Well, got my case today, so its time to start documenting my build.

Computer Parts:
Gigabyte GA-EP45-DS3L Mobo
2.4Ghz Core 2 Quad Q6600
2Gb Ram
Visiontek ATI 3650 HD 1Gb
160Gb WD Sata HDD
Antec 500 Watt PSU
Mac Pro Case




Now here is my dilemma:

My mobo fits, barely. Silly me didnt buy a micro atx, so I can get it in there with the 2 rear HDD hookups removed and it squeezes in there nice and snug.
BUT then my cards won't line up 100%, they are off by like 5mm, the mobo needs to be moved up, but there isn't any where to go. I can get the cards in there, but they will have to be bent a touch.

So do I leave it and bend the cards a bit, or do I turn the mobo sideways and the run small cables to the rear slots?
I really do not want to cut anything on this case. Im thinking sideways is best, as it will then give me more room to run wires to the rear usb ports on the case.






Discuss:

Did I mention this will be hooked up to my 23" cinema?

Check out Torque or MacbookJoe's Hack Pro mods in this forum, you'll get many good ideas

I know that problem... check out my thread.. your questions will be answered... with the design layout of your board you'd be better cutting out the bottom like Aqua-Mac you could cut the self like me buy you'd lose possible future SLI/Crossfire options.


J.

If I had the budget, I would get a new mATX borad, and sell this one..
You have a nice case, you might as well make it nice inside.. Besides, Mac Pro Hacks can get very close to the real deal..

I still have a couple days to return this board to microcenter, I'm thinking that is what I am going to do.

Don't really know what to get to replace it though. Microcenter has a GA-73PVM-S2H nForce 630i, I like the gigabyte boards, but microcenter only has 1 that is a mATX and supports DDR2-800.

I'm uneasy about the nforce northbridge though.

Suggestions? Biostar? Asus?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...N82E16813128363

Microcenter doesnt carry many mATX 775 boards, all the good ones are AMD.

I'm going to try out an ECS g45t-m2, or the previously mentioned gigabyte model, or maybe an ASUS P5KPL-CM.

I'm too impatient to wait for things to ship....

I suggest you no buy motherboards like ECS, PCChips or Biostar the product quality is poor.

You might have a look at the DFI LanParty P45 mATX board http://forum.insanelymac.com/index.php?showtopic=113331. I think it is the only P45 mATX board and it does not have the useless onboard video.

So I took back my gigabyte and picked up a Intel DG45ID. I don't like it at all.

I ordered an ASUS P5Q-EM LGA from newegg. It has 4 memory slots, a pci-ex16 2.0 slot, realtek 8111C gigabit and realtek ALC1200 Audio, lots of usb and firewire. I seen a couple people had success with this board after bios mods, so I should be good now.

I'm going to use this intel board to set my stand-offs before it goes back.

I modified the case for my power supply down to just the base since it had a nice set of standoffs built it. Drilled some holes and mounted it using the stock PSU holes. I'm going to use the stock PSU fan to cool it. Also came up with a decent way to mount the power plug. The piece still needs some trimming, but it will do for now. I decided to utilize the stock wiring both as an extension, and also to make life easier when removing the PSU. Mobo will be here tomorrow.

I like the "stock-extension cable mod" and the plug fixing is nice too.
I made a full extension PSU cables by using the cables from another PSU and glued the plug onto the g5 case. Still have to put some pix in my thread.
Nice job you did. Take some time to solder all those wires.

Well I got the wiring finished up and the main plug of the front panel wired, but I have a problem:

The heat sinks in my PSU are now some how carrying about 100 volts of juice. I fired it up and stuck my hand in there to see how hot the thing was getting and got a good jump start. So I took it out, checked it over, didnt see anything a-miss, so I re-assembled and rigged up a lamp to test it since using my fingers isn't much fun and my volt meter is at my parents' house. So thinking I gooned this thing, I went and picked up another psu. (I buy the cheap ones). After thoroughly voiding the warranty on the new one, I stuck it in there, fired it up, went to check the temps on the sinks, BAM! zapped again. Guess I didn't learn that lesson.

So what gives? Why am I magically getting hot where there should be ground? Im thinking it has something to do with the front panel somehow.

Any ideas?

I'm only 25, but I dont now how much more 120 my heart can take....

Maybe I am wrong here, but it seems that you wired the ground from the plug to the metal beside the plug. And this ground wire has to be connected to the PSU itself . Before changing any cable from the PSU, when you opened it and void the warranty, you should have seen the three cables from the plug were connected to the PSU, brown, blue to the iside of PSU and ground to the metal plate of the PSU. Am I mistaken or ?

Yeah the green ground is attached to the case, but then the case of the power supply is also attached to the case, so there is a connection there.

Went and got a cheap volt meter.

Seems I'm getting -166VDC on the sinks

Check this PSU out

And if you try to connect the ground directly to the PSU case just to see if there will be a changement .