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Blue White G3 Case mod

AlpineRaven

By AlpineRaven,
in Mods and Overclocking

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suntrace1
suntrace1
Posted
Posted
i have the same case as kern, and i'm planning on getting the g31m... so suntrace are you saying i shouldn't have to mod my dvd drive bay at all?

 

Is it a G4? If so, it's the same case as G3. The only thing you need to do, is shorten the bay - cut off the excessive metal behind the installed DVD-drive. I would also recommend not to install the motherboard's backpanel, so that the hot air can get out of the case more easily. You can see my opened case on page 3, of this topic.

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Quackit
Quackit
Posted
Posted

I'm at a loss as to why I haven't see anyone simply remove the entire middle structure entirely and mount the DVD drive vertically. This lends the case to have a much better air-flow capability right in front of the RAM/Motherboard.

 

Hopefully, I'll have some time next weekend to finish mine, but it's about 90% there. Mostly just final touches at this point.

 

So far I get 31C idle and 38-40 max while gaming with the Zalman CPU fan on high, so I lowered the fan speed to near absolute minimum. Now I get about 38-40 or so idle and 47-50 or so max with almost nil fan noise. It runs like a dream.

 

My fan setup is 2 Zalman 92mm with resistors, 2 Silvertech thermal controlled 80mm to replace the PSU stock ones, an a Zalman CPU cooler.

 

The image in my sig is my PS mock-up, obviously :P

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suntrace1
suntrace1
Posted
Posted
I'm at a loss as to why I haven't see anyone simply remove the entire middle structure entirely and mount the DVD drive vertically. This lends the case to have a much better air-flow capability right in front of the RAM/Motherboard.

 

Here are my reasons why:

- I like it because the case looks like nothing was done to it. No one has a clue, how much planing and work went into it, before i figured up the ideal set-up.

- hatch that hides DVD player gives the case a very unique aesthetics in my opinion. The button on the hatch is also positioned perfectly with my DVD button.

- 12cm fan on the rack below power supply, power supply and graphics card's vent, give more than sufficient air-flow in the case.

 

But I'm also for the artistic freedom and trying new things. So whatever rocks anybody's boat, is fine with me. For example:

or http://www.riscx.com/blueiceg4/

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kernalzero
kernalzero
Posted
Posted

Quackit: The reason I wanted to put an intel board into a G4 case was to make the entire thing look like a mac not just on the lcd screen but to anyone looking at my setup. I've seen several solutions to the DVD drive length/RAM issue including the one you suggested. I've also seen one mounted that the drive's drawer opened up at the top of the case and popped out. I'm going for the stock look which might not be that creatively designed from the standpoint of putting non-stock hardware into it but the design is sleek. I could take my dremel and just go to town on this case and put all kinds of mods on to it but that's not the overall design I'm going for. If I had a Mac Pro case I would go all out to not change the overall design of that case too (apple pays people to design this stuff and probably pays them well).

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KBits
KBits
Posted
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I didn't want to modify my G4 case appearance either, so I decided to buy this:

 

http://www.scythe-usa.com/product/acc/015/Conpane4.html

 

and I just used the slim drive opening the panel have to put a slim dvd writer from a broken iMac (along with the bezel). Granted the panel is far from looking good, but it is hide behind the door when not use so it doesn't bother me.

 

It has the advantage of proviiding front audio, USB, Firewire, SATA (power and data), card reader and fan control.

 

The main disadvantage with the panel is that it doesn't have standard motherboard connector, and suggest to connect all the stuff behind the computer. That of course was a no-no, so either you change the plugs, or add connector inside the case (which I did).

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KBits
KBits
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I really wanted to have front access to at least USB and firewire without modifying case appearance, so the multi-panel/slim-drive was a good solution for me.

 

But indeed, those drives would fit well too.

 

Edit: Another advantage is that slim-drive are shorter than desktop version.

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BlackCH
BlackCH
Posted
Posted
I really wanted to have front access to at least USB and firewire without modifying case appearance, so the multi-panel/slim-drive was a good solution for me.But indeed, those drives would fit well too.Edit: Another advantage is that slim-drive are shorter than desktop version.

 

the front pannel with the slim drive is a great solution..... would be perfect for my g4 mod...

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thespottedelf
thespottedelf
Posted
Posted

well its offical i'm not going for this... i have an old world make i'm going to mod (has a rock solid case :thumbsup_anim:)

 

its all metal and its a model from 95... its one of the nock-off macs apple allowed for a short period... i'm going to go all out on it so i'll be posting about it soon :P

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Quackit
Quackit
Posted
Posted

Yeah. I hear ya on keeping to the original design, and to keep things looking like a stock Apple case.

 

I guess the original design for those G4 cases was never my thing. If I had a MDD case to use instead I would have kept it stock -_-

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  • 3 weeks later...
danielmramos
danielmramos
Posted
Posted
NEC DVD drives are short enough and have open/close button on the same position as G3 case does. No need to buy anything special or to install slim-drives.

 

Hey, thanks for the info Suntrace. A friend of mine just said I could have an old B&W G3 he had sitting around, so I am going to give the B&W G3 hackintosh mod a try. Those little bits of information really help. Do you know if this is all NEC DVD drives or only particular models.

 

Thanks

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danielmramos
danielmramos
Posted
Posted
NEC DVD drives are short enough and have open/close button on the same position as G3 case does. No need to buy anything special or to install slim-drives.

 

Does this model fall into the category that you are mentioning?

 

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...N82E16827118004

 

I would like to buy a drive that also has dvd-ram capabilities that fits as you suggest the NEC drives may.

 

Thanks

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bonestonne
bonestonne
Posted
Posted

The G3 is alive again!

 

I have to work on a couple things though.

 

I'm using a Biostar U8668 Grand motherboard. well, works alright with OSx86, but a few things i don't like:

1) the onboard NIC is recognized. but it doesn't work.

2) the onboard audio (Via based AC'97) is also recognized. But it doesn't work either.

3) the onboard video works. but i can't change the resolution. (i don't need QE/CI, so i wont bother saying that those don't work, its just onboard anyway)

4) the CPU fan is not speed regulated. i'm lucky i'm not using the heatsink i pop on when i do stress testing, or i'd be deaf right now.

5) forget about an optical drive. i just ordered a Tyan motherboard. the model name escapes me, but its a full 1" shorter in width, and over 1" shorter in depth. It'll probably fit my optical drive with RAM in either slot! what a revelation!

6) my old HP (Asus P4G533-LA) motherboard is toast. used to be stable, now its a hit or miss deal. I may try to get it working again though, its a great board for OSx86, NIC + audio worked right away with JaS 10.4.8 install.

7) the size and layout of the drive tray for the G3 case is horrid. i have no idea how i'll get an optical drive inside with the current layout. (actually i do, but its a secret, it just has to do with that nice 36" IDE cable.

 

eventually i'll change the screen resolution, and be happier, and i'll figure out how to get my audio working.

 

oh, did i mention i still have to update to 10.4.10 someday? it's gotta happen soon.

 

anyway, that's all for now. I'll take a hit probably when the Tyan board comes, but i'll take it. Tyan is a good company, and even owning a board by them is awesome.

 

oddly enough, my PS/2 keyboard works absolutely fine right now, but it didn't work at all with my other computer, and the same installation....how silly!

 

mighty mouse works fine though (thank god)!

 

If anyone knows fixes for Via chipsets without going through apple (i need kext's from darwin source code) that would be awesome, of if you know a workaround that would be great!

 

*off to pull case off the marketplace*

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bonestonne
bonestonne
Posted
Posted

Ok! received my Tyan S3098G2N-RS

 

recently fixed a grounding problem with the G3 case and layout of the board.

 

i still have a major problem, but i'll show that after i give an overview of the new rig.

 

IMG_2700.jpg

^that's the new board fit in the G3 case. underneath the board are two things:

1) a standard 8.5x11 inch page protector to act as standard shielding between case and mainboard

2) there's a small piece of rubber underneath the BIOS jumper to prevent it from poking through to the screw that's right underneath it.

 

well, here's my issue:

 

IMG_2702.jpg

after about three boots or so, this is what i got. my directions were:

1) install OS X via my sisters P4 rig, which went flawlessly.

2) update to 10.4.10 via a standard OSx86 update patch

3) install 8255x ethernet driver

4) restart again after the ethernet driver.

 

after applying the ethernet changes in the system control panel, and restarting one last time, this is the issue i get. it happens every time, exactly the same. if i change the CPU, i get a double stacked fault that continuously repeats.

 

i'm quite sure it has something to do with the ethernet, so what i did was i installed OS X onto two different drives, and i'm going to try only applying one of the two ethernet ports. maybe that will fix it, i will find out right? it seems to always happen on the fourth reboot, but i have no idea. we'll find out.

 

i'm hardly worried about the optical drive until i get the rest rolling, and it appears i may have to mod a PATA cable because of master/slave/power issues with the 36" PATA cable included with the G3 case.

 

shall consult the masters about the error!

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  • 2 weeks later...
hipunk
hipunk
Posted
Posted

http://skitch.com/showgetter/

Maybe I will add some pics later today or tomorrow...

 

My G3 Mod. I didn't know that so many guys here already did a G3 mod with a mATX mobo... :)

 

 

Specs:

 

Asus P5GC-MX/1333

Core2Duo E8200 @ 2.66GHz (Stock)

2 x 1GB Dual Channel 667MHz Ram

120GB Samsung Spinpoint unsing ATA

GeForce 7200GS 256MB

PCI Lan Card, the onboard Lan has no drivers for OS X

The DVD drive was one I already had. It's the Samsung Super-Writemaster 18x. It's not so long as normals DVD drives.

 

Everything is running fast and without big problems using vanilla kernel.

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Hagar
Hagar
Posted
Posted
http://skitch.com/showgetter/

Maybe I will add some pics later today or tomorrow...

 

My G3 Mod. I didn't know that so many guys here already did a G3 mod with a mATX mobo... :)

 

 

Specs:

 

Asus P5GC-MX/1333

Core2Duo E8200 @ 2.66GHz (Stock)

2 x 1GB Dual Channel 667MHz Ram

120GB Samsung Spinpoint unsing ATA

GeForce 7200GS 256MB

PCI Lan Card, the onboard Lan has no drivers for OS X

The DVD drive was one I already had. It's the Samsung Super-Writemaster 18x. It's not so long as normals DVD drives.

 

Everything is running fast and without big problems using vanilla kernel.

 

LOL I don't believe it, I run that exact same motherboard in that exact same case!

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hipunk
hipunk
Posted
Posted
LOL I don't believe it, I run that exact same motherboard in that exact same case!

 

Rly? Cool. I didn't read the whole thread because I don't have desire to read it... But I've already seen your Hägar ava... :jester:

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bonestonne
bonestonne
Posted
Posted

ok, i had the rig running for a while with OS X, it worked fully. my issue ended up being that i had to boot in -f mode every time or i'd get a kernel panic. well, that's cool and all, but the only audio device i could use was a behringer UCA202...but that's got a nasty grounding issue with my receiver (only that though) and the sub has a constant buzzing. well, it was enjoyable while it worked.

 

i'm scrapping the G3 case for now (will throw a different rig into it at a later date), but now i'm going to assemble a plexiglas case for the Tyan board. i'll be using a small PSU if possible (or just hacking apart an existing one to fit) and running two internal HDDs, one for an OS, the other with my music and movies.

 

currently i'm eyeing gOS Space. i don't have a MySpace, but the dock is easy to modify, so i can create my own stacks to use in the dock for whatever i want. i'm aiming for something shuttle PC sized, so it can fit on a shelf in my room and connect to my receiver with a dedicated sound card rather than a USB device. i've already taken a swing at creating a plexiglas PC case, but had a bummmer on that, so now i'm going to go on a smaller scale. i'm unsure about an optical drive, probably a low power external one will be best (small USB powered?).

 

OS will definitely be linux based. i like Ubuntu, but i need something that strays farther away from the norm, and gOS is alright. i have Space currently running in VMWare, which is how i'm experimenting with new stacks in the dock. its a great substitute for OS X though, runs on a 2.5/533/256 CPU very well with 512MB DDR RAM. more RAM is on the to-do list, but for now its not a POS (although it doesn't enjoy onboard graphics much, and my FX5200 may come out to play again.

 

will post a new G3 system later, for now, a custom SFF rig is what i need first.

 

Screenshot-3.png

^that's where i am so far in modding the OS...a few more things to fix up, but its coming along well. eventually the bar at the top with have a mac OS theme to it...i've done it before, but not in debian (too used to ubuntu, but its almost exactly the same).

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  • 3 weeks later...
Solow
Solow
Posted
Posted
Here's mine. sorry for the blurry photo.

photo.jpg

 

Nice job! I have an old B&W lying around as well as a few candidate PCs that might donate their guts to a Hackie project this winter when it gets cold and dark. Sounds like fun! Thanks to all for all the great ideas!

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  • 3 months later...
suntrace1
suntrace1
Posted
Posted

Yesterday I finnaly got my hands on 8800GTX - it fits the case just barely, if anybody else wants to upgrade. Now I got the ultimate PC I always wanted - quad core, 4Gb of RAM, monster gfx card, awesome soundcard and 2Tb of storage all in small and sexy package :)

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