[Discussion] Fit a PC in a G5 PowerMac Enclosure!

[Manu0600]

little update for me : I've aded a 200mm fan at the front of the case : the Antec Big Boy. It fits perfectly : 1mm larger and the case wouldn't close.

 

I'll post some photos later.

[Manu0600]

I am now posting the photos of my mobo with the 200mm fan :

 

Here is the system up and running under Mac OS X (you don't see right there that it is OS X, but it is !! The only thing you see are the fans spinning... lol)

[rorydaredking]

Been looking at doing this for a long time now, but only over the past few weeks have I really got into finding out more. Currently looking for a case and have a few possibilties. Going to do no cutting, but want pci card stability, so might cut up an old case for the pci mounts and screw this onto the existing standoffs, then mount my new mobo on the cut up case with new screws and standoffs. Then obviously the inevitable extension cables onto the original expansion board at the rear. Read through all 1002 posts today (over 3 hours) and it has been a great read. All the other logs I looked at earlier were cut the back ones, then there were the extension glued to the back, then finaly the perfection of using the existing board. Going for PSU in the stock psu case too for looks. Anyone know if theres space for hdd's at the end of the psu if you use a standard atx one?

Finally, does anyone have the exact internal measurements in mm for the space between the psu cover and the hdd/dvd shelf?

Well done to all the guys who have completed their mods!

[PoloBear]

PSU: If you mount the PSU at th bottom of the case, there is plenty of space... G5 PSU is huge, PC really small, the use the original PSU case is advised... the cover holds the screws of the separating plate...but then you use this space...

I didn´t put the disks down there, hard to reach them....

 

 

HEIGHT:

 

285 mm

[rorydaredking]

Cheers mate, I tried scaling it from a picture on my screen, then working it out, and I got 290mm roughly. So not a bad guess at all. Looks like I will just about be able to fit my gigabyte X58A-UD3R board in (the one from tonymac's custoMac Pro) sideways, and then have enough room to connect display extensions! Excellent

 

Also, I am planning on going down the original usb etc port board, and soldering extensions onto that. Will USB 3.0 work if I use a 3.0 certified extension cable and shield it properly? Or will the port itself stop the USB 3.0?

Rory

[Manu0600]

So you want to put your motherboard landscape, then wire all the usb, etc to the original ports with extension cables ?

 

If this is what you mean, I don't recommend it : first because you'll have A LOT of wires in your case, second because of the heat.

Take the graphic card (for example) : it has a fan on it, and its made to throw all the hot air outside the case (rear of the graphic card), but the "rear" will now be IN the case so your case will be hot.

By having this, the graphic card and pci cards will block the airflow, this will keep the hot air inside the case.

And all the extension cables will also block the airflow.

 

I think cutting the rear of the case is the best solution (even if it's not the most beautiful, it's just the rear). Mine is not very clean, but all my components are cool and I kept the design (except the rear).

Look at this post, his work is very neat : add a 200mm fan to this and it's perfect.

[PoloBear]

I didn´t cut the case, just added lots of USB-Ports and made everything work with usb...

I use a Soundblaster Xfi, boot time went down to 6 seconds, and no more problems with lost audio on Gigabyte-board....

Bluetooth dongle is small enough to fit in the case. Network Cards either PCI or USB, wired or wireless possible.

 

 

And the machine works fine, quiet and cool...

[rorydaredking]

So you want to put your motherboard landscape, then wire all the usb, etc to the original ports with extension cables ?

 

If this is what you mean, I don't recommend it : first because you'll have A LOT of wires in your case, second because of the heat.

Take the graphic card (for example) : it has a fan on it, and its made to throw all the hot air outside the case (rear of the graphic card), but the "rear" will now be IN the case so your case will be hot.

By having this, the graphic card and pci cards will block the airflow, this will keep the hot air inside the case.

And all the extension cables will also block the airflow.

 

I think cutting the rear of the case is the best solution (even if it's not the most beautiful, it's just the rear). Mine is not very clean, but all my components are cool and I kept the design (except the rear).

Look at this post, his work is very neat : add a 200mm fan to this and it's perfect.

Yep that's what I was planning. Because I was going to build the customac pro from tonymac because I know its fully supported. And I did all the price research for it.

But now I think I might go down the MATX route rather than ATX, because I want it neater inside, and because I don't need all the extra pci-e's added by ATX boards. I will run one graphics card because I don't game, and if I did game, I wouldnt be on max settings.

But now I have to find a fully supported MATX board. The rampage ii gene is I think, but I dont wnt to buy a last gen board. I want USB 3.0 basically for future compatibility. All other MATX boards I can find either have very little info on here or none at all. But I shall wait and see. If I do go the MATX route, I am going to try and go the way that one user did (can't remember who because I read the whole thread and saw so many great mods) and attach the graphics card directly to the slot, but because the pci slots are slightly set back from the rear of the case, he was able to make tiny extension cables from the slots on the mobo to the slots on the back of the case. TBH, i will wait till I have the mobo in hand so I can visualise it properly, and make judgements on space etc. I tried making a full scale picture of one, but the computer wouldnt scale it properly. First printed on A4, measured it, then worked out the scale to make it 1:1, added this % scale to printer etc, printed 9 pages, stuck them all together perfectly and its too big. Stupid thing.

Also, if need be, I am an engineering student, and I have free access to tools for aluminium, and will be able to get alum. off cuts for cheap from uni, so it wont cost me much if I have to do some metalwork

But on the plus side, picked up a G5 dual 2.0 3.75GB RAM, 500GB HDD, with final cut pro and CS3 on it for £146 on ebay. Has front LED flashing 3 times which is a ram problem, and from the picture on the listing, I think the ram isnt installed in properly matched pairs as apple's support documents say it needs to be. So I will try fixing it and if it works it will be great while I save up for parts. If not, ill probably mess around transplanting my dell 530 into it. Just waiting for delivery and I am so anxious!

BTW, anyone else think its an absolute deal and a half considering cases alone are going for £125 + postage?

 

Finally, if anyone knows a new gen 100% working MATX board please say

 

Just found the very short extension cables mod i was talking about http://www.insanelymac.com/forum/index.php...100720&st=0

[ocbaud]

1.Very Nice and elegant

 

 

2.

 

 

3. Cool power plug... wait, somethings not right.

 

 

4. Umm... that doesn't look like apple hardware...

 

 

5. ZOMG

 

 

6. Blasphemy!

 

 

7. okay! who turned my harddrives upside down? :-(

 

 

8.

 

9. atleast the cooling is good

 

 

 

10.

 

 

11. Needs more Cinema Display :-(

 

 

12.

 

 

 

Specs:

 

Asus P5q Deluxe Motherboard

Intel Core2Quad Q6600 @ 3Ghz

8Gb DDR2 1066Mhz Ram

Nvidia Geforce 8800GTS 512MB

250GB 7200rpm WD sata2

320GB 7200rpm Seagate sata2

16x DVDRW

 

 

Since those photos, i've removed the 2 harddrives and added a 1tb wd black drive along with a lacie firewire 800 pci card.

 

today in the mail, i received my xigmatek hdt s1283 cpu heatsink/fan and my ac accelero S1 passive heatsink for the video card.

 

:-)

[chocolatewine]

It's great to see this thread is still alive

 

I have a PowerMac G5 case myself that I am starting this project with

[Jack Donker]

I have this problem too on à late 2005 dual core 2.0Ghz

Hello, i have the lastest model of powermac g5 and the front panel is very different. Can you tell me how to connect it to my mother board?

Thanks a lot!

[rorydaredking]

Not got enough money for my HackPro setup with an x58a-ud3r and an i7 950 6gb ram etc, so just put my inspiron 530 in it. Super hack setup atm, with all wires going through back panel straight into mobo rather than using extension cables. The front panel isnt done, i have to open it up and use the real power button to turn it on. The gfx card is even louder now because the case has no sound insulation and its really annoying. And the HDD's are on the bottom of the case next to the PSU because my sata cables dont reach to the drive bay. So all in all a {censored} setup haha. But im getting a lian-li hot swap drive cage for my 3 drives, and going to sort the front panel when I get back to uni on monday. Will post some pictures too.

But all in all, right now I may know its {censored}, but it looks perfect from the front.

[DaveVegas]

Any chances for me buying a G5 case already modded (but empty) for my ATX mainboard? If you do, PM me.

[rocketJeff]

I am in the process of modding the g5 case. Made a huge milestone yesterday by mounting the motherboard tray, still quite a bit of work left to do, but I am pretty excited about it. It was my first case mod, so the worksmanship is a bit lacking, but overall I am pretty happy with the results.

 

 

[xElliott]

G'day,

 

I'm searching for the G5 Logic board back I/O pinout. I read through all of the G5 modding threads available and was unable to locate this information. It was posted here around page 34-37 or so, but all of the images have since been moved/no longer exist.

 

http://www.insanelymac.com/forum/index.php...mp;#entry977693

 

 

 

Could anyone else provide me with this resource? It would certainly assist my project in coming along more smoothly.

 

 

 

Thanks!

[neil43]

Another G5 Power Mac Hackintosh - done my way.

 

I have read this thread from start to finish (maybe more then once). My hack is just that, it is done my way and I followed or ignored the guidance found here. However I think this thread is one of best on this forum.

 

I won't bore you with anything but a quick summary and a few photos. My hack is based upon a Micro ATX Gigabyte P55M-UD2 mother board with an i7-875, 8GB memory, Zotac 9600 GT video card, Thermaltake TR2 600W PSU, 2 SIIG Dual 2.5" SATA Docks, 2 Intel 40GB SSDs in RAID-0, LG DVD RW optical drive, Titan Fenrir CPU cooler, 2 92mm Delta 12V low speed fans mounted in the modded rear fan bracket and running the original Apple power supply fans on 5V in the lower tray.

 

My objective was to retain the spirit of the original but not be tied down on any one issue. Meaning I cut the whole back panel out and reused the rear fan bracket assembly (molding as needed). I took the ATX PSU out of its case and put in place of the Apple PSU. Dressed all of the cables for minimum visibility and installed modesty panels to hide them. Used a front panel cable assembly purchased from AlohaCab, an active InsanleyMac Member. Bluetooth on a Kensington USB adapter. I added a hidden optical drive eject button along with an optical drive activity LED.

 

The system is at OS X 10.6.5 with all updates.

 

I intend to upgrade to a XFX Radeon HD 5770 and add two 2.5" 500 GB hard drives as they become available at prices that I like. The plan is to use this as my main home machine while I work on the next project (TBD). I use a 4 port Avocent KVM DVI switch with 4 hacks attached (usually only one or two are power up).

 

Edit 3/11/2011 add a link to more photos. My G5 Hack

 

neil

 

 

[Dradis]

Jeff, that looks great. I've been wanting to do one just like that with a slide out tray. I figured this would solve the problem of the G5 case having no back side access for things like cable routing and heat sink mounting. Have you made any more progress? I'd love to see how its going.

[sam9712]

Well its actually a cool idea.

I was thinking on fitting a computer on a CRT monnitor.

[tosmith84]

Hey,

I'm new-

 

The games studio I work at has been closed/sold by our publisher and I managed to pick up one of the old xbox 360 Xenon development kits which of course is a Mac pro G5.

Now I already own a few macs the latest being a 2010 september 15" i7 mbp and my main is 2009 march 24 " iMac.

 

So i thinking of turning it into a hackintosh i7 liquid cooled if i can make it neat and no alteration to the case (keep it vanilla) to replace my main machine.

How ever this would be my first time on a project like this so I'm a bit fuzzy on the specifics.

I've been looking through this thread and it all like this is the place to get the info, but before I do anything which cannot be undone can any of the users of this forum recommend starting this project or would you say, don't bother keep it how it is.

 

cheers

[rocketJeff]

Jeff, that looks great. I've been wanting to do one just like that with a slide out tray. I figured this would solve the problem of the G5 case having no back side access for things like cable routing and heat sink mounting. Have you made any more progress? I'd love to see how its going.

 

Thanks Dradis,

 

I finished the mod a couple of weeks ago. Overall I think it turned out pretty well. Like you said, the fact that the case doesn't allow access on the other side is the main motivation for my removable motherboard tray.

 

 

Uploaded with ImageShack.us

 

 

The motherboard tray I used is from the coolermaster acts 840. The product doesn't exist on the website right now. I don't know if it's just oos or if it was pulled.

 

I chose it because it was pretty cheap, about $18 bucks shipped. However, there were some issues. The back is just a tad too wide. Since I had to leave room for the sliding mechanism, I had to trim more off the opposite side than I like, so the 120mm exhaust fan couldn't be mounted on exisitng mounting hole. Another problem was that the motherboard standoff is an odd size, m3/m3 with 12mm shaft. Typical standoffs are too short. I managed to get a shorter one to work, but now my video card doesn't sit flush at the back. The only place I could find that sells the correct motherboard standoff is at mcmaster-carr and it'll cost about $15 bucks to get 6.

 

The motherboard tray wasn't all bad. The build quality is top notch and looks good. The rear is made of almuminum which is much easier to work with. There's a built-in handle.

 

I used a set of drawer slide for the sliding mechanism.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002FI6AVI/ref=oss_product

 

Some of the other parts I used:

Zalman Hard drive rack

Vantec dual 2.5" rack (I have it below the zalman rack)

AMD 1055t

Scythe Yasya heatsink

Radeon 5770 with Thermalright HR-03a

NZXT 120mm white fan and cable extensions

Antec TPN 750watt PSU

[vamose]

I'm currently working with same project

Worklog is here if you wanna have a look:

 

http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showthread.php?t=220390

 

Got one solution for ethernet connector:

 

Tear it open, remove black box saying Midcom 7277-30, that's an magnetic isolator.

Then just solder cables directly to green pcb =)

 

Picture:

http://s0lid.bx.fi/kuva/powermac/DSC_0328.JPG?size=1280x1024

 

Works like charm, tested with Via Epia-M

 

 

Unable to vies, can you kindly repost.

[grady.lynch]

Another G5 Power Mac Hackintosh - done my way.

 

I have read this thread from start to finish (maybe more then once). My hack is just that, it is done my way and I followed or ignored the guidance found here. However I think this thread is one of best on this forum.

 

I won't bore you with anything but a quick summary and a few photos. My hack is based upon a Micro ATX Gigabyte P55M-UD2 mother board with an i7-875, 8GB memory, Zotac 9600 GT video card, Thermaltake TR2 600W PSU, 2 SIIG Dual 2.5" SATA Docks, 2 Intel 40GB SSDs in RAID-0, LG DVD RW optical drive, Titan Fenrir CPU cooler, 2 92mm Delta 12V low speed fans mounted in the modded rear fan bracket and running the original Apple power supply fans on 5V in the lower tray.

 

My objective was to retain the spirit of the original but not be tied down on any one issue. Meaning I cut the whole back panel out and reused the rear fan bracket assembly (molding as needed). I took the ATX PSU out of its case and put in place of the Apple PSU. Dressed all of the cables for minimum visibility and installed modesty panels to hide them. Used a front panel cable assembly purchased from AlohaCab, an active InsanleyMac Member. Bluetooth on a Kensington USB adapter. I added a hidden optical drive eject button along with an optical drive activity LED.

 

The system is at OS X 10.6.5 with all updates.

 

I intend to upgrade to a XFX Radeon HD 5770 and add two 2.5" 500 GB hard drives as they become available at prices that I like. The plan is to use this as my main home machine while I work on the next project (TBD). I use a 4 port Avocent KVM DVI switch with 4 hacks attached (usually only one or two are power up).

 

neil

 

 

 

Great Mod!!!

 

Only one question.

 

What tool did you use to cut the upper divider (the one that supports the DVD drive) to make room for the mobo?

[neil43]

Great Mod!!!

 

Only one question.

 

What tool did you use to cut the upper divider (the one that supports the DVD drive) to make room for the mobo?

 

The upper divider is intact, just two holes drilled for the thumb screws that secure the mounting plate for the dual 2.5 inch mobile racks. The motherboard and its mounting plate are nearly contacting the upper divider as can be seen in this photo. There is enough space under the motherboard plate to route the SATA cables.

 

neil

[rorydaredking]

Just updated mine. Moved the hdd's to the hdd rack, and one is on top of my blu ray drive. so all my sata cables go to the top shelf now. pus is still stuck to the bottom. Also, today I wired all the fans correctly, so tomorrow going to maplin to pick up some molex connectors so I can stick them in properly. They are so quiet, cant wait to get rid of my stupid cpu and gpu fans. Then ill post a picture of my setup. Oh also, cut a hole in the back for my usb etc after mountin the gpu correctly in the pci-e slot. This was all brought about by my glue holding my mobo standoffs to the case being {censored} and falling off so I decided to completely renovate

[dawiinci]

Some really great mods I found here.

 

I'm still planning how to do it. Please tell me what you think about this plan.

 

Version 1

I don't want to touch the rear panel. Which means I don't use the expansion slots and don't use the connectors (except USB for practical reasons). By this I can maintain the look and the fan positions.

 

The ATX mainboard is mounted on a mainboard tray inside but shifted to the left. This gives me the ability to connect all cables inside the case. I need to make a support for the expansion slots so the tension of the cables isn't a problem. The support is mounted from the top to the bottom. On this support I can screw the expansion cards or maybe I will find a tray with an included support.

 

The cables enter the case through a hole at the bottom. The cables are secured against tension. This way I don't have all cables cluttered and the back is clean as vanilla. The cables are tied together on their way to the cable channel. Maybe I connect the power supply from the original connector so I can disconnect the computer from the power source.

 

The only downside is I have to open if I change a cable but this happens very rarely. The USB and audio in the front and the back will be functional so no problems at all.

 

The power supply is at the rear end so the air goes out directly. Harddisks can be mounted at the top and maybe I add a cage somewhere else.

 

 

I'm sure some of you thought about this too. Do you think there is anything wrong with this plan?