Hey guys. I've had this PowerMac G4 Quicksilver collecting dust for a while, and I had enough spare PC parts laying around and needed a project so I decided to gut the G4 and modify it to fit standard ATX parts. This is my first major case mod. Originally I wasn't going to do a build log because I was just going to hack it up and get the motherboard mounted in there and call it done, but I decided to do it right. So far the only major goal I have for this project is to keep the case looking as close to stock as possible (except for the back). I have a bunch of ideas in mind for this project, but for now here's the important part:
Mounting the Motherboard in the case
Like I said, I wasn't originally planning on doing a build log so I didn't take any photos as I did this part of the mod, but I went back and took it apart and took some photos of everything I've done so far.
The one photo I did take while working. Cutting out the IO area
Here's my pile of G4 guts.
The end result of my (horrible) cutting. This will be fixed later.
To take off the side panel, you have to remove the 4 screws on the outside and then push in the two tabs shown here:
To align the motherboard, I put cards in the highest and lowest slots on the motherboard and screwed them into the slots on the case. I used the motherboard itself as a guide to drill the holes. I used a 1/8" drill and drilled holes in the case through each of the holes on the motherboard, took the motherboard out, and then used a larger drill (11/32" IIRC) to make the other holes bigger. The screws I used instead of standoffs are only 6/32", but I made the holes bigger so I could make some adjustments if necessary. Once I got all the screws in, I had to mark on the plastic latch mechanism where to drill holes to clear the screws. These need to be wider than the screws because the whole thing moves when you pull the handle. A couple of the screws are crooked because they happened to be close to where the holes for the original standoffs are.
(I thought the motherboard might touch the screws for the latch so I covered them with electrical tape just in case)
This method for mounting the motherboard works, but I would recommend using regular standoffs if possible. Trying to get the nuts on some of those screws is a real pain in the ass.
Here's the motherboard mounted:
As you can see here, the door won't close all the way:
Looks like my heatsink is too tall
I ordered a new heatsink along with some PSU extension cables. Unfortunately, I made the mistake of assuming that because the heatsink was listed under socket 775, the one I chose was actually 775. I skimmed over that when looking for the dimensions and didn't think to actually verify what socket it was until after I had placed the order
I was going to change the order, but I decided to stick with it. I think I'll sell a few spare computers I don't need and get some new hardware for this thing.
Current hardware:
Some sort of OEM 350W PSU
Foxconn DG33M03 motherboard
Intel E6300
1GB RAM
AMD Radeon HD 6450
Potential future hardware:
GIGABYTE GA-B75M-D3V
Core i5 3350P
16GB Corsair XMS RAM
Galaxy GeForce GTX 650 Ti
Hardware:
ASUS P8P67-M PRO
16GB Corsair Vengeance LP RAM
Intel Core i5 3470
EVGA GTX 650 Ti
60GB OCZ Vertex 2
320GB 3.5" HDD
320GB WD Scorpio Black
Corsair H60
Antec 450W PSU (will be upgraded later)
The reason I'm looking at that motherboard is because it's narrow which means I could put the optical drive back in.
That's all I've got for now, hope you all enjoyed. Any ideas/suggestions are welcome. Let me know if there's any errors or if anything needs to be explained better; I think I covered everything but it's late and I'm tired.
Updates:
Update 1: Power switch/Cable management holes
Update 2: Shelf Rev.1
Update 3: Shelf Rev.2
Update 4: Parts start arriving
Update 5: Mounting the shelf
Update 6: More parts/Bondo fail
Update 7: Motherboard arrived/Building the AirPort card
Update 8: Hard drive caddy
Update 9: Installing the Laser Hive conversion kit
Update 10: 3.5" HDD mount, fan added, rear trim modded, various other mods
Update 11: More parts, H60 installed
Update 12: Crack kills
Update 13: Building the wall
Update 14: Installing the wall and front panel IO
Update 15: Started painting
Update 16: Finished painting