@Nervouschimp.

i wanted to do something like that too. but i just didnt think itd be worth it. i am looking foward to seeing how it turns out

my friend wants me to build him a computer into a G5 case as well. if your set up goes well i might copy it.

Nice, What tools did you get and how are you gonna use all your pci, pci e slots if it is a full atx and no dremel?

Offer:

Just bought two complete used G5 empty cases on e-bay for €115.00 in Ratingen, Germany! My problem is this, I live in Basil, Switzerland so they won't send them here! (EU regulations, customs etc.)


So if there is any body in Germany, France (EU) that wants them, or would like to share one and can go get them let me know?
I'm really not bothered, they want to be paid by bank transfer or at collection.

If you would like, I will e-mail them and tell them that my "friend" will pick them up or pay extra €15.00 to have it shipped then they are yours!(or to share)

PM me if you are interested, I'm including the description in german if you need to know more!

SticMAN

2x Leergehäuse Apple Powermac G5
(sie bieten hier auf beide zusammen ! )

Wie der Name schon sagt, handelt es sich bei diesen Gehäusen um leere Gehäuse,
es befinden sich inwendig nur ein paar schwarze Kabel, Plastikbefestigungen
und die Plexiglasdeckel, die Alu-Aussendeckel sind ebenfalls dabei.

Die Gehäuse sind zwar gebraucht, aber noch gut in Schuss, ein wenig Staub,
minimale Kratzer, wenige Schlieren, die sich wegreinigen lassen.
Beide Gehäuse kommen sehr sicher verpackt in den originalen
Apple Ersatzteil-Verpackungen.
Es wird keinerlei Garantie übernommen.

KEINE LIEFERUNG AUSSERHALB EUROPÄISCHE UNION.
EU-Versandkosten auf Anfrage.
Innerhalb Deutschland moderate 15€ versicherter UPS Versand.
(Versand weder mit Post, noch mit Hermes, noch mit Fleurop).
Abholung ist auch möglich.
Die Lieferung erfolgt incl. ordentlicher Rechnung mit ausgewiesener MWST.
Diese MWST ist im Steigerpreis enthalten.

I was working on the front port last night and ran into a problem. there is no explicit v-ground listed on the g5 service pinout for the firewire cable, only chassis ground fw (shield ground?), but the usb cable does have both usb v-ground and chassis ground.

So it looks like I must use pin 2 (listed as V-GND) to ground the firewire.

Now, if I do that, that leaves me with where to ground the power button.

Can the power button and the firewire share the same ground?

Is this why people have had trouble with their firewire ports? Because they are using pin 2 for PWR BTTN ground, and are left with no V-GND for firewire? I really don't think the chassis ground cable alone is enough for a healthy firewire connection?

Am I right?

found on the net:

"In order to understand the issue, it is necessary to understand just a little bit of how FireWire operates.

FireWire allows the attachment of external devices to host computers through a cable which is composed of the following wiring components:

Serial Data Pairs, of which there are two, giving a total of 4 wires.
Power, which is generally somewhere between 8 to 24 volts DC.
Ground, which is a lead that provides a current return for the Power line.
Shield, which helps prevent the emission of Radio Frequency Interference from the FireWire cable."

OK, I just figured out something.... the apple pinout diagram is correct, but it assumes that you are looking into the end of the front panel cable connector. The apple diagram is correct only if you have unplugged the cable and are staring into the bottom of the plug.

This is why some find the apple front pinout to be backwards..... because it is

nice, that should solve my front panel connecting issues...

Finally got my cases now where to begin and how do I connect the front panel to the motherboard










The one above is the Front Panel Connector and more below



Above Hard Drive Area


Cd Drive Tray thingy

The Back

That is the port on the motherboard for the Front Panel Board Power thing more pictures underneath

Usb For Front Panel

Above For Audio

How Motherboards Gonna be place but with a Motherboard Tray

Another Angle

In progress

Ok so Basically Right Now I want to know How to connect the Front 3 Ports and Power Button

I didn't know you could just use the IO ports that are already built into the case instead of cutting them, I'd like to know how to do that!

Anyway to explain how to do that to a noob like me? I have no idea how any of the motherboard/IO parts work.

Well You can buy a cose enough motherboard to do that but the easier way is if you know how solder, then you can desolder move and tweak them to fit into them. But I suggest cutting the back and getting a MotherBoard Tray so if you ever want to change it then you can.

on the front ports:
I'm working on that right now... haven't had time to test my new wiring.... but one thing is certain... there are not enough grounds.... the firewire really needs a voltage return, so I am without a ground for the power switch atm.

on the back ports:
you can buy panel mount cables for firewire, usb, lan and audio, etc... and epoxy their ABS housing to the back-plane instead of using the included screws. many of the cables can be found at frontx.com. because most atx motherboards load up the rear with legacy ports, just de-solder those, and they'll be out of your way. find a board with lots of internal headers for usb, firewire, and just run a panel mount cat6 patch cable from the rear lan to the appropriate port on the G5 backplane. make some custom port caps to neatly cap the unused ports, like modem etc.... like they do with cars... they just neatly cap off the sections of the dash for options that you did not elect for at the time of purchase, and it looks better than an empty hole, and no-one will think twice about it....
or:
just use the common method of slapping an atx tray on the back.

So can anyone show me a pic of the Front panel board connected to the motherboard

Yeah actually I might just get a dremel and carefully cut out the back (just enough to get a plate in there), I don't like the idea of soldering (I wouldn't know what I was doing).

But, has anyone gotten the front I/O powers to work (and if so - how?).

I'll probably use an ASROCK 1333 D667 motherboard.

So is thier any one with a picture of the front panel wire connected to there motherboard

guess not, you getting progress on your case done though?

Trying to figure out all the wiring first here is some pics of the power wire of the front panel and fans

Here is the Front Panel Wire


Power And Led Button Wire From Two angles. Three Wires



Alot Of fans, Trying to Use all of them


Connector of one of them any ideas people, Habit of bitting nails nasty huh? And Front View Of it



The BiG one

Connector For It front and back again any ideas?


The Fan With the speaker also can I make this one have the apple chime when I start it up huh again any ideas lol more angles too




And Thanks Really need your guys help on this

In this thread , the author show how to connect the HD's fan. I have to look for the comment . Here we are post 43 to 47 on page 3, you will find the answer.

you're better off just buying atx spec fans and building some brackets for them, rather than figuring out the wiring on the apple fans. that would be a major pain. not to mention getting the temp and rmp sensors to work right, don't forget that, cuz if the apple fans run at 100% all the time, they'll be hella loud, and probably burn out kinda fast

Yea I saw that but I dont really know which wires connect to which wires on Mob, Im basically looking for a diagram of each pin on the fan so I can match them up with the one on the moboYea I know I want it to be as original as the powermac G5 case I dont care really if its loud and I will find a way to get th sensors to work

So for the wiring of the Front Panel I can just use the wires on my other pcs front panel wires or where i can buy the wires like

Usb on G5 front panel = usb internal wire

Firewire on G5 front panel = Wire to connect to motherboard

Power and Led Wires = Wires for them to connect to motherboard

thanks

I found this pinout...

Thanks so much so can I just use the front panel wires on my pc and solder them to this

ok, i have taken the standoff's out of the case and can no longer find them so do i epoxy the mobo tray to the side of the case or putty epoxy it raised about 1/8-1/4 inch. i also detached the mobo tray from the backing it came. i am going to epoxy the tray and rivet the backing to the mac case.

OK, guys that is a photo of my custom front cable there based on the official pinout diagram....I finally got around to testing my new cable. i just used the G5 front panel to boot up an old shuttle, and my initial suspicions were just confirmed:1. THE FIREWIRE AND PWR BUTTON ARE SOMEHOW BRIDGED ON THE APPLE FRONT PCB!2. You DO NOT need to run a ground cable for the power button header on your MOBO, it is somehow grounded through the firewire voltage return.3. Pin 1 is FW + voltage, and pin 2 must be used for the FW voltage return (true ground, not chassis ground)4. if you have installed your usb and firewire correctly, then you need only a power+ and a pwrLED cable connected to the front panel header on your atx motherboard in order to power up your machine.5. The PWRLED wire and PWRBTTN are reversed. I connected the LED wire to my power button+ header on the mobo, and my power button to my power LED header on my mother board and then pressed the g5 power button and my machine powered right up... I have revised the diagram I posted earlier. it is updated with my current findings.I have not fully tested the firewire and usb connections yet, so stay tuned for the final word....

another update:

with power on/off working great i started testing the front USB port.

usb devices that i plugged in would be initially be detected but just not work. the best solution seemed to be the reversal of the data+ and data- cables.... and it worked perfectly..... so on my setup, i have followed the USB pinout, except at the motherboard end i have flipped the data + and data -

coming right along......

now onto the firewire......

Nervouschimp,

When you get to the firewire you may find that one of the data cables needs reversing from the diagram too. A good year since I did mine!

thanks for the heads up, and your are indeed correct. just like with the USB, the data lines for the firewire must be reversed, as well. so TPA+ and TPA- must be reversed, and then TPB+ and TPB- must be reversed. i tested this setup using a Lacie firewire hardrive and doing several data transfers... it's working great.

i updated the graphic above to illustrate the correct pinout.

also, to verify that the power button is grounded through the firewire VGND, i unplugged the firewire, and then tried to power on the machine... no dice... the firewire VGND does in-fact complete the power button circuit so it must be used.

now i haven't gotten around to the front audio yet, and may not any time soon.... but anyone can use my last diagram posted above to get all up and running.....

so there you go.... that's the pinout you've wanted....

Do you have any pics of your front panel connected to your board and thanks for the picture really helps alot

Ok now I know How to get the Front Panel running now how about the fans

More Stuff came in

Guess what Im making 2 and one of the mobo was not working and need to send it in

























More Parts are coming in and also do any of know where to get the female power thing thats on the front of the powersupply where you put in the power wire or a female to female plug I don't want to open up the powersupply. Thank you and getting one mobo RMA'd stupid Abit and can I use a video card in a PCI E x16 electrical x4 slot thank you and I want to try doing this SLi

hey that motherboard looks like the g5 one in color haha.

Wow I just notice that sweet

haha yeah when i looked it at i was like wow thats pretty nice. my motherboard sticks out cause its purple hah. how much did that motherboard cost you? is it SLi Ready?

Yes it is Sli Ready It Cost me $120 for 2 of them fully supported for vanilla kernel and onboard intel GMA950 graphics

how many gigs of ram does it support? core 2 quad?

4 gigs and quad but im not gonna rig it that much maybe a core 2 duo and 2 gigs of ram im gonna use it for graphic designing backup pc because we have a mac book air and a Mac Pro no pc's and I hate the pc case looks and so basically dual boot xp and leopard and med gaming. the mac pro and air arnt mine my brother and my dad so they dont want to get me one so im building one :DAnd Nervous Chimp if read this can you show me a pic of your front panel cabling connected to your motherboard thanks

seems like a nice build. good luck.

hey nervous chimp, you getting any progress done?

YES! I have made progress! I got my drive bay fans wired up and working.



OK, what I did was split the power into 2 molex connectors that will allow me to attenuate the 12v and 5v separately in order to keep the fans quiet. Basically, the 12v and 12v ground from both fans run to one molex, and the 5v and 5v ground run to a 2nd molex, that way I can easily connect a voltage controller each line and tweak until I get the right combo of noise/cooling. I am hoping that I only need a controller on the 12v line.

BTW, I was unable to power the bay fans on just 12v power. It required both the 5v and 12v lines to make them run.

Also, just like AquaMac said, the voltage lines are on the outside and the grounds are the 2 inner cables.

Nice work there nervouschimp, you are right, you only need to attenuate the 12 v feed. I used a couple of Zalman controllers with one of them turned down as far as it would go and the other slightly faster. They need to be set at slightly differing speeds to stop them creating harmonics.

Oh, crap... so i will need to run a separate resistor to each 12v line?

Do you have any diagram of this or any thing that can help me out you are so lucky you know how to do this type of stuff I want to learn lol

look at the end of connectors with the notches facing up:

left to right:

12v, GND, GND, 5v

Edit:

So I just connected both power lines to 5v and now the bay fans are actually pretty quiet.

so for quiet operation:

5v, GND, GND, 5v.... and no need for a fanmate!

Sweet thanks this one is for the harddrive fans right? or for any with foraand do I need a solder or can I just twine them up

this is for the drive bays fans... both have 4 wires.... i am not using any other stock fans so.... can't help you with anything else.... but they are prolly the same... just connect them 5v, GND, GND, 5v..... the lowest that most fanmates will go is 5v anyway.... so save some clutter.....

i twist, then solder, then shrink-wrap, but i like it to look pro, and be permanent...

So thier is 2 fans on the drive bay and also how come on the molex connector the other 2 wires are gone

Where is the best place to get one of the G5 cases?
I'm in Sydney [Australia] if there is a place a little more local...

try

www.welovemacs.com
www.mac-pro.com
or ebay

Could I use the molex Connector for this one too

Im an Idiot I made smoke come out of the fans does that mean they wont work s**t

amantheboy08: smoke and even sparks? Yes, I ended up with this too. But dont think that the fan is gone, it will probably work with right wiring again... Mine ones work!