well, the wifey in her infinite wisdom has talked sense into me. my efforts and cash would be better spent on performance.... so no iMac pro.....

Hi you guys... I am also building my PC into the G5 case. I also got a broken G5 mobo and probably working G5 CPU with it (I took off the G5 plate which I am sure will fit somewhere nice inside). (Everything together for only 50 euros ) I desoldered all the backside connectors, front connector and HDD fans connectors from the broken mainboard so I was able to solder on the connectors instead of on the cables. Now it will still be possible to disconnect them. YEAH, who cares!
I also want to keep the backside original because this case is too beautiful to take apart. So I am also doing the cable extension mod inside the case.

So far, thanks to you people who gave us the right pin outs of the G5 front connector and fan connectors:

- Power Button and front USB work
- HDD Fans work
- Modifed original hard drive power cables to molux connector so it fits onto my ATX PSU.

I guess I can get the front FireWire working.

FireWire white wire on apple connector pin 1
FireWire black wire on apple connector pin 2 (just like the LED GND and Power button GND)
FireWire blue wire on apple connector pin 7
FireWire orange wire on apple connector pin 8
FireWire green wire on apple connector pin 3
FireWire red wire on apple connector pin 4

But my problem is the Audio connector. (see attachment for my MOBO audio connector pin out)
According earlier posts the G5 front audio pin out is as follows:

15 audio sense
16 audio com
17 audio right
18 audio left

The first problem that occurs is which layout to choose? HD Audio or AC'97?

When looking to my MOBO audio pinout for HD Audio, I was thinking the following:
pin 5 (LINE2_R) goes to G5 front pin 17 (AUDIO RIGHT)
pin 9 (LINE2_L) goes to G5 front pin 18 (AUDIO LEFT)
pin ?? goes to G5 front pin 15 (AUDIO SENSE) (I got FSENSE1 and FSENSE2 in the diagram, which one?)
pin ?? goes to G5 front pin 16 (AUDIO COM)

When looking to my MOBO audio pinout for AC'97, I was thinking the following:
pin 5 (Line out R) goes to G5 front pin 17 (AUDIO RIGHT)
pin 9 (Line out L) goes to G5 front pin 18 (AUDIO LEFT)
pin ?? goes to G5 front pin 15 (AUDIO SENSE) (Is there more to choose from?)
pin ?? goes to G5 front pin 16 (AUDIO COM) (Is there more to choose from?)

Conclusion is that in both cases I can already solder pin 5 en pin 9 from the audio connector to pin 17 and pin 18 of the G5 Front connector. But what to solder onto G5 front pin 15 and 16? Plese help me out! Thanks!

Another question, I have nothing to solder to pin 5 (CHASSIS GND FW s-ground) and pin 6 (CHASSIS GND USB s-ground) of the G5 connector? Am I right?

I will provide you with a picture when I am finished.

if you go back to page like 20 nervouschimp finished his back to keep it by defualt so yeah.

I found audio com[mon] to be ground. So I wired L and R like you did and then wired 16 to my front panel audio ground. Don't really need to worry about HD vs. AC97 because the base pinouts are the same. I didn't wire up the sense yet because I was more concerned with other tasks but it's something to try. I would do it to sense 1. I believe it's for the OS to know if you have headphones plugged in so it can use the system volume control for that output.

Since I'm posting btw, just wanted to thank nervouschimp for the inspiration of retaining the stock rear panel, zonoskar for the inspiration of using the stock mobo standoffs and fitting a coolermaster psu in the g5 psu case, and everyone else who provided help in the thread. I'm near the final stages of my G5 retrofit. Last night I did my usb and firewire jumpers. My ethernet, fw800 and audio jumpers need some shaving with a dremel before they'll fit. Once those jumpers are epoxied in i'll be able to put everything back in the case..Here are some quick pictures I snapped last night. (sorry about the quality, iphone camera sucks..)









System specs are:
Core 2 Extreme QX9650 (w/ Tunic Tower 120)
Gigabyte GA-P35-DS3L
4gb Kingston HyperX DDR2 1066 (still having problems with this much memory, troubleshooting the solution, for now maxmem=3072)
2 Samsung Spinpoint 750GB drives in Raid 0 to PCI express SI 3132 card
ASUS 512MB 8600GT (w/ Zalman VNF100 fanless)
Pci express fw800/fw400 card
DLink DWA-552 802.11n
LG GGC-H20L Blu-Ray/HDDVD combo drive
Coolermaster Real Power Pro 550w retrofit into G5 PSU case
Leopard Retail.. 10.5.2 with EFI string for gfx for now

I 5volted the G5 drive bay blower, rear panel blowers and power supply fans. I'm planning on starting out with those as my only fans and then making changes if it's too noisy. I liked zonoskar's idea of retaining the stock power supply fan and mounting it at an angle but not sure if it'll provide adequate airflow. If the 2 60mm fans are too noisy I will replace them with that method. (page 16 of this thread)

I don't plan to overclock much past 3.66ghz since (per an anandtech article) the power consumption of this cpu ramps up really fast under full load while overclocked. they found literally double the power consumption at 3.8ghz. so i'm going to take the fan out of the tunic tower and just rely on airflow from the rear panel blowers to keep it comfortable.

looking good andyman1080 if you have time can you put pics up of your modded PSU thanks

cool. are you going to restore the entire back panel? if you use the G5 standoffs alone, how will you support your cards? where are you positioning the board? to modify my sockets, I just used a hobby knife with a new blade, made quick work of it... just kind of carved them down til they fit right. also, did you glue your sockets right up the aluminum? and what kind of adhesive is that you are using? do you feel the bond will hold up to daily abuse?

Add another G5 case to the list. My mod is underway!

I only wish I had bought a motherboard that was mATX, but thanks to all the modders that have gone before me, I've seen it can be done with a full ATX.

I'm still undecided on the "to cut (the back panel) or not to cut" debate. I'm going to work on adapting the front panel connections in the meantime.

Thanks again to everyone who has made this an invaluable resource to modding these cases!

^^ Wow... neatness ^^

Even if the dremel-in-box photo above wasn't a dead giveaway, this is the first type of project I've ever attempted. I'm glad I didn't totally hack the drive floor to bits!

Also, I thought it was interesting that there are actually three different kinds of standoffs inside the G5 case. I tried to get a "standard" motherboard mounting screw into either of the standoffs that will accept screws, but it seems like the thread pattern might be a little more compact in the G5 standoffs. I could probaby force it to screw in, but I'd rather not have it bind up on me later. Can anyone give some input as to which screw will fit the G5 standoffs correctly?

I'm mocking up my Asus P5K Deluxe wifi/ap board right now with a trusty "stuntman" from olden days just to see how my clearance will be. I Photoshopped the Deluxe board in there over the top of the old ATX board for fun. Thanks for the photo newegg!

Is that iPhone or Touch? If its iPhone what is that very cool case?

I was playing around this morning, and realized that the G5 case will accept 2 complete shuttle G-series computers, with a little room to spare.



While 2 discrete machines would be impractical for some, it is perfect for way I work. I create game content on the mac that ends up in a game editor in windows. Game editors, and games in general don't run well if at all in parallels, and there is too much back and forth to boot into windows.... so for that, and many other reasons.... I think this will be an interesting project worth pursuing. My hack will be called the Powermac dual-G2 project. My back panel already has 2 lans and 2 antennas, and with the addition of an internal KVM, and firewire 800 adhock between the 2.... this should be fun.

Indeed it is an iPhone case. I bought it a few weeks ago and I like it a lot.
Switcheasy iPhone Case




:: UPDATE ON MY G5 CASE ::

I have my new standoffs made (I'll post the pics when I get home later on). I modified some standoffs that were too long that I picked up at RadioShack, set them into 1 inch squares of clear plexi, and bonded them down to the case with metal epoxy from Home Depot. After the first 24hrs, I'm happy with about 6 out of the 9 total being completely solid. The remaining 3 that were loose needed to be re-applied (I think they were set on parts of the epoxy that weren't a good 50-50 mix to bond/harden correctly)

So, it can be done..... the question is, SHOULD it be done? I'm thinking this is kind of silly.

yeah it is kinda silly but pretty cool I would suggest getting the skulltrail board and sticking 2 quads 16 gb ram 4 video cards 4tb of storage 1000 PSU Watt and your good. lol

the skulltrail platform is serious coin. a real mac pro would be a better choice.

skulltrail is rubbish.

price/performance ratio blows.

fb-dimms are slow, and don't belong in a gaming platform.

very few apps will benifit from 8-cores.

etc.... total waste of money.

so just build an amazing gaming pc. i think the 2 shuttles wouldn't be very practical.

yeah it is pretty pricy but wait soon it will go down yeah I would get Mac Pro 100 Times than the SkullTrail just my thoughts. Good luck with what your going to do.

OK, I finally pulled the trigger at newegg, and the parts should be arriving soon (knowing newegg).

The components for my new system:

ASUS P5E WS Professional LGA 775 Intel X38 ATX Intel Motherboard
MSI NX8800GT 512M OC GeForce 8800GT 512MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0
SYBA PCI-Express 1394b FireWire Card Model SD-PEX-FWB
Thermaltake W0131RU ATX12V / EPS12V 850W Power Supply
Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 Kentsfield 2.4GHz
G.SKILL 4GB(2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 1066 X 2
Western Digital Caviar RE2 WD7500AYYS 750GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s
LITE-ON 20X DVD±R DVD Burner With 12X DVD-RAM Write Black SATA Model LH-20A1S
ARCTIC COOLING Arctic Fan 9 (AF9) 92mm Case Fan X2
XIGMATEK HDT-S1283 120mm Rifle CPU Cooler

I think it'll be a fairly decent rig if I can get the Q6600 to 3.2GHZ, and with the supported FSB of this board, and the flipping awesome Xigmatek cpu cooler, it shouldn't be a problem.

I'm feeling good about this build.

seems like a solid build

with my parts on the way, it was time to figure out a solution for the new power supply.



the PSU will actually exhaust out the bottom of the case. there is plenty of clearance, thanks to the G5 feet. a 90 degree power jumper will run back into the case through the bottom, and back to the rear of the G5.



that is my cut. a little filing and i'll be done.



there i have the psu plate installed using 1/8" rivets. just to the right of the psu plate is the power return hole. i have installed a radio shack rubber grommet into the through-hole.



there is the psu plate from the inside. looks nice and neat IMO. i will be installing exhaust fans there, as they will help prevent warm air from building up under the G5, and help get the CPU heat out.



that's an old PSU serving as a stunt double to demonstrate the arrangement since i don't have the real PSU yet.

Dumbfounded.... why would you go through all that hassle of sparing the rear panels and then cut up the bottom.

looking good nervouschimp

gotta agree with this

well the bottom isn't going to be seen at all, where as the back will be sen at points even all the time depending on the positioning of the case. plus if you dont do the back right it can take away the integrity of the case.

lookin' good nervouschimp!!!!! keep it coming!!!

nervous chimp are you going to be running Mac on this because alot of things dont work with your motherboard

Kalyway 10.5.1
BIOS version unknown, Rev. unknown
SATA Work
IDE Doesn't Work
Audio Doesn't Work
LAN working out of the box
iAtkos 10.5.1
SATA Work
LAN working after patch

takin from the wiki.

Sorry Nevermind it works

http://forum.insanelymac.com/index.php?sho...=80885&st=0

OK, so why restore the rear ports, and then cut the bottom? I didn't rewire the the back because I am afraid to use a dremmel. The back, like the front is perfect the way it is. The only legacy port on this case that was stamped out way back in 2004 is the modem port, and that port can be converted to a 2nd LAN. I want this to look like a G5, not a G5 with a ATX tray stuck on the back. If you are going to be dumbfounded by anything, it should be that anyone would take the time to convert a powermac to ATX in the first place.

The bottom of this case is an empty canvas as far as I'm concerned, it's the under carriage, and it's not like I butchered it. It's a clean mod. Besides, I have been trying to aquire a G5 skateboard, which would mean the bottom would never ever be seen, but they are impossible to find in stock anywhere, even ebay.

I'm actually dumbfounded when I see people chop out the whould backsided of their G5, just to use their one expansion card, and expose the PS2/parallel/serial legacy crap connectors on their motherboard. Maybe I'm just weird.

did you make that thing to hold your PSU.

it's from a big old Lian Li case that a coworker didn't want anymore. lots of good parts on it.

nervouschimp when are your parts coming in?

Hopefully the first of them will arrive tomorrow. I got to work on my tray mounting tonight. I originally wanted to bolt the tray to the G5 standoffs, but ran into a couple issues. The heads of the standoff screws are so big that they will touch the motherboard, and mounting it this way will make it harder to work on the motherboard. So I am attaching 3 tabs to the tray that will secure it to the G5 chassis. This will allow me to mount everything down outside the case. I'll post pictures of that when I'm done.

Nervouschimp, I've soldered and extended all the wires from the front panel except for the two that are marked as s-grounds. My question is about where you have wired these two pins (5 & 6)? I know the original diagram says CHASSIS, so can i just extend these and have them ground to a standoff screw or something like that? Also, have you (or anyone else that has this completed for that matter) seen any degradation in signal quality or transfer speed because many of these wires have been un-twisted from a twisted pair or the shielding has been removed?

Thank you for doing the hard work in making and posting the edits to the wiring grid in the first place!

i just didnt connect the s ground works fine.

The shield ground may not be needed, but I used shielded firewire, and usb cables, and both include a shield wire. There is usually one shield pin per usbx2 header on the average motherboard, and every firewire header should have a shield pin. A shield wire is generalally used when the data pairs are run together with voltage and ground, and I think it is actually the voltage and ground that create all the noise that can effect the data lines, and somehow the shield wire helps to cancel that out. If your wires are not isolated into individual cables, and are loose speghetti, then I'm guessing that a shield wire will do nothing for you. Again, I am using quality cables, so I can't comment on whether you will seen any noticible transfer issues. It might depend on the length of your wires and the amount of EMI bouncing around in your case.

But I am no expert on this stuff, so don't take my word for it.

Man, you have got to love newegg. Ordered my parts over the weekend, and they arrived today. So it looks like I need to get my case finished up.

sweet lets see this.

yeah nervouschimp! lets see that thing

My tray is pretty much done, but not filed.



I riveted 3 tabs to the tray, 2 short and one long. The long one lines up with the original screw holes on the bottom of the G5.







I also got my rear fans installed:

looking very good are those fans like silent because im thinking of getting them.

I have not fired them up yet, so not sure.... but I imagine they are pretty quiet.

I think I've decided I want to go with an internally mounted Edirol FA-66 for my audio. It has everything I need for the front back and panels, and is firewire bus-powered, and small... perfect..... except, expensive, and I'm kind of at the edge of my budget.

I'm also supposed to be working on some higher-poly models for my portfolio this weekend, instead of this hackintosh, so I'm not sure If I'll get anything done.... but every time I walk past the pile of new parts, still in their packaging, I get all excited.

I realized I don't have any sata cables long enough, and still need a few more Arctic fans, so maybe I'll put this off til next weekend....

It's up and and running. Don't mind the mess.



My Q6600 went to 3.2 straight away on stock voltages, but the temps concern me a little. It idles at 45C. I thought I did a good job of seating the heat sink. This seems a bit high. Kaly 10.2 install was very smooth, and I think only the audio is not working out of the box.

My initial xbench score was 217.

I have already decided I like being able to reach under the bottom to switch off the PSU before playing with the internals.

my Q6600 is lapped, and i have an arctic cooling freezer pro 7 and arctic silver 5 and my idle temperatures are around 45C. im OC to 3.2 as well lol.

damn.... so that's a normal temp?

I think I've read that this cooler has a kind of high idle, but doesn't raise much under load so I guess I should worry about it..... but I wanna try 3.6.... eh, that may be overkill.

The thing is, the heat sink is cool to the touch, with makes me think it's not seated correctly....

NEXT STEP ORGANIZATION lol

my heatsink isn't very hot either. i remember alot of forums i have read said the q6600 just runs hot.
supposibly hitting like 70c is normal

I updated the wiring diagram a little bit for myself to try and make it as simple as I could. If anyone has any tips or suggestions to add to this to streamline it even more, let me know and I will update it.

Over the weekend i managed to make the replacement I/O back panel. I won't use this one as i will mill out the finished one when i get back to school, but this is the basic design. Excuse the shitty iphone camera!
Click to view attachment Click to view attachment

does that cover up the entire back of the G5 enclosure?

No, i will make a cut out on the back of the case to the exact size of the I/O plate. I will fasten it to the case from behind with some aluminium strips. Doing it this way it will appear flush with the existing G5 rear. I'm gonna 'perforate' this test back plate to see how it looks and how strong it is. Could look quite good.

I'll post some pics when i'm done, but im not gonna cut the case until i have made the final backpanel otherwise there will end up being gaps which i dont want!

olinboy1: thanks for that diagram, good work.... I never bothered with the audio, so thanks for the contribution!

smoothy boothy, looks cool.... but.... if you wanna perforate, and you have access to a machine shop, why not go for the gold, and cut out the entire back mesh section from where it meets the solid top and bottom planes, make a whole replacement perforated back piece, bend it to match the rounded corners, and have tabs that match up with the internal fasteners that run around the sides? That would be awesome.