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

TribesMan

By TribesMan,
in Mods and Overclocking

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stefh
stefh
Posted
Posted

Hi you guys... I am also building my PC into the G5 case. I also got a broken G5 mobo and probably working G5 CPU with it (I took off the G5 plate which I am sure will fit somewhere nice inside). (Everything together for only 50 euros :thumbsdown_anim: ) I desoldered all the backside connectors, front connector and HDD fans connectors from the broken mainboard so I was able to solder on the connectors instead of on the cables. Now it will still be possible to disconnect them. YEAH, who cares!

I also want to keep the backside original because this case is too beautiful to take apart. So I am also doing the cable extension mod inside the case.

 

So far, thanks to you people who gave us the right pin outs of the G5 front connector and fan connectors:

 

- Power Button and front USB work

- HDD Fans work

- Modifed original hard drive power cables to molux connector so it fits onto my ATX PSU.

 

I guess I can get the front FireWire working.

 

FireWire white wire on apple connector pin 1

FireWire black wire on apple connector pin 2 (just like the LED GND and Power button GND)

FireWire blue wire on apple connector pin 7

FireWire orange wire on apple connector pin 8

FireWire green wire on apple connector pin 3

FireWire red wire on apple connector pin 4

 

But my problem is the Audio connector. (see attachment for my MOBO audio connector pin out)

According earlier posts the G5 front audio pin out is as follows:

 

15 audio sense

16 audio com

17 audio right

18 audio left

 

The first problem that occurs is which layout to choose? HD Audio or AC'97?

 

When looking to my MOBO audio pinout for HD Audio, I was thinking the following:

pin 5 (LINE2_R) goes to G5 front pin 17 (AUDIO RIGHT)

pin 9 (LINE2_L) goes to G5 front pin 18 (AUDIO LEFT)

pin ?? goes to G5 front pin 15 (AUDIO SENSE) (I got FSENSE1 and FSENSE2 in the diagram, which one?)

pin ?? goes to G5 front pin 16 (AUDIO COM)

 

When looking to my MOBO audio pinout for AC'97, I was thinking the following:

pin 5 (Line out R) goes to G5 front pin 17 (AUDIO RIGHT)

pin 9 (Line out L) goes to G5 front pin 18 (AUDIO LEFT)

pin ?? goes to G5 front pin 15 (AUDIO SENSE) (Is there more to choose from?)

pin ?? goes to G5 front pin 16 (AUDIO COM) (Is there more to choose from?)

 

Conclusion is that in both cases I can already solder pin 5 en pin 9 from the audio connector to pin 17 and pin 18 of the G5 Front connector. But what to solder onto G5 front pin 15 and 16? Plese help me out! Thanks!

 

Another question, I have nothing to solder to pin 5 (CHASSIS GND FW s-ground) and pin 6 (CHASSIS GND USB s-ground) of the G5 connector? Am I right?

 

I will provide you with a picture when I am finished.

post-202988-1206452482_thumb.png

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teknojunkie
teknojunkie
Posted
Posted
Hi you guys... I am also building my PC into the G5 case. I also got a broken G5 mobo and probably working G5 CPU with it (I took off the G5 plate which I am sure will fit somewhere nice inside). (Everything together for only 50 euros -_- ) I desoldered all the backside connectors, front connector and HDD fans connectors from the broken mainboard so I was able to solder on the connectors instead of on the cables. Now it will still be possible to disconnect them. YEAH, who cares!

I also want to keep the backside original because this case is too beautiful to take apart. So I am also doing the cable extension mod inside the case.

 

So far, thanks to you people who gave us the right pin outs of the G5 front connector and fan connectors:

 

- Power Button and front USB work

- HDD Fans work

- Modifed original hard drive power cables to molux connector so it fits onto my ATX PSU.

 

I guess I can get the front FireWire working.

 

FireWire white wire on apple connector pin 1

FireWire black wire on apple connector pin 2 (just like the LED GND and Power button GND)

FireWire blue wire on apple connector pin 7

FireWire orange wire on apple connector pin 8

FireWire green wire on apple connector pin 3

FireWire red wire on apple connector pin 4

 

But my problem is the Audio connector. (see attachment for my MOBO audio connector pin out)

According earlier posts the G5 front audio pin out is as follows:

 

15 audio sense

16 audio com

17 audio right

18 audio left

 

The first problem that occurs is which layout to choose? HD Audio or AC'97?

 

When looking to my MOBO audio pinout for HD Audio, I was thinking the following:

pin 5 (LINE2_R) goes to G5 front pin 17 (AUDIO RIGHT)

pin 9 (LINE2_L) goes to G5 front pin 18 (AUDIO LEFT)

pin ?? goes to G5 front pin 15 (AUDIO SENSE) (I got FSENSE1 and FSENSE2 in the diagram, which one?)

pin ?? goes to G5 front pin 16 (AUDIO COM)

 

When looking to my MOBO audio pinout for AC'97, I was thinking the following:

pin 5 (Line out R) goes to G5 front pin 17 (AUDIO RIGHT)

pin 9 (Line out L) goes to G5 front pin 18 (AUDIO LEFT)

pin ?? goes to G5 front pin 15 (AUDIO SENSE) (Is there more to choose from?)

pin ?? goes to G5 front pin 16 (AUDIO COM) (Is there more to choose from?)

 

Conclusion is that in both cases I can already solder pin 5 en pin 9 from the audio connector to pin 17 and pin 18 of the G5 Front connector. But what to solder onto G5 front pin 15 and 16? Plese help me out! Thanks!

 

Another question, I have nothing to solder to pin 5 (CHASSIS GND FW s-ground) and pin 6 (CHASSIS GND USB s-ground) of the G5 connector? Am I right?

 

I will provide you with a picture when I am finished.

 

if you go back to page like 20 nervouschimp finished his back to keep it by defualt so yeah.

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andyman1080
andyman1080
Posted
Posted

I found audio com[mon] to be ground. So I wired L and R like you did and then wired 16 to my front panel audio ground. Don't really need to worry about HD vs. AC97 because the base pinouts are the same. I didn't wire up the sense yet because I was more concerned with other tasks but it's something to try. I would do it to sense 1. I believe it's for the OS to know if you have headphones plugged in so it can use the system volume control for that output.

 

Since I'm posting btw, just wanted to thank nervouschimp for the inspiration of retaining the stock rear panel, zonoskar for the inspiration of using the stock mobo standoffs and fitting a coolermaster psu in the g5 psu case, and everyone else who provided help in the thread. I'm near the final stages of my G5 retrofit. Last night I did my usb and firewire jumpers. My ethernet, fw800 and audio jumpers need some shaving with a dremel before they'll fit. Once those jumpers are epoxied in i'll be able to put everything back in the case..Here are some quick pictures I snapped last night. (sorry about the quality, iphone camera sucks..)

 

photo(4).jpg

 

photo(3).jpg

 

photo(2).jpg

 

photo.jpg

 

System specs are:

Core 2 Extreme QX9650 (w/ Tunic Tower 120)

Gigabyte GA-P35-DS3L

4gb Kingston HyperX DDR2 1066 (still having problems with this much memory, troubleshooting the solution, for now maxmem=3072)

2 Samsung Spinpoint 750GB drives in Raid 0 to PCI express SI 3132 card

ASUS 512MB 8600GT (w/ Zalman VNF100 fanless)

Pci express fw800/fw400 card

DLink DWA-552 802.11n

LG GGC-H20L Blu-Ray/HDDVD combo drive

Coolermaster Real Power Pro 550w retrofit into G5 PSU case

Leopard Retail.. 10.5.2 with EFI string for gfx for now

 

I 5volted the G5 drive bay blower, rear panel blowers and power supply fans. I'm planning on starting out with those as my only fans and then making changes if it's too noisy. I liked zonoskar's idea of retaining the stock power supply fan and mounting it at an angle but not sure if it'll provide adequate airflow. If the 2 60mm fans are too noisy I will replace them with that method. (page 16 of this thread)

 

I don't plan to overclock much past 3.66ghz since (per an anandtech article) the power consumption of this cpu ramps up really fast under full load while overclocked. they found literally double the power consumption at 3.8ghz. so i'm going to take the fan out of the tunic tower and just rely on airflow from the rear panel blowers to keep it comfortable.

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nervouschimp
nervouschimp
Posted
Posted
I found audio com[mon] to be ground. So I wired L and R like you did and then wired 16 to my front panel audio ground. Don't really need to worry about HD vs. AC97 because the base pinouts are the same. I didn't wire up the sense yet because I was more concerned with other tasks but it's something to try. I would do it to sense 1. I believe it's for the OS to know if you have headphones plugged in so it can use the system volume control for that output.

 

Since I'm posting btw, just wanted to thank nervouschimp for the inspiration of retaining the stock rear panel, zonoskar for the inspiration of using the stock mobo standoffs and fitting a coolermaster psu in the g5 psu case, and everyone else who provided help in the thread. I'm near the final stages of my G5 retrofit. Last night I did my usb and firewire jumpers. My ethernet, fw800 and audio jumpers need some shaving with a dremel before they'll fit. Once those jumpers are epoxied in i'll be able to put everything back in the case..Here are some quick pictures I snapped last night. (sorry about the quality, iphone camera sucks..)

 

cool. are you going to restore the entire back panel? if you use the G5 standoffs alone, how will you support your cards? where are you positioning the board? to modify my sockets, I just used a hobby knife with a new blade, made quick work of it... just kind of carved them down til they fit right. also, did you glue your sockets right up the aluminum? and what kind of adhesive is that you are using? do you feel the bond will hold up to daily abuse?

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olinboy1
olinboy1
Posted
Posted

Add another G5 case to the list. My mod is underway!

 

I only wish I had bought a motherboard that was mATX, but thanks to all the modders that have gone before me, I've seen it can be done with a full ATX.

 

I'm still undecided on the "to cut (the back panel) or not to cut" debate. I'm going to work on adapting the front panel connections in the meantime.

 

Thanks again to everyone who has made this an invaluable resource to modding these cases!

 

g5gutsoutpu5.jpg

g5gutsoutpu5.b77b766841.jpg

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olinboy1
olinboy1
Posted
Posted

Even if the dremel-in-box photo above wasn't a dead giveaway, this is the first type of project I've ever attempted. I'm glad I didn't totally hack the drive floor to bits! :(

 

Also, I thought it was interesting that there are actually three different kinds of standoffs inside the G5 case. I tried to get a "standard" motherboard mounting screw into either of the standoffs that will accept screws, but it seems like the thread pattern might be a little more compact in the G5 standoffs. I could probaby force it to screw in, but I'd rather not have it bind up on me later. Can anyone give some input as to which screw will fit the G5 standoffs correctly?

 

I'm mocking up my Asus P5K Deluxe wifi/ap board right now with a trusty "stuntman" from olden days just to see how my clearance will be. I Photoshopped the Deluxe board in there over the top of the old ATX board for fun. Thanks for the photo newegg!

post-8418-1206900085_thumb.jpg

post-8418-1206900120_thumb.jpg

post-8418-1206900158_thumb.jpg

post-8418-1206900203_thumb.jpg

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tuukka H
tuukka H
Posted
Posted
Add another G5 case to the list. My mod is underway!

 

I only wish I had bought a motherboard that was mATX, but thanks to all the modders that have gone before me, I've seen it can be done with a full ATX.

 

I'm still undecided on the "to cut (the back panel) or not to cut" debate. I'm going to work on adapting the front panel connections in the meantime.

 

Thanks again to everyone who has made this an invaluable resource to modding these cases!

Is that iPhone or Touch? If its iPhone what is that very cool case?

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nervouschimp
nervouschimp
Posted
Posted

I was playing around this morning, and realized that the G5 case will accept 2 complete shuttle G-series computers, with a little room to spare.

 

shuttleinside.jpg

 

While 2 discrete machines would be impractical for some, it is perfect for way I work. I create game content on the mac that ends up in a game editor in windows. Game editors, and games in general don't run well if at all in parallels, and there is too much back and forth to boot into windows.... so for that, and many other reasons.... I think this will be an interesting project worth pursuing. My hack will be called the Powermac dual-G2 project. My back panel already has 2 lans and 2 antennas, and with the addition of an internal KVM, and firewire 800 adhock between the 2.... this should be fun.

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olinboy1
olinboy1
Posted
Posted
Is that iPhone or Touch? If its iPhone what is that very cool case?

 

Indeed it is an iPhone case. I bought it a few weeks ago and I like it a lot.

Switcheasy iPhone Case

 

Gallery1.png

 

 

:: UPDATE ON MY G5 CASE ::

 

I have my new standoffs made (I'll post the pics when I get home later on). I modified some standoffs that were too long that I picked up at RadioShack, set them into 1 inch squares of clear plexi, and bonded them down to the case with metal epoxy from Home Depot. After the first 24hrs, I'm happy with about 6 out of the 9 total being completely solid. The remaining 3 that were loose needed to be re-applied (I think they were set on parts of the epoxy that weren't a good 50-50 mix to bond/harden correctly)

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teknojunkie
teknojunkie
Posted
Posted

yeah it is kinda silly but pretty cool I would suggest getting the skulltrail board and sticking 2 quads 16 gb ram 4 video cards 4tb of storage 1000 PSU Watt and your good. :D lol

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nervouschimp
nervouschimp
Posted
Posted
yeah it is kinda silly but pretty cool I would suggest getting the skulltrail board and sticking 2 quads 16 gb ram 4 video cards 4tb of storage 1000 PSU Watt and your good. :D lol

 

the skulltrail platform is serious coin. a real mac pro would be a better choice.

 

skulltrail is rubbish.

 

price/performance ratio blows.

 

fb-dimms are slow, and don't belong in a gaming platform.

 

very few apps will benifit from 8-cores.

 

etc.... total waste of money.

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teknojunkie
teknojunkie
Posted
Posted
the skulltrail platform is serious coin. a real mac pro would be a better choice.

 

skulltrail is rubbish.

 

price/performance ratio blows.

 

fb-dimms are slow, and don't belong in a gaming platform.

 

very few apps will benifit from 8-cores.

 

etc.... total waste of money.

 

yeah it is pretty pricy but wait soon it will go down yeah I would get Mac Pro 100 Times than the SkullTrail just my thoughts. Good luck with what your going to do.

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nervouschimp
nervouschimp
Posted
Posted

OK, I finally pulled the trigger at newegg, and the parts should be arriving soon (knowing newegg).

 

The components for my new system:

 

ASUS P5E WS Professional LGA 775 Intel X38 ATX Intel Motherboard

MSI NX8800GT 512M OC GeForce 8800GT 512MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0

SYBA PCI-Express 1394b FireWire Card Model SD-PEX-FWB

Thermaltake W0131RU ATX12V / EPS12V 850W Power Supply

Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 Kentsfield 2.4GHz

G.SKILL 4GB(2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 1066 X 2

Western Digital Caviar RE2 WD7500AYYS 750GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s

LITE-ON 20X DVD±R DVD Burner With 12X DVD-RAM Write Black SATA Model LH-20A1S

ARCTIC COOLING Arctic Fan 9 (AF9) 92mm Case Fan X2

XIGMATEK HDT-S1283 120mm Rifle CPU Cooler

 

I think it'll be a fairly decent rig if I can get the Q6600 to 3.2GHZ, and with the supported FSB of this board, and the flipping awesome Xigmatek cpu cooler, it shouldn't be a problem.

 

I'm feeling good about this build.

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nervouschimp
nervouschimp
Posted
Posted

with my parts on the way, it was time to figure out a solution for the new power supply.

 

beforecut.jpg

 

the PSU will actually exhaust out the bottom of the case. there is plenty of clearance, thanks to the G5 feet. a 90 degree power jumper will run back into the case through the bottom, and back to the rear of the G5.

 

aftercut.jpg

 

that is my cut. a little filing and i'll be done.

 

psuplate.jpg

 

there i have the psu plate installed using 1/8" rivets. just to the right of the psu plate is the power return hole. i have installed a radio shack rubber grommet into the through-hole.

 

psuplateinside.jpg

 

there is the psu plate from the inside. looks nice and neat IMO. i will be installing exhaust fans there, as they will help prevent warm air from building up under the G5, and help get the CPU heat out.

 

psuinside.jpg

 

that's an old PSU serving as a stunt double to demonstrate the arrangement since i don't have the real PSU yet.

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ѕӎѳѳ₮ңӌ
ѕӎѳѳ₮ңӌ
Posted
Posted

well the bottom isn't going to be seen at all, where as the back will be sen at points even all the time depending on the positioning of the case. plus if you dont do the back right it can take away the integrity of the case.

 

lookin' good nervouschimp!!!!! keep it coming!!!

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teknojunkie
teknojunkie
Posted
Posted

nervous chimp are you going to be running Mac on this because alot of things dont work with your motherboard

 

Kalyway 10.5.1

BIOS version unknown, Rev. unknown

SATA Work

IDE Doesn't Work

Audio Doesn't Work

LAN working out of the box

iAtkos 10.5.1

SATA Work

LAN working after patch

 

takin from the wiki.

 

Sorry Nevermind it works

 

http://forum.insanelymac.com/index.php?sho...=80885&st=0

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