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Project: G5 Unlocked


nikkokick
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First of all allow me to thank my sponsors a lot!

Thank you for showing interest in my project and deciding to support my work.

 

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Thank you once again! Without you I wouldn't be able to fulfill this project.

Pictures and the usage of the products will be added gradually.

 

 

To-do list:

[ X ] Write an introduction. - 16/1 2012

[ X ] Empty the case of components. - 23/1 2012

[ X ] Put in my own power supply inside of PowerMac G5's power supply "case". 5/02 2012 - Fractal Design parts are being used here.

[ X ] Manage to attach the motherboard. 28/03 2012 - Mountain Mods parts are being used here.

[ X ] Manage to fix the I/O panel at the rear. 5/5 2012.

[ ] Mount everything that is supposed to be in the case.

[X ] Sleeve the Powersupply. -1/5 2012 Djungelapa parts are being used here.

[ X ] Optimize the case to be as quiet as possible - Quiet PC parts are being used here.

[ X ] Do unboxings, reviews and benchmarks of the products I've been sponsored with. - Crucial and Antec parts are being used here.

[ ] Install "Ubuntu" and the theme "Macbuntu".

______________________________________________________________________

 

 

Hi and Welcome to my project!

 

 

In Sweden (where I live) it's mandatory to do a project the last (third) year of High school and I have decided that my project will be to modify a "PowerMac G5" case.

 

The computer is a Macintosh / Apple and is one of the best looking chassis that exists (my personal opinion) and I have therefore decided to use this for my PC.

Apple has a tendency to want to lock up their customers and not allow them to experience freedom and upgradeability in terms of hardware and software. For those of us who are not satisfied with the default, this is a major obstacle.

 

This computer, "PowerMac G5", is extremely limited in terms of replacement of computer parts (especially the motherboard) which means that the computer becomes obsolete fairly quickly and become useless as anything more than an ordinary surfing PC after a couple of years.

 

Why do I choose a case that can not be used for anything other than the case has been made for?

Because the case is so damn beautiful and stylish. The entire chassis shines of quality and feels robust. The "PowerMac G5" is the "Tank of the chassis".

 

A hardware modification will do that I can continue to use this case for my current computer, and my upcoming computers, thanks to the upgrade I will do to it.

 

Pictures of "PowerMac G5":

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My goal with this project is to prove that you can mix the best of both worlds. Apple's stylish and well thought design with the PC-world's upgradeability and performance, which in turn creates a very attractive computer (appearance) that has the ability to be a performance monster.

 

When the case mod is finished, I will run the Linux distribution "Ubuntu" and a theme called "Macbuntu" to get the classic and nice looking OSX-look, while the entire operating system and applications are Open Source / Free!.

The computer will be used for Video / Film production which proves that just because you work with production of various kinds a Macintosh isn't a must.

 

I will not "chit chat" in this projectlog but rather do large updates (instead of many small), where I then also will answer all questions asked :thumb:

 

Hope you find my project interesting and would like to follow it.

 

Best Regards

Nikkop

 

 

UPDATE 01/23 2012

 

 

 

 

 

A week ago I started this log and have had a busy time in school with other work. But now I have come loose from it and had time to do a little bit on the project. Hope you like the pictures here, a full load of them!

 

Here are some pictures I made in "Google SketchUp" to illustrate how the final product should look like:

 

powermacg5right.jpg

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What I started to do today was to remove all components from the case.

I didn't take any pictures removing the easy parts such as motherboard and stuff. It's rather easy and basic, just find the screws holding the motherboard and then take 'em out. Solved!

 

Instead, I took a picture every time I took out a component and then added it to an animation.

 

 

[1] As you can see in the picture I started with removing the side plate, no funny business.

[2] Then there was to remove the plastic cover that sits inside, which besides is a very nice detail, I think, and I intend to keep this part when I'm done with my mod..

[3] Step three entailed removal of the "G5" plate which is very easy as well, just take it out. In addition, I removed the metal piece that sits between the PCI slots and the CPU cooler. It is on this piece of metal where a small speaker did sit once upon a time.

[4] 4th step I removed the motherboard (where even the graphics card sits) and the fans in the back, which consisted of 2 x 92mm fans.

[5] Last but certainly not least (!) I removed the power supply that sits in the bottom of the chassis.

 

The DVD I picked off without any problems. It was stuck in the most ingenious and simple way that I made an animation to demostrate. This solution will definitely be re-used if possible!:

 

 

After I removed the parts I photographed them:

 

Motherboard:

 

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Graphics card:

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Power supply:

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Fan at HDD & exhaust fans:

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Hard Drive Rack:

 

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Very clever solution if I do say so myself. Will definitely be used later.

 

 

On "PowerMac G5", there is a locking mechanism at the rear of the chassis, which ensures that the side plate is in place when the latch is locked. To remove the hard drive rack and some other odds and ends that are up there, you have to remove a piece of metal that sits as the "bottom" to these things. And to remove this plate you need to remove the locking mechanism.

This may be a little tricky if you do not how to do it, but I'll explain!

 

The locking mechanism:

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To remove it you begin by removing the little black bits that are the "locks":

 

 

The piece you see in the picture:

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Removed:

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Remove the lock. Repeat on all three locks:

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Now that the locks are gone, we must remove the lever which moves the locks:

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We'll do it best with the help of an object with a sharp, thin tip, such as a knife:

 

 

Place the knife in the ring and then try to "pop" it up gently.

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So there, now it is removed. PS! Do not lose this! Will be needed later:

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Remove the small bar and take care not to lose anything that comes with it:

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Pull the locking mechanism:

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Now, the plate is removed. It can be a bit sluggish but just summon the beast within you and you'll get it off.

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Now that we have removed the "bottom plate" that was sitting up there we could remove the hard drive rack and the fan, leading to an empty case!

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To be continued!

 

Hopefully I will be able to do a little cutting this week!

 

____________________________________________________________

 

 

 

 

UPDATE 5/02 2012

 

 

 

 

Excuse me for the long wait, I've been a bit busy. But here's an update not featuring over 50 new pictures!

Enjoy!

 

The update will be about how I took the PSU I was sponsored with " Fractal Design Newton R2 1000W [/ B]" and took off the cover and some other stuff, to be able to put it inside the PowerMac G5's PSU enclosure. When done, it won't be visible.

 

Here it comes! Enjoy!

fractaldesign.jpg

 

Fractal Design Newton 1000W R2

SMART MODULAR universal cabling system

HIGH EFFICENCY 80 PLUS certified

SILENT the Virtually inaudible 135mm Fan

 

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Here we have the power supply and cables from the box:

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Modular power supplie, me likey!

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Specifications:

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The rear:

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The fan / Top:

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The cables

  • 4x PCI-Express 8-pin (6 +2) cable, Each 45cm long

  • 2 x SATA cable, 4 connectors, overall 95cm long

  • 1x SATA cable, 4 connectors, overall 80cm long

  • 1x Molex 4-pin cable, 4 connectors, overall 95cm long

  • 1x Molex 4-pin cable, 4 connectors, overall 80cm long

  • 1x Molex 4-pin/Floppy cable, 2 +1 connectors, overall 65cm long
    :

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Fractal Design Newton R2 1000W:

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PowerMac G5 PSU:

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Huge difference in the dimensions?

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As we can clearly see the PowerMac G5 PSU is larger.

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Side by side, however, Fractal Design Newton 1000W R2 is higher:

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________________________

So then we come to the question, How do we get into Fractal Design Newton 1000W R2 when it is higher than the PowerMac G5 PSU? It shouldn't be possible?

Of course it's possible! Newton R2 1000w has the fan inside the enclosure which adds on the height a bit. What if we remove the fan, maybe it would fit then?

Keep reading and see!

________________________

 

We start by opening up the PowerMac G5 PSU to see what is hidden inside.

 

To do this we need, of course, removing several screws. However, they are very easy to find, so just pull out the screwdriver and start unscrewing!

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After a couple of turned up screws, just lift the lid, and woila! Here are the contents:

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As we se at both pictures, it's a very large PCB (printed circuit boards) with a lot of empty space, the power supply could have been made smaller. But there's no particular reason to do that because it is hidden in the computer and not visible.

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Begin by cutting off the ties that hold the cables which connects to the motherboard from the power supply:

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After that, simply unscrew a couple of screws holding the circuit board in place. The PCB also has some kind of glue / tape under it, so just pull a little to loosen it. Here's how it looks without the cover:

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Here is the actual case. As you can see is the left a little tape that has kept the board in place:

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We have now removed the circuit board / power supply out of the veil from the PowerMac G5 and that wasn't too hard. Only a few screws here and there and no need for any kind of modification. But what about the Fractal Design Newton R2 1000W PSU?

In order to assure me that the PSU is working before I start fiddling with I ran a functional test by plugging it in my current system.

Very quiet fan! I can't hear it at all when my system is up and running.

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The power supply works without problems, of course! We'll see how it feels when I start picking it apart a little ;)

 

The first thing to do with power supply, to even do anything at all, is to open up the casing. This is done easily with a screwdriver. Just look for the screws and unscrew them.

 

Warning! To access one of the bolts it is required to remove the sticker that says "WARRANTY VOID IF REMOVED", which means that if the sticker is removed, you have no right to any form of warranty or guarantee claim.

But as I get sponsored with this PSU just to modify, there was nothing to stop me.

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After a few screws loosened it was easy to pick the shell that sat on top.

The fan was also plugged with a pair of rubber housing screws which I removed easily with a flathead screwdriver.

Here's how it was after the top had been removed:

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If we place the power supply in the PowerMac G5 case, we immediately see that it does not fit, as we saw before also when we compared the dimensions:

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How do we make it fit then? Yes, good question with a simple answer. Out with the tools and begin to take off the cover!

But before we do that we need to remove the fan as it is large one and it's in the way when we are going to modify.

 

To remove the fan, you have to pull the plug attached to the bottom of a little screwed circuit.

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Unscrew the screw, lift the circuit and unplug it, easy!

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Here we see the groundwire. Since the shell is one part, and both groundwire is attached to the same cabinet, there won't be any issues removing a part of the cabinet.

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Then we bring the plier and begin to rock. Plug of the power cord and switch positions are fixed in the housing so for now we'll cut a little rough so we'll atleast get it off somehow.

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After we cut a little we pull the little monster out that will help us with the most difficult so far, to cut off the casing where it can not be cut with a plier:

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However, before we kick off the machine we put on a pair of these. Better safe than sorry!:

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And then we saw! Since we cut with pliers in the actual "net" around the plug and now the dremel will be used to get it off.

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There you go!

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After that we sawed off that part we remove the screws that holds the PSU in the bottom cover. Piece of cake, pick up your tool and just unscrew the screws you can see, they are not hidden!

When sawing and unscrewing is complete, it's possible to remove the power supply out of it's housing.

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The underside of the PCB. It had a piece of plastic under it to prevent short circuits which I adore! Will definitely be reused:

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What remains now from having a power supply without casing is permanently bonded to the contact.

The contact was sitting namely, glued in the casing.

Remove the glue with a flat screwdriver and then cut of the rest with a plier.

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That's it! A contact that is free from jail!

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Since I plan to reuse the base of the housing for mounting the power supply, I cut off the "walls" that stand up.

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There, the bottom done!

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We wouldn't want to cut ourselves on the sharp edges, so time to start sanding!

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Here we have the Fractal Design Newton R2 1000w standing in the base of the former case:

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And now what we have been waiting for, will it fit in the PowerMac G5 PSU casing?

As we see in the picture there is room inside, but it was of course before too. It was not the width or length that was the problem before, but it was the height:

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To see if it fits on the height, just gently try to get on the cover of the power supply housing.

 

And guess what, it worked! Not many millimeters between the PSU and the top but it did fit!

The question is how we do with cooling?

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The power supply when it is in place inside the case:

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This plug fits perfectly to the case. I'm lucky that Apple doesn't have their own standard in terms of the size of these contacts! ;)

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This brings us to the 'problem'.

How should we cool the power supply?

Fractal Design Newton 1000W R2've got a 135mm fan that pushes down air on the PSU.

If I don't use this fan the PSU will probably overload of heat and thus get damaged.

 

The power supply is 1000W and my current system draws under 500W at full load.

That is, if a 135mm fan is possible to cool down a fully loaded 1000W PSU, then there is a possibility that smaller fans could cool down a system using less than 500w

 

PowerMacs G5 PSU is cooled by 2x 60mm fans, which is not much in itself. But if you had purchased a pair of 60mm fans for intake and two 60mm fans as exhaust in the PowerMac G5 case, maybe it would be enough to cool?

 

This is a question I will ask Fractal Design techniques. I will ask for the maximum temperature of the power supply and then with infrared heat measurement measure and see if small fans are able to cool of the beast.

 

If I had taken the 135mm fan and sawed a hole in the PowerMac G5 PSU case and mounted it it would have looked like this:

55896142.jpg

Not very nice and I'd like to avoid it. I would rather have kept the power supply housing as it is and instead mounted 4x 60mm fans (2x as intake and exhaust as 2x).

Original PSU has 2x 60mm as intake.

 

16455073.jpg

What do you think readers? Will it be possible to cool with anything less than 135mm fan? As we said 135mm fan cools a full load of 1000W PSU so smaller fans would perhaps manage to cool the power supply if my system is under 500w full load?

 

By the way I tested the power supply in my computer again after modification, and it works! The PSU did survive though it was removed from it's beloved body.

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UPDATE 20/02 2012

 

 

 

 

Hello!

 

Here's a small update!

 

Lets start by saying as I mentioned in the comments I had trouble getting home my motherboard plate from my American sponsor Mountain Mods .

It arrived in my post office without any problem but when I went to get it out I had to pay a custom fee of 270SEK.

 

I was not exactly eager to pay that amount because I was sponsored to a non-profit school work.

 

However, I have fixed this issue! A few emails and a phone call to the Post imports, which in turn contacted the customs for a reconsideration of my case resulted in that I did not pay a penny for my package!

My sponsor had even written on the package that it was a gift for a school project, and because Mountain Mods are not resellers, but producing the product itself, there was no purchase price of the product either.

 

And now when that has been solved I was able to proceed a little with my project!

 

So hope you are hungry for some pictures and text! This will be a small update since no modifications have been made, but only plans which I documented.

 

Apologies for some of the images that does look bad. Took them in the evenings without a tripod and with poor light source, and then I did white balance on it, which in some cases led to a little over-exposed images.

 

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This is how the package looked like when I got it. Nothing beats the feeling when you are about to poen a package you've been waiting for!

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Mountain Mods are wonderful for the package of the shipping with marshmallows for free! Haha, jokes aside, the package was very nicely packed!

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Here's what it looked like after being removed from the carton and marshmallows. Nice and compact to minimize the potential damage that may occur!

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Here we have all the content that came with the motherboard plate!

  • Back where PCI slots and I / O plate to fit.
  • PCI and I / O plate 6x + PCI guard bits.
  • Motherboard plate where the motherboard will sit.
  • 10st motherboard distances with mounting screws for
  • 10st screws to attach all of the plate pieces together.

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What I liked a lot with this motherboard plate from Mountain Mods was that I got all the parts separately and may screw them up yourself. This is a big plus when you want to do what I have done in this update, that is measuring to see what fits where. If we would have done the same with the motherboard plate from Lian Li, we would have had to drill out the rivets and then use the loose parts, and then rivet it all back.

 

Anyway, here's pictures when I measure with the loose motherboard plates on the chassis to see what is to be placed where!

As I mentioned before, I wondered what I should do with the back of the chassis. The basic idea was to place the motherboard plate as it is on the back, but since it does not fit (as we see the next picture), I have to think of a neat way to solve the problem!

 

I'm going to cut off the 120mm fan site from the motherboard plate, and just use my PCI slots and I/O plate so could I re-use the original fan mounting. But since this is not physically possible (since I/O location will cover the fans), I need to move these fan mountings a bit to the left, so that they can fit next to the I/O hole without being covered.

 

As we see in this picture it's 3x images assembled into one.

 

  • Figure 1: Original case as it is from the beginning
  • Figure 2: The case with motherboard plate on the rear.
  • Figure 3: The case with motherboard plate on the rear and a large piece of paper which is equal to the fan sites to be reused. Paper bit is used to demostrate where the fan mountings will be placed and how much space it would take.

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Here is a picture where I have taken the fan mounting (on the inside of the chassis) to measure and see how much space it will take and where it is going to be placed.

As we see it is very tight to fit, and after some inquiries, it seems that I will have to get rid of the PCI slot on the bottom, which means that the first PCI-slot of the motherboard won't be usuable ( since the G5 chassis is opened on the right side, then the motherboard to sit up and down).

 

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Here we have another picture where I show every fan assembly will sit.

As we see, the fan mounting will keep their places in height but will move some to the side.

The bottom of the fan mounting is touching the top of the PSU, which means I can't have it lower than it is.

 

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Here is a picture that demonstrates how the motherboard plate will sit inside the case. Personally I think it is in a good location and looks great!

This is roughly how it will sit, how it will fit exactly will first be seen when I have done the rear of the case.

 

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The first part of this small update was what to do with the rear and what to place where.

 

Part number two is the cooling of the PSU. Original PowerMac G5 power supply is cooled by 2 x 60mm fans.

Since I want to keep the original appearance but I don't want to cut a hole for a fan at the top, which I demonstrated a little further up in this log, I have therefore decided to reuse the fan sites located in the power supply housing.

These fan places are in front of the power supply and these fans will blow horizontally.

 

Firstly, the Fractal Design Newtons R2 is designed to have a fan to blow down on the components.

This fan is also 135mm which is quite large and the and does blow a lot of air. If I instead will go with the fans blowing horizontally there is a risk that some components are not cooled because they do hide behind other components.

To make up for this I thought about going with four 60mm, two on the original fan placings and two fans at the other end of the power supply, which pushes the air out.

Since the power supply has a capacity of 1000w, and my computer does not even draw near it, it might be enough with these fans.

 

So I'm going to try it out for a while by going with four 60mm fans and see if it's enough.

That said, since the PSU is 1000w and my computer draws under 500W the PSU will not even sweat a little bit :)

 

Here we see fan sites in the butt of the casing.

 

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Here are the four 60mm fans that I was supplied with by Fractal Design!

 

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Mounted in the rear, they look like this, and they fit perfectly!

 

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Reminds me of some kind of submarine, lol > :)

 

However I ran into a problem I had foreseen. The two extra fans that I plan to have that will push the air out from the power supply gets a little annoying to mount.

As we see in this picture it looks like they will fit somehow, but if we see it from the side we see that the fan frame sticking up with only a few millimeters.

 

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I have basically two options to choose from in order to have these two fans that blow out the air.

 

Either do I have these fans outside the power supply, which leads to the PSU connector does not fall into the chassis holes for this contact. I'm able to fix this by making some kind of extension, if I decide to place the fans like this.

44726108.jpg

 

Option number two is to have the fans inside the PSU-case, but putting them into an angle to make them fit.

This may influence the cooling capacity of the fans, but I'm then able to have the PSU where it is supposed to be.

 

39635095.jpg

 

So what I select remains to be seen. I will try my way and see what cool best, sounds the least and is most convenient.

I have also thought about removing a bit of the frame from the fan and maybe by doing so be able to fit the fans inside the casing.

However I'm unsure about this and I'll have to do some research on this to see it it's possible or not.

 

 

What do you think about these options? Which would you chose? :)

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hope you find this interesting! Feel free to comment!

Constructive criticism is always welcome and all kinds of opinions and suggestions! I prefer that people ask questions or offer ideas.

 

Take care and stay tuned!

 

Best Regards

Nikko

 

 

Stay tuned!

 

Regards

Nikkop

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Good afternoon!

 

I have now updated my first post with a "To-Do list". Check it out!

I also added a list of what I'm getting from the companies that decided to sponsor me. Check that out as well.

 

 

Looks like a neat project! Keep going. ;)

 

Thanks man! I hope more people are interested in following my project, it would be sweet.

 

Other than that, stay tuned! :)

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  • 2 weeks later...

Hello!

 

Here is an update of over 50 new pictures!, please look below: UPDATE 5/2 2012 - In the first post

 

This update was the modding of "Fractal Design Newton 1000W PSU R2" to fit in the original G5 case. It looks a lot better than just having a loose power supply inside the case.

 

Take your time and read the new update and replywith questions or suggestions!

 

Any form of criticism / opinions are welcome and answered!

 

I also proudly want to announce a new partner named "Mountain Mods."

They will provide me with a motherboard tray and a fan grill.

I first had in mind to have the Lian-Li motherboard plate but unfortunately it only has one 80mm fan which I think is too weak for the exhaust.

Mountain Mods provides me with a motherboard tray with a 120mm exhaust, talk about improvement!

 

Thanks again!

I will take pictures of the tray when I receive it.

 

m01.gif

 

 

Very nice, I was just wondering how you're planning on keeping a nice clean, apple-esque look to the back of the case ?

 

Thank you!

 

I won't. I will be using a motherboard tray I'm being supplied with by Mountain Mods.

 

The back I don't care about keeping it original. I rather have it well made and functioning!

 

 

Please see my update! :)

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Very nice!

 

For the PSU, you may not need a 135mm fan...however, what about the original fans? I noticed that awesome modular design for the cords; why not wire the connection board through the original opening for the power connectors? As I don't own the PSU myself I can't see how it would work exactly, but it might be a good idea...or you could cut the top and fit the connection board flush inside. Let me know what you think. :)

 

My opinion: I think a motherboard tray actually doesn't look bad...just different. Still somewhat Appleish, too. Also, have you thought about making this a Hackintosh as opposed to a Linux box?

 

Again, awesome project. You are doing very, very well. ;)

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Hello!

 

Here is an update of over 50 new pictures!, please look below: UPDATE 5/2 2012 - In the first post

 

This update was the modding of "Fractal Design Newton 1000W PSU R2" to fit in the original G5 case. It looks a lot better than just having a loose power supply inside the case.

 

Take your time and read the new update and replywith questions or suggestions!

 

Any form of criticism / opinions are welcome and answered!

 

I also proudly want to announce a new partner named "Mountain Mods."

They will provide me with a motherboard tray and a fan grill.

I first had in mind to have the Lian-Li motherboard plate but unfortunately it only has one 80mm fan which I think is too weak for the exhaust.

Mountain Mods provides me with a motherboard tray with a 120mm exhaust, talk about improvement

 

 

 

 

Thank you!

 

I won't. I will be using a motherboard tray I'm being supplied with by Mountain Mods.

 

The back I don't care about keeping it original. I rather have it well made and functioning!

 

 

Please see my update! :)

 

Just as an FYI -- the 120mm fan hole in the Mountain Mods backplate is a bit too big to fit sideways across the PowerMac. You'd be much better off getting the dual 80s option.

 

OR, cut out a custom fan hole from the Lian Li so it looks all nice and pretty :P Mine looks like this: http://www.flickr.co.../in/photostream

 

 

My to-do list includes fans, new PSU, and new GPU when the 7XXX series comes out. If only I had a lovely sponsor ....

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Very nice!

 

For the PSU, you may not need a 135mm fan...however, what about the original fans? I noticed that awesome modular design for the cords; why not wire the connection board through the original opening for the power connectors? As I don't own the PSU myself I can't see how it would work exactly, but it might be a good idea...or you could cut the top and fit the connection board flush inside. Let me know what you think. :)

 

My opinion: I think a motherboard tray actually doesn't look bad...just different. Still somewhat Appleish, too. Also, have you thought about making this a Hackintosh as opposed to a Linux box?

 

Again, awesome project. You are doing very, very well. ;)

 

Hi!

 

I don't think the fans from the original casing are strong nor silent enough for my needs :)

 

About the tray I'm thinking about maybe drilling out all the small holes as in the original G5 case, maybe it will look great then ;)

 

 

The reason I'm not going to hackintosh it is because I simply don't like OSX. To be honest I haven't tried it for too long either, but it feels like it's "too simple" for me.

The visual design does look good indeed, but the functions not so much.

Also, breaking EULA (by hacking OSX) isn't anything I'd like to do when I've got sponsors and such :)

 

Thanks once again! Stay tuned ;)

 

Just as an FYI -- the 120mm fan hole in the Mountain Mods backplate is a bit too big to fit sideways across the PowerMac. You'd be much better off getting the dual 80s option.

 

OR, cut out a custom fan hole from the Lian Li so it looks all nice and pretty :P Mine looks like this: http://www.flickr.co.../in/photostream

 

 

My to-do list includes fans, new PSU, and new GPU when the 7XXX series comes out. If only I had a lovely sponsor ....

 

Hi!

 

Are you kidding me about the tray? I thought the 120mm and the dual 80mm's was the very same tray only different in the fan spaces? Are you saying that the 120mm tray is wider than the dual 80mm and therefor too big to fit on the back of the G5? If that's the case I'm a little screwed. But I guess it can be fixed :/

The order is already on it's way so it's too late to change it now :(

 

EDIT: Unfortunately it seemed that you were right about the 120mm tray being too large. The size wasn't mentioned on Mountain Mods website and I thought they were the same size.

Here's a guy comparing them:

 

http://t1.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcTturHwmHjUmdBp0r9wgHgB5dxiFDEcF6_J5xoR_Y-eLzeOsGQW

 

 

I guess I'll have to make some cutting to make it fit. But I have no idea what to do about the fans, the original fan spots will be blocked by the train and the 120mm hole won't fit.

I'm pretty upset about this but I guess I'll have to come to a solution.

 

If you happen to have any ideas about this please don't hesitate to tell me! :)

 

The 7970/7950 are already out! What are you waiting for? ;)

Contact companies and talk to them if you wish to be sponsored. You have to put your soul into it.

 

Regards

Nikkokick

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Well, I'll be posting all the 'workings' of my mod when the perspex fan grill is ready, but I started out with the Lian Li 80mm hole and used a weird pair of curved metal scissors to cut it out to vaguely 90mm. It was then sanded 'out' further to fit the original PowerMac fan grill. Semi custom backplate

 

At the moment, I've only got a 450W PSU with 32Amps on the 12V rail, so I can't really shove a 7970 / 7950 in, nor can I afford them ;)

I'll probably end up getting a 7870

 

You might (will) have to fabricate a new back panel if you go down the 120mm route, but I'd recommend just asking them really nicely to have the dual 80s option.

 

What happened to Antec ? Aren't they sending you out the 920 any more ?

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Well, I'll be posting all the 'workings' of my mod when the perspex fan grill is ready, but I started out with the Lian Li 80mm hole and used a weird pair of curved metal scissors to cut it out to vaguely 90mm. It was then sanded 'out' further to fit the original PowerMac fan grill. http://www.flickr.co.../in/photostream

 

At the moment, I've only got a 450W PSU with 32Amps on the 12V rail, so I can't really shove a 7970 / 7950 in, nor can I afford them ;)

I'll probably end up getting a 7870

 

You might (will) have to fabricate a new back panel if you go down the 120mm route, but I'd recommend just asking them really nicely to have the dual 80s option.

 

What happened to Antec ? Aren't they sending you out the 920 any more ?

 

Your results sure do look nice but I want either two 92mm or one 120mm, I'll get my motherboard tray at the start of next week so hopefully I'll be able to decide then :)

 

 

About Antec.

We had continuous e-mail contact for a while, and they even promised me to ship a 920 Kuhler when it was in stock, and that was a couple of days before Christmas.

However, after New Year I haven't heard from them at all. It has been a whole month since I contacted them after New Year and they still haven't replied, even tho I've sent them e-mails recently asking what's going on no one replied, I even had contact with two different persons.

Very very very unprofessional acting from Antec in my opinion and therefor I'm no longer interested in having a collaboration with them. It would be one thing if they would say to me that they no longer have the possibility to support me with their products, then I would be fine, but when they're not even answering my e-mails for over a month, that's unprofessional from a company that big.

 

So I have instead contacted other companies who are interested in having a collaboration with me, and I'm going to present them as soon as we have discussed and come to a conclusion :)

 

Until then, best regards.

Nikkokick

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Also!

 

You might wonder why I don't update to frequently.

This project is a school project which is supposed to last until/be finished at the end of May. Due to that I've decided to not too often, but rather do it once a week more or less.

 

However, I was supposed to do an update yesterday/today but I encountered a problem.

I was going to pick up the package from Mountain Mods when the courier/customs wanted to charge me for 270 SEK. That is, approximately 50% of the value of motherboard tray + the shipping.

This makes no sense and I refused to pay it, instead I'm now having contact with the courier and the customs.

 

Customs tend to be 25%, which would be fine I guess (even tho I'd like to avoid it) but now it's around 50%.

 

Also! I've got 4x 60mm fans from Fractal Design to be used for the PSU. This update will come shortly, I'm in need to fix some things first >: )

 

Best Regards

Nikkokick

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Wish the UK operated this project scheme.

 

Shame about the Antec 920, I've heard good things about them.

 

As for customs - that's a real annoyance ! I opted for the Lian over the Mountain Mods simply because they were so unhelpful over the shipping -- I wondered how much it would cost to post one to the UK and they replied almost a week later with a generic response, clearly not realising I was from the UK. Good luck dealing with your courier!

 

Also, does anyone have any tips on cleaning the powermac aluminium ? The people I bought it from were smokers and there's a weird slightly yellow residue on the side which won't come off :/

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I have now updated my project!

Please search (CTRL+F on Windows) for UPDATE 20/02.

You'll then be directed to where my newest update starts.

 

Thanks

 

 

Wish the UK operated this project scheme.

 

Shame about the Antec 920, I've heard good things about them.

 

As for customs - that's a real annoyance ! I opted for the Lian over the Mountain Mods simply because they were so unhelpful over the shipping -- I wondered how much it would cost to post one to the UK and they replied almost a week later with a generic response, clearly not realising I was from the UK. Good luck dealing with your courier!

 

Also, does anyone have any tips on cleaning the powermac aluminium ? The people I bought it from were smokers and there's a weird slightly yellow residue on the side which won't come off :/

 

Hehe well too bad you don't have it, it's a really nice thing to have!

 

I managed to not pay a cent for the customs! Read through my update and you'll see how I managed to do so!

 

About cleaning I have no idea! Try some polish for bathrooms or something like that, might work! :o

 

Best Regards

Nikkokick

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Looks nice so far. I have one question though - what do you plan on using for the HDD cage? I can't for the life of me seem to find any HDD cage with 5x or more bays that will sit with the disks' io facing towards the case opening. Any suggestions would be awesome.

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Many modders simply use the cage that came in the PowerMac, unless you're one of those people with a zillion hard drives. Look up the DaveVegas PowerMac G5 mod here and he did it.

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Many modders simply use the cage that came in the PowerMac, unless you're one of those people with a zillion hard drives. Look up the DaveVegas PowerMac G5 mod here and he did it.

 

I've got 4 HDDs so that won't work. Might have to go with a really cheap case and rip out its guts :).

I did find this, however: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16816111045

Seems to be what I'd like, mostly.

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It might be a little cumbersome. I would just get a cheap case (there are some on eBay I think for like $15) and rip out the guts. ;)

 

I'm also thinking that if your PSU draws less than 500W, you might not even need the other two. If you really want them, though, i would mount them inside the PSU.

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I've got 4 HDDs so that won't work. Might have to go with a really cheap case and rip out its guts :).

I did find this, however: http://www.newegg.co...N82E16816111045

Seems to be what I'd like, mostly.

 

I've been looking at that for awhile now, too. But I really want to be able to put the fans on the side to combo as my front intake.

 

I've been thinking of using this, too.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811999141

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I've been looking at that for awhile now, too. But I really want to be able to put the fans on the side to combo as my front intake.

 

I've been thinking of using this, too.

http://www.newegg.co...N82E16811999141

 

Here's another I'm thinking of - seems like it would work well.

http://www.frozencpu.com/products/12744/cpa-574/XSPC_H2_HDD_Cage_-_Anodized_Black.html

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Here's another I'm thinking of - seems like it would work well.

http://www.frozencpu...ized_Black.html

 

So I ended up ordering this HDD caddy:

http://www.newegg.co...N82E16816111045

 

I removed the rear fan and bought a quieter one and mounted that one on the side. I'll post it on my thread later tonight ('round 2AM PST)

 

http://www.insanelymac.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=276564

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  • 4 weeks later...

UPDATE 28/3

 

 

Hi everyone!

 

Sorry for the long wait! Different reasons for me not being able to update until now, some of them you can read about in this update!

 

I also welcome my new sponsors! Antec (I have now received their package), Quiet PC and Djungelapa.se!

You can read about these new sponsors in the first post of this thread! I have updated that post.

 

antec_logo_300_15.jpg

http://www.antec.com/Believe_it/

 

qpclogo-se.gif

http://www.quietpc.com/

 

logo.jpg

http://www.djungelapa.se/

 

Enjoy the latest update!

 

 

This update will be about how I solved the "problem" with getting the motherboard in place as the PowerMac G5 has a different standard on how the distances are set. Also, I'm updating with new partners!

Please check at the top of the page for partners / sponsors.

I welcome Antec (now that I have received the product), Quiet PC and Djungelapa as my new partners.

 

Originally I was going to use my motherboard plate I got from Mountain Mods. With this motherboard plate, I would cut the back of the case to replace the PCI slots and the I/O. Unfortunately, I discovered while the package was already on it's way to Swedent that the 120mm plate is too wide to fit on the back of the PowerMac G5. I immediately realized that this would be a decent obstacle but I knew I could tackle it in some way.

With that said, if you are going to order a motherboard plate from Mountain Mods order the plate with 2 x 80mm fan instead! This plate fits easily in the back, it's only the 120mm version that is too wide.

Other than that, Mountain Mods do have outstanding customer support. Replies quick and they do offer friendly service, exactly what you expect and want from a online-store! In addition to radiate their motherboard plate quality at a high level and to have the opportunity to screw together and apart for yourself how you want is a huge plus in the edge. The beautiful finish on the plate fits in with everything and looks to belong in the case originally, just because it fits so good, both geometrically and with the looks.

 

84282138.jpg

 

I had been able to solve the problem (that the PCI plate was too wide) by not using the plate at all, but instead use only the plate motherboard would sit on that basis in the chassis, and then let the whole back to stay original and unmodified. It looks better because it will remain as the original, but the downside is that only 4x PCI slots will be available.

 

However, if I would have done so had nothing would fit in the PCI-slots, because as you probably can see the plate is approx 1cm wider than it should be, if I want to use any PCI-slots.

94055361.jpg

 

This can be tackled in two ways. I could cut the plate to the part of the plate that stands out and thus get the plate PCI-holes and the case PCI hole to lie in the same place, or I could move the motherboard approx 1cm so that it just ends up outside so that the motherboard tray and the case PCI-slots line up.

I chose to move the motherboard sideways to make it fit.

 

Here we can see when I've moved the motherboard and I measuring where the new spaces will sit.

65553385.jpg

 

Approximately 1cm to the side and a few millimeters down.

65626514.jpg

 

Out with the drill and lets drill! Drilling holes where I put markers and spacers to fit.

99884639.jpg

 

Here we see a non-screwed down spacer in its new hole, looking good!

66722494.jpg

 

Did the same for the remaining eight holes. Here we see all the spacers in their new holes. They were a little tough to get down but now they are sitting there! :)

77622980.jpg

 

The modified motherboard plate positioned in the case for a test of how it will look like. Now you should understand what I meant when I said that you had to move the motherboard about 1 cm to enable the usage of PCI ports :)

11680219.jpg

 

How would I attach the motherboard plate in the case? It must surely be attached good if it is to keep holding all components 24/7 when there is a motherboard, video card, coolers, etc.

 

Motherboard plate has the screw holes where the plate with the PCI ports must be bolted, but since I would not use the PCI plate these holes where empty and available for me. I thought I could get myself a pair of 6-32 screws (standard computer screws that even the hole is)with a lenght of 3cm stuck in. This had meant that I had to drill holes in back of the case and then put them threw, the current holes in the mesh are too small.

I found out pretty quickly that there was no further idea as it had destroyed the back a little if you had 4pcs screw heads that appeared.

I came up with another solution.

 

Motherboard plate that the motherboard is on I've drilled new spacers to, which means that the original holes are empty.

93378249.jpg

 

The brilliant idea struck me to take a pair of spacers, but to attach the in original holes but to the back of the plate! In this way, this had become like little "legs" which you then could glue it to the case. 9pcs small "legs" should hold up the plate, especially if you pull on with an extra strong glue.

I was lucky that the distances were just as long as the edge of the motherboard plate, ie the motherboard plate had not been raised further by the new "legs", but only got a better grip! Wonderful!

49380602.jpg

89404238.jpg

 

I thought I had finally come to my final solution, and thus was ready to attach the spacers / legs. I measured several times and I never got it directly straight, at certain points on the plate, it was unbalanced, some "legs" where touching the case while others were floating.. It turned out that it was the chassis bottom that was not plain sailing. This disturbed me tremendously and since I am careful to do the very best of this project I didn't attach the motherboard tray this way. I would rather take more time on me and get it exactly as I want!

 

 

As a result, I decided to dump the idea that I have been doing for 4 weeks planning, measuring and testing. Now I just had to start from scratch with the planning of how I should attach the motherboard.

 

Here I stopped using Mountain Mods motherboard tray because of the above reasons. But they are obviously still my partners and I thank them very much for that!

Remember! Buy their motherboard plate with 2x 80mm fans so it will fit perfectly!

m01.gif

 

 

Since I still wanted to keep the original look of my chassis so I went all that way. I decided to take the original spacers were the PowerMac G5 motherboard had been and move them to new places, so it would be a normal ATX standard.

68040318.jpg

 

So I started to take these spacers off from the bottom of the chassis with a pair of pliers, came off fairly easily.

13614764.jpg

20269682.jpg

 

I measured out where the motherboard would sit with the video card installed. When I found the place where it should be so I took out a pen and marked where the spacers were to be attached.

51913206.jpg

 

Filled in with a green pen to clarify.

56280894.jpg

 

How should I mount these spacers? Well, I glue them with some strong glue! However, we all know that the glue does not stick very well on smooth surfaces but adheres better on rough and uneven.

It was just pulling out a screwdriver and start to scratch the metal!

99932124.jpg

 

The first time I scratched metal without feeling bad about it: P Now the spacers should be able to attach properly.

60379490.jpg

 

I purchased myself a brand UHU glue. I was in love with this glue at first smell. The hardener was a smell of something wonderful, but I could not figure out what. After an hour, then I came to mind the smell of gingerbread, and I was convinced of this. However, a number of days after that I smelled on the curing agent again, and came up with the smell of "degestivekex"! So wonderfully good crackers, especially with butter and cheese :) (The crackers are from Sweden).

In addition, the glue should be able to hold up to 300kg/cm2, okay, I thought! If it dries at room temperature it will "only" be able to hold 120kg/cm2, still pretty overkill for just attaching a motherboard. Each spacer is a little less than 1cm in diameter, so it'll hold it with no problems.

37560817.jpg

 

I mixed up the two different parts of the glue and since I had bought the version of the glue that is long-hardening (12 hours) so I did not feel any stress to smear on it.

I smeared the glue on all 9pcs distances while the motherboard was upside down and distances pointing upward.

23431863.jpg

62506533.jpg

28592454.jpg

 

How would I get motherboard spacers to stay in place and allow the adhesive to cure? I could not just place the motherboard into the chassis and leave it because all 9pcs spacers did not touch the chassis at the same time, some hovered 2mm above the bottom of the case while others came in contact.

One option was to take the motherboard with the spacers attached, then put it in the case with glue and finally put a lot of weights (in the form of tools, flour bag, candle holders, etc.) to drive down the spacers against the case so that they would sit.

Since the motherboard is borrowed from my friend I did not want to do this, and that if I had done in that way I could accidentally move the motherboard out of position when I put on all weights.

 

How did I do this without using me of weights as described above?

 

I took the motherboard with spacers screwed and glue to the bottom of them and placed the motherboard in the chassis where I wanted it. But then we are back to the problem, some distances are floating in the air and others are making contact.

36940458.jpg

 

 

This was where you had to grab the surgeon hands and be careful!

 

I did so I gently gently unscrewed the screws that were in the spacers and did not touch the motherboard at all. This meant that the motherboard was resting on the spacers, but without that they were screwed. Since the spacers had glue underneath so they are less sensitive to being disturbed out of position than if they had not had glue which resulted in that I could do in this way.

As we see in the pictures the spacers are in position even after I removed the screws!

62231855.jpg

 

I lifted the motherboard very very gently and assured me that I wasn't touching anything that could get spacers to move. I did this, and leaving only the distances of glue underneath. Since the distances are now not set screwed to the motherboard so there was no "floating" in the air, but all had contact with the case!

Wonderful! Problems solved:

63250763.jpg

 

 

The next day I looked to the case that had been left to dry over the night.

I put back the motherboard with some of the spacers screwed just to see if they were still good, and yes! All distances set as they were, no had moved, they had all been kind and not moved from the spot :)

68989743.jpg

 

Now I could finally see how the motherboard sits when the chassis is up! Looks good, I think, nice and easy.

17042096.jpg

 

Here we see the power supply in place with the motherboard. Handsome worse I think! 8pin cable is perfect, is barely visible.

24pin cable is slightly longer, resulting in that it can be seen more. However, this will be remedied by I hide it in some handsome manner, or that I just shorten it by shortening all 24 cords. We shall see later on!

44484910.jpg

 

And here we have the video card in place. PCI cables are a little in the way and not very discreet, but this will obviously be fixed so they are seen as little as possible and will be neatly placed there! :)

95572387.jpg

 

The back of the chassis in the PCI slots. The graphics card sits perfect!.

53590546.jpg

 

Here we see the I / O in the back. Here, using Apple own standard, resulting in a modding required. How do I go about this is still planned, but it is inclined to cut a large hole and make the edges neat. Although it is not completely original then, but it becomes practical. Can not always have it both stylish and practical, sometimes you have to choose one of the things.

But there might be a chance I'll connect the ports to the motherboard in some way, gotta do some planning!

32469504.jpg

 

Hope you find this interesting!

 

More to come,

Best Regards

Nikkop

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I just started A G5 Mod as well. But I won't cut of the back of the case. I hate that. I love your project though. Really nice pictures. But I will put my motherboard more to the left and use extension cables to put them right the the original G5 input place. So I will keep it Vanilla looking. But because I need more Audio ports I got myself an old Soundcard. Cutted of the aluminium and putted it in an empty bay on the G5 and used extension audio cables to add them right to place. I will post pictures later.

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I just started A G5 Mod as well. But I won't cut of the back of the case. I hate that. I love your project though. Really nice pictures. But I will put my motherboard more to the left and use extension cables to put them right the the original G5 input place. So I will keep it Vanilla looking. But because I need more Audio ports I got myself an old Soundcard. Cutted of the aluminium and putted it in an empty bay on the G5 and used extension audio cables to add them right to place. I will post pictures later.

 

Thanks mate.

 

I'm also trying to avoid cutting the back now after not using the motherboard tray from Mountain Mods.

 

Yea your idea is also a solution, however I did not do that because I wanted mine to have a standard and to fit like it should and not use extension cables. However, it's a good solution if you chose to go that way :) I have seen a couple do that with their G5's so you should see if you find any of them to see how they did theirs, in case you would need some help on your way!

 

/nikkokick

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  • 2 weeks later...

UPDATE 17/4 2012

 

Hello!

 

Here's a small update in before the next update. I have some time ago received my package from Djungelapa, which consisted of the following parts:

logo.jpg

 

Lets start by saying that Djungelapa / Stefan (owner) has a fairly wide range of sleeve of different varieties and sizes, and any other peripherals that may be needed such as shrink tubing, etc. Other stuff that pin connectors, contacts, crimp tools, tools to get the pins out etc. Very nice support and he's more than happy to help with questions.

 

Here is how the package looked like when I got it. The package was small enough to get delivered directly to my mailbox which was very impressive! A big plus for it so you do not wait a whole day to get the paper to pick the package up.

40442388.jpg

 

Here begins the "unboxing" of the goods and the package I received. Exciting! :)

 

Looks like a noose ;) Haha, tried to make the picture a bit "spooky"

50m Paracord sleeve NARROW - Solid White

62351844.jpg

 

Shrink tubing to be used!

5m Black Heat Shrink

39907413.jpg

 

Black Sleeved and shrink tubing for my self-made cable that will be made.

 

48109402.jpg

 

The tool that you can get all the pins out of the contacts.

Tools to 6, 8, 24pins connectors

29586232.jpg

 

The small tools that will help us take out the molex pins! Very small and simple but they do their job perfectly!

"El Cheapo" - 2pcs Molexverktyg

 

 

 

These are the products I've been supplied with from Djungelapa and now remains work in the form of SLEEVING! :)

 

The pictures that will come is a bit of "on the fly" some quick pictures I took with my girlfriend's iPhone while I was trying it out. I did this because I did not want to wait any longer with an update even tho I'm not really finished with this part of the project - the sleeving.

So it will come more and more detailed pictures in the next update when I've sleeved it all, but so far it only gets as I said, "on the fly" pictures taken a little quickly.

 

Here I start by sleeving cables from Fractal Design within their power supplie Fractal Design Newton R2 1000w.

 

This is the PCI cable that consists of a total of 8 wires inside but is tucked into a big plastic sleeve.

19010116.jpg

 

I used a knife to cut the shrink tube and the small cable tie that hide underneath that keeps the cables together.

99512415.jpg

 

Here I use scissors to cut the current cable sleeve. The type of sleeve I will use are "Paracord", a kind of fabric used for parachutes and the military for its strength.

When we cut sleeve we see how the cables look like naked.

21565393.jpg

 

When the cables are "naked" and all the old sleeve is removed, so it's time to make use of the tool that lets take out the pins from the contacts so that the cable is removable from the connector.

50872041.jpg

 

Here we see how to use the tool. You should insert the tool so it's tips are being placed outside of the square pin.

Push the tool until it stops, however care that you don't press in with violence, it should be fairly painless and easy.

When you are sure that the tool is secured and in position you should be pulling the cable. If you can not you can wiggle back and forth. Also, cables may need some force to get out sometimes.

99961483.jpg

 

The first picture here is the same as the last one on the last picture but it is for me to demostrera how it works.

When I managed to pull out the cable (may take a while), it looks like this.

96982676.jpg

 

If we do so on both sides of the connector, we get the cable altogether and can separate it from the others. Do not forget where you took it from! :) Will be good to know where to put it back haha.

11991960.jpg

 

Now we bring up the sleeve we will make use of. Measure how much you need to cover the cable.

86674372.jpg

 

When you have measured the length you need, it's time to cut the sleeve-piece from the remaining sleeve-lengths.

As we see it Paracord consists of 2 "fabrics", a cover (sleeve to use) and "guts" (which is discarded). In order to not allow "cover" to fray at the edges you have cut will take you quickly and easily with a lighter and melt a little easily. This will stop the sleeve from fraying.

Once that's done you can pull out the "guts".

88786836.jpg

 

Now the sleeve and cable are both ready. To stop the pin from tearing up the sleeve (which is easy because the pin is made of metal) I would recommend putting a bit of tape around it.

52665548.jpg

 

When completed, simply start pushing the cable into the sleeve and start pushing it out. This is pretty simple, just press and follow it and finally it comes out the other side :)

When it comes out we will take the tape off. Here I got a tip from a guy that if you wanted you could use a lighter to make the edge of the sleeve melt and attach to the cable. Then you can skip having a heat shrink at all. But it is up to each one if you want a heat-shrink tubing or not :)

35962870.jpg

 

Here I cut off a piece of shrink tubing that I have measured up. I've done a number of markers in an ordinary piece of paper which means that if I follow the markings and cut my shrink tubing so it becomes 1cm long.

I then put the shrink tube about where it should sit. It may look weird but it is for display purposes now :)

83922794.jpg

 

We take the lighter again to now get the shrink tubing to shrink, hence the name! When it is heated by the flame underneath it starts to shrink and tighten, which means that it will "hug" the sleeve and the cable. If done right it should have the sleeve and shrink tube to be stuck on the wire. One suggestion is also that while the shrink tube is still a bit warm is to insert the cable into the connector, this makes it easier than doing it when it has set and is cold.

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Here we can see when I replaced the cord with sleeve on!

And we also see how it looks when almost all the wires are sleeved. What is not sleeved is the extra 2pin cord. This will be sleeved however, obviously.

 

And yes the sleeve is far from perfect :D That said, this was just a quick way to try it out! Will hone everything when the rest of the sleeve is done. Waiting for the new pins from Djungelapa so I can cut my PSU cables and shorten them! :)

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My girlfriend also thought it looked interesting, so she wanted to try it out.

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A woman with fire in hand, watch out! Jokes aside, her shrink was really good, even better than mine, lol.

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I went on to sleeve the cable from Fractal Design Silent 92mm fan which will fit the exhaust in the rear of the chassis.

Here we see a fan whose cable is sleeved and the other black is the original cable.

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Here we see them again. The fan on the left is the original and fan on the right is the one I have sleeved.

It was pretty tough to get through all three cables into a single sleeve.

The results, I was quite pleased!

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So here we had a small update that was "on the fly." The next update will probably be when I've sleeved all the cables and can thus show how the final will look like inside the case. White sleeve in this case will probably be so hot, I can imagine, and I look forward to seeing the end result. My girlfriend has gone to Australia now for three months, so now I have all the time in the world (almost) working with school work, including this project. There remains a lot to do but as I said we'll have more time now to work with :)

 

Until next time, take care mates!

Enjoy and don't hesitate to ask questions or write something!

 

Best Regards

Nikkop

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