect to your new PSU from the original apple input? Any soldering? Pics would be appreciated!

 

Big_mac, this one is for you:

 

 

Here's my method for using the stock G5 power socket. It's actually pretty simple, to be honest.

 

Tools:

- Right-angle power cable (link)

- Soldering Iron, Solder and Heat Shrink/Electrical Tape

- Wire Strippers (kinda optional)

 

Here's my patient:

 

I cut off the plug end of it, so I just had this part left with enough wire to reach the stock socket (with a little extra). Here's where I'll be splicing in to:

 

Using wire strippers/scissors/teeth (usually, but read comment above about toothache), I stripped about 3/4" on each side:

 

 

Once I did that to each wire (except the stock G5 green ground one), I put heat shrink over the longer side. Side note: double check that your shrink is rated for heavier-duty electronics work. Mine is rated up to 600V so I'm good to go. Double-checked to make sure I had shrink on each wire (since I can't tell you how many times I forget this):

 

 

With the heat shrink on, I slid the co-ordinating colored wires together, and soldered. My soldering workstation is broken (possibly from overuse), so I'm using a battery-powered iron which is rubbish, and my flux I think may have gotten too cold - it no longer sucks up solder, but just fizzles.

 

 

Once soldered up, I applied heat to the heat shrink so it...errr..shrank. (I bet an engineer named that product...)

 

Now, I don't want to get shocked every time I touch my case, so I took the green ground wire from the cable, and curved it a little to match the loop of the G5's ground. You can solder it in if you want, but it's optional, and I didn't.

 

 

Using a screw, I layered the two grounds, and screwed them down into the dedicated ground hole:

 

 

And done! Now I can use the stock G5 socket on the back. It's a minor thing, but I have purchased black sockets before and they just don't have the same aesthetic as the Apple-gray ones!

 

I also (side note) followed the wise advise of The_Gnu here, and added some insulating plastic to the top and sides of the enclosure cover, just in case something touches that shouldn't. The plastic was taken from a ring binder, but seems nice and thick. When I test run with my older hardware, we'll find out if something's wrong down there right quick! Thanks for the tip, The_Gnu!!!

 

 

OT: this little guy visited me in my back yard this morning. I'm not a hunter (no problem with those who hunt for food), so the only thing I ran to grab was my camera. Sorry for the quality - the only lens I had on hand was a cheap vintage lens from the 70's....

 

[WhatTheTech]

Tiny update:

 

You know, sometimes shipping companies mess up. It happens. You know what's worse? Sleeping in the living room next to the front door and not waking up when your motherboard, RAM and other supplies are waiting right outside needing to be signed for....

 

I'm still getting over toothache - apparently pain medication makes you sleepy - who knew?

 

Still, the mailman left my new fan in the mail box, and I was really excited to take a look. The Enermax TB Silence is a sweet looking fan which is super quiet, but I bought it because it is so easily taken apart! I ripped it open (snapped it apart more like), and took the first half to be spray-painted. Not that it doesn't look great already, but since I'm not using the stock Apple fans, I decided I still wanted to carry on the Apple color scheme! I've already put enough spray painting pictures on this work log, so here's a midway-through pic:

 

 

Has anyone used these fans before? They are suppose to just click out (the blades part) but mine is taking a lot of force and still not popping out...I don't want to break it! If anyone knows if there's a trick, or has done it before and knows it takes as much pressure as I think, I would love some pointers!

 

So I guess Monday will be my big update since I was sleeping this morning

 

Thanks for watching!

 

Edit: I got it. I had no idea that it would need that much force to pull out!!

[v3nom]

I am using Enermax Cluster fans, which are kind of the same. But I didn't take them apart

[WhatTheTech]

I wish this picture did the fan more justice - it looks so much better in real life, but there you go:

 

[bonestonne]

I'm really liking the attention to detail going into this build. I just have a few questions..

 

The Enermax fan you have pictured most recently, do you think that the rear fan grill is open enough? It seems very tight compared to the stock grills, and I think it may affect airflow significantly.

 

Secondly, why not add an eyelet to the ground cable in the PSU? Seems like it would be a more reliable, and easier to work with.

 

If the G5 I have at work craps our or gets no use, it'll definitely get hacked to some degree of insanity, though I'm not sure yet.

[WhatTheTech]

I'm really liking the attention to detail going into this build. I just have a few questions..

 

The Enermax fan you have pictured most recently, do you think that the rear fan grill is open enough? It seems very tight compared to the stock grills, and I think it may affect airflow significantly.

 

Secondly, why not add an eyelet to the ground cable in the PSU? Seems like it would be a more reliable, and easier to work with.

 

If the G5 I have at work craps our or gets no use, it'll definitely get hacked to some degree of insanity, though I'm not sure yet.

 

Hi bonestonne, thanks for your comments! In response to your points:

 

- Regarding the airflow, I'm hoping it should be fine (although I'll be monitoring it). It came with The Laser Hive conversion kit, and David (the owner) pays a lot of attention to details! I'm thinking that things should remain pretty cool, however - the PSU is a closed system with its own fans (since I kept the stock G5 enclosure) and I'm only using SSDs and low-RPM 2.5" storage drives, so I'm not too worried about heat on that front. I'll keep you updated!

 

- You are absolutely right re: the eyelet on the PSU ground. I have a box full of them too, I can't believe I didn't think about it! Thanks!

 

- I definitely think you should give the G5 a go if you get the chance! I just got a Mac Pro case for my next mod (as well as two more G5 cases and a Mac Mini enclosure...lol) but the G5 is really very rewarding. Thanks fro joining the discussion!!

[Mr.D.]

Good call on the plastic. I reused the original plastic that was in the TeslaConverter AND the plastic that came with the new PSU, but I also completely removed my PSU guts and then put some standoffs in the shell for the original TeslaConverter. Can never hurt to insulate.

 

And I agree with bonestonne about an eyelet for the ground wire. If you aren't going to just solder the two wires together (like I did), and want to ground to the case, then throw an eyelet on - or at a minimum, tin the wire so that when you tighten it down, it doesn't fray out. With so much attention to detail, I think this one just slipped past you.

 

Its looking VERY sharp so far.

[WhatTheTech]

@Mr. D - You are definitely right - it never hurts to insulate! Not only is it safer, but undesired connections (I have found) can easily mess with audio and even bluetooth reception.

 

I just found my box o' eyelets, and will be soldering one on tomorrow. Unfortunately I don't have any of the crimping kind left, but the one I do have will still be fine.

 

Thanks for your kind comment - I'm trying my best to take care of the little details as much as possible. I've done the whole "slap in an unmodded power supply and whatever color cables you have laying around", but I wanted this one to be nice!

 

Big update coming tomorrow!

[WhatTheTech]

Well, the motherboard came in (finally) as well as some cable management parts from FrozenCPU, my RAM and my new lens (the other one had no AF).

 

I did a quick dry run of mounting the motherboard:

 

 

Again, I feel like a broken record but I can't stress enough how easy everything is with The Laser Hive's conversion kit. The motherboard I/O shield fit perfectly, and all of the holes for the standoffs were dead center!

 

I also test-fitted the PSU (now completely sleeved) to see how much slack I had to leave coming from inside the PSU itself. Ignore the stock intel fan - I only have an Intel G550 (celeron) in the machine right now as I save up for an i5, so I thought it unnecessary to put the monster Freezer i30 on just yet.

 

 

The two cables on the far left are SATA power cables for the DVD drive and Hard-Drives.

 

Here's a close-up of the +12V cable:

 

 

I'm really pleased with everything so far! In a perfect world, the motherboard would be a gunmetal gray instead of brown, but this board really fit all of my needs (4 x RAM slots, USB 3.0, 4 x PCIE and OSX support).

 

I thoroughly tested the PSU cables with my multimeter. Even though I was doing them one by one, I got mixed up twice: once because I couldn't count properly and thought that a cable was missing (turns out the -5V white cable is optional) and another time when I put a pin back in the adjacent hole by accident. The 24pin cable was easy, as the colored wires are simple to check against a standard ATX pinout, but the +12V and PCIe power cables had all black wires, so the multimeter was necessary. Everything looks good to me, so now all I have to do is mount the hard-drive cage and plug everything in!

 

I'll have more pictures soon.

[WhatTheTech]

Well, I have some good news and I have some bad news.

 

Bad news: my new rig won't post. The motherboard, RAM and CPU are all brand new, but for some reason when I press the power button the CPU fan will attempt to spin, and then shut off. It cycles like this. I called MSI (using the Z77MA-G45) and they said that with Sandy/Ivy Bridge set ups it's often the CPU that isn't seated properly. I double checked for bent pins, reseated twice, removed my second stick of RAM and tried again. Same issue. The RAM and CPU are both on the compatibility list, and I removed everything but the power connectors and PWR button to eliminate drive issues, but no dice.

 

The good news: it's not the PSU I sleeved. I put my LGA775 board in and everything is working beautifully! It has been running for 3 hours while I did some video rendering in Final Cut Pro, and there don't seem to be any heat or power issues. The other good news is that Alohacab's front panel cable is just wonderful. Aside from audio (which isn't working on my board) the USB, Firewire and PWR LED are all working a treat:

 

 

(wire management wasn't done since this is temporary)

 

If anyone has any ideas on what to do to get the board to post, I would love to hear them. Since it's brand new, getting an RMA wouldn't be difficult, but the three weeks I'll have to wait for a replacement would be an annoyance indeed. That's modding for you!

[bonestonne]

Do you have any RAM you can test with other than what you ordered? In fact, pull all the RAM out, and try to start the motherboard. You should get a series of beep codes that warn you about no RAM. The system wont POST, but it will tell you whether the motherboard is good or not. Aside from that, unless you have a spare CPU lying around, there wont be much you can do. One important check to make is if the CPU is listed on the compatibility list with a specific BIOS version. If it is, it's entirely possible your motherboard shipped with an earlier BIOS version than what supports the CPU. This is rare, but can happen.

 

If it's a compatibility issue with a BIOS revision, you may be SOL in the fact that you will need a CPU on the supported list in order to boot up and do the BIOS update. I haven't had to do this in years, but even the last time it happened to me, it was a very costly situation (we're talking Pentium III Xeon days). Alternatively, if there's a local PC shop in your area, it may be worth heading over and asking if they would be able to update the BIOS for you. I know at my shop we would, but where I work definitely isn't most shops. You're more likely to get a good answer if you stop by and put in some face time, so they know you aren't pulling and legs with them.

 

I would also check the back of the motherboard for anything that doesn't look right (crushed components, shorted contacts). I've never had ESD kill anything, so I'm skeptical, but that doesn't mean it didn't happen. Also, I wouldn't really worry about RAM compatibility lists, until you start looking at server RAM, it really is mostly the same. FB-DIMM and R-DIMM are totally different from just about everything else, but you definitely aren't using that in this build. When you do all of these tests, just take the motherboard and put it on the box it shipped in. The bare cardboard. No foam, no ESD bag, just stick it on the cardboard. As long as the surface is completely clean, you know you don't have a shorting issue. I would also try with a different PSU if you have one lying around you can use.

 

On a side note, I'm curious about your HDD positioning. Why not use the stock HDD cage? the fan up there would keep everything more than adequately cooled, and you could sneak the power cable up there easily (DVD drive power goes up anyway, you could just make a custom adapter off of that). Lastly, do you have plans to drill out some holes in your new rear IO panel area above the exhaust fan to give it a more stock appearance?

[WhatTheTech]

Hey bonestonne -

 

Did try the no RAM trick, still nothing. My CPU is listed as compatible from rev 1.0 BIOS up, so it's not that (confirmed by tech support). I checked for anything that looked wrong, from all sides and I even checked all the capacitors on the board itself. No standoffs shorting underneath either - the first thing I did was set it up on the shipping box (old habit) and use a known-working PSU. No bent CPU pins. Tried a different PSU, different power button...nothing lol.

 

I've killed a motherboard with ESD before (office has mega-static carpet), but I wore my anti-static gloves as soon as I started working on this one, so I'm positive that wasn't it. I'm guessing I just got a bad egg that made it past QC.

 

As far as the HD's go right now, they're just sitting there while I have my temporary LGA775 set up. They're not screwed down, just resting. I definitely wouldn't permanently have them there - too awkward! How much of a let down would that be after all the other meticulous work? Hah! I'm actually looking in to a couple of HD options right now. The first is the Icy Dock cage linked in my original post, but I'm not sure if that's going to work out or not. The second are two HDD cages from my Lian-Li case. I'm saving the stock HDD cage for some storage drives that I need to purchase, but I had planned on running up power cables once I did. My other option I need to do more research on....but I'll definitely post it once I find out if it's even possible!

 

No plans to drill out the rear panel. Honestly, I kind of like it the way it is, although I totally understand where you're coming from. It's one of those things where I definitely couldn't do it justice (more than likely I would screw up a couple of the drills), so I'd rather just leave well enough alone

 

Thanks for your comments - definitely appreciate them all!

[NightRyder]

This is thinking out of the box, but have you tried booting without a GPU installed? I had the same problem on a Gigabyte z77 board. The motherboards BIOS version did not support the GPU and as such would not post. Only when I removed the GPU and ran off onboard graphics would it post and then allow me to install an OS.

 

Worth a try if you haven't already.

 

On a side note, it's looking amazing and the sleeving looks great!

[WhatTheTech]

This is thinking out of the box, but have you tried booting without a GPU installed? I had the same problem on a Gigabyte z77 board. The motherboards BIOS version did not support the GPU and as such would not post. Only when I removed the GPU and ran off onboard graphics would it post and then allow me to install an OS.

 

Worth a try if you haven't already.

 

On a side note, it's looking amazing and the sleeving looks great!

 

NightRyder, thanks for chiming in. The first thing I did was boot with just the motherboard graphics - I even threw the graphics card in just so that I could say (to myself) that I had tried all combinations. I wish it were something that simple!

 

Thanks for your comments about how it's looking - I'm pretty pleased with everything so far, I'm just trying to figure out the best way to do cable management. I bought some of these, just trying to figure out the best placement:

 

 

I just wish I could find some gray ones!

[v3nom]

Can u connect a case speaker to the mainboard?! Maybe you can get an idea of the error by an acoustic error code.

[WhatTheTech]

Can u connect a case speaker to the mainboard?! Maybe you can get an idea of the error by an acoustic error code.

 

I have a debug speaker hooked up, but it doesn't even get that far. When it wouldn't even beep, just power off, I figured it was the board. Oh well, it shipped out as an RMA this morning.

[SirKeldon]

Looking great man, the sleeving looks so nice, even w/o cable management =)

 

Really a shame that the components weren't working, hoping that the RMA goes fast and you'll get your new ones soon.

 

Keep up the good work! Gravitas FTW!

[WhatTheTech]

Thanks SirKeldon, much appreciated!

 

And thanks to everyone who gave troubleshooting ideas. The motherboard was whizzed away by the mailman today, on it's way to MSI's RMA department. Strangely enough, I got an email from a tech representative, saying that they would do their best to send one back out with a day or two of receiving it - I wonder if they checked the URL on my WhatTheTech email address...I've never had someone contact me promising to RMA something quickly before...

 

So, my LGA775 set up has been running for about 24 hours, and I have some findings.

 

1) The first thing that happened was that one of my 60mm fans for the PSU stopped working. Whether it came lose at the connector (my money is on this) or it actually died (doubt it), I'm not 100% sure. Either way, I'm thinking they may not be the best solution anyway, and here's why. When I had them testing on my workbench, they were incredibly quiet. Now that they're in, the one that's running is blowing at a high-pitched frequency. It's not loud like some fans are just loud in the amount of air they push, but sometimes it's the way that a fan pushes that creates the noise, if you know what I mean? I'm no engineer, please excuse my lack of terminology here. It could just be that they are in a less than ideal location, being close to the front metal of the case, what I could be hearing is noise from air being pulled in. The good news is, even one 60mm fan is doing a good job of cooling the PSU. I can feel a good amount of warm air being pushed out of the back, and even during my video editing test (heavy load) I didn't notice any huge increase in temperature.

 

So I have a couple of options. First step of course will be to analyze what could be creating the noise.

 

1) If it is simply unavoidable due to the location of the fans, I will cut a hole in the top of the PSU case, and install a 120mm low-noise fan to cool the PSU components.

2) If noise can be reduced by slowing down the PSU fans (without resulting heat issues), I will install a rheobus to reduce fan speed.

 

I wish I had some G5 enthusiasts that lived near me. This is the kind of thing that is a lot more fun to deal with when you have a buddy over, rather than sitting at my desk staring at the case...lol (if anyone is in north-east ohio...hit me up...I'll buy you a drink and we can mod some G5s I have coming in...)

[bonestonne]

I would take those two 60mm fans out, and I would test them again on the bench.

 

Your first option is what I would do regardless. I would block off the smaller 60mm fan inlets of course, for focused airflow, and I would not install a rheobus to solve this. You should rely on either volt modding or PWM for your fans, it will be a cleaner install than adding a rheobus (or any other) fan controller to the mix, and much more reliable (one less thing to go wrong).

 

Scythe Slip Stream 800rpm would be perfect for this, lowered down to 7v with a Noctua (or homemade LNA) would be absolutely silent, while still providing adequate airflow for your PSU. I'm about 1000 miles away from you, a whole state over, but if you were closer, I'd totally be game for hopping over for a while when I have downtime.

 

I have had companies get back to me directly about RMAs, so I wouldn't consider that strange at all. I have also had companies screw up the RMA process, and it has costed me a few hundred, but that's when you just call it a day, and find a purpose for the board (it wasn't bad equipment for me, just unused equipment). You should be okay though, if you've heard back from the company already, you should be fine.

 

Since you're going modular, I would make a couple modular cables that suite your needs to cover as many devices as possible. When you think about it, powering the ODD and HDDs with one cable really isn't a big deal, and wont cause any higher power draw than separating them all, but it will minimize your cables.

 

You could make a single large plate to cover all the empty space to the left of the motherboard, which attaches with a single wing-nut in the center and rubber standoffs to keep it level and prevent issues when removing, and that could cover all the cables, including front panel power button, USB/FW etc, as well as covering PSU cables that go all the way up to the top of the case. You could cut channels into it for the ATX power cable to come out, and once you work out the extra cable, it could give you a very unique and minimalistic look. You could use an angled piece of metal to hide the cables exiting the PSU going under this plate as well (or angle the bottom edge of the plate to do this all as one piece).

 

Just some food for thought...