43 replies to this topic

[nikkokick]

First of all allow me to thank my sponsors a lot!
Thank you for showing interest in my project and deciding to support my work.

• Intel Core i7 3770k - http://www.dustinhom...ider_SiteSeeker

• Newton R2 1000w 80+ - http://www.fractal-d...egory=3&prod=29

• 2x Silent Series 120mm - http://www.fractal-d...egory=4&prod=18

• 2x Silent Series 92mm - http://www.fractal-d...egory=4&prod=17

• 4x Silent Series 60mm - http://www.fractal-d...egory=4&prod=15

• 4x4GB Crucial Ballistix Elite 1600MHz - http://www.crucial.c...3D1608DE1TX0CEU

• Crucial M4 128GB SSD - http://www.crucial.c...=CT128M4SSD2CCA

• Antec Kühler H₂O 920 - http://store.antec.c...PREORD-H2O.aspx

• Motherboard tray 120mm - http://www.mountainm...-tray-p-56.html

• Fan grill - http://www.mountainm...sion-p-372.html

• 3x 1-to-4 PWM Fan Splitter - http://www.quietpc.c...wm-1-4-pwmcable

• 1x Dämpningsmatta AcoustiPack ML 2-layer 4mm OEM Material - http://www.quietpc.c...erials/apml-2l4

• 2x AcoustiFan Anti-vibration Soft Silicone Fan Gaskets - http://www.quietpc.c...ries/fangaskets

• 8x Acousti Products Anti-Vibration Silicone Washers - http://www.quietpc.c...p-1003w-c-group

• 1x Quiet PC Case Badge - http://www.quietpc.c...ries/casebadges

• 50m Paracord sleeve NARROW - Solid White - http://djungelapa.s...?id_product=235
  
• 5m Black Heat Shrink - http://djungelapa.s...p?id_category=3
  
• Black Sleeve for self-made cable - http://djungelapa.s...p?id_category=2
  
• Tool to 6, 8, 24pins connectors - http://djungelapa.s...p?id_product=70
  
• "El Cheapo" - 2pcs Molexverktyg - http://djungelapa.s...p?id_product=47

Thank you once again! Without you I wouldn't be able to fulfill this project.
Pictures and the usage of the products will be added gradually.


To-do list:
[ X ] Write an introduction. - 16/1 2012
[ X ] Empty the case of components. - 23/1 2012
[ X ] Put in my own power supply inside of PowerMac G5's power supply "case". 5/02 2012 - Fractal Design parts are being used here.
[ X ] Manage to attach the motherboard. 28/03 2012 - Mountain Mods parts are being used here.
[ X ] Manage to fix the I/O panel at the rear. 5/5 2012.
[  ] Mount everything that is supposed to be in the case.
[X ] Sleeve the Powersupply. -1/5 2012 Djungelapa parts are being used here.
[ X ] Optimize the case to be as quiet as possible - Quiet PC parts are being used here.
[ X ] Do unboxings, reviews and benchmarks of the products I've been sponsored with. - Crucial and Antec parts are being used here.
[  ] Install "Ubuntu" and the theme "Macbuntu".
______________________________________________________________________


Hi and Welcome to my project!


In Sweden (where I live) it's mandatory to do a project the last (third) year of High school and I have decided that my project will be to modify a "PowerMac G5" case.

The computer is a Macintosh / Apple and is one of the best looking chassis that exists (my personal opinion) and I have therefore decided to use this for my PC.
Apple has a tendency to want to lock up their customers and not allow them to experience freedom and upgradeability in terms of hardware and software. For those of us who are not satisfied with the default, this is a major obstacle.

This computer, "PowerMac G5", is extremely limited in terms of replacement of computer parts (especially the motherboard) which means that the computer becomes obsolete fairly quickly and become useless as anything more than an ordinary surfing PC after a couple of years.

Why do I choose a case that can not be used for anything other than the case has been made for?
Because the case is so damn beautiful and stylish. The entire chassis shines of quality and feels robust. The "PowerMac G5" is the "Tank of the chassis".

A hardware modification will do that I can continue to use this case for my current computer, and my upcoming computers, thanks to the upgrade I will do to it.

Pictures of "PowerMac G5":







My goal with this project is to prove that you can mix the best of both worlds. Apple's stylish and well thought design with the PC-world's upgradeability and performance, which in turn creates a very attractive computer (appearance) that has the ability to be a performance monster.

When the case mod is finished, I will run the Linux distribution "Ubuntu" and a theme called "Macbuntu" to get the classic and nice looking OSX-look, while the entire operating system and applications are Open Source / Free!.
The computer will be used for Video / Film production which proves that just because you work with production of various kinds a Macintosh isn't a must.

I will not "chit chat" in this projectlog but rather do large updates (instead of many small), where I then also will answer all questions asked :thumb:

Hope you find my project interesting and would like to follow it.

Best Regards
Nikkop


UPDATE 01/23 2012

Spoiler

A week ago I started this log and have had a busy time in school with other work. But now I have come loose from it and had time to do a little bit on the project. Hope you like the pictures here, a full load of them!

Here are some pictures I made in "Google SketchUp" to illustrate how the final product should look like:




What I started to do today was to remove all components from the case.
I didn't take any pictures removing the easy parts such as motherboard and stuff. It's rather easy and basic, just find the screws holding the motherboard and then take 'em out. Solved!

Instead, I took a picture every time I took out a component and then added it to an animation.


[1] As you can see in the picture I started with removing the side plate, no funny business.
[2] Then there was to remove the plastic cover that sits inside, which besides is a very nice detail, I think, and I intend to keep this part when I'm done with my mod..
[3] Step three entailed removal of the "G5" plate which is very easy as well, just take it out. In addition, I removed the metal piece that sits between the PCI slots and the CPU cooler. It is on this piece of metal where a small speaker did sit once upon a time.
[4] 4th step I removed the motherboard (where even the graphics card sits) and the fans in the back, which consisted of 2 x 92mm fans.
[5] Last but certainly not least (!) I removed the power supply that sits in the bottom of the chassis.

The DVD I picked off without any problems. It was stuck in the most ingenious and simple way that I made an animation to demostrate. This solution will definitely be re-used if possible!:


After I removed the parts I photographed them:

Motherboard:



Graphics card:


Power supply:



Fan at HDD & exhaust fans:


Hard Drive Rack:


Very clever solution if I do say so myself. Will definitely be used later.


On "PowerMac G5", there is a locking mechanism at the rear of the chassis, which ensures that the side plate is in place when the latch is locked. To remove the hard drive rack and some other odds and ends that are up there, you have to remove a piece of metal that sits as the "bottom" to these things. And to remove this plate you need to remove the locking mechanism.
This may be a little tricky if you do not how to do it, but I'll explain!

The locking mechanism:



To remove it you begin by removing the little black bits that are the "locks":


The piece you see in the picture:


Removed:


Remove the lock. Repeat on all three locks:


Now that the locks are gone, we must remove the lever which moves the locks:


We'll do it best with the help of an object with a sharp, thin tip, such as a knife:


Place the knife in the ring and then try to "pop" it up gently.


So there, now it is removed. PS! Do not lose this! Will be needed later:


Remove the small bar and take care not to lose anything that comes with it:


Pull the locking mechanism:


Now, the plate is removed. It can be a bit sluggish but just summon the beast within you and you'll get it off.


Now that we have removed the "bottom plate" that was sitting up there we could remove the hard drive rack and the fan, leading to an empty case!


To be continued!

Hopefully I will be able to do a little cutting this week!

____________________________________________________________

UPDATE 5/02 2012

Spoiler

Excuse me for the long wait, I've been a bit busy. But here's an update not featuring over 50 new pictures!
Enjoy!

The update will be about how I took the PSU I was sponsored with " Fractal Design Newton R2 1000W [/ B]" and took off the cover and some other stuff, to be able to put it inside the PowerMac G5's PSU enclosure. When done, it won't be visible.

Here it comes! Enjoy!


Fractal Design Newton 1000W R2
SMART MODULAR universal cabling system
HIGH EFFICENCY 80 PLUS certified
SILENT the Virtually inaudible 135mm Fan








Here we have the power supply and cables from the box:


Modular power supplie, me likey!

Specifications:

The rear:

The fan / Top:

The cables

• 4x PCI-Express 8-pin (6 +2) cable, Each 45cm long

• 2 x SATA cable, 4 connectors, overall 95cm long

• 1x SATA cable, 4 connectors, overall 80cm long

• 1x Molex 4-pin cable, 4 connectors, overall 95cm long

• 1x Molex 4-pin cable, 4 connectors, overall 80cm long

• 1x Molex 4-pin/Floppy cable, 2 +1 connectors, overall 65cm long
  :

Fractal Design Newton R2 1000W:

PowerMac G5 PSU:

Huge difference in the dimensions?

As we can clearly see the PowerMac G5 PSU is larger.

Side by side, however, Fractal Design Newton 1000W R2 is higher:

________________________
So then we come to the question, How do we get into Fractal Design Newton 1000W R2 when it is higher than the PowerMac G5 PSU? It shouldn't be possible?
Of course it's possible! Newton R2 1000w has the fan inside the enclosure which adds on the height a bit. What if we remove the fan, maybe it would fit then?
Keep reading and see!
________________________

We start by opening up the PowerMac G5 PSU to see what is hidden inside.

To do this we need, of course, removing several screws. However, they are very easy to find, so just pull out the screwdriver and start unscrewing!



After a couple of turned up screws, just lift the lid, and woila! Here are the contents:

As we se at both pictures, it's a very large PCB (printed circuit boards) with a lot of empty space, the power supply could have been made smaller. But there's no particular reason to do that because it is hidden in the computer and not visible.

Begin by cutting off the ties that hold the cables which connects to the motherboard from the power supply:

After that, simply unscrew a couple of screws holding the circuit board in place. The PCB also has some kind of glue / tape under it, so just pull a little to loosen it. Here's how it looks without the cover:

Here is the actual case. As you can see is the left a little tape that has kept the board in place:

We have now removed the circuit board / power supply out of the veil from the PowerMac G5 and that wasn't too hard. Only a few screws here and there and no need for any kind of modification. But what about the Fractal Design Newton R2 1000W PSU?
In order to assure me that the PSU is working before I start fiddling with I ran a functional test by plugging it in my current system.
Very quiet fan! I can't hear it at all when my system is up and running.

The power supply works without problems, of course! We'll see how it feels when I start picking it apart a little

The first thing to do with power supply, to even do anything at all, is to open up the casing. This is done easily with a screwdriver. Just look for the screws and unscrew them.

Warning! To access one of the bolts it is required to remove the sticker that says "WARRANTY VOID IF REMOVED", which means that if the sticker is removed, you have no right to any form of warranty or guarantee claim.
But as I get sponsored with this PSU just to modify, there was nothing to stop me.

After a few screws loosened it was easy to pick the shell that sat on top.
The fan was also plugged with a pair of rubber housing screws which I removed easily with a flathead screwdriver.
Here's how it was after the top had been removed:



If we place the power supply in the PowerMac G5 case, we immediately see that it does not fit, as we saw before also when we compared the dimensions:

How do we make it fit then? Yes, good question with a simple answer. Out with the tools and begin to take off the cover!
But before we do that we need to remove the fan as it is large one and it's in the way when we are going to modify.

To remove the fan, you have to pull the plug attached to the bottom of a little screwed circuit.

Unscrew the screw, lift the circuit and unplug it, easy!

Here we see the groundwire. Since the shell is one part, and both groundwire is attached to the same cabinet, there won't be any issues removing a part of the cabinet.

Then we bring the plier and begin to rock. Plug of the power cord and switch positions are fixed in the housing so for now we'll cut a little rough so we'll atleast get it off somehow.


After we cut a little we pull the little monster out that will help us with the most difficult so far, to cut off the casing where it can not be cut with a plier:

However, before we kick off the machine  we put on a pair of these. Better safe than sorry!:

And then we saw! Since we cut with pliers in the actual "net" around the plug and now the dremel will be used to get it off.

There you go!

After that we sawed off that part we remove the screws that holds the PSU in the bottom cover. Piece of cake, pick up your tool and just unscrew the screws you can see, they are not hidden!
When sawing and unscrewing is complete, it's possible to remove the power supply out of it's housing.

The underside of the PCB. It had a piece of plastic under it to prevent short circuits which I adore! Will definitely be reused:

What remains now from having a power supply without casing is permanently bonded to the contact.
The contact was sitting namely, glued in the casing.
Remove the glue with a flat screwdriver and then cut of the rest with a plier.



That's it! A contact that is free from jail!

Since I plan to reuse the base of the housing for mounting the power supply,  I cut off the "walls" that stand up.

There, the bottom done!

We wouldn't want to cut ourselves on the sharp edges, so time to start sanding!

Here we have the Fractal Design Newton R2 1000w standing in the base of the former case:

And now what we have been waiting for, will  it fit in the PowerMac G5 PSU casing?
As we see in the picture there is room inside, but it was of course before too. It was not the width or length that was the problem before, but it was the height:

To see if it fits on the height, just gently try to get on the cover of the power supply housing.

And guess what, it worked! Not many millimeters between the PSU and the top but it did fit!
The question is how we do with cooling?

The power supply when it is in place inside the case:



This plug fits perfectly to the case. I'm lucky that Apple doesn't have their own standard in terms of the size of these contacts!

This brings us to the 'problem'.
How should we cool the power supply?
Fractal Design Newton 1000W R2've got a 135mm fan that pushes down air on the PSU.
If I don't use this fan the PSU will probably overload of heat and thus get damaged.

The power supply is 1000W and my current system draws under 500W at full load.
That is, if a 135mm fan is possible to cool down a fully loaded 1000W PSU, then there is a possibility that smaller fans could cool down a system using less than 500w

PowerMacs G5 PSU is cooled by 2x 60mm fans, which is not much in itself. But if you had purchased a pair of 60mm fans for intake and two 60mm fans as exhaust in the PowerMac G5 case, maybe it would be enough to cool?

This is a question I will ask Fractal Design techniques. I will ask for the maximum temperature of the power supply and then with infrared heat measurement measure and see if small fans are able to cool of the beast.

If I had taken the 135mm fan and sawed a hole in the PowerMac G5 PSU case and mounted it it would have looked like this:

Not very nice and I'd like to avoid it. I would rather have kept the power supply housing as it is and instead mounted 4x 60mm fans (2x as intake and exhaust as 2x).
Original PSU has 2x 60mm as intake.


What do you think readers? Will it be possible to cool with anything less than 135mm fan? As we said 135mm fan cools a full load of 1000W PSU so smaller fans would perhaps manage to cool the power supply if my system is under 500w full load?

By the way I tested the power supply in my computer again after modification, and it works! The PSU did survive though it was removed from it's beloved body.

UPDATE 20/02 2012

Spoiler

[i]Hello!

Here's a small update!

Lets start by saying as I mentioned in the comments I had trouble getting home my motherboard plate from my American sponsor Mountain Mods .
It arrived in my post office without any problem but when I went to get it out I had to pay a custom fee of 270SEK.

I was not exactly eager to pay that amount because I was sponsored to a non-profit school work.

However, I have fixed this issue! A few emails and a phone call to the Post imports, which in turn contacted the customs for a reconsideration of my case resulted in that I did not pay a penny for my package!
My sponsor had even written on the package that it was a gift for a school project, and because Mountain Mods are not resellers, but producing the product itself, there was no purchase price of the product either.

And now when that has been solved I was able to proceed a little with my project!

So hope you are hungry for some pictures and text! This will be a small update since no modifications have been made, but only plans which I documented.

[i]Apologies for some of the images that does look bad. Took them in the evenings without a tripod and with poor light source, and then I did white balance on it, which in some cases led to a little over-exposed images.



This is how the package looked like when I got it. Nothing beats the feeling when you are about to poen a package you've been waiting for!


Mountain Mods are wonderful for the package of the shipping with marshmallows for free! Haha, jokes aside, the package was very nicely packed!


Here's what it looked like after being removed from the carton and marshmallows. Nice and compact to minimize the potential damage that may occur!


Here we have all the content that came with the motherboard plate!

• Back where PCI slots and I / O plate to fit.
  
• PCI and I / O plate 6x + PCI guard bits.
  
• Motherboard plate where the motherboard will sit.
  
• 10st motherboard distances with mounting screws for
  
• 10st screws to attach all of the plate pieces together.

What I liked a lot with this motherboard plate from Mountain Mods was that I got all the parts separately and may screw them up yourself. This is a big plus when you want to do what I have done in this update, that is measuring to see what fits where. If we would have done the same with the motherboard plate from Lian Li, we would have had to drill out the rivets and then use the loose parts, and then rivet it all back.

Anyway, here's pictures when I measure with the loose motherboard plates on the chassis to see what is to be placed where!
As I mentioned before, I wondered what I should do with the back of the chassis. The basic idea was to place the motherboard plate as it is on the back, but since it does not fit (as we see the next picture), I have to think of a neat way to solve the problem!

I'm going to cut off the 120mm fan site from the motherboard plate, and just use my PCI slots and I/O plate so could I re-use the original fan mounting. But since this is not physically possible (since I/O location will cover the fans), I need to move these fan mountings a bit to the left, so that they can fit next to the I/O hole without being covered.

As we see in this picture it's 3x images assembled into one.

• Figure 1: Original case as it is from the beginning
  
• Figure 2: The case with motherboard plate on the rear.
  
• Figure 3: The case with motherboard plate on the rear and a large piece of paper which is equal to the fan sites to be reused. Paper bit is used to demostrate where the fan mountings will be placed and how much space it would take.

Here is a picture where I have taken the fan mounting (on the inside of the chassis) to measure and see how much space it will take and where it is going to be placed.
As we see it is very tight to fit, and after some inquiries, it seems that I will have to get rid of the PCI slot on the bottom, which means that the first PCI-slot of the motherboard won't be usuable ( since the G5 chassis is opened on the right side, then the motherboard to sit up and down).



Here we have another picture where I show every fan assembly will sit.
As we see, the fan mounting  will keep their places in height but will move some to the side.
The bottom of the fan mounting is touching the top of the PSU, which means I can't have it lower than it is.




Here is a picture that demonstrates how the motherboard plate will sit inside the case. Personally I think it is in a good location and looks great!
This is roughly how it will sit, how it will fit exactly will first be seen when I have done the rear of the case.



The first part of this small update was what to do with the rear and what to place where.

Part number two is the cooling of the PSU. Original PowerMac G5 power supply is cooled by 2 x 60mm fans.
Since I want to keep the original appearance but I don't want to cut a hole for a fan at the top, which I demonstrated a little further up in this log, I have therefore decided to reuse the fan sites located in the power supply housing.
These fan places are in front of the power supply and these fans will blow horizontally.

Firstly, the Fractal Design Newtons R2 is designed to have a fan to blow down on the components.
This fan is also 135mm which is quite large and the and does blow a lot of air. If I instead will go with the fans blowing horizontally there is a risk that some components are not cooled because they do hide behind other components.
To make up for this I thought about going with four 60mm, two on the original fan placings and two fans at the other end of the power supply, which pushes the air out.
Since the power supply has a capacity of 1000w, and my computer does not even draw near it, it might be enough with these fans.

So I'm going to try it out for a while by going with four 60mm fans and see if it's enough.
That said, since the PSU is 1000w and my computer draws under 500W the PSU will not even sweat a little bit

Here we see fan sites in the butt of the casing.



Here are the four 60mm fans that I was supplied with by Fractal Design!



Mounted in the rear, they look like this, and they fit perfectly!



Reminds me of some kind of submarine, lol >

However I ran into a problem I had foreseen. The two extra fans that I plan to have that will push the air out from the power supply gets a little annoying to mount.
As we see in this picture it looks like they will fit somehow, but if we see it from the side we see that the fan frame sticking up with only a few millimeters.



I have basically two options to choose from in order to have these two fans that blow out the air.

Either do I have these fans outside the power supply, which leads to the PSU connector does not fall into the chassis holes for this contact. I'm able to fix this by making some kind of extension, if I decide to place the fans like this.


Option number two is to have the fans inside the PSU-case, but putting them into an angle to make them fit.
This may influence the cooling capacity of the fans, but I'm then able to have the PSU where it is supposed to be.



So what I select remains to be seen. I will try my way and see what cool best, sounds the least and is most convenient.
I have also thought about removing a bit of the frame from the fan and maybe by doing so be able to fit the fans inside the casing.
However I'm unsure about this and I'll have to do some research on this to see it it's possible or not.


What do you think about these options? Which would you chose?

Hope you find this interesting! Feel free to comment!
Constructive criticism is always welcome and all kinds of opinions and suggestions! I prefer that people ask questions or offer ideas.

Take care and stay tuned!

Best Regards
Nikko


Stay tuned!

Regards
Nikkop

[PookyMacMan]

Looks like a neat project! Keep going.

[nikkokick]

Good afternoon!

I have now updated my first post with a "To-Do list". Check it out!
I also added a list of what I'm getting from the companies that decided to sponsor me. Check that out as well.

PookyMacMan, on 24 January 2012 - 03:58 AM, said:

Looks like a neat project! Keep going.

Thanks man! I hope more people are interested in following my project, it would be sweet.

Other than that, stay tuned!

[nickjf20]

Very nice, I was just wondering how you're planning on keeping a nice clean, apple-esque look to the back of the case ?

[nikkokick]

Hello!

Here is an update of over 50 new pictures!, please look below: UPDATE 5/2 2012 - In the first post

This update was the modding of "Fractal Design Newton 1000W PSU R2" to fit in the original G5 case. It looks a lot better than just having a loose power supply inside the case.

Take your time and read the new update and replywith questions or suggestions!

Any form of criticism / opinions are welcome and answered!

I also proudly want to announce a new partner named "Mountain Mods."
They will provide me with a motherboard tray and a fan grill.
I first had in mind to have the Lian-Li motherboard plate but unfortunately it only has one 80mm fan which I think is too weak for the exhaust.
Mountain Mods provides me with a motherboard tray with a 120mm exhaust, talk about improvement!

Thanks again!
I will take pictures of the tray when I receive it.

nickjf20, on 24 January 2012 - 08:38 PM, said:

Very nice, I was just wondering how you're planning on keeping a nice clean, apple-esque look to the back of the case ?

Thank you!

I won't. I will be using a motherboard tray I'm being supplied with by Mountain Mods.

The back I don't care about keeping it original. I rather have it well made and functioning!


Please see my update!

[PookyMacMan]

Very nice!

For the PSU, you may not need a 135mm fan...however, what about the original fans? I noticed that awesome modular design for the cords; why not wire the connection board through the original opening for the power connectors? As I don't own the PSU myself I can't see how it would work exactly, but it might be a good idea...or you could cut the top and fit the connection board flush inside. Let me know what you think.

My opinion: I think a motherboard tray actually doesn't look bad...just different. Still somewhat Appleish, too. Also, have you thought about making this a Hackintosh as opposed to a Linux box?

Again, awesome project. You are doing very, very well.

[nickjf20]

nikkokick, on 05 February 2012 - 04:26 PM, said:

Hello!

Here is an update of over 50 new pictures!, please look below: UPDATE 5/2 2012 - In the first post

This update was the modding of "Fractal Design Newton 1000W PSU R2" to fit in the original G5 case. It looks a lot better than just having a loose power supply inside the case.

Take your time and read the new update and replywith questions or suggestions!

Any form of criticism / opinions are welcome and answered!

I also proudly want to announce a new partner named "Mountain Mods."
They will provide me with a motherboard tray and a fan grill.
I first had in mind to have the Lian-Li motherboard plate but unfortunately it only has one 80mm fan which I think is too weak for the exhaust.
Mountain Mods provides me with a motherboard tray with a 120mm exhaust, talk about improvement




Thank you!

I won't. I will be using a motherboard tray I'm being supplied with by Mountain Mods.

The back I don't care about keeping it original. I rather have it well made and functioning!


Please see my update!

Just as an FYI -- the 120mm fan hole in the Mountain Mods backplate is a bit too big to fit sideways across the PowerMac. You'd be much better off getting the dual 80s option.

OR, cut out a custom fan hole from the Lian Li so it looks all nice and pretty Mine looks like this: http://www.flickr.co.../in/photostream


My to-do list includes fans, new PSU, and new GPU when the 7XXX series comes out. If only I had a lovely sponsor ....

[nikkokick]

PookyMacMan, on 05 February 2012 - 08:54 PM, said:

Very nice!

For the PSU, you may not need a 135mm fan...however, what about the original fans? I noticed that awesome modular design for the cords; why not wire the connection board through the original opening for the power connectors? As I don't own the PSU myself I can't see how it would work exactly, but it might be a good idea...or you could cut the top and fit the connection board flush inside. Let me know what you think.

My opinion: I think a motherboard tray actually doesn't look bad...just different. Still somewhat Appleish, too. Also, have you thought about making this a Hackintosh as opposed to a Linux box?

Again, awesome project. You are doing very, very well.

Hi!

I don't think the fans from the original casing are strong nor silent enough for my needs

About the tray I'm thinking about maybe drilling out all the small holes as in the original G5 case, maybe it will look great then


The reason I'm not going to hackintosh it is because I simply don't like OSX. To be honest I haven't tried it for too long either, but it feels like it's "too simple" for me.
The visual design does look good indeed, but the functions not so much.
Also, breaking EULA (by hacking OSX) isn't anything I'd like to do when I've got sponsors and such

Thanks once again! Stay tuned

nickjf20, on 06 February 2012 - 09:49 PM, said:

Just as an FYI -- the 120mm fan hole in the Mountain Mods backplate is a bit too big to fit sideways across the PowerMac. You'd be much better off getting the dual 80s option.

OR, cut out a custom fan hole from the Lian Li so it looks all nice and pretty Mine looks like this: http://www.flickr.co.../in/photostream


My to-do list includes fans, new PSU, and new GPU when the 7XXX series comes out. If only I had a lovely sponsor ....

Hi!

Are you kidding me about the tray? I thought the 120mm and the dual 80mm's was the very same tray only different in the fan spaces? Are you saying that the 120mm tray is wider than the dual 80mm and therefor too big to fit on the back of the G5? If that's the case I'm a little screwed. But I guess it can be fixed :/
The order is already on it's way so it's too late to change it now

EDIT: Unfortunately it seemed that you were right about the 120mm tray being too large. The size wasn't mentioned on Mountain Mods website and I thought they were the same size.
Here's a guy comparing them:

http://t1.gstatic.co...xoR_Y-eLzeOsGQW


I guess I'll have to make some cutting to make it fit. But I have no idea what to do about the fans, the original fan spots will be blocked by the train and the 120mm hole won't fit.
I'm pretty upset about this but I guess I'll have to come to a solution.

If you happen to have any ideas about this please don't hesitate to tell me!

The 7970/7950 are already out! What are you waiting for?
Contact companies and talk to them if you wish to be sponsored. You have to put your soul into it.

Regards
Nikkokick

[nickjf20]

Well, I'll be posting all the 'workings' of my mod when the perspex fan grill is ready, but I started out with the Lian Li 80mm hole and used a weird pair of curved metal scissors to cut it out to vaguely 90mm. It was then sanded 'out' further to fit the original PowerMac fan grill. http://www.flickr.co.../in/photostream

At the moment, I've only got a 450W PSU with 32Amps on the 12V rail, so I can't really shove a 7970 / 7950 in, nor can I afford them
I'll probably end up getting a 7870

You might (will) have to fabricate a new back panel if you go down the 120mm route, but I'd recommend just asking them really nicely to have the dual 80s option.

What happened to Antec ? Aren't they sending you out the 920 any more ?

[nikkokick]

nickjf20, on 12 February 2012 - 12:50 PM, said:

Well, I'll be posting all the 'workings' of my mod when the perspex fan grill is ready, but I started out with the Lian Li 80mm hole and used a weird pair of curved metal scissors to cut it out to vaguely 90mm. It was then sanded 'out' further to fit the original PowerMac fan grill. http://www.flickr.co.../in/photostream

At the moment, I've only got a 450W PSU with 32Amps on the 12V rail, so I can't really shove a 7970 / 7950 in, nor can I afford them
I'll probably end up getting a 7870

You might (will) have to fabricate a new back panel if you go down the 120mm route, but I'd recommend just asking them really nicely to have the dual 80s option.

What happened to Antec ? Aren't they sending you out the 920 any more ?

Your results sure do look nice but I want either two 92mm or one 120mm, I'll get my motherboard tray at the start of next week so hopefully I'll be able to decide then


About Antec.
We had continuous e-mail contact for a while, and they even promised me to ship a 920 Kuhler when it was in stock, and that was a couple of days before Christmas.
However, after New Year I haven't heard from them at all. It has been a whole month since I contacted them after New Year and they still haven't replied, even tho I've sent them e-mails recently asking what's going on no one replied, I even had contact with two different persons.
Very very very unprofessional acting from Antec in my opinion and therefor I'm no longer interested in having a collaboration with them. It would be one thing if they would say to me that they no longer have the possibility to support me with their products, then I would be fine, but when they're not even answering my e-mails for over a month, that's unprofessional from a company that big.

So I have instead contacted other companies who are interested in having a collaboration with me, and I'm going to present them as soon as we have discussed and come to a conclusion

Until then, best regards.
Nikkokick

[nikkokick]

Also!

You might wonder why I don't update to frequently.
This project is a school project which is supposed to last until/be finished at the end of May. Due to that I've decided to not too often, but rather do it once a week more or less.

However, I was supposed to do an update yesterday/today but I encountered a problem.
I was going to pick up the package from Mountain Mods when the courier/customs wanted to charge me for 270 SEK. That is, approximately 50% of the value of motherboard tray + the shipping.
This makes no sense and I refused to pay it, instead I'm now having contact with the courier and the customs.

Customs tend to be 25%, which would be fine I guess (even tho I'd like to avoid it) but now it's around 50%.

Also! I've got 4x 60mm fans from Fractal Design to be used for the PSU. This update will come shortly, I'm in need to fix some things first >: )

Best Regards
Nikkokick

[nickjf20]

Wish the UK operated this project scheme.

Shame about the Antec 920, I've heard good things about them.

As for customs - that's a real annoyance ! I opted for the Lian over the Mountain Mods simply because they were so unhelpful over the shipping -- I wondered how much it would cost to post one to the UK and they replied almost a week later with a generic response, clearly not realising I was from the UK. Good luck dealing with your courier!

Also, does anyone have any tips on cleaning the powermac aluminium ? The people I bought it from were smokers and there's a weird slightly yellow residue on the side which won't come off :/

[nikkokick]

I have now updated my project!
Please search (CTRL+F on Windows) for UPDATE 20/02.
You'll then be directed to where my newest update starts.

Thanks

nickjf20, on 15 February 2012 - 10:15 PM, said:

Wish the UK operated this project scheme.

Shame about the Antec 920, I've heard good things about them.

As for customs - that's a real annoyance ! I opted for the Lian over the Mountain Mods simply because they were so unhelpful over the shipping -- I wondered how much it would cost to post one to the UK and they replied almost a week later with a generic response, clearly not realising I was from the UK. Good luck dealing with your courier!

Also, does anyone have any tips on cleaning the powermac aluminium ? The people I bought it from were smokers and there's a weird slightly yellow residue on the side which won't come off :/

Hehe well too bad you don't have it, it's a really nice thing to have!

I managed to not pay a cent for the customs! Read through my update and you'll see how I managed to do so!

About cleaning I have no idea! Try some polish for bathrooms or something like that, might work!

Best Regards
Nikkokick

[nickeddy]

Looks nice so far. I have one question though - what do you plan on using for the HDD cage? I can't for the life of me seem to find any HDD cage with 5x or more bays that will sit with the disks' io facing towards the case opening. Any suggestions would be awesome.

[PookyMacMan]

Many modders simply use the cage that came in the PowerMac, unless you're one of those people with a zillion hard drives. Look up the DaveVegas PowerMac G5 mod here and he did it.

[nickeddy]

PookyMacMan, on 22 February 2012 - 08:25 PM, said:

Many modders simply use the cage that came in the PowerMac, unless you're one of those people with a zillion hard drives. Look up the DaveVegas PowerMac G5 mod here and he did it.

I've got 4 HDDs so that won't work. Might have to go with a really cheap case and rip out its guts .
I did find this, however: http://www.newegg.co...N82E16816111045
Seems to be what I'd like, mostly.

[PookyMacMan]

It might be a little cumbersome. I would just get a cheap case (there are some on eBay I think for like $15) and rip out the guts.

I'm also thinking that if your PSU draws less than 500W, you might not even need the other two. If you really want them, though, i would mount them inside the PSU.

[Kevin Pham]

nickeddy, on 22 February 2012 - 10:06 PM, said:

I've got 4 HDDs so that won't work. Might have to go with a really cheap case and rip out its guts .
I did find this, however: http://www.newegg.co...N82E16816111045
Seems to be what I'd like, mostly.

I've been looking at that for awhile now, too.  But I really want to be able to put the fans on the side to combo as my front intake.

I've been thinking of using this, too.
http://www.newegg.co...N82E16811999141

[nickeddy]

Kevin Pham, on 29 February 2012 - 05:36 AM, said:

I've been looking at that for awhile now, too.  But I really want to be able to put the fans on the side to combo as my front intake.

I've been thinking of using this, too.
http://www.newegg.co...N82E16811999141

Here's another I'm thinking of - seems like it would work well.
http://www.frozencpu...ized_Black.html

[Kevin Pham]

nickeddy, on 01 March 2012 - 09:32 PM, said:

Here's another I'm thinking of - seems like it would work well.
http://www.frozencpu...ized_Black.html

So I ended up ordering this HDD caddy:
http://www.newegg.co...N82E16816111045

I removed the rear fan and bought a quieter one and mounted that one on the side.  I'll post it on my thread later tonight ('round 2AM PST)

http://www.insanelym...howtopic=276564