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

[ѕӎѳѳҭңӌ]

Great guide Dark Light, thanks very much. Ill post a project log here when i get mine done.

[asap18]

i think itll be much easier to use the mac pro case now. I hope they are up on ebay soon.

[INFNITE]

i doubt it will be that much easier because Mac Pro logicboards are still custom designed and custom fitted instead of using generic PC specifications.

[robin chou]

You can find the connection digram of the front panel conectors, light and button in the Apples PowerMac G5 service manual... There was a link posted few pages back.

Ahh I see, which type of connector pins did you use though? Can you find them at a local radioshack for instance? Thanks again.

[CZ*DarkLight]

First, I think it will be HARDER than old-G5 because there are much of improvements and added parts, so disassembling of every part will be long and difficult thing. And that is brand new PC, so I think there will NOT be any case for sell for months. Because, why? For spare parts it is too new and apple started with shipping of mac pro yesterday, so, possibility that mac pro die in home of some customer is 0%.... thats my opinion. And, I love old-style G5, dont want that new one with two optical drive bays etc.

[Swad]

The new hard drive bays look like they could make getting around in there a little more difficult.

Great thread, btw.

[bofors]

I think the Mac Pro case looks better for this too. It looks like it will take a normal PSU and has a decent number of harddrive bays.

While I am likely to mod. a PowerMac G5 case, I think might want to rip the internal drive bay chasis out of an another case and use it here.

[TribesMan]

Dark Light great guide there... thank you!

As for Mac Pro. I tkink it is quite easier to mod it. But there could be a problem with drive bays. I don't know how exactly is it made but it look like that there is an raiser card that those drives connect to. There is no cables... so this could be a problem.

You can look here... http://www.powermax.com/articles_reviews/article.php?id=32

But there is something else what could be much more of a problem. Is there enough space to fit full size ATX mobo in there? because the dual optical units and new PSU eats up mach more space than in the old Powermac. It could happen that the ATX mobos will be to high to fit in...

But we will have to wait and see when first cases will be available on the ebay... I'm first in line

[Conroe Mac]

Wow. I didn't realize people were so talented at computer fabrication.

[robin chou]

A couple of people have asked me how to make the front panel I/O board work. Since my case didn't come with that board I can't say how to make it work, but I can tell you how to make the power button/LED work. The power button/LED is on a 3 wire plug, meaning 2 wires provide power to the LED (a + current and a ground) and the third wire shorts to ground when the button is pressed. So you'll need to connect the following pins from the I/O panel header of your motherboard to the plug in the correct order: PLED+, GND, PWRBTN# (these names came straight out of the ASRock Instruction Manual - they may vary by manufacturer). The only problem is I don't remember what the correct order is so you might have to go through all 6 combinations to find the one that works. Some combinations will yeild strange results (i.e. the LED will be dim or the LED will only come on while the button is held in). If this happens it means it's the wrong combination.

what pins/wires do you need? The female pins of the front panel are rather small.

thanks!

[TribesMan]

robin chou: I modified original cable that connects G5 motherboard and front panel connectors (it came with case) and then cut it in half. After that I just soldered longer cables on and connected them on my motherboard.

The front panel connector is smaller than standard connectors that are found on PC motherboards. And because I could not find the matching female connector I just used the original one.

[ѕӎѳѳҭңӌ]

Great thread, btw.

Cheers Mash!

Wow. I didn't realize people were so talented at computer fabrication.

This is nothing, go and check out some sites like bit-tech or kustompc forums, and they are just a few!

[XSMac]

Hi guys!

Spectacular thread! Keep on it!

I wonder if you can help me. I'm following on your footsteps and installed a new pc into a G5 enclosure. Everything is working smoothly... But I'm not being able to GET USB and FW in the front panel to work. Can you help me on this? Already have the layout for the Apple's Front Panel Connector...




Thanks



Mac OS X Leopard. Introducing Vista 2.0!

Conroe 6400
Asus P5W DH
1GB Corsair 6400
160GB SATAII + 160GB IDE
Asus DL DVD RW
Noiseblocker aircooled + Enermax powered

[bofors]

I'm following on your footsteps and installed a new pc into a G5 enclosure.

With your Asus P5W DH motherboard?

Could you post some pictures, in particular the back of the case?

[ѕӎѳѳҭңӌ]

Conroe 6400
Asus P5W DH
1GB Corsair 6400
160GB SATAII + 160GB IDE
Asus DL DVD RW
Noiseblocker aircooled + Enermax powered

Nice,

As for the front usb and firewire, im not sure. I havent got that far yet. However i do remember reading a few things on the internet about it. Have a google search, and trust me it wasnt on the first page, it took some finding. Shame i lost my bookmarks....

[XSMac]

Nice,

As for the front usb and firewire, im not sure. I havent got that far yet. However i do remember reading a few things on the internet about it. Have a google search, and trust me it wasnt on the first page, it took some finding. Shame i lost my bookmarks....

I've done that but haven't been able to find it... do you know any detail of what you saw that might help?

As to pics I don't have any since I'm somewhat embaraced... I didn't have the guts to cut my G5 case so I'm only using the mobo's LAN port through one of the available holes and I bluetoothed/ wirelessed the most of my peripherals as the keyboard/mouse... also added an additional two usb ports on the back connected to the mobo and my audigy2 - which unfortunately still doesn't work with OSX - provides for sound ports and firewire. I still have one usb and one firewire connection available on the mobo and I'm trying to connect them to the front panel... my first try with the usb and fat cable was a flop... though! Probably will add an additional SPDIF port at the back and also try to mod the MP3in feature also using the front pannel...

[bofors]

I didn't have the guts to cut my G5 case...

That was essentially my question. But I don't blame you, I wouldn't want to cut up a G5 case either. They are too nice and the way I have my computers set up, I see their back sides a lot more than their fronts. I just trying to figure out how best to deal with what seems to be the major issue here.

[ѕӎѳѳҭңӌ]

XSMac, you got any pics of your setup so far? Im having troubles with my motherboard fitment.

[XSMac]

XSMac, you got any pics of your setup so far? Im having troubles with my motherboard fitment.

What do you mean by troubles? I took some pics while I mounted the PC but haven't got the camera with me. When I manage to get it (weekend probably) I'll post some miserable pics to you guys. Meanwhile maybe this worklog might help... most of the work I did on fitting the mobo I adapted from this:

http://www.hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=...age=1&pp=20

Still have some work to do: mod a cable to fit the power exit - my case didn't bring power supply with it; mod the wireless card of the mobo to be able to fit in the antenna and theGod dammed USB & FW front connections...



But it works like a charm already... silent and fast...

[bofors]

I did on fitting the mobo I adapted from this:

Wow, that "work log" is great:



That looks easy for a four PCI slot board (microATX?). But I don't understand how you dealt with using a full size, seven PCI slot, ATX board: