[satchmodog]

I just came across a pristine G5 and even though the old thing still worked, I have no use for a slow, old Mac.

It took me over an hour to gut this thing, but it's finally hollowed out and now I want to take down my current build and put it in this Mac case. Problem one is, my ASRock 970 mobo doesn't line up with any of the posts. Half the posts are too high, and I/O is built in to the case, and of course, doesn't line up with anything. There are two fan ports right above the I/O so I can't alter it much, so I was thinking I have to mount the board inside the box a bit more and run the cables inside and connect them.

I also removed the proprietary PSU and there is no real mount for a normal one. So my biggest issues are where I am going to mount the board and psu and how, as well as two more drives. The G5 has two drive slots and I am running four




I threw my spare 770 mobo in there to check out dimensions. Sorry about the blurry pic

Any advice other than abandoning my project is welcome

 

[Kleer Kut]

Do you use optical drives a lot? I haven't had one hooked up to a computer in quite a long time. If you don't use one regularly then it looks like you could stuff 2 3.5" HDD's in there sideways. If one of your drives is an SSD then it is even easier. You could also try and make a custom drive cage or harvest one from another computer and find a spot to jam it.

I think you are on the right track with the motherboard. I did this to one that I stuffed inside an old VCR carcass. I reused existing holes in the back and stripped some insulation off of a cable which I used to line the sharp metal holes. I used my favorite adhesive (amazing goop/lexel) to make sure it stayed in place and kept my wires from getting damaged.

There are a number of ways to go about mounting the motherboard. The method I used was nothing short of crazy, but it worked. I had a bunch of plastic stand-offs, I think they are used when a hole doesn't line up to anything and you use it to keep the board from grounding out. Well I used 4 of those, 1 at each corner of a small 'mATX' board. Now the bottom of the case was not all at the same depth. So I glued pennies to the bottom of the stand-offs until the board was sitting level and then glued the bottom of each stand-off/penny stack to the case. Literally just left the plastic stand-offs in the board the whole time and fit it all together with pennies and glue. When used right, that adhesive will hold amazingly well.

It turned out exactly how I wanted it. I used old pigtails for the HDD LED, power LED, and power switch and soldered them to existing components. I have no clue how the mac wiring is like, but if it doesn't fit your motherboard then you could do the same to retain the stock switch and LEDs. The power supply will be in the same boat as the motherboard. Looks like it would have to be on bottom towards the front, standing on end. Then you could attach it down to the case with straps or angle brackets. I've used the metal piece off of an aluminum foil roll to do that in the past. It has holes placed regularly that can be slightly drilled out to fit regular case screws. You could get more adventurous with modding the power supply case and wiring but I would advise against it if you don't have any previous work experience with high voltage. Also not smart to do if the PSU is new and under warranty.

You can go from mild to wild with any build, but I think you are on the right track. You should be able to make it work without completely butchering the outside of the case. You may need to get creative with fans and maybe adding shrouds or duct work to direct cool air to/hot air from the PSU, CPU, GPU, and other areas that need it. It might be a good idea to add a fan in the side panel after you get the PSU mounted so it isn't just recycling air from the CPU and causing heat issues.

 

[satchmodog]

Thanks a bunch for your input!

I do use the dvd burner a lot, but i guess I could always go external. I was also thinking about gutting an old box for the HD cages.

If I can get one or two holes to line up on the motherboard, that would be awesome. I use a really heavy CPU cooler and having some sort of anchor would be nice, but i like your stand off idea.

Some of the wiring is reusable, some isn't. Apple and their typical proprietary crapola.

I have an idea in my head on how I want it all to go, but it's sort of predicated on mounting the board, then mounting the psu, which I think will simply be getting longer screws and drillind through the bottom of the aluminum case

 

[Dhoulmagus]

I would probably go minimalist with this since it looks like wire management may be a bit of a pain and I don't think the case is deep enough for you to put in a back plate and still have room for a GPU. Optical drives and stuff like that are probably going to leave you with wires everywhere.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817994159 Maybe you can mount a few of these in your psu area (or one and maybe a small res/pump) and go with ssd only. Gut the drive bay completely and see if you can't get a 280 rad (or ten

) in there for the worlds sickest water cooled G5

. I would probably cram as much cooling in there as I can and go with external HDDs and drives if need be.

A metallic black paint job could look pretty sweet inside and out as well

The few G5 case mods I've seen were done with the motherboard inverted (upside down), not sure if it just fit that way without drilling or because the modders felt like going with the board upside down.

 

[satchmodog]

you really have to mount these upside down since the pci ports are where they are. The crap thing is, my friend actually pitched a water cooled version a month earlier, before he knew I was interested in defiling the sacred shrine of Jobs. I'd love to water cool this thing, but I really want to transfer my guts from my last build over to this case.

 

[Dhoulmagus]

Hahahah the 'Shrine of Jobs', I like it.

You should put his face on the side panel, with PC guts on the inside! Mwahahahha! mwahahah!

Well you could always consider it later on. I'm just picturing it in a sexy deep black with some hard tubing, UV coolant and some RGB lighting.

Needless to say, anything you do to it will be much cooler than what was already in it.

Oh, and cut out a giant window and use plexiglass, Jobs would approve such an elegant and simplistic beauty

 

[satchmodog]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Serious_Don

Hahahah the 'Shrine of Jobs', I like it.

You should put his face on the side panel, with PC guts on the inside! Mwahahahha! mwahahah!

Well you could always consider it later on. I'm just picturing it in a sexy deep black with some hard tubing, UV coolant and some RGB lighting.

Needless to say, anything you do to it will be much cooler than what was already in it.

Oh, and cut out a giant window and use plexiglass, Jobs would approve such an elegant and simplistic beauty

It's aluminum and rather thick, so it won't be easy, but i do need to cut some fan holes and a window was a though, because I am considering painting the inside and lighting this beast up. It's massive inside and there's room for lights, a tree and a nativity scene

 

[chrisjames61]

There are literally hundreds, probably thousands of guides on hacking an ATX board into G5 and Mac Pro cases. Lots of guides with G3 and G4 cases and Micro ATX boards. Mountain Mods and The Laser Hive actually sell really nice kits to accomplish the task.

 

[satchmodog]

Excellent, thank you!!

 

[satchmodog]

Quote:

Originally Posted by chrisjames61

There are literally hundreds, probably thousands of guides on hacking an ATX board into G5 and Mac Pro cases. Lots of guides with G3 and G4 cases and Micro ATX boards. Mountain Mods and The Laser Hive actually sell really nice kits to accomplish the task.

You may be my hero right now. I was just about to gut a Rosewill case like a fish and decided to come back to this thread..They have all manner of goodies, plaus some things I never thought of to do some new things.

 

[satchmodog]

I ordered the tray from Mountain. Once i get the board mounted and get my CoolerMaster V8 set in thereI can see where else this will bring me.

I still need to mount a PSU and a few drives, but that all has to wait until the board mounts. Then the fan placement comes in as well as some lighting. I don't have my psu out of my current machine, so I cannot recall if there's a way to mount it from the bottom. I may have to tap it and drill some holes through the bottom of the case

 

[iCrap]

subbed... i am also in the process of a g5 mod. I've already fitted a mobo tray now i'm in the process of painting it high gloss black.

 

[satchmodog]

Quote:

Originally Posted by iCrap

subbed... i am also in the process of a g5 mod. I've already fitted a mobo tray now i'm in the process of painting it high gloss black.

What are you using for paint? I'm not going to paint the outside, but will do the inside. I'd imagine you'd have to rough up the surface a bit before applying any finish.

 

[iCrap]

Yeah, i did a few coats of primer, sanded that back, rustoleum high gloss black, and polished that.

Here's a pic of the side panel.

 

[satchmodog]

Damn man, that looks like the hood of my XC 90

You answered my other question with the Rustoleum

 

[satchmodog]

It's go time. My package finally arrived from Mountain Mods. Now I just need to decide how I'm going to set this sucker up. The G5 cover that went over the CPUs isn't going to fit over my Cooler master V8 and I don't really want to hide my mobo anyway, but Incorporating some of the G5 guts would be nice. Maybe as a side bank for the hard drive bay?