How to fit PC in a G5 PowerMac enclosure :> Options

[nervouschimp]

Im an Idiot I made smoke come out of the fans does that mean they wont work s**t

just follow the pinout.

as I explained, I am using 2 molex connectors to isolate the the 2 currents that the fans require... each fan has 2 +voltage lines (the outer wires on the connectors).

I sent both +12v lines to one molex, and then both +5v to another molex, but you can arrange things however you want, as long as you power the outer lines, and ground the 2 inner lines.

on a standard molex from your power supply, the yellow wire is +12v, and the red is +5v, and the 2 inner wires are grounds.

as far as a photo of the fans and or front panel connected to my mother board.... that is not really going to help you... all mobos are different..... also I have not connected my fans to my motherboard... they are connected directly to the power supply...

what you you need to do is order some parts that will make the front panel wiring easier for you

go to frontx.com and order:

part # CPX502



part # CPX501



part # CPX075-9 amount 6



part # C212 amount 6



this will give you a firewire bundle with standard header, a usb bundle with standard header, and 6 loose wires that you should label and match up the audio and power switch/led headers on your motherboard.

frontx has color coded pinouts for both their firewire jumpers and usb... just print those out and use them to wire up your front panel by comparing it to the pinout I posted already.

easy as pie.... any one can do it....

[teknojunkie]

just follow the pinout.

as I explained, I am using 2 molex connectors to isolate the the 2 currents that the fans require... each fan has 2 +voltage lines (the outer wires on the connectors).

I sent both +12v lines to one molex, and then both +5v to another molex, but you can arrange things however you want, as long as you power the outer lines, and ground the 2 inner lines.

on a standard molex from your power supply, the yellow wire is +12v, and the red is +5v, and the 2 inner wires are grounds.

as far as a photo of the fans and or front panel connected to my mother board.... that is not really going to help you... all mobos are different..... also I have not connected my fans to my motherboard... they are connected directly to the power supply...

what you you need to do is order some parts that will make the front panel wiring easier for you

go to frontx.com and order:

part # CPX502



part # CPX501



part # CPX075-9 amount 6



part # C212 amount 6



this will give you a firewire bundle with standard header, a usb bundle with standard header, and 6 loose wires that you should label and match up the audio and power switch/led headers on your motherboard.

frontx has color coded pinouts for both their firewire jumpers and usb... just print those out and use them to wire up your front panel by comparing it to the pinout I posted already.

easy as pie.... any one can do it....

Thanks you so much I was looking for the wires everywhere and also does it matter if smoke came out and should it still work? thank you your a jean-yess

[CZ*DarkLight]

amantheboy: As I told you - same happened to me when I tried wiring - smoke came from the fan, and even sparks. But when I connected it properly, fan was just normally working. But, of course, smoke should not come from the fan permanently

[zonoskar]

Inspired by some of you in this topic (and others, and the beautiful powermac case), i too bought a G5 case second hand and started to modify it. I see that people have difficulties mounting the mobo to the case. Here's what I did:

With some pliers, I removed the original standoffs from the case. This is very easy, just twist a bit and they will come off. I attached these standoffs to the mobo using the original screws as I was unable to use other screws. These Apple screws seem to be non-metric thread or something. Luckily, there were enough screws that I could use. Then I used a metal epoxy to glue the standoffs to the case.

After the epoxy dried, you're left with the standoffs in perfect position:


Enlarged:


I test-glued one of the standoffs to another aluminium strip to test the strength of the bond. It was pretty strong, but not as strong as the original. So I epoxied a metal washer around the standoff to reinforce it:



Enlarged:


To align the mobo properly, I installed a PCI card and screwed it to the slot when the epoxy was drying.



Since I am using a full length ATX mobo, the case was not big enough. I don't really have use for the PCIe 1x slots, so I was content with not having them connect to a slot in the case. I can also not use the leftmost PCI slot, but who cares.


At least I can use the 2 PCIe 16x slots:)

I also was planning to reuse the powersupply, but after searching the web and not finding a usable pinout, I disassembled the original PSU and grafted one from Coolermaster in the original case.

Here it is with the guts removed:


The insides of the Coolermaster PSU:


Like a glove...


Mounted the 12cm fan in the PSU case like this and made plexiglas (I had that lying around so i used that) guides for the air-intake of the fan:


Then it was time to make some holes for the ATX mobo's rear connections. I didn't want to hack the complete rear of the case, so I made some discrete holes. The one up-top is for the fan-controller, since I didn't want to spoil the front of the case:

Before:


After:


The distance from the case to the mobo was around 20mm, so I used 20x20mm aluminium L-profile to span the gap:


And epoxied it into place:


After it dried, I could assemble the rig.

[nervouschimp]

I had the day off, so I experimented on the rear ports. What I decided on, and what has worked great, was to superglue a sheet of ABS plastic behind the rear port area.



I then used ABS cement to fuse the ABS port housing of the panel mount cables to the ABS sheet on the back of the port area. It hasn't cured fully yet, but I can already lift the G5 chassis off the table by the wires.



And there it is from the rear.... still looks clean....

So far I have only done the USB, but it looks like this method definitely strong enough to stand up to daily abuse.

[teknojunkie]

Inspired by some of you in this topic (and others, and the beautiful powermac case), i too bought a G5 case second hand and started to modify it. I see that people have difficulties mounting the mobo to the case. Here's what I did:

With some pliers, I removed the original standoffs from the case. This is very easy, just twist a bit and they will come off. I attached these standoffs to the mobo using the original screws as I was unable to use other screws. These Apple screws seem to be non-metric thread or something. Luckily, there were enough screws that I could use. Then I used a metal epoxy to glue the standoffs to the case.

After the epoxy dried, you're left with the standoffs in perfect position:


Enlarged:


I test-glued one of the standoffs to another aluminium strip to test the strength of the bond. It was pretty strong, but not as strong as the original. So I epoxied a metal washer around the standoff to reinforce it:



Enlarged:


To align the mobo properly, I installed a PCI card and screwed it to the slot when the epoxy was drying.



Since I am using a full length ATX mobo, the case was not big enough. I don't really have use for the PCIe 1x slots, so I was content with not having them connect to a slot in the case. I can also not use the leftmost PCI slot, but who cares.


At least I can use the 2 PCIe 16x slots:)

I also was planning to reuse the powersupply, but after searching the web and not finding a usable pinout, I disassembled the original PSU and grafted one from Coolermaster in the original case.

Here it is with the guts removed:


The insides of the Coolermaster PSU:


Like a glove...


Mounted the 12cm fan in the PSU case like this and made plexiglas (I had that lying around so i used that) guides for the air-intake of the fan:


Then it was time to make some holes for the ATX mobo's rear connections. I didn't want to hack the complete rear of the case, so I made some discrete holes. The one up-top is for the fan-controller, since I didn't want to spoil the front of the case:

Before:


After:


The distance from the case to the mobo was around 20mm, so I used 20x20mm aluminium L-profile to span the gap:


And epoxied it into place:


After it dried, I could assemble the rig.

Nice so are you gonna use the fan grill or leave it off

[CZ*DarkLight]

My head was hurting me when I tried to solve backpanel... It is not finished after a year yet, I dont want to cut my case in any way so I solved IO ports by other way Anyway, nice mod. Keep going! Seems like a big G5-Macpro-moders exlosion

[nervouschimp]

My head was hurting me when I tried to solve backpanel... It is not finished after a year yet, I dont want to cut my case in any way so I solved IO ports by other way Anyway, nice mod. Keep going! Seems like a big G5-Macpro-moders exlosion

So, is your method similar to mine above? It's really strong. There is no flex or wiggle. I can recommend it. My design is based on a front-mounted ATX board with jumpers running to the back plane and pci-brackets. I just found some toslink couplers, so I've covered all the ports. The modem port will be a second network controller, or apple USB modem, if I decide to really stick to the stock arrangement. Also, I am planning on using the original bluetooth and wifi antennas, if I can.

[HacOSXuser]

wow nervouschimp,thats looks great.
how do you plan to connect the PCI-E/PCI cards though?

[zonoskar]

Nice so are you gonna use the fan grill or leave it off

I did reuse the fan grill. I put 2x 80mm Papst fans on it


The back of the case looks nice with it:


I also put a lot of watercooling stuff in the case:




Runs 10.5.2 now. Now, if only I could get rid of that 3.2 GB memory limit

[HacOSXuser]

are those waterblocks on the ram?

[zonoskar]

Yes, there are waterblocks on the RAM. They tend to get very hot when there's not much airflow in the case. Besides, I had them lying around and selling them would not give me a lot of ROI.

[HacOSXuser]

how much did the ocst you? i have a thermaltake bigwater 735 but im gonna make a new kit. 120x2 rad. swiftec blocks/pumps for the cpu and gpu. and now im looking onto the ram

[teknojunkie]

Almost finish installed mobo just neeed front panel and fans in

[zonoskar]

The RAM blocks are from aqua-computer.de and are 35 euro each. You also have to order some heat transfering pads or use double sided DIMMs.

[nervouschimp]

wow nervouschimp,thats looks great.
how do you plan to connect the PCI-E/PCI cards though?

jumpers like these. I ordered 2 12-inch dvi jumpers for the video card. One benefit if my method is that I can install a dual-slot graphics card, but still have 3 slots left open. I may also end up making some custom pci-brackets for the remaining 3 slots.

[HacOSXuser]

looks nice. you get any more plugs in? your usb ones look cool. i wish i had gone with a plan like that

Almost finish installed mobo just neeed front panel and fans in

any pictures?

[teknojunkie]

Will post once finished

[stellarola]

Alright, so I finally got my case in and have successfully modded it, yay. However, I'm having a slight issue with the white front led. It's being a straight pain in the ass. The led will do either of these things.

The led stays on even after the system is powered down.

or...

When I flip the connector on the mobo, it will stay on when its off, then when the machine is on, the led will be off.


It's kind of driving me nuts, I don't know why it's doing this! AHHHH!!

Any help would be appreciated.

-Stell

OK, guys that is a photo of my custom front cable there based on the official pinout diagram....I finally got around to testing my new cable. i just used the G5 front panel to boot up an old shuttle, and my initial suspicions were just confirmed:1. THE FIREWIRE AND PWR BUTTON ARE SOMEHOW BRIDGED ON THE APPLE FRONT PCB!2. You DO NOT need to run a ground cable for the power button header on your MOBO, it is somehow grounded through the firewire voltage return.3. Pin 1 is FW + voltage, and pin 2 must be used for the FW voltage return (true ground, not chassis ground)4. if you have installed your usb and firewire correctly, then you need only a power+ and a pwrLED cable connected to the front panel header on your atx motherboard in order to power up your machine.5. The PWRLED wire and PWRBTTN are reversed. I connected the LED wire to my power button+ header on the mobo, and my power button to my power LED header on my mother board and then pressed the g5 power button and my machine powered right up... I have revised the diagram I posted earlier. it is updated with my current findings.I have not fully tested the firewire and usb connections yet, so stay tuned for the final word....

[maclust]

unfortunatly i threw the stand offs away is there a place i can by new stand offs