trueg50

Alright, mod is on, but there are some changes.

Father is helping my grandparents from Tuesday to Friday, so in that time I will do the mod and have it ready to go when he gets back. So I might have to sacrifice originality and the appearance of the back of the case to get it done in time. Since no one will be looking at the back of the case I don't mind gutting it a little if it means getting it done before he gets back.

Hardware will likely no longer be the little SX280, but instead will be a full ATX Gigabyte board I have kicking around (with a Pentium D, and 2x 80Gb Hard drives).

I will be using this motherboard tray:




I will probably remove the fan on it, and just use the tray and I/O area.

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Cable manage and liquid cooled Thermal take Armor

Synergy (G5 case mod)

trueg50

Update: No camera so no new pictures, but I chose to take a very different approach, and in fact, I could have a more "pure" G5 than any other one I have seen.

I de-riveted that motherboard tray, so I have just the flat plate to mount the motherboard on; I will drill holes in it, and mount it to the Apple Case standoffs; then cut out the back plate (preserving as much as possible).

Most other mods hack off the Apple Case standoffs, and use some new ones; I plan to use the existing ones. Also, I have all the original hard ware, so unlike 90% of the mods out there, I will retain full use of the Apple disk drive, and utilize the Apple hard drive mounts (very neat if I do say so my self).

The power supply will be mounted in a reverse fasion; I will use a PSU extension cable, and mount that to the outside of the case; then mount the PSU in the very front bottom of the case, with the modular cables facing the motherboard (best of all the PSU will be a Hiper Type "R", so it is of a very similar look to the G5).

The motherboard will be an ATX type Gigabyte, with a Pentium D. I did this for a few reasons, the biggest being that the little Dell doesn't have the standard ATX mounting holes (thus an ATX motherboard tray would be a pain). The optical drive, and PSU are also very nonstandard, restricting the number of drives I can use, as well as any expansion abilities.

I will have a camera Tuesday or Wednesday evening, so I can post pictures then.

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Cable manage and liquid cooled Thermal take Armor

Synergy (G5 case mod)

Mjg1675

PICS! RoAR!

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trueg50

Here is a modified picture of some one else's G5 before modding. He just hacked off motherboard standoffs I think.




No lie, I could easily fit an E-ATX motherboard with no issues (especially if I mount the tray down and have the PSU on its side; then I could mount an E-ATX motherboard).

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Cable manage and liquid cooled Thermal take Armor

Synergy (G5 case mod)

trueg50

14 cut of wheels, 2 burned fingers, and 3 hours of solid dremeling later, the back I/O area is cut out and ground down nicely. Now I have to hunt down some nice screws to secure the 2 motherboard tray pieces, and to secure the tray to the case (I'm thinking some nice hex screws).


I do have 1 big problem. I have the tray, and I need to find where the standoffs are located underneath the tray (then drill through the tray and screw it down); does any one have any tips other then trying to measure it out?

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Cable manage and liquid cooled Thermal take Armor

Synergy (G5 case mod)

Mjg1675

O_o, I like it.

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trueg50

I am really liking this case, and to be honest, if the case was a few inches taller, and 2-3 inches longer, I wouldn't hesitate for a second to sell my Armor, and move to this case. Fun to mod, quite pretty, and I am a huge fan for all the empty space that I can do what ever with.

Thanks, I just hope I can make it look nice enough. Chances are my father will be the only one to look at it (and it will be under his desk) but rough edges and blemishes would still bother me.

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Cable manage and liquid cooled Thermal take Armor

Synergy (G5 case mod)

Mjg1675

Yeah, i've wanted one of those G5 cases forever. It'll turn out fine.

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trueg50

Thanks for the support.

I have been hunting forever for one, and even put in a Craigslist ad for it, and got no response. Then 3 weeks after the ad I got an e-mail from some one who lived barely 15 minutes from me, and they had a G5 in good condition that didn't work. Turns out the G5 had a dead motherboard, but was literally in mint condition, like they just got it out of the box.

Actually if you don't mind spending some money, a guy in California offered me a Mac pro case (with just about all the accessories, just no computer components) for $180 plus some shipping, but he seemed accomidating.

PM me if interested and I can get you in contact with him.

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Cable manage and liquid cooled Thermal take Armor

Synergy (G5 case mod)

Mjg1675

I would love to get one, but I can't afford it. Maybe someone else here at OCN would take that offer up.

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