60 replies to this topic

[MacBookJoe]

After being inspired by AquaMacs great Mac Pro case mod i joined up in his forum and began my own.. My goal was to create a OSX86 Mac Pro using all the Apple cooling found in the real deal. Aqua Mac has been a really big help providing me with wiring diagrams and help when i needed it most! Its far from done but looking great.







What do you think?

Head over to the AquaMac forums for lots of photos...

AquaMac Forums


J.

[RouteZeroDesign]

Looks good man, cant wait to get mine working.

Any more photos that you can post? along with details on how you did it? any problems you encountered? etc..

I know i could just go back over to the aqua forums(i was on there 5-minutes ago) but for the benefit of people on here you should post some stuff up.

[MacBookJoe]

I'll put together a guide once its further along. Its tricky... lots of cutting and modifying cables.. but lots of fun. It should be looking better come the end of the week. I intend to take some better photos (iPhone cam is not great) I'll pull it apart and take some of the assembly with guide on how to achieve each part.

J.

[teknojunkie]

do you have the panel cover

[dj_stick]

dude your sig is insanely massive


nice hack job there btw, looks awesome

[SticMAC™]

Why don't "Modders" ever show the back of the G5's???
I personally would like to see how the cabling is done!
Is it a fact of "out of sight out of mind"? ot does it look like a mess most of the time?

SticMAN

[MacBookJoe]

All the cabling is very well done.. I've just picked up a better digicam and im waiting on some MOSFET heat sinks.. I'll be taking it apart to install my new bits. I'll take step by step photos of it being put back together. INC the back...

Yeah i do have the side panel.. but for now.. i just like to look at it. These photos are hold now... since these i have installed 3 Noctua 120mm case fans a Noctua North bridge cooler and Thermalright Northbridge SLI cooler on the Southbridge and some Zalman Fan mates for the GPU and CPU.

More photos are coming.

J.

[Panik]

Very impressed by how you kept the cages intact. And also by your custom PSU plug adapter thing.
Nice job!  

Would love to see the back panel though...

[MacBookJoe]

Thanks Panik,

I'll be working on it tomorrow during the day so i'll post some back panel images then. I removed the MacPro back panel with a dremel and used some rubber edging to smarten it all up. I'm working on a way of attaching my MOBO IO plate to the back to seal it all off.

There are plenty images over at the Aqua-Mac forums.

J.

[teknojunkie]

 dj_stick, on Mar 13 2008, 12:03 PM, said:

dude your sig is insanely massive
nice hack job there btw, looks awesome

HAHAHA yeah thanks use all my hackintosh =]

[Korrupted]

He's right though..your sig is HUGE. Could you trim it down a bit? Sorry for going offtopic.  Great case, OP.

[dark4181]

freakin awesome. seeing this, i'm tempted to forgo my g5 mod and try a hack pro

[danielmramos]

OMG!  I just came across this Mac Pro mod.  Things just keep getting better and better.  Just when I think, darn that is the best looking Mac Pro mod I have seen, somebody goes and makes it look even more stock.  By the time you Mac Pro modders are done with this nobody is going to be able to tell that you have a hackintosh in Mac clothing.  Now why is it that all of the best Mac Pro mods are from the UK?  Is there some sort of conspiracy here? ;-)

MacBookJoe, I can't wait for that guide that you are going to put up.  I have not sunk my teeth into a hackintosh YET, but if I do I want to give it a real go at a really nice looking Mac Pro mod.

Currently I am trying to do some research to decide which motherboard is the best for a Mac Pro modded hackintosh.  Originally I wanted to use an Asus P5K3 Deluxe WiFi motherboard for my hackintosh; however, it looks like all of the Mac Pro modders have stuck to micro ATX motherboards to keep it looking as stock as possible.  Which boards do you suggest I look at.  I don't want any board that has legacy useless ports on it like parallel printer ports.

Speaking of which, what are the maximum dimensions for a motherboard that fits in the Mac Pro case without modifying the enclosure at all?  It sure would be nice to keep it stock.

Thanks

[danielmramos]

Here is the link to the topic I started when I began searching for an appropriate motherboard for this project.  If any of you all have any ideas I would appreciate it.

http://forum.insanel...mp;#entry741081

Hmm, the S2 model would also work.  I guess the ASUS P5B-VM is possible, but I am not sure the onboard RAID works well.

Thanks

[vbetts]

Man, the Mac Pro case just looks so damn nice. I would just grab the case if I wasen't interested in Osx86.

[danielmramos]

 vbetts, on May 12 2008, 04:09 PM, said:

Man, the Mac Pro case just looks so damn nice. I would just grab the case if I wasen't interested in Osx86.

I'm sorry, I don't understand.  Why would being interested in OSX86 keep you from building a machine with the Mac Pro case?  Isn't it a nice case for any machine whether it is a hackintosh or regular Macintosh?  Now that a new one can be had for $199 I don't see the major obstacle as many nice aftermarket PC cases are close to that price.  The challenge is finding the right motherboard and components that would work well with that case.  It seems like people would want to do the hackintosh thing in hardware as well as software if at all possible.  Macs are beautiful after all.

[olinboy1]

I think that's what he's just agreeing and complimenting. The MacPro case is so nice, you don't even really need to be interested in Tiger or Leopard to want to mod one to use as your main machine case. It just so happens that the OS is awesome too.

Now if only I didn't have to harvest my kidneys to BUY a real MacPro!!  

[shaanky98]

 SticMAN, on Mar 13 2008, 01:42 PM, said:

Why don't "Modders" ever show the back of the G5's???
I personally would like to see how the cabling is done!
Is it a fact of "out of sight out of mind"? ot does it look like a mess most of the time?

SticMAN

Well I guess you have a point about the back and the cabling but if you see this



and this




you might understand that some of these mods have been done really good, inside and outside.

[MacBookJoe]

Ahh, AquaMacs work is the very best.... Mine has changed a little... I've installed a 9800GTX addes a north and south bridge HS and have started work on a plate to cover the hole in the RAM cage.. I'm making this out of Alu with the help of some engineers at work.. My intention is to fill the hole flush with thumb screws holding the RAM cage in place..

My guide is coming.. I'm just silly busy atm.


Head over to AquaMac's website for other MacPro case mods and great photos..


J.

[diontoradan]

hei, im looking forward on building one. could somebody tell me where i could find the case? thanks so much