Contribute
Register

Eerie Blue Glow. My second G5 Mod

Status
Not open for further replies.
Joined
Jun 11, 2012
Messages
355
Motherboard
GA-Z87X-UD3H
CPU
i7-4770K
Graphics
GTX 960
Mac
  1. MacBook Pro
Classic Mac
  1. Apple
  2. Centris
  3. LC
  4. Plus
  5. Power Mac
  6. PowerBook
  7. SE
Mobile Phone
  1. iOS
I am starting on my second G5 Mod. I am going to model is similar to my first mod, but this one will be all blue inside and incorporate better cable management than the first. Since I used the drive cage from my second case in my first mod, I decided that this mod will use a completely different drive cage that will hold lots of drives. I intend to use this computer as a server. I've never had a Mac with 6 or 7 internal drives before and so through hackintoshing, I have found a way!

I have completed several of the sub-projects I outlined in my first mod, and here are the pictures.

Front Fans
I ran out of L bracket aluminum, so I just added a small 2" long top bracket. These fans are so light that this wound up being remarkably secure. And I think a longer piece would take away from the beauty of the clear fans.

100_1503.jpg


I cant wait to see what this looks like shining through the front grill of the G5 case.
100_1509.jpg


Rear Fans
I found two 80mm clear fans to match the front fans. I used a couple of nylon straps to temporarily hold them together untIL I mount them onto the back panel.

100_1506.jpg


Yes, they light up too.
100_1508.jpg



Blue heat sink fans
I found these after I bought the clear ones for the front. They light up too. The only issue is that they are 3 pin fans so I don't think my motherboard will control their speed as well as a 4 pin fan.

100_1512.jpg


100_1515.jpg


Drive Cage
I salvaged the sides from an old PC case. I used "tool-less" screws on the sides to secure the drives. Gives it a kind of cool look. Im using old IDE drives as placeholders. [EDIT: As it turned out, I did not use this drive cage method in this build. I discovered that there was no room on the left side of the cage to unscrew the mounting screws to remove a drive.]

100_1467.jpg



I fabricated the ends out of scrap aluminum and stock aluminum angle and pop rivited them to the sides. I used a sanding block to give the aluminum a brushed finish.

100_1470.jpg



Here is another mounting scheme that I will explore at a later date. I initially had a bracket on both sides, but when I took one side off, it was remarkably sturdy. I'm still noodling on this one.

100_1475.jpg



My home-built drive cage; well almost home built. It can hold 7 hard drives. It's really heavy, too! I thought of spray painting it black, but I think it will match better being silver.

100_1472.jpg


I have created the mounting bars, drilled and tapped and attached to the cage.
100_1502.jpg


They will be JB welded to the G5 case. I made sure there was enough room at the back of the hard drives to run the SATA cables.
100_1479.jpg



100_1476.jpg


Power Supply
Shelf cut for power supply. This time I positioned the power supply as far forward as possible so I would have room behind it to hide the unused power cables.
100_1499.jpg



Here you can see the power supply mounted on shelf. Note how far forward it is mounted. Please Note: In order to get the power supply mounted up in the corner of the case, it has to be mounted to the shelf and then the shelf installed with the power supply already mounted to it.

100_1501.jpg



Notice the extra power cables bunched up ready to hide behind power supply.
100_1489.jpg



I purchased blue cable braiding to assist in my cable management.

100_1488.jpg



Here I am planning the layout of the cable. I will use 3 connectors on each of the two cables, and add a third cable for the 7th drive. I have removed the factory black braiding. [EDIT: I wound up scrapping this method and going with something much cleaner.]

100_1483.jpg



I repositioned the SATA Power connectors so that there was less excess cable between the drives.

100_1484.jpg



Organizing the hard drive power ends. I hope this looks better when its plugged into hard drives.

100_1487.jpg


"Dry fitting" using my old IDE drives.
100_1486.jpg



Here is the 7th power cable (the black one).
100_1485.jpg


Front Panel
My simple front panel cable. This cable will only be used for the power switch and the power LED. The motherboard I plan to use doesn't have firewire, and I don't plan to use the front USB or audio jack.

frontpanel.jpg
 
Last edited:
looking good.

I once did a aluminum skyhawk pc case with window kit and UV LED fans and used UV reactive rounded IDE cables. It looked awesome.
 
Im not going to post pictures of disassembling the G5, cleaning the case and the resulting box full of parts. You have all seen them before and they are not unique. So, we will skip right to....

Fitting the Motherboard Tray
I cut the back panel for the motherboard tray. Last time I left too much of the case on the tray side and I wound up having the tray on the inside of the case and the tray's back panel on the outside of the case (sandwiching the case). This introduces a bit of a warp in the tray assembly that I wanted to avoid this time around. I am using the Mountain Mods motherboard tray with 2 80mm fan holes.
100_1520.jpg


Fitting the Back Panel, view from inside.
100_1518.jpg


Top View
100_1517.jpg


Rear View
100_1516.jpg



I cut the back panel for the door latch. I used a table saw to make the cut nice and straight. I used a piece of wood under the aluminum back panel when cutting to avoid causing deep scratches while sliding the panel across the top of the table saw. I tidied up the cut and rounded the corners with a hand file. Some small scratches formed on the brushed aluminum while cutting it, and these were easily removed by using a sponge sanding block.
100_1521.jpg


Next, I have to determine exactly where the motherboard standoffs land on the motherboard tray and drill the holes for mounting. Stay Tuned!
 
Last edited:
the cuts look very well done. when I do my G5 mod I can only hope my cuts looks half as good as this.
 
the cuts look very well done. when I do my G5 mod I can only hope my cuts looks half as good as this.

Thanks! The cut along the edge of the case through solid aluminum (no holes) was brutal!!! I broke at least seven cutting discs doing that one cut alone.
 
When I first tried to cut the I/O backplate on my G4, I was using those brown cutting disks, I had to be careful or I'd break the disk every couple of minutes because I'd put too much pressure on it. I wound up going to Lowes and buying a EZ-lock attachment that came with a bunch of cutting disks one of which was a black carbon fiber reinforced disk for cutting metal. By then I had severely screwed up the I/O backplate so I gave up and bought the Laser cut one I used, but that new disc did make it super easy to do the cuts on the Optical drive bracket and the metal shelf underneath the bracket. It was like cutting through butter with a hot knife with it. Made me wish I had been smart enough to buy that in the first place.

But I am pleased at how good the laser cut I/O backplate worked, so I guess I did ok. I am hoping though that the carbon fiber cutting disk will work as well on the aluminum of the G5 case too though.
 
Thats interesting. I didn't know that a carbon fibre version existed. I will definitely try to find one for when I mod my G4 MDD. I also have a multi tool, one that oscillates the cutting wheel. And the guy at the store said to put wax on the blade when cutting aluminum. I wonder if that might help with the carbon fibre disk.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top