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

[Baudouin]

I dont need the standoffs, I just need some screws that will fit in the standoffs, however thank you. Im located in Iceland and I could not find a screw that fits, and tried many of them! I asked a employee and he didn't know what "screwbox" screws were. Okay, so for the front panel I just connect power led + and power button +? And they are marked MSG+ and PW+ on the image?

Yes but you still have to connect the ground. In the same post 702, nervouschimp said :

"The power button shares the firewire ground. If you have not connected the firewire up right, then the frontpanel wont work as it was intended to. You are not supposed to be using "pow switch -", the power switch ground actually shares the firewire ground. The cable labeled firewire ground needs to be connected to a ground pin on your motherboard. If your board has no firewire header, then running it to a usb ground pin might work."

[Opes]

Okay thank you. Could anyone tell me what cables I should buy from frontx to wire the front panel? Like I said before, I live in Iceland and I don't wanna be ordering many orders for this.

[Baudouin]

If you have an old flat cable like to connect the Ide HDD to the mobo, use this cable by seperating the wires.Like here :

[Opes]

And just solder them on?

[Baudouin]

And just solder them on?

Not exactly, on the front panel side you solder onto the wires and on the mobo side, the easier is to sold onto the original pc wires with plugs .
You can buy this header and the cables from frontx and look for install internal ports manual Or you use separates cables and headers or you use one big header and plug in the cables in the right holes like for USB or Firewire header.

[Opes]

Okay thank you .

[Baudouin]

Okay thank you .

You're welcome Opes.

[dontthroworanges]

After looking through this entire topic I would rather just pay someone for a case that I can just drop parts into and be good to go. Any takers?

[ѕӎѳѳҭңӌ]

After looking through this entire topic I would rather just pay someone for a case that I can just drop parts into and be good to go. Any takers?

lol but thats the fun part....

[schmiede]

To make my Intel G5, I purchased the Mac (fried by the previous owner) complete with all the hardware, and completely gutted it, leaving only the shelf platform at top of the case. To remove the annoying aluminum standoffs, I used a grinder and just knocked them off. I did try the hacksaw approach but found it was too time consuming.

Once I had a clean slate to work with, I used a sabre saw to cut the back off a spare PC case. Note; if you do this find an old PC case that is made from sturdy sheet metal and take all safety precautions.

I now had the back for a standard ATX PC case ready to "graft" into the back of the G5. I trimmed the sheet metal to accomodate the flip handle used to open the case.

Using the motherboard platform from the old PC case and placing it inside the G5 case where I wanted to mount the motherboard, I fitted the ATX back I had cut from the PC to match the motherboard, and from the inside of the G5 case, traced around it with a sharpie marker. Once I had the outline I used the outline to cut out the back of the G5 case leaving enough border to affix the PC sheetmetal back using sheet metal screws through the existing perforations in the back of the G5 case.

Now I was ready to put it together. First using a generous amount of "liquid nails adhesive", I placed the motherboard platform into the case. It worked great! I let the liquid nails cure over night, and I then fitted the PC ATX back to the motherboard platform and the back of the G5 case from the inside.

Once I had it in position, I used self tapping 8 x 1/2 Truss washer lath screws through the existing holes on the outside of the case to affix the ATX back to the G5 case. It worked like a charm. Once the back was affixed, I used the grinder to knock off the sharp screw ends.

I slipped the 915 GAVL motherboard in to make sure everything fit. It fit perfectly.

The next challenge was the power supply. Long story short, I ordered a 430W low profile ATX power supply from New Egg, and shoved it into the narrow space at the top of the case where the hard drive bays had been. I moved it to the back of the case more or less where you would expect a power supply to be, and using the power supply as a template cut a rectangular hole in the back of the case just large enough for the supply. Once again, I left enough G5 case around the hole to be able to mount the power supply. It worked out really well. I was able to use the exsiting perforation in the G5 aluminum case, and the standard holes in the back of the power supply with standard PC screws to firmly mount the power supply to the case.

I did have to cut a rectangular hole in the upper aluminum shelf partitionto allow power, and drive cables to be routed down to the motherboard, but that was an easy modification.

I replaced the G5 front panel hardware with hardware from the old PC (using the original aluminum Mac power button), and ran internal USB 2.0, and Fire Wire extensions to the slots used for the front panel Mac USB and Fire Wire ports.

The installation left plenty of room for drives, so I overdid it and put in five (including the HP DVD DL "superdrive").

The system configuation is as follows:

Drive one: 320MB Kalway OSX Leopard 10.5.2 + VMware Fusion
Drive two: 320MB Win XP Pro
Drive Three:500MB Time Machine
Drive Four: Not yet in use
Drive Five: DVD RW +/- DL (ATA)

Intel 915GAVL motherboard
Intel Northridge Pentium Extreme processor @ 3.8 GHZ (RUNS HOT!)
Coolit Freezone CPU cooling system
Nvidia 8500 GT 512K (with patched kext)
Old Linksys PCI Wireless G adapter (4320)
Generic PCI Fire Wire Card with internal port
Generic PCI USB Card with internal ports
USB bluetooth on internal port

The machine looks and runs great, and will now accomodate any ATX motherboard.

Next Project: Dual quad G5.

Attached File(s)

 ATXG5.jpg ( 79.52K ) Number of downloads: 305
 IntelG5.jpg ( 81.98K ) Number of downloads: 292

 

[ѕӎѳѳҭңӌ]

i know its a little late, but all you need to do is get some pliers and the stand offs come straight out... took me all of ummm 20 seconds. lol then i realised i wanted them in those places... doh!

[schmiede]

I considered that, but didn't want to risk "puckering" the sides of the case. Believe me - the industrial hand grinder made short work of the standoffs. If you have found you can take them off with pliers without deforming the sheet metal - I may give that a try next time.

The real fun was mounting the Coolit Freezone refrigeration system. It's supposed to mount to the rear case fan vent, but the unit is HUGE and I ended up drilling an exhaust grid in the bottom of the case and mounting the Freezone to exhaust out the bottom.

http://www.coolitsystems.com/index.php?opt...=3&Itemid=5

[MrBean]

I considered that, but didn't want to risk "puckering" the sides of the case. Believe me - the industrial hand grinder made short work of the standoffs. If you have found you can take them off with pliers without deforming the sheet metal - I may give that a try next time.

You won't - I used the same method, just grip with pliers, and gently tilt standoffs to the side - they come out fairly easily. Between 30-60 seconds - and it doesn't leave the stubs....

[Powertrip]

Taking the plunge, I have the x86 components from another build and just got a salvaged G5 enclosure that the university trashed...

Now I've searched through PSU modding threads but have not found an answer to this so please don't think I'm just jumping on the silver spooner bandwagon, but how long, or is it even necessary to leave the PSUs to dissipate any charge before opening them up and working on them? I can use a DVOM and have worked with audio wiring harnesses before but power makes me nervous

Thanks in advance!

[Utking]

A couple of hours should do it:)
Anyways, i ordered my G5 case off ebay today, 100$ brand new from ebay, to bad the shipping was 75:p
Now i cant wait until it arrives, wanting to do this for a long time now.

[verdee]

My MB has 10 pin (9 actual connections) usb headers. Do I nedd to use a 10 pin plug and double wire, or can I just use the 5 pin plug listed here?

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....

[iMax 90]

I'm making a Powerhack G5, you can find images HERE. I will upload more fotos when I advance in my project.

Thanks for all the information on this topic.

[teknojunkie]

My MB has 10 pin (9 actual connections) usb headers. Do I nedd to use a 10 pin plug and double wire, or can I just use the 5 pin plug listed here?

yes you can use the 5 pin wire

[ѕӎѳѳҭңӌ]

Baudouin


do you still have those logic board for sale?

Anybody else got hold of some?

[Baudouin]

Yes Smoothy I got them . Shipping to UK will be around 26 euro. You can PM for the buying price .