9 replies to this topic

[ResX]

I first fell in love with the design of the PowerMac G4 in 1999. 11 years later I still love it, and I've always wanted one. So I grabbed a partial G4 off eBay (everything but the logic board, psu, and hard drives) and built what I think turned out to be a decent hackintosh case.

For starters, I reused all my old hardware:

Gigabyte GA-MA78GM-S2H Rev 1.1 motherboard
AMD Athlon X2 4400+ socket AM2
Thermaltake 430 watt powersupply
XFX 9600 GSO 768 MB (really just an 8800GT with 192bit memory)
1x 160 GB sata wd hard drive
2x 80 GB ide wd/seagate hard drives

My old case was originally a gateway case that had its logos removed and was painted white and black to cover up the beige, and since noone really ever saw it, it didn't matter. However, since I would eventually be going off to college I thought now was a good time to look for something less embarrassing to have sitting in a dorm. The goal was to keep it as stock-looking as possible. The G4 has proven to be a very attractive case and everyone who has seen it, loves it.

Front Panel, with LED, Power Button, and Reset Buttons wired using original Apple hardware


Front Quarter


Rear Quarter


Rear Panel, kinda messy and needs an I/O plate (something I'll do next time I have to remove the mobo, as its a PITA to do)


Side Door


Motherboard


Internals


More Internals


IDE Hard Drives


Bottom Intake Fan, the only hole I ended up cutting into the case (besides the rear panel)



Front Bay Exposed


Bad Image of LED (its brighter than it looks, but still not as bright as stock)


I had originally planned on making a tutorial, but considering I ended up blowing through this whole thing in a little under 10 hours, I didn't feel like a full step-by-step set of photos was needed with all the resources already out there. Besides other peoples postings here on InsanelyMac, I got alot of answers from here, and used the same motherboard mounting method as him.

My advice for anyone looking to do this: buy as complete a case as you can (mine came with all the wiring for the front panel and even a wifi antenna), watch your eyes and fingers (I used goggles and gloves for all the dremeling and cutting but still got a few minor cuts had sore fingers for a few days after), and research as much as your can before you lay out a plan (figure out your goals, and create steps to reach them). I used only a power drill with a few small bits (for drilling out rivets), a hacksaw (for the drive cage), and a dremel (for the I/O plate).

What's completed:
Motherboard fitted
Front panel works (kept stock)
PSU fitted (original mounting holes)
PCI slots fitted perfectly
Hard drives fitted (IDE drives stacked using strapping tape, sata fits in zip drive tray)
Front speaker connected to motherboard for POST beep/high cpu temp warning (small Apple speaker is quieter than old case speaker)
Ventilation via rear fan and PSU fans seems to be adequate (motherboard reads 40c after 1 hour, old case read 37)

What needs to be completed/modified:
Rear I/O panel needs to be covered
Heatsink needs to be replaced, the stock 57mm tall heatink/fan only clears the PSU by 8mm and does not cool very well (currently underclocked to 1.6Ghz to keep temps under 50c). Thermaltake CLP0527 MeOrb (47mm tall) is the most likely candidate, as soon as I have 50 free dollars.
Fill 5.25 bay with either a card reader/usb/firewire/audio panel, or fit an optical drive somehow.

I am very happy with how its turned out and my to-do list is short enough that I can sleep well.

EDIT: If anyone is interested in this case (or rig), feel free to PM me.

[apple apple]

Bad *ss! I love it!

[pirloui]

Your pictures of the case reminds me of how blown away I was in 1999 when I got my PCI G4.
It was truly a great computer, has shown to be very dureable, and the design is still great, ten years later.

[ResX]

The laughable amount of clearance I really have between the only heatsink I had that would fit in this case(an old Athlon64 939 stock cooler), and my PSU, which somehow looks larger than it did in my old case...


And this is why I'm running at 1.6ghz instead of 2.3 (stock for a 4400+) or 3 (when I was using this).

[pirloui]

That's very tight indeed..
Maybe you should get another cooler, or reorganise it completely like "photograph" in his macbane thread..

[ResX]

pirloui, on Mar 6 2010, 09:22 AM, said:

That's very tight indeed..
Maybe you should get another cooler, or reorganise it completely like "photograph" in his macbane thread..

I was looking into one of these, but haven't heard as much about it as I have for other coolers and for 50 dollars I'm still a bit skeptical. I also considered reorganizing the internals before I started the project, and reconsidered after I noticed the cooling issue, but I think that would take away from alot of the stock look and feel.

[pirloui]

Another option is to have a large flat passive CPU cooler and a PSU with a 120mm fan. That way the PSU will extract the air from the CPU. The Mobos cpu PWM fan controll could regulate the intake fan for example; and the PSU will self regulate according to temperature.
Silverstobe does this in their SG03 case, they have a special heatsink for that. (will post name when I find it, but there are several that are compatible.

[ResX]

pirloui, on Mar 7 2010, 12:30 AM, said:

Another option is to have a large flat passive CPU cooler and a PSU with a 120mm fan. That way the PSU will extract the air from the CPU. The Mobos cpu PWM fan controll could regulate the intake fan for example; and the PSU will self regulate according to temperature.
Silverstobe does this in their SG03 case, they have a special heatsink for that. (will post name when I find it, but there are several that are compatible.

I had originally planned on ducting air over a custom heatsink, but I lost access to a CNC mill after I graduated high school and gave up on that. However, I just purchased an Arctic Cooling Freezer 64 LP and it does the job in its confined space wonderfully. The two fans run relatively quiet (and the redundancy is nice) compared to the stock cooler, even at full speed.

I can now run at full 2.3 Ghz, with a slight and stable undervolt from 1.35 to 1.25 to get the watts down to around 50+/- instead of 65, bringing idle temps to around 35 celsius, and full CPU and GPU load to just under 55 celsius after one hour with room temperature at 26C.

[banini_jeque]

No offense, but I think it looks crude and messy (no homo).

[ResX]

banini_jeque, on May 12 2010, 03:19 AM, said:

No offense, but I think it looks crude and messy (no homo).

The good news is that it has since been substantially cleaned up inside and out. The wires have been tamed, the hole for the fan now has a nice plastic flange covering the edges (instead of that cheap blue painters tape), and I grabbed a low-profile cooler that pulls air from the sides.