134 replies to this topic

[Brett Whinnen]

I'd be very interested as well, only need a single ethernet as well, I would love for an additional two 3.5mm stereo jacks where the airport and bluetooth holes are though as I run 5.1 sound and require a total of 3 x 3.5mm outs and having 1 x 3.5mm in would be handy.

Not asking much am I

Keep me posted and I can pay as well, although it wouldn't be for a couple of weeks.

[nickjf20]

Sadly,  I don't think I'll be able to get the extra audio jacks  

Problem is, the airport and bluetooth ports are well above the standard audio jacks, and I'd have to make an extra one off board with a different design, which I doubt I'll be allowed to do. One run of 5 identical boards should be fine, two runs of different boards would be pushing it with the college !

Thanks,

Nick

[ryqiem]

I would also be very interested!

[nickjf20]

If the college 'deal' falls through, I'll collect 'promises' off people who would be pretty much dedicated to purchasing one, and then get them properly machined.

I'd need at least 5 people to 'pledge' to keep the cost down as these companies main charge is for the machining template rather than the actual pcbs. 1 board will cost something like $120, 5 will cost $150, so basically, the more people that want one, the more drastically the final price will go down.

If anyone could help with non-pcb parts sourcing (UK preferred), the help would be much appreciated.

Thanks,

[Brett Whinnen]

nickjf20, on Nov 5 2011, 03:24 AM, said:

Sadly,  I don't think I'll be able to get the extra audio jacks  

Problem is, the airport and bluetooth ports are well above the standard audio jacks, and I'd have to make an extra one off board with a different design, which I doubt I'll be allowed to do. One run of 5 identical boards should be fine, two runs of different boards would be pushing it with the college !

Thanks,

Nick

That's not a problem I can work around it, I have spare 3.5mm jacks here that I can use easily enough.

I'll pledge for one definitely, let me know the cost and when you want payment, I understand cost depends on how many people go for it of course

Cheers.

Brett

[nickjf20]

Great !

Just got my PowerMac today -- bought a broken one off ebay for £80, turns out it's fully working after a HDD wipe and reseating the RAM ! I'll sell all the parts off separately I guess.

I'll look into how much space I'll need if I'm going to go the mATX route and re-use stand-offs, as to line up with the rear PCI slots. I may mount a full size board in the middle of the case and route wires to the back -- that might work better. That'll determine how fat the pcb I'll make can be really.

Tell me what you've done / are planning to do

Thanks,

Nick

[Brett Whinnen]

This is what I've done so far:



I am going to streamline the bottom of the case a bit and move the power supply into it's own box to improve airflow and cover it up as well and then I can sort out all the power cables for SATA power, fans etc.

Brett

[nickjf20]

I might try mounting the motherboard in the middle as you have done as it will be easier to fit the rear IO PCB in, but I was wondering how you've secured the GPU in place ? I'll be using an mATX board, so I won't be so confined on vertical space.

Yours looks really neat, and if mine looks half as good I'll be happy


Was there a problem with the SATA cables and power lines that come with the G5 ? as I was hoping to use them, but so far I've seen no one use the original cables ... so I'm not too hopeful.

Thanks,

Nick

[Brett Whinnen]

Mine is a work in progress as I get time, as I use it everyday

The problem with the original SATA cables are they are too short, the G5 motherboard had the SATA connectors at the top of the board, near the HDD cage. I need to get longer cables and I will then run them in the same manner and neaten it up. The power cables, well I was too lazy to begin with, I sorted them out this morning, they are now active and the only thing I needed was a 4-wire molex to SATA power adapter for the BD-ROM.

I also took the power supply out of its housing this morning, I will be changing the original bottom tray to fit down there in the next week or so (depending on work) so that all the cables and power supply are covered up. Then I can tidy up all the cables until the new rear IO board.

The GFX card is supported by cable ties at the moment, I have a loop at the top in the HDD fan cage locking screw and then it supports the weight of the card.

Oh and the HDD cage fan is wired in to 5V as well keeps the HDD's nice and cool.

So far general work load temps are ~34ºC for the CPU, 29ºC for the HDD's, 53ºC for the HD 5770.



Cheers.

[nickjf20]

Nice ! I'll try mounting the mobo at the back so it lines up with the rear PCI -- I've got an mATX so should be fine.

What 5770 have you got to make 57 degrees ? It looks like a sapphire. I'm getting a VFX one, which supposedly runs at 50 under load, but we'll see ...


I'm getting an i7 920, is that a H60 I see there ? Any overclock ?



--UPDATE--

College has shut down PCB etching machine thing, so I've been reccomended to talk to the art department (don't quite know why yet), or contact an online supplier that'll do 10 boards for £100 something

I won't be putting my mATX board in 'till near December, so if anyone with an mATX lined up with the rear PCI slots could tell me how much room I'll have and which stand offs I can use, that would be great !

[Brett Whinnen]

There isn't much room at the back unfortunately when the board is mounted in the correct spot. I was using a mATX board for mockups at one stage as I have a spare one here. I didn't measure it though. Will see what I can workout for you as far as measurements go the next time I have the case open.

I wanted the HDD's in the OE spot which is why I mounted the board where I did, if I had an mATX board for this build I probably would have mounted it closer to the rear.

The GFX card is a Gigabyte HD5770, commonly referred to as the bat mobile It runs at about 53ºC normally and gets up around the 57ºC mark when doing anything GFX intensive. I do need to look at mounting another 120mm fan at the front to blow across the top section of the case. The CPU Cooler is a H60, great little unit, I just added the second 120mm fan in a push/pull arrangement.

Currently the i7 870 is reportedly running at 3.2GHz under OS X, but is running in turbo mode and should be around 3.4GHz (22 x 156MHz). I've not bothered pushing further as I am still running all stock voltages at the moment.

[nickjf20]

That would be great if you could sort out some dimensions

I'm planning on getting rid of the LiteOn 500W psu and getting a nice OCZ modular PSU with another 5770 that I'll make fit in the double slot without overheating !

I'll then flash the OEM board and OC from the stock 2.66 to 3.2 with the stock 'better than intel' acer cooler. Next year I'll sell the 5770s, buy a new full atx mobo, 7xxx, cooler and OC some more.

I may have to rip out the back and plonk a mountain mods tray there, but I still really want the rear to look as nice as possible ! I don't know whether two graphics cards (especially the VFX one) will fit in the four slots and not hit the HDD divider thing if I have the mobo in 'stock' position.

Whatever happens, I'll still make the PCBs.

[Brett Whinnen]

Ah bollox I forgot to post this yesterday, got too busy with work

There is between 18 - 20mm from the back of the case to the IO ports on the mATX board when mounted in the stock position. So not a great deal of room, but doable.

[nickjf20]

Are any of the original standoffs able to be used when the mATX mobo is in ?

[Brett Whinnen]

From memory no, it is much easier to remove them and then use your own. The thread on them is also not the PC standard so unless you have the OE screws you'll need to locate some.

I had an old HP case that was about 5 - 6 years old that had a meeting with a jigsaw and the motherboard tray removed I haven't checked it against the OE spot though to see how it will fit (i.e. putting the cards at the right height for the rear slots).

[nickjf20]

Hmm, well, I may have to make the rear IO identical to Zammykoo's then -- a bit too fat to fit if you've mounted your board to fit with the G5 PCI slots.

On another note, I gutted the G5 I bought today. It took longer than expected, but I now have 2 2GHz monsters, a huuggeee logic board and one very dusty power supply ready to put on ebay The HDD and RAM have been put in a relatives (half) working G5 (one processor is bust). Had to use a rather hefty spanner to get the CPU lag shields out ...

If anyone is interested in anything, PM me. I have a load of screws spare and all the orignal cables & fans e.t.c.

[ivokik]

zammykoo, on 17 April 2011 - 02:56 PM, said:

UPDATE 9/7/11:
I have been receiving messages from some forum members about releasing my sources for this project since I am no longer producing these units. That's fine, I have no problem with sharing this with others who are interested in building their own (or wanting to get a run of these manufactured).

Though, I have been hesitant on doing so because there was an issue that some people pointed out that the pcb was a bit wider than they'd prefer. I wanted to have this issue corrected before any more are made, so I can release the sources to those who would be willing to revise the board design. (Must know how, or know someone who does)

I have been super busy between work and my own projects so I cannot revise the design myself. I can provide some advice/assistance from my own design process, but can't guarantee to reply to every email.

If you are interested, send me a PM with your email address and I can have those files sent to you.

Thanks,
Tam

---------------------------------------------

UPDATE 7/19/11:
It was fun while it lasted. I enjoyed making these but I can no longer continue producing these units because I have shifted focus on other things. For those who have purchased one I will continue to provide assistance to any questions you may have. Either PM me or shoot me an email (same as paypal email).

I will be selling the rest of the inventory at a discount rate of %50 off. See below for pricing.
All remaining units are pending shipment SOLD.

---------------------------------------------

Hey all, I am building atx-to-G5 rear I/O port kits for modders who want a simple solution to access the motherboard's jacksWITHOUTcutting a hole on the backside of the case. (Please note this is made for the Early-2005 case and earlier. WILL NOT fit the Late-2005 case)

P5243003.jpg
P5242999.jpg
g5zammyk...diagram1.jpg
g5zammyk...diagram2.jpg

Prototype Demo Videos
Part 1 - Circuit board case fitment
Part 2 - Wiring to motherboard

Hi there, how can I contact you about this connectors for the G5 case mode? I would like to order some by you.
please mail to : ivokik@gmail.com

thanks
Ivo

Oh now I see that you are not selling them anymore... someone else maybe? Ideas?

[enjoyfebruary]

I've been thinking about these pcbs and I'm wondering if it would be worth it to integrate a usb hub chipset into the board to run a CM108 audio chipset and to drive both of the usb ports. This would make it so a single USB connection (preferably to the MB header) could drive both analog/digital sound and usb. Also, I have looked around for the Left-Angle standup Firewire 400 and still can't find anything so that leads me to think including a Firewire 800 port would be the better choice going forward. I currently have a lot of interest in this and I'm tracking down some people to possibly do a design based on what I've proposed here. Anyway, just wanted to throw my 2c into the conversation.

[nickjf20]

Only thing I see with going down the path of chipsets and the like is that you will push costs up, and depending on whether you go for a full on integrated board, need some manufacturing plant.

I might make another G5 case in the future as I love the one I've just made, and the family's old G5 is slowly breaking

[Nikola Nastoski]

Is there any progress being made with the 'new' pcbs? I would be interested in purchasing one if they start being produced