MiniHack Posted November 3, 2012 Share Posted November 3, 2012 As some of you will know I've been making laser cut mATX backplates and motherboard trays for G5s for a few months now at my site (www.thelaserhive.com) and I am now designing new products to go alongside these and my existing G4 conversion products. The G5 backplates so far have been arranged to take the original Mac G5 fan holder with a pair of 92mm fans and they fit to the perforations already in the G5 back and the motherboard trays fit to original standoffs and align to the original PCI slots. A new version - available in a couple of weeks - will sell alongside the original and instead of the twin 92mm fans will have a single 120 fan positioned to allow all in one water cooling systems to be mounted. In moving up to ATX size, I will need to have a custom design I/O shield assembly, but will still be arranging the backplates to fit to existing perforation spacings on the G5, similarly the tray will continue to align to the standoffs of the G5 without gluing or extra drilling. But I need to know some opinions from you on the preferred fan configuration for the first run of these backplates. Twin 92mms on the traditional holder? Single 120mm or twin 120 fans and a thicker backplate capable of taking a full 240mm cooling rad.? The first two options would allow users to keep their PSU down the bottom inside the G5 PSU case, while the full twin 120s version would need you to have an ATX supply at the bottom but NOT in the G5 PSU case. I really want your opinions on this please as there is no point in making a product that misses the mark.....in the future I may go for more than one of the three options, but I want to start out with the most popular variant. Let me know! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr.D. Posted November 4, 2012 Share Posted November 4, 2012 If I were to use such a product, I would prefer it being as close to the original as possible - the two 92mm fans rather than the one 120mm or the thicker option for the water cooling. However, I wouldn't use this because it takes too much away from the original. Its a great option for those wanting less fuss and muss with their G5 hacks, I'm just too picky I think. So -- I don't think I helped you at all here! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MiniHack Posted November 4, 2012 Author Share Posted November 4, 2012 If I were to use such a product, I would prefer it being as close to the original as possible - the two 92mm fans rather than the one 120mm or the thicker option for the water cooling. However, I wouldn't use this because it takes too much away from the original. Its a great option for those wanting less fuss and muss with their G5 hacks, I'm just too picky I think. So -- I don't think I helped you at all here! All comments appreciated! I tend to agree with you actually - that's why I stuck to mATX backplates so far and cutting as little metal as possible, keeping the original grills and PCI slots. I know though that probably more people these days want to put in an ATX board and then originality often goes out of the window.....the pic shows mATX version. (Ignore the black power inlet at the bottom - you can retain the original PSU housing there instead). 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MiniHack Posted November 18, 2012 Author Share Posted November 18, 2012 Thanks to those who provided me with some feedback via email. Just a quick update to share here. Now available at The Laser Hive is a 120mm fan kit conversion for mATX. Any questions please ping me an email at info@thelaserhive.com or just ask on this thread. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nickjf20 Posted November 21, 2012 Share Posted November 21, 2012 Like it! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jb111s Posted November 24, 2012 Share Posted November 24, 2012 Just like to say that I received Dave's 120mm backplate and matx motherboard tray. Now have a hackintosh fitting perfectly in a g5 case. The motherboard tray is absolutely superb & makes it so easy to install. Really pleased with it. Most importantly have my 120mm push/pull watercooling unit installed so hackintosh is whisper quiet and nice and cool. Cannot recommend his products highly enough. I just had to do a bit of basic dremel work & everything else was so easy and straightforward. Just waiting for my front cable panel to come from Alohacab & it'll all be finished. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MiniHack Posted November 24, 2012 Author Share Posted November 24, 2012 Really pleased that you are happy with it all JB. Always good to hear from an end user that all is well!!! If you do ever get any problems or need anything though please do let me know as I guarantee my stuff. This week I am expecting to be getting some custom made IO shield plates in stock that will make it easier to do neat full ATX mod.s for these cases too......they are arranged to have fixation holes that correspond to the holes in the G5 back, but also to be low enough profile to keep enough room for 120 fans. These brackets are complex to produce as they are laser cut, folded and then powder coated to match the G5 aluminium colour. I found the only IO shields commercially available were way too expensive and so have ordered a small supply to my own design. After I get those in stock (and assuming they are as good as I hope) then I can do the final tweaks to the ATX backplates and then order them to be laser cut in aluminium. In the meantime, a quick message for those waiting on ATX conversions. Thanks for your patience. I want to make sure that the conversions are good and easy to fit before I let them out of my hands. I am hoping (still) that these will start to be available from sometime in December. By the way, for the first run of ATX backplates at the moment I think it is now most likely to be either twin 92mms (original fan holder compatible) or single 120 or possibly a mix of the two. More likely if I have to focus on a single design for the ATX version then it would be the single 120s as [as JB says] they are a good fit for all in one water coolers. If there is any demand for it I can also later do a run of twin 120 backplates. At the moment both single 120 fan and original type twin 92mm fan versions of the mATX backplate and motherboard trays are in stock. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MiniHack Posted November 26, 2012 Author Share Posted November 26, 2012 Postage to the states for the month of December will be discounted to $10 for mATX backplates bought with motherboard trays. Also applies to pre-orders taken in December for the forthcoming ATX versions. Mention discount code "LASER" when ordering. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MiniHack Posted December 5, 2012 Author Share Posted December 5, 2012 Getting closer now to sales on the ATX kits. The pic.s show the first six of each design I have had made for full ATX. In the end I went with both an "Original" type version with twin 92mm fan holder attachment to take the holder from the G5 directly, as well as a version with a single 120 fan. These first versions are designed to mount above where the normal power inlet goes - so they basically mount to the same area as my mATX versions and extend up into the top of the case. That means moving the HD carrier to somewhere else (e.g. suspend under the DVD player), but it does allow you to mount your ATX supply on the floor, or inside original PSU case if you want. Front of 120 version Rear of 120 with a fan attached for show. Front and rear of Original version Some features of the IO shields: they are laser cut, folded and powder coated. The lowest line of fixing holes are drilled and tapped M3 and fit the pattern of the perforations, so you can fit the shields easily to a G5 back through the perforations - whether you want to go the whole way for a full conversion or not these shields are useful just on their own. Having these holes tapped means no messing about with trying to hold nuts in place in positions you can't see I'll be getting these up on www.thelaserhive.com after I have had a good chance to do some test fitting. Hope you like the direction these are going in. BTW, I can of course get one offs done, just ask. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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