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MacBane - A worklog/modding guide for a new way to convert G4 Towers to ATX


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Hi everyone, I'm a long time lurker of the forums and thought I would share my latest project.

 

I have had an old "Sawtooth" PowerMac G4 lying around my office/man-cave for a couple of years just being used for website and Flash testing. It is now ten years old as of January and it’s about time to retire it forever as the ancient and completely obsolete guts it has now make it next to useless when compared to the quad core Hackintosh tower that replaced it. I do like this case as it's a classic but its time as a PowerPC based Mac is over. And I am sure that there are a lot of people here who would love to see a way to fit a full sized tower cooler into a G4 case, consider this guide a way to do it. Looking in my parts bin I found more than enough (somewhat) modern components to put this thing together. Please note that this is my first mod, all input is welcomed. :D

 

Motherboard & CPU: Asus P5QL-EM and an Intel Pentium Dual Core E6300.

 

5R9kp.jpg

 

Video Card: BFG GeForce 9800GT 512Mb with AC Accelero 1 Rad.

DiTl8.jpg

 

Memory: 4Gb of OCZ DDR2-1066.

OGFbE.jpg

 

CPU Cooler: OCZ Vendetta 2 that I grabbed for $12

2l5tt.jpg

 

HD: A WD 320Gb SATA with a stock Intel heatsink thermally glued to it (it was part of my old folding box).

SioH7.jpg

 

PSU: An OCZ 400W "Fatality" that I picked up for about $25 last summer.

mgB4D.jpg

 

And finally, a wireless card with a pretty good antenna as this machine will be used all over the place.

olZki.jpg

 

 

Here's what I am starting with:

 

The Victim

The-Victim.jpg

 

Arrrgh ancient PowerPC, AGP and IDE!

Ewwww-PowerPC.jpg

 

Specs

January-2000-this-was-fast.jpg

 

Rear end

Not-much-to-see-here.jpg

 

Not a lot of connectivity here

Not-too-many-options-here.jpg

 

 

The G4’s old motherboard is approximately the same size a Mini-ATX board with four standard spaced expansion slots, the motherboard posts do not line up with ATX standards so they will have to be removed and replaced. The rear panel will have to be altered to accommodate an ATX IO plate, and the optical drive bay will have to go as in its current location will hit the RAM and likely the tower style CPU cooler too when the side of the case is closed using its new M-ATX internals.

 

So let’s tear this thing apart.

 

G3-G4Case.jpg

 

All of the plastic panels covering the steel interior are secured by the acrylic handles and feet using flat hex head socket caps, the whole thing came apart fairly easily and I was surprised by a few things I found. Considering that this thing is a decade old it was interesting to find a wireless antenna running from the motherboard section to both sides of the case, I’ll keep this to see if it can be put to use later in the project.

 

Apple hid a bunch of the system controller chips under the motherboard including a made in Canada system controller using the case itself as a heatsink, and an Intel AGP controller. Though kind of nostalgic all of this old junk has to go.

Teardown.jpg

 

Wireless-antenna.jpg

 

So with the machine stripped of its plastic shell and old PowerPC and IDE components I am left with this:

 

PC-Log--50.jpg

 

PC-Log--57.jpg

 

PC-Log--58.jpg

 

Here's where the big differences between my project and all of the other G3/G4 case mods start.

 

Now I have seen many examples of this type of project before, but to be blunt most G4 case to ATX conversions look like real hack jobs. One of the sources of problems with retrofitting this case for modern ATX components is that every single mod I have come across uses the old PSU mounting bracket that runs the whole length of the case, this greatly restricts the height of the CPU cooler (as seen in the image here from someone else's project) and provides a potential cable routing nightmare as ATX power supplies are not made for this type of case layout as the distance between the PSU and the MB changes between the open and closed positions of the case.

 

So I started with a seemingly easy solution; remove the old optical drive/PSU bracket and relocate the PSU.

 

The most logical position considering what else has to fit in there is to put it somewhere in front of the case and having it exhaust out of the bottom as the old PSU exhaust location will be fully occupied by the CPU tower cooler.

 

Another difference between MacBane and other G4 mods is where the hard drives are located, Apple originally left room for drives to be mounted onto the bottom of the case using some steel plates. I will use a custom aluminum bracket that will hold both the hard drives and the PSU to be located in the front of the case.

 

Now all I have to worry about is clearance for the video card when the case PSU/HD bracket is mounted as the 9800GT with the Accelero S1 cooler needs about 10" to fit from the expansion card slot opening.

 

My next step is to remove the old PSU/Optical drive bracket seen running along the middle of the case. I have a USB DVD-R if I ever need to used optical media down the road:

 

uvlqY.jpg

 

All that is required to remove it is to drill out a few rivets, super easy:

iAxOQ.jpg

 

Looking better already:

tFim1.jpg

 

Now to size up a M-ATX board using a junk board filled with PCI Cards for alignment to get an idea of how much of the back plate has to be edited.

qRJM8.jpg

 

PLHQK.jpg

 

So after a little measuring it looks like the easiest solution is to remove the entire backplate from the red line (drawn in the picture below) over to the right. Of course all of the expansion slots use the same piece of metal as the backplate and had to have a new rivet added to prevent any warping or wandering that might cause the motherboard to be mounted incorrectly later on in the project.

IM72y.jpg

 

This tab has to go too if I want to use my audio jacks:

EuRwq.jpg

 

Rivet location:

ErF2z.jpg

 

yyIUJ.jpg

 

Now for some sparks:

UNJVd.jpg

 

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And the end result of two cuts and a few rivets being drilled out; a nice open IO location ready for a new MB.

EF6Qc.jpg

 

The standard ATX IO plate won't be used, instead I plan to build a custom one out of either Acrylic of Aluminum sometime soon.

 

Next up it's time to figure out where the new motherboard standoffs are going:

aZp9J.jpg

 

Used a Popsicle stick with a dab of paint to mark the holes.

lMqar.jpg

 

Nice and easy to see where to drill now.

3oXvB.jpg

 

I also figured out where I will be making a few edits to door latch mechanism that fits under the motherboard as I have new standoff locations to contend with.

xHgye.jpg

 

Planning out the bracket dimensions using a POS power supply (the magic smoke left it long ago).

bUybo.jpg

 

Time to give this case some real ventilation by ditching the grill on the side 120mm fan and adding another 120 to the bottom of the case.

0KZcM.jpg

 

The old PSU location is getting a face lift too as it will now be home to twin 80mm exhaust fans that will help keep this machine nice and frosty by comparison to the toaster oven it used to be.

pc45e.jpg

 

After a marathon cutting session this thing is ready to breathe easy.

0HoEh.jpg

 

Time to tap the motherboard standoff holes.

fc6Lf.jpg

 

And finally the construction of the HD-PSU bracket starts:

BPmTh.jpg

 

4XxU1.jpg

 

f4ALW.jpg

 

I test fitted it with the dead PSU and I am happy to report it fits perfectly, if it didn't I would be seriously ticked off.

O8Tbw.jpg

 

Rails for two hard drives added

pNePY.jpg

 

I used a pair of ancient 1 and 2Gb drives from the 90's for test fitting, so far looking good and there won't be many cables visible when I am done...awesome :)

jT1j3.jpg

 

Next components:

 

Cheap but decent Acrylic Panels:

 

VD1IE.jpg

 

Clear Polycarbonate 6mm thick and bullet resistant

 

OtzNA.jpg

 

Time to put this stuff to work.

 

As for other plastic components of the case (referring to the outer shell of the machine) I picked up some Krylon Fusion in Gloss Black, Flat Black and Flat White. And for the metal parts some good old Tremclad and some translucent red.

 

eMQDP.jpg

 

As for the case progress I removed the last section of the old IO panel as it will make adding a custom one much easier later in the project.

 

ijLmR.jpg

 

I will be building the motherboard standoffs and modding the latch panel next.

 

Time to get the motherboard standoffs installed, I am using some 6-32 x 3/4 machine screws inserted from the backside of the case into the holes I tapped several steps ago.

 

mIq3q.jpg

 

I am keeping this as simple as possible and used some PVC tubing to make some 8mm non-conductive spacers to keep the motherboard suspended above the door latch.

 

ne5EK.jpg

 

Nice and easy.

 

hx08d.jpg

 

Next up was to mod the sliding door latch that goues under the motherboard using a 3 amp rotary cutter.

 

bpRQc.jpg

 

Two minutes of work later the latch pane now fits with the new motherboard standoffs.

 

JR5vf.jpg

 

I then started to fit the test motherboard onto the new standoffs to make sure everything was aligned properly.

 

btKi7.jpg

 

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Looks secure to me.

 

CWuWk.jpg

 

Now its time to attach the HD-PSU rack to the case, you probably get a pretty good sense of where all of the cables will be going from the shot below.

 

ahnUi.jpg

 

Now comes the fun part to see if I measured everything correctly, the rack is designed to be mounted 25mm above the base of the door, you can see the riser supports below.

 

4gOcJ.jpg

 

One tool I think will be very handy is my laser level, by lining it up with the HD-PSU brackets outermost edge I see that I have a few millimeters of material to remove from the door catches on the front of the case.

 

ClISl.jpg

 

More to follow shortly ;)

 

Any comments or input is welcomed.

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It's smells like a very good mod project !

Interested to see the final product !

 

N.B actually I modding my G4 QS too to fit a full ATX mobo. Its very hard, but the mobo fits good, needs just some adjustments for closing the case well.

Your hard drive cage give me some ideas fo my two HD and SSD, thank you ;)

I'm interested with your paintjob too (I think to paint the plastics in white and the interior in black or metalgun grey)

 

Sorry for my bad English.

Best regards.

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The building of the HD-PSU Rack is done and it is mounted to the case by machine screws. All that's left for the bracket is some sanding and finishing work before I finally get to start the painting and cosmetic side of the mod.

 

GPcy8.jpg

 

I did have time to do a little bit of paint testing, I want to make sure it's going to look good before doing the real deal after all. Below is a bit of the translucent red that is supposed to look like anodizing. It's not fully hardened yet but it looks great on the aluminum.

 

5kjHJ.jpg

 

If people are wondering about the paint colors and cosmetic next steps;

  • The interior of the case will be a flat black with red accents such as the PSU rack
  • The outer sides of the shell will be flat white with the logos painted gloss black
  • The covering for the center of the machine will be a combination of gloss and flat black
  • The handles will be white of the outside and black inside
  • The case will have lighting, I am thinking white.
  • And I plan to reuse the original power switch and LEDs after a bit of soldering of course to work with an ATX board.

 

Now all I need is a bit of sunny dry weather to start painting ;)

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Alright now for an update. All metal parts are complete, metal component fabricating and painting is all wrapped up. :D

 

Before painting started there was one last addition to the project; front mounted USB and e-SATA ports that will be accessed through what used to be the Zip drive opening.

 

Aluminum bracket material, plastic drive cover, and the USB/SATA cables.

 

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Front bracket almost finished, this was made with a drill, a Dremel cutoff wheel, and a small file.

 

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Now here's the bracket mounted in its new home.

 

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All of the PCI Slot covers, CPU Cooler, Ram Cooler and bolt through CPU mounting kit ready for painting.

 

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And the same box of parts now with a shiny coat of transparent red.

 

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Here's the case after its first coat of primer, I used Tremclad primer for galvanized and zinc coated steel as this case has a lot of zinc over the steel and wanted to make sure the paint would stay on forever.

 

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And here's the case after three coats of flat black.

 

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CPU Cooler had it's top plate painted.

 

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And the HD-PSU bracket and some fasteners get a candy red coating (yes I see that drip on there, some sanding is in my near future).

 

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Next step will be modding the motherboard. Below I am starting to enhance the cooling ability of the NB cooler by replacing the bubble gum TIM with some MX-2 and ditching the silly Asus sticker plate. All I have planned for this coming week is to make and add some custom made MOSFET coolers, I'll post pics for sure.

 

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And on a different note my I will be taking next week off of modding (for the most part) as I will be taking my wife and kids down to see a couple of events the Olympics. And no, I didn't get any hockey tickets :censored2:

 

Go Canada!!!

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The flat black and transparent red are a very good combination… Congrats !

 

Your are lucky, I worked my full ATX G4 convertion too, and after a mATX and full ATX work, the case is to damaged, the door not close as well, the screws of the plastic panel are damaged (I cant retire the screws)…

 

All hardware fits great, but I do some mistakes on my work… finaly I think the case is inestetic and dead… :censored2:

 

Now I purchase a full atx p.c case… Like the Fortress FT02S, I think he is so "Mac" but he is very expensive on my opinion…

 

Continue your interesting work ! and one more time, congratulation !

 

P.S I think you can fit a sloat-loading laptop DVD drive in my opinion… Or use that http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2104/225124..._4136f0bfde.jpg , if you paint the plastics like that DVD obviously…

 

Cheers.

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Hey Mariomac, feel free to send a few images of your case as I might be able to suggest fixes for the issues and thanks for the feedback.

 

A lot has changed in the last week; all of the original hardware except for the video and wireless cards have been replaced as I sold the initial hardware to a neighbor who's PC had died.

 

My wife has a rule; no new computers in unless an old one leaves the house first.

 

She qualifies the sale of the components as one leaving and that has partially funded the following upgrades:

 

CPU: Intel Core i7 860

 

CPUI-I870.jpg

 

Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 with a Noctua 140mm NF-P14FLX for a fan

 

cooler-master-hyper-212-plus.4012048.jpg

 

c48164067-ac-8810xf6x0462x0500-m.jpg

 

Motherboard: Gigabyte P55M-UD4

 

mb_productimage_ga-p55m-ud4_big.jpg

 

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Ram: Corsair XMS3 4GB DDR3-1600

 

42529_l.jpg

 

Power Supply: Corsair TX 750w

 

Corsair%20550.jpg

 

Now all I have to do is wait for UPS to arrive :(

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Still not how I think it should be done, but I like it. I didn't do mine the way I think it should be done either though. Guess I'll have to do another one soon.

 

There is no one way to do anything, my main goal was to fit a full sized CPU tower cooler into the case allowing me lots of overclocking headroom. What did you do with your mod?

 

Slight change of Ram choice, the Corsair has been switched to G-Skill ECO DDR3 1600 8GB (2GBx4) CL7-8-7-24 1.35V kit. These will run quite a bit cooler than standard 1.65V DDR3 which is a good thing as I can see that the ram cooler I had originally planned to use will not fit; it will collide with the videocard. In addition to not needing a cooler the same way I'll save around 16w of power consumption at stock speeds and still have lots of overclocking headroom when I need it. Plus being relatively low profile they should fit under the 140mm Noctua fan. Hardware Canucks has a pretty good review here if you are interested.

 

These X 2:

front-2.png

 

Now for some Plastic painting prep work :D

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Hello Photograph, nice upgrade :D

 

For my case the solution is to find a new lock system for the door… I cut the locks of this plastic plate (under the mobo) to fit the full ATX mobo… The door close, but on the sides of the front and on the back don't fit correctly…

 

The srews, I have a barbarian solution, but, first I need new semblable screws…

 

If you interested, I give you some fotos of my mATX convertion :

 

Mobo : http://tinyurl.com/yeh3tmv

 

Backside with custom panel : http://tinyurl.com/ydsfp3w

 

Frontside with home-made PWR button and white LED : http://tinyurl.com/yfsgz52

 

Back with cables, all connect well : http://tinyurl.com/yaacupt

 

And the slim slot-in DVD drive : http://tinyurl.com/ya5z4gv

 

Hardware list : Mobo : DFI Lanparty JR P45-T2RS - CPU : QuadCore Q9550 - 4Gb Ram - 1.5 Tb Hard drive - GPU Geforce 9800GTX+ - SSD Kingston 64 Gb - Bluetooth, fans etc…

This first convertion will be a success…

 

For my full ATX conversion, it's the same harware, just the mobo is now the DFI lanparty dk p45-t2rs plus, If I have the time to do some fotos with my some "problems" I did the pics…

 

My english is catastrofic, sorry.

 

Cheers.

post-350072-1266675294_thumb.jpg

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That case has lots of options to make it better, give me a little time and I am sure I'll come up with a solution or two :)

 

As for my project Plastic work has begun! :D

 

Here are the body panels prior to any work starting.

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Front and rear panels:

4374322776_c640b48ebc_o.jpg

 

Warming up the soldering iron to take the front panel apart.

4374322956_1f53d49f45_o.jpg

 

The Power, Reset and Programming (that's what the third one was) buttons are attached to the face plate by some little posts that I just have to melt the ends off of.

4374323132_68be989bd6_o.jpg

 

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The small Apple logo at the top of the front panel just pops out, I want to keep this in good shape as it will be acting as the light for both power and drive activity (White and Blue LED).

4373568257_70cf186dcb_o.jpg

 

And the last thing to go is a thin sheet of reflective plastic, won't be needing that anymore.

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Now it's time to remove the big Apple logos as painting will be much cleaner, you can also get an idea of how scratched up the panels are. Everything is getting wet sanded with 400grit sandpaper and washed in TSP before painting tomorrow.

 

4374323810_6e339c86fe_o.jpg

 

The logos on the side of the panel are held on with a lot of super strong adhesive and the logos are recessed so it is impossible to get them off without damaging them or the panel from the outer side. However inside there is a small hole that I used a thumb screw to slowly and carefully pop the edge of the logo up.

4374324564_92f42688d6_o.jpg

Door latch, Buttons, logo, and door hinge bar.

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Then I used some rubbing alcohol and a plastic tire lever from a bike tool kit to ease the logo off.

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Tools used and results.

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Next up is making a few edits to the rear panel in order to provide airflow and room for the new IO panel. You can see the light through the area that will be removed to allow the two 80mm exhaust fans to go.

4374324810_9a862005bc_o.jpg

 

This plastic is damn tough stuff, its polycarbonate for sure as it grabbed my cutting bit snapping it off and sending it into my hand.

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Being a lefty it just has to hit me in the finger I use when driving. :wacko:

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Taking a look at the panel from the non-doored side of the case I can see where the old 120mm fan was drawing it air supply from (see dirt below).

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So I made a bunch of hidden vents along the bottom edge of the panel using my Dremel. The blobs of poly have been sanded off like the one vent below.

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So next up I thought I would see how everything looked together as the new PSU was availible.

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It was here where I realized something...

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:D:D :censored2: :censored2: :censored2: :censored2:

 

The TX750 is about an inch longer that what I had designed for and overlaps the hard drives. So looks like I will be solving this little problem while paint is drying tomorrow, I am thinking that short of buying a few 2.5" SSDs I may have to settle for a single drive mount.

 

More to come soon.

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Took a little time out tonight and sketched up the idea I had to fix the little issue caused by the bigger PSU. What I came up with is actually a lot more secure and stable than the original idea, the only question was would it fit?

 

So I made a little scale drawing:

4377391051_fd0a116b0b_o.jpg

 

Even if I am off a few millimeters on the drawing it appears I will have some wiggle room to play with if needed ;)

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And in other news; Painting has begun on the exterior panels, and yes I am keeping it classy :D

 

4379314334_fbcb4d7b9b_o.jpg

 

I have been painting and wet sanding between coats for two days now, the scratches and scuffs on the case are non-existent now.

 

Clear-coat is my next step, more to come.

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Nice colours :wacko:

 

Thanks, it will be a black and white Tuxedo Mac when I am done.

 

Below is the front panel pieced together as it currently looks before the final sanding and clear coat.

 

4380264314_c73c932377_o.jpg

 

The outside of the machine will be while while the core is black :(

 

And one final update for the day, here are the feet and handles of the case painted to match the side panels in matte white.

 

4380312918_05639f2672_o.jpg

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Ah man, great build. I have a mint case I bought off ebay 10 yrs ago waiting for a similar project. It's really a great build up with lots of useful information. It's really too bad that you didn't go for a stock DVD drive implementation, but you do have the external so to each his own.

 

One thing I would change...I noticed you're painting OVER the plastic? There is a technique to dissolve the paint on the interior of the panel. That way you get clear plastic and can paint the inside panels and have that stock looking plastic albeit with a custom paint job.

 

Great work so far, and thanks for taking the time to write it up!

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Ah man, great build. I have a mint case I bought off ebay 10 yrs ago waiting for a similar project. It's really a great build up with lots of useful information. It's really too bad that you didn't go for a stock DVD drive implementation, but you do have the external so to each his own.

 

One thing I would change...I noticed you're painting OVER the plastic? There is a technique to dissolve the paint on the interior of the panel. That way you get clear plastic and can paint the inside panels and have that stock looking plastic albeit with a custom paint job.

 

Great work so far, and thanks for taking the time to write it up!

 

Thanks for comment :( I wanted to paint the back of the panels initially but because the plastic was scratched and scuffed in a lot of areas I had to go the tougher route of painting over the panels. Plastic is not easy stuff to paint properly, wet sanding between coats is a must to get rid of the "orange peel" effect seen on the black front panel above. I am looking at picking up a second case and hoping that it is in better shape for my next project, and on top of that I have a Quicksilver G4 that is currently on loan to my parents that is in mint condition (ie no painting needed).

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Parts have started to arrive! One thing that surprised me was how small the Hyper 212 was, I am used to the TRUE 120 being my go to cooler for builds.

 

4391610743_f8c9752f9d_o.jpg

 

And damn this is a nice little board!

 

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Now all I need is some memory to show up to start testing this thing :D

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They are fun little cases to work on but not without their challenges as I have run into a few interesting snags on the project in the last couple of days that I will share.

 

The first little issue I found was that the Cooler Master 212s backplate is too tall to fit under the motherboard with the door latch panel installed, that and the 212 has been shown not to be able to keep highly overclocked i7s cool at 4.0 Ghz. So after a bit of research as to what would work with my choice of motherboard, cool very well and have a lower profile backplate I ordered a Thermalright Venomous X. Then I started to test the door/cooler clearance with another board using a OCZ Vendetta 2 and was a little worried when the Vendetta got in the way not allowing the door to close. I thought I might be in trouble but it turns out the socket on the 775 board I was testing with is much closer to the top of the door latch (edge of the board) than my socket 1156 board. I remeasured and everything looks OK now...heart attack adverted.

 

And because the socket is closer to the center of the board my revised hard drive rack will have to be revised again as I would likely be forcing the drives to collide with the CPU cooler fan if I went ahead and built.

 

So that little issue led me to the conclusion that I am going to have to build a new rack because I am out of material to properly connect to on the existing rack's HD mounting area. The good news is that the PSU section can be reused on it's own but the HDs need a fresh start and that's what I am building today. I will also be cutting a little more material out of the inside of the case as the PSU rack is just touching the interior of the case enough to prevent closure of the door when the PSU rack is in place.

 

This project is like playing 3D Tetris with pieces of metal and expensive components, it's tough but the end results still look to be worth it.

So I have a little more planning and fabricating to take care of before I can really call the metal work complete.

 

As for painting; It is almost complete, the panels just need a few more coats of clear gloss acrylic lacquer over the black components that should happen tomorrow after I get home (on the road for work right now so no pictures today, sorry).

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I like how this is coming out. I do prefer the stock Apple look, but black and white is very tasteful. Hopefully you wont ruin it with a bunch of cold cathodes or something ;-)

 

Thanks, glad you like the color choices. I am a fan of the stock Apple look myself but this case had a lot of scuffs and scratches all over, so I made the tough choice to sand out the damage and then paint over the panels. I have a Quicksilver that is in mint condition that will be left as is if it gets to become a hackintosh some day.

 

No need to worry as I don't put cathodes in any of my machines, as they are power hungry and can cause PSU failures. There will be a small amount of tasteful case lighting done using red and white LEDs, the goal is to subtly accent the case and components with a little light while not showing the actual light sources. When the case is closed there will be a very slight red glow coming from the underside of the case, and a little from the back of the case via the clear IO panel cover.

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Progress has been made! I have come up with a new fastening method for the PSU that will be a lot more flexible and will actually let the case close easily. I did murder the old HD-PSU rack though, don't worry it's better this way :D

 

Chop Chop

 

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Getting smaller

 

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Now for a fitting test

 

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And with a PSU in place

 

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And voila, it closes :happymac:

 

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The rack will be getting sanded down and given a fresh red paint job, so it will still look good once finished. I know someone is going to ask "how does the PSU attach to the rack now?", so I'll get to it. The PSU will attach to the rack via two straps and the miracle of industrial strength Velcro, it's adjustable, sound damping, and tool free all while being more than strong enough for holding a PSU in place.

 

After a little research I realized that the Cooler Master 212 actually needs just as much room as any LGA1156 cooler with a backplate, that includes the Venomous X that is expected to arrive by the end of the week. So I decided to mod the doors latch panel to accommodate:

 

Chop Chop, with the CM 212 backplate for reference

 

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Testing on the actual case to make sure everything is happy

 

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And now for a little something red

 

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And now all I need is a Venomous X to show up to get this thing mounted and benchmarked ;)

 

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Thanks, glad you like the color choices. I am a fan of the stock Apple look myself but this case had a lot of scuffs and scratches all over, so I made the tough choice to sand out the damage and then paint over the panels. I have a Quicksilver that is in mint condition that will be left as is if it gets to become a hackintosh some day.

 

No need to worry as I don't put cathodes in any of my machines, as they are power hungry and can cause PSU failures. There will be a small amount of tasteful case lighting done using red and white LEDs, the goal is to subtly accent the case and components with a little light while not showing the actual light sources. When the case is closed there will be a very slight red glow coming from the underside of the case, and a little from the back of the case via the clear IO panel cover.

 

If my case was badly scuffed I do admit I would be painting it grey and white or black and white like you. I kept it stock because I wanted to be able to surprise people with it. Take a look.

 

I envision this happening at least once:

Unsuspecting classmate: "Ha Ha, nice crappy old Mac you've got there"

Me: *flips open side of case*

Unsuspecting classmate: "Oh sh**!!"

 

I think the red and white LED's will be a nice touch for a case such as this, the polycarbonate should carry light nicely. If I wasn't such a nite-owl I would probably light up the side panel Apple logos on mine. The raised bottom with lights underneath evokes images of tuner cars in my head. This is sure to look nice. However, the power supply placement is probably the coolest thing I've seen in a long time. Especially now that my Arctic Cooler 64 doesn't fit with such little clearance, PSU relocation almost seems worth ruining the whole goal of my case.

 

I look forward to completion of this case.

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