Building a MacPro

[newtech]

By far the trickiest cables to find are the ODD and HDD power harness cables. My solution for the for the ODD power harness was the HDD power harness from a late 2005 G5 ( I am Using a Pioneer DVR-212D SATA ODD ). The HDD power harness is "integral" to the MP case so the only good source are used MP cases.

 

If you plan to use standard Xeon Cooling solutions remember the screws are SAE threaded ( 6-32 ) and will strip the metric threads on the Apple MLB ( M3 0.5 pitch ).

[digitalperformer]

It is going to be very difficult to retrofit a Mac Pro into another case. It is doable for sure but you are still going to need all the wiring from the Mac Pro case. You are also going to need the front panel assembly which has the power switch. Water cooling would be very easy in a case other than the Mac Pro. I really did not want to give up that first hard drive slot so I am sticking with air cooling for now.

 

Good luck on your build and do keep us informed. The more info people post the more success others will have down the road!

 

 

Hey thanks for your thoughts... very much appreciated. Let's keep this forum at the top!!! The implementation of your build is great; however, I feel that you want more than the stock case will allow you for, but that's just my opinion... you're doing a great job. My goal is to make this build as unique as possible... even if it takes more time than expected. I'm gonna try to minimize using genuine mac parts; not saying that I want to circumvent apples Hardware. I just want to make a borg As long as the motherboard is from apples design then the computer will be genuine (well, in my mind). As for the case, I'm gonna try to fabricate an enclosure at work from sheet metal, probably stainless, if I can't find a case that fits. As for the electronics, www.mouser.com or www.newarkinone.com ... the best. Any clues as for what type of thermal sensors used in the mac pro, Thermocouples (type J - K) / RTD / Thermosistor? What type of power supply connectors used, how many, pin voltage readings? If anyone has mac pro hardware info please share it with us i.e component, manufacturer, specs, dimensions ; anything that will help remove their iron wall on knowledge. Thank you kindly in advance.

 

Knowledge for all, Knowledge to unite!!!

[newtech]

The A number one piece of knowledge I recommend is the "BIBLE" aka the Apple service source .pdf. I would link to it but Apple killed the public link when they added Mac Book Air info up. :<

[nagal]

I can help pin out some of the cabling for you. It should not be hard to build the power cabling newtech was talking about for the optical drives and the hard drives. The hard drive harness is something else. It takes 4 SATA connections and bundles it into one single connector that plugs into the logic board. It looks similar to a SATA multilane cable but not sure what it is.

[digitalperformer]

By far the trickiest cables to find are the ODD and HDD power harness cables. My solution for the for the ODD power harness was the HDD power harness from a late 2005 G5 ( I am Using a Pioneer DVR-212D SATA ODD ). The HDD power harness is "integral" to the MP case so the only good source are used MP cases.

 

If you plan to use standard Xeon Cooling solutions remember the screws are SAE threaded ( 6-32 ) and will strip the metric threads on the Apple MLB ( M3 0.5 pitch ).

 

 

Thanks NewTech... Will keep that in mind if and when I'm screaming and cursing at the wall I'll keep you guys posted when my hardware arrives and I will keep an accurate account of problems along with bought and homemade solutions. "What are you doing, Dave?" -HAL9000

 

Keep on rockin' in the free world.

[nagal]

The A number one piece of knowledge I recommend is the "BIBLE" aka the Apple service source .pdf. I would link to it but Apple killed the public link when the added Mac Book Air info up. :<

 

There is a guy that sells a set of CDs on eBay that is suppose to be the service manuals.

[digitalperformer]

I can help pin out some of the cabling for you. It should not be hard to build the power cabling newtech was talking about for the optical drives and the hard drives. The hard drive harness is something else. It takes 4 SATA connections and bundles it into one single connector that plugs into the logic board. It looks similar to a SATA multilane cable but not sure what it is.

 

What do think of using a PCI SATA adaptor in lieu of motherboard SATA connection. Does the motherboard need to see a bootable harddrive at that connector or will it probe? I would love if you could help with the Power Supply Pin Out. I would like to modify a 1200W power supply (connectors if necessary) or find a non-apple P.S with identical connector layout. My email is masterofmixing@yahoo.com. Could someone please help me with Bible studies. My expertise is in Rock & Roll, Power Generation - Gas Turbine Controls, PLCs. Thank you.

[nagal]

What do think of using a PCI SATA adaptor in lieu of motherboard SATA connection. Does the motherboard need to see a bootable harddrive at that connector or will it probe? I would love if you could help with the Power Supply Pin Out. I would like to modify a 1200W power supply (connectors if necessary) or find a non-apple P.S with identical connector layout. My email is masterofmixing@yahoo.com. Could someone please help me with Bible studies. My expertise is in Rock & Roll, Power Generation - Gas Turbine Controls, PLCs. Thank you.

 

I would not waste the time modding a non-apple PS. Just get the Apple PSU, remove the funky side panel and you have a PSU that is about the same dimension as an ATX PSU. The Apple PSU is really not that expensive. Here is the part # for the PSU 661-4309.

 

I am not sure what I can do about the PSU pinout as I know of no way to jumper the PSU on to make measurements. I can do the hard drive and optical drives no problem as I can reference the normal SATA power connector for what voltages are on each pin and just ohm out the cabling.

 

There are two normal SATA ports on the logic board but I do not know if you can boot off them. I will hook up a hard drive in my external enclosure and see if that will work tonight once I get back from the gym.

 

On a side note, no logic board today. FedEx would not leave it without a signature so I have to pick it up tomorrow. grrr.....

[newtech]

The HDD data harness is simply an iPass to 4 SATA cable.

 

http://www.govconnection.com/IPA/Shop/Prod...htm?sku=8126804

 

Nagal makes a good point about the PSU. A 1000 Watt PC PSU is going to be nearly the same price as buying the MP PSU if not more and need extensive mods.

[nagal]

The HDD data harness is simply an iPass to 4 SATA cable.

 

I knew it I had seen that cable somewhere before but could never remember the name!

 

As far as booting off the 2 "normal" SATA ports, it works like a charm. I tried each one an no issues.

 

I will try and do the pin out of the optical and hard drive power cabling tomorrow when I rip everything out to put in the new logic board.

[digitalperformer]

I knew it I had seen that cable somewhere before but could never remember the name!

 

As far as booting off the 2 "normal" SATA ports, it works like a charm. I tried each one an no issues.

 

I will try and do the pin out of the optical and hard drive power cabling tomorrow when I rip everything out to put in the new logic board.

 

 

Awesome awesome awesome... thanks for that nagal and thanks for the cable help Newtech... plotting and researching as we speak...

 

I found a helpful resource: I believe it's written in polish; however, you'll be able to find the bible here.

 

http://www.macdunyasi.com/forum/viewtopic....fbd5742abac0beb

 

read 9th entry down from top... I found it from there... some other cool guides within the page...

 

The bible's dated Aug 7th, 2006. Nice illustrations, doesn't go into in depth detail on specifications ....arrrrrggggg

 

Couldn't find {censored} on US patents or trademarks... they will usually have schematics and disclosures.

 

I guess I'm wanting to much engineering info.

[digitalperformer]

Wow... forgive me if I'm talking out of my ass... The bible shows alot of good close ups of how it's supposed to be wired and to what devices, along with take apart and put together procedures. It seems like some of the wiring can be either bypassed or improvised. An example the front board housing power switch, audio out... blah... doesn't serve me any good because I don't plan on using the front I/Os, just rear. Even so the front usb and firewire is patched to the motherboard with cable. The power switch is a three wire contact going to a connector, looks like a dry contact... momentary toggle switch... hmmmm. Have you guys gone this type of route? The bible gives you a break down of all motherboard cable connections and types of cables (pinout count too)... WAHHHOOOOOOO!!!! From what you tried Nagal, it's possible to forgo the ipass to 4 SATA cable and go with the two SATA ports on the logic board... like my G5... and use a PCI SATA Adaptor for additional SATA I/Os. Make sense to you?

I would not waste the time modding a non-apple PS. Just get the Apple PSU, remove the funky side panel and you have a PSU that is about the same dimension as an ATX PSU. The Apple PSU is really not that expensive. Here is the part # for the PSU 661-4309.I am not sure what I can do about the PSU pinout as I know of no way to jumper the PSU on to make measurements. I can do the hard drive and optical drives no problem as I can reference the normal SATA power connector for what voltages are on each pin and just ohm out the cabling.There are two normal SATA ports on the logic board but I do not know if you can boot off them. I will hook up a hard drive in my external enclosure and see if that will work tonight once I get back from the gym.On a side note, no logic board today. FedEx would not leave it without a signature so I have to pick it up tomorrow. grrr.....

I'm confused as to why would you need to jumper the PSU... Voltage reading with a multimeter from pin referred to ground would do it... The power supply shouldn't require a load for it to produce terminal voltage. Awesome insights guys... I love it!! I feel for your delivery problem... those asswipes keep returning my parcels because "package was undeliverable"... HAHAHAHAHA and Microsoft is robust... right?

[newtech]

Front panel board cheap at The Basement....

 

 

http://cgi.ebay.com/MAC-PRO-FRONT-PANEL-BO...7QQcmdZViewItem

 

also BT boards.

[deleted_account]

By far the trickiest cables to find are the ODD and HDD power harness cables. My solution for the for the ODD power harness was the HDD power harness from a late 2005 G5 ( I am Using a Pioneer DVR-212D SATA ODD ). The HDD power harness is "integral" to the MP case so the only good source are used MP cases.

 

If you plan to use standard Xeon Cooling solutions remember the screws are SAE threaded ( 6-32 ) and will strip the metric threads on the Apple MLB ( M3 0.5 pitch ).

 

 

A Pioneer DVR-212D would mean it's a SATA drive (like you mentioned), and I believe the most recent Logic board in the early 2008 Mac Pro update have connection for SATA Superdrives? (right, nagal?) Which revision G5 Logic board do you have?

 

 

I knew it I had seen that cable somewhere before but could never remember the name!

 

As far as booting off the 2 "normal" SATA ports, it works like a charm. I tried each one an no issues.

 

I will try and do the pin out of the optical and hard drive power cabling tomorrow when I rip everything out to put in the new logic board.

 

I'm curious to know about this as well...Since just before 2008, the Mac Pros had IDE Superdrives, and apparently they have SATA Superdrives right now? Which means, the Logic motherboard must have been updated somehow to cater to the particular specifcations. However, where would the Superdrives connect to anyway? More importantly, how many SATA ports are there in the latest Revision of the Mac Pro? (I know at least 4 for the hard drives...) Look forward to finding out...

 

 

*Also curious to know what brand and model the SAS Drive, the brand and model of the Superdrive, the 1TB drive, they ship the Mac Pros with.

[nagal]

Awesome find digitalperformer on the bible!

 

As for jumpering the PSU. I have always been under the impression until the PSU is turned on (and not the big switch in the back when talking about ATX PSU), no voltages are actually on. I know with every ATX PSU I worked with when leak testing a water cooling setup I had to jumper two pins on the main 24 pin connector so that the voltage supplied to the pumps and the fans from any of the molex connectors was actually turned on. I can do a few quick tests tonight on the PSU to see if this is the same case here.

 

For the front panel power switch. I cant say for certain on the Mac Pro but on the PowerMac G5 cases it was a momentary switch (just like a normal PC). The main thing I was wondering about is where that is wired to the logic board. Now with the bible that might not be an issue.

 

You really might want that front panel assembly in general as the Mac Pro is really lacking in USB slots. 2 in front, 3 in the rear.

 

I have heard that the new (early 2008) Mac Pro optical drives are now SATA. I can not confirm this. I know that the older Mac Pros use IDE for the optical drivers and it appears to be your standard 2 port 40 pin IDE cable that connects to a single IDE channel on the logic board.

 

You mentioned building a case? Check here for some cheap rack mounts http://www.plinkusa.net/ . I have used these at work with our servers. They get the job done but watch for sharp edges.

 

its early and I have not had my coffee so excuse me if I missed answering anything

[digitalperformer]

Awesome find digitalperformer on the bible!

 

As for jumpering the PSU. I have always been under the impression until the PSU is turned on (and not the big switch in the back when talking about ATX PSU), no voltages are actually on. I know with every ATX PSU I worked with when leak testing a water cooling setup I had to jumper two pins on the main 24 pin connector so that the voltage supplied to the pumps and the fans from any of the molex connectors was actually turned on. I can do a few quick tests tonight on the PSU to see if this is the same case here.

 

For the front panel power switch. I cant say for certain on the Mac Pro but on the PowerMac G5 cases it was a momentary switch (just like a normal PC). The main thing I was wondering about is where that is wired to the logic board. Now with the bible that might not be an issue.

 

You really might want that front panel assembly in general as the Mac Pro is really lacking in USB slots. 2 in front, 3 in the rear.

 

I have heard that the new (early 2008) Mac Pro optical drives are now SATA. I can not confirm this. I know that the older Mac Pros use IDE for the optical drivers and it appears to be your standard 2 port 40 pin IDE cable that connects to a single IDE channel on the logic board.

 

You mentioned building a case? Check here for some cheap rack mounts http://www.plinkusa.net/ . I have used these at work with our servers. They get the job done but watch for sharp edges.

 

its early and I have not had my coffee so excuse me if I missed answering anything

 

My brothers.... check out page 111-112 in the bible (wire and connector matrix along with board illustration)... very nice... still lacking though.. enough to help in the build... I'm really adamant about finding a drop in substitute power supply... The mac pro PS prices to almost $ 300; come on... I refuse to accept an Apple OEM as final... once I get my logic board I'll work hard to find something that works... This forum has brilliant minds... please help anyway possible; reverse enginner what you can.

 

How is this for a possible solution on the SATA optical... First SATA I/O = Boot Drive, Second SATA = Optical... then expand on SATA via PCIe (www.addonics.com) for addition H.Ds. I haven't seen the latest board revision.

 

Nagal thanks for your feedback and plinkusa.net... Nice prices!!!

[nagal]

For the SATA, buy the iPass cable newtech linked and use that. Why waste a slot AND the extra money on a SATA PCIe card? Just my thoughts. As far as a SATA Optical drive, can you install the OS from it? I do not know. If I still had a SATA DVD Rom I could try and see if it would boot from it. In theory, it should but you never know until someone tries.

 

As for the PSU how are you planning on modding it? Are you going to get all the power wiring looms from a Mac Pro case and then splice into it or you going to try and figure out all the connectors need so you can plug straight into the logic board? Either way is going to suck If you are going the wire loom route, seems to make sense to just get an OEM Apple PSU.

 

Apple PSU from DV Warehouse $209. Hard to beat that price and even from ApplePalace it is around $267.

 

http://www.dvwarehouse.com/Power-Supply-fo...07-p-34032.html

 

MacResource might have them as well. http://www.mac-resource.com/store

 

I will do what I can to help pin out the PSU. Now with the bible, I see I might just be able to leave the Control cable plugged in so I can turn on the PSU and make voltage measurements that way.

[digitalperformer]

Yeah you got it... I'm stubborn and have to always go the other way . I like the challenge of doing the unlikely... you know what I mean. It's a mental work out in addition I enjoy tinkering with electronics. I never said I wanted it to be easy.. hahah

[MacPlanes]

Great thread!!

You should definitely sell this story to Macworld or some other magazine.

Thanks!

[digitalperformer]

Get this book and check out www.osxbook.com . The author is brilliant.

[nagal]

Get this book and check out www.osxbook.com . The author is brilliant.

 

I just spent $782 on a logic board, I can barely afford to breathe right now let alone buy a book It does look like a good book though.

[newtech]

Early 2008 Mac Pro still ship with ATA 133/EIDE Superdrives ( Sony, Optiarc, Pioneer ). It has the same 6 SATA as the older MP's, 4 HDD 2 ODD.

[nagal]

New logic board in. Some success...

 

 

 

I am a bit baffled as to why the CPUs still are reading 2.13 GHz @ 1066 FSB. They are the correct engineering samples for 2.4 GHz and they are BSEL modded. They should be showing up as 3.0 GHz @ 1333 FSB.

 

I have not tested the Apple fans to see if they still run @ full speed, that will be next.

[deleted_account]

New logic board in. Some success.

 

I am a bit baffled as to why the CPUs still are reading 2.13 GHz @ 1066 FSB. They are the correct engineering samples for 2.4 GHz and they are BSEL modded. They should be showing up as 3.0 GHz @ 1333 FSB.

 

I have not tested the Apple fans to see if they still run @ full speed, that will be next.

 

 

That was extremely fast! Nice...which revision of the logic board is this again? Can't wait to see the bench results as well

[nagal]

Fans still run fullspeed due to the thermal sensors I got not working. I wonder what kind of sensors Apple used.

 

Here are the Geekbench scores. No idea if they are good but I assume they are good for an 8 core 2.13 GHz machine. I am going to tear everything down again tomorrow and re-apply the BSEL mod.

 

Platform: Mac OS X x86 (32-bit)

Compiler: GCC 4.0.1 (Apple Inc. build 5465)

Operating System: Mac OS X 10.5.1 (Build 9B18)

Model: Mac Pro (8-core)

Motherboard: MacPro2,1

Processor: Genuine Intel® CPU @ 2.13GHz

Processor ID: GenuineIntel Family 6 Model 15 Stepping 4

Logical Processors: 8

Physical Processors: 2

Processor Frequency: 2.13 GHz

L1 Instruction Cache: 32.0 KB

L1 Data Cache: 32.0 KB

L2 Cache: 4.00 MB

L3 Cache: 0.00 B

Bus Frequency: 1.06 GHz

Memory: 8.00 GB

Memory Type: 667 MHz DDR2 FB-DIMM

SIMD: 1

 

Integer (Score: 3407)

Blowfish single-threaded scalar -- 1101, 1.0, 48.4 MB/sec

Blowfish multi-threaded scalar -- 7307, 6.2, 299.5 MB/sec

Text Compress single-threaded scalar -- 1050, 1.0, 3.36 MB/sec

Text Compress multi-threaded scalar -- 7176, 7.0, 23.5 MB/sec

Text Decompress single-threaded scalar -- 923, 1.0, 3.79 MB/sec

Text Decompress multi-threaded scalar -- 6439, 6.8, 25.7 MB/sec

Image Compress single-threaded scalar -- 950, 1.0, 7.85 Mpixels/sec

Image Compress multi-threaded scalar -- 6797, 7.3, 57.2 Mpixels/sec

Image Decompress single-threaded scalar -- 733, 1.0, 12.3 Mpixels/sec

Image Decompress multi-threaded scalar -- 4792, 6.3, 78.2 Mpixels/sec

Crafty Chess single-threaded scalar -- 1130, 1.0, 571.3 Knodes/sec

Crafty Chess multi-threaded scalar -- 1637, 1.4, 794.4 Knodes/sec

Lua single-threaded scalar -- 1308, 1.0, 503.9 Knodes/sec

Lua multi-threaded scalar -- 6362, 4.9, 2.45 Mnodes/sec

 

Floating Point (Score: 5623)

Mandelbrot single-threaded scalar -- 994, 1.0, 661.2 Mflops

Mandelbrot multi-threaded scalar -- 6289, 6.2, 4.12 Gflops

Dot Product single-threaded scalar -- 1530, 1.0, 739.2 Mflops

Dot Product multi-threaded scalar -- 4807, 3.0, 2.19 Gflops

Dot Product single-threaded vector -- 987, 1.6, 1.18 Gflops

Dot Product multi-threaded vector -- 3145, 4.4, 3.27 Gflops

LU Decomposition single-threaded scalar -- 383, 1.0, 340.9 Mflops

LU Decomposition multi-threaded scalar -- 1458, 3.8, 1.28 Gflops

Primality Test single-threaded scalar -- 1889, 1.0, 282.1 Mflops

Primality Test multi-threaded scalar -- 10320, 6.8, 1.92 Gflops

Sharpen Image single-threaded scalar -- 2528, 1.0, 5.90 Mpixels/sec

Sharpen Image multi-threaded scalar -- 16810, 6.6, 38.7 Mpixels/sec

Blur Image single-threaded scalar -- 3456, 1.0, 2.73 Mpixels/sec

Blur Image multi-threaded scalar -- 24136, 6.9, 19.0 Mpixels/sec

 

Memory (Score: 1130)

Read Sequential single-threaded scalar -- 1381, 1.0, 1.69 GB/sec

Write Sequential single-threaded scalar -- 1569, 1.0, 1.07 GB/sec

Stdlib Allocate single-threaded scalar -- 1047, 1.0, 3.91 Mallocs/sec

Stdlib Write single-threaded scalar -- 796, 1.0, 1.65 GB/sec

Stdlib Copy single-threaded scalar -- 858, 1.0, 906.3 MB/sec

 

Stream (Score: 1053)

Stream Copy single-threaded scalar -- 1037, 1.0, 1.42 GB/sec

Stream Copy single-threaded vector -- 1169, 1.1, 1.52 GB/sec

Stream Scale single-threaded scalar -- 1154, 1.0, 1.50 GB/sec

Stream Scale single-threaded vector -- 1165, 1.1, 1.57 GB/sec

Stream Add single-threaded scalar -- 923, 1.0, 1.39 GB/sec

Stream Add single-threaded vector -- 1202, 1.2, 1.67 GB/sec

Stream Triad single-threaded scalar -- 939, 1.0, 1.30 GB/sec

Stream Triad single-threaded vector -- 842, 1.2, 1.58 GB/sec