Technochicken
04-05-2011, 11:46 PM
As you probably guessed form the title, this mod is based on the iconic Power Mac G5 case. Whether you are an apple fan or not, it is hard to disagree with the fact that this is a gorgeous case, inside and out....especially when you get it for free, as I did. The fact that the G5 looks as nice inside as it does outside brings me to my goals for this project:
1. Preserve the look of the case, inside and out, as best as possible.
2. Fit a full length ATX motherboard , 2 HDD's, 2 GPU's, and a CoolIt ECO.
3. Make it fully upgradeable. This means no modding the PSU to fit it inside the old G5 one.
That may sound like a lot to ask for, but I think I have figured out how to attain all those goals.
For starters, here's the case:
http://img849.imageshack.us/img849/9586/p4020674.jpg
And inside:
http://img838.imageshack.us/img838/9556/p4020675.jpg
As neat as it looks in there, it is an absolute pain to service it other than replacing the ram. It took me a good few hours to disassemble this thing. Here are the CPU's mounted to their heatsinks. The stock AMD cooler is for size reference:
http://img573.imageshack.us/img573/2209/p4020677.jpg
Empty case:
http://img641.imageshack.us/img641/6032/p4020686.jpg
To start off, I modified the top divider so that the end of a motherboard can fit under it. Notice that the board is sitting right where the HDD fans and HDD cage used to be:
http://img834.imageshack.us/img834/6410/p4020691.jpg
http://img837.imageshack.us/img837/8229/p4020693.jpg
Because of this, I had to move the fans and HDD cage forwards, which involved shortening the HDD cage and the piece the fans are mounted to, and drilling new mounting holes in the top tray:
http://img684.imageshack.us/img684/5960/p4030700.jpg
http://img863.imageshack.us/img863/3015/p4030745.jpg
Next, I rewired all the fans to work with standard 4 pin connectors. They all now run off 5V, because they sound like leaf blowers at 12, and push nearly as much air. The pair of fans to the left of the CPU are hot-swappable- a feature I wanted to preserve.
http://img849.imageshack.us/img849/1552/p4030729.jpg
http://img840.imageshack.us/img840/360/p4030734.jpg
http://img684.imageshack.us/img684/3253/p4040753.jpg
http://img862.imageshack.us/img862/4080/p4030744.jpg
I made a motherboard tray out of the side panel of an old case, and some aluminum flat bar:
http://img59.imageshack.us/img59/1470/p4030747h.jpg
http://img717.imageshack.us/img717/7272/p4030749.jpg
A big problem was figuring out how the PSU was going to be mounted. ATX PSU's are much taller than the apple one, so the bottom panel of the case had to be modded. I used the original housing of the PSU along with the bottom panel to make a PSU mount. I still need to work on the edges, and put some U channel on them. Since there was no convenient way to secure the PSU, I made one thumb screw mount with a scrap of aluminum bar. The other side of the PSU is secured by a neodymium magnet which is fastened to the bottom of the case. As a note, if you try gluing a really strong magnet with JB Weld, you are in for a surprised:
http://img855.imageshack.us/img855/9441/p4040756.jpg
http://img689.imageshack.us/img689/7037/p4040758.jpg
Once the internal structure of the case is modified to fit standard hardware, the PSU will be virtually invisible:
http://img43.imageshack.us/img43/8162/p4040757.jpg
I also rewired the front panel to work with standard ATX headers. Currently, everything but the headphone jack is working, which is the power button, power led, USB, and I think firewire (although I don't own any firewire devices to test with).
USB and Firewire connected:
http://img218.imageshack.us/img218/2418/p4040760.jpg
All done:
http://img88.imageshack.us/img88/674/p4040762.jpg
That's all for now. I'm currently working on the back panel. Thanks for looking!
1. Preserve the look of the case, inside and out, as best as possible.
2. Fit a full length ATX motherboard , 2 HDD's, 2 GPU's, and a CoolIt ECO.
3. Make it fully upgradeable. This means no modding the PSU to fit it inside the old G5 one.
That may sound like a lot to ask for, but I think I have figured out how to attain all those goals.
For starters, here's the case:
http://img849.imageshack.us/img849/9586/p4020674.jpg
And inside:
http://img838.imageshack.us/img838/9556/p4020675.jpg
As neat as it looks in there, it is an absolute pain to service it other than replacing the ram. It took me a good few hours to disassemble this thing. Here are the CPU's mounted to their heatsinks. The stock AMD cooler is for size reference:
http://img573.imageshack.us/img573/2209/p4020677.jpg
Empty case:
http://img641.imageshack.us/img641/6032/p4020686.jpg
To start off, I modified the top divider so that the end of a motherboard can fit under it. Notice that the board is sitting right where the HDD fans and HDD cage used to be:
http://img834.imageshack.us/img834/6410/p4020691.jpg
http://img837.imageshack.us/img837/8229/p4020693.jpg
Because of this, I had to move the fans and HDD cage forwards, which involved shortening the HDD cage and the piece the fans are mounted to, and drilling new mounting holes in the top tray:
http://img684.imageshack.us/img684/5960/p4030700.jpg
http://img863.imageshack.us/img863/3015/p4030745.jpg
Next, I rewired all the fans to work with standard 4 pin connectors. They all now run off 5V, because they sound like leaf blowers at 12, and push nearly as much air. The pair of fans to the left of the CPU are hot-swappable- a feature I wanted to preserve.
http://img849.imageshack.us/img849/1552/p4030729.jpg
http://img840.imageshack.us/img840/360/p4030734.jpg
http://img684.imageshack.us/img684/3253/p4040753.jpg
http://img862.imageshack.us/img862/4080/p4030744.jpg
I made a motherboard tray out of the side panel of an old case, and some aluminum flat bar:
http://img59.imageshack.us/img59/1470/p4030747h.jpg
http://img717.imageshack.us/img717/7272/p4030749.jpg
A big problem was figuring out how the PSU was going to be mounted. ATX PSU's are much taller than the apple one, so the bottom panel of the case had to be modded. I used the original housing of the PSU along with the bottom panel to make a PSU mount. I still need to work on the edges, and put some U channel on them. Since there was no convenient way to secure the PSU, I made one thumb screw mount with a scrap of aluminum bar. The other side of the PSU is secured by a neodymium magnet which is fastened to the bottom of the case. As a note, if you try gluing a really strong magnet with JB Weld, you are in for a surprised:
http://img855.imageshack.us/img855/9441/p4040756.jpg
http://img689.imageshack.us/img689/7037/p4040758.jpg
Once the internal structure of the case is modified to fit standard hardware, the PSU will be virtually invisible:
http://img43.imageshack.us/img43/8162/p4040757.jpg
I also rewired the front panel to work with standard ATX headers. Currently, everything but the headphone jack is working, which is the power button, power led, USB, and I think firewire (although I don't own any firewire devices to test with).
USB and Firewire connected:
http://img218.imageshack.us/img218/2418/p4040760.jpg
All done:
http://img88.imageshack.us/img88/674/p4040762.jpg
That's all for now. I'm currently working on the back panel. Thanks for looking!