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Power Mac G4 Cube Intel Reloaded Edition - my 2nd Hackintosh Case Mod

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Hi Guys

After a long planning phase, my G4 Cube "Intel Reloading-Project" officially started today.

First, I bought a flawlessly working cube at Ricardo.ch:
G4 Cube 2.jpg


G4 Cube 1.jpg


G4 Cube Connectors.jpg


As I said, it worked perfectly, but very slowly. So I decided to "reload" it with fresh Intel hardware!

Here are some Pics of the dismantling works...
G4 Cube Handle.jpg


G4 Cube HDD Cooler.jpg


G4 Cube HDD Removal.jpg


G4 Cube without Front.jpg


G4 Cube dismantled.jpg


Stay tuned...

Edit: Final state for comparison
G4 Cube Intel Reloaded Edition.jpg


Edit: Did some rework.
http://www.tonymacx86.com/powermac-...my-2nd-hackintosh-case-mod-15.html#post596132

Build video:

Pro Speaker version 2.0 build video:

Pro Speaker version 3.0 build video:

2017 review video:
 
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Thats a very small MOBO.

Will follow this.
 
Keep going on friend, I'm with you. :)

Noom.
 
Thats a very small MOBO.

Will follow this.

It is the Cube's original MOBO.

First, I would like to thank neilhart, chaosdesigns, eelhead, minihack, sleppek, ... (forgive me, if I forgot one) for the inspiration!

I will use the following hardware:
- CPU Intel Core i3-3225 dual core Core i7-3770S quad core with HD4000 Graphics
- MOBO Intel DQ77KB Thin Mini ITX
- RAM Corsair Vengeance Kit of 2x4GB 1600MHz CMSX8GX3M2A1600C9
- HD 2.5" 500GB Seagate Momentus7200 ST9500423AS
- SSD 2.5" SanDisk Extreme 120GB
- Kingston 2.5" to 3.5" Bracket for HDD & SSD
- CPU-Cooler self made, using a milled copper block & the original G4 Cube's heatsink
- Thin Fan "Foxconn DC Brushless PVA080F12H" (80x80x20mm, 4Pin, 12V, 0.36A, ebay) to fit in the original fan support on the backplate
- "Laptop Slim DVD CD Drive 50 Pin JAE to SATA Adapter High Quality Newest EN24H" (ebay). This should allow me, to reuse the Cube's DVD drive...
- Touch Sensor "MT0.2-ST-NR-N" (www.edisen.de) Reason: for the original sensor exists no more space
- "160W 19V/8.4A AC-DC Power Adapter (100/240V) for Intel DH61AG Mini-ITX Mainboard" (ebay)
- "Sata 3 6Gbs Cable 25cm - Ultra Slim + Short Connectors" (ebay)
- SPEEDLINK Bluetooth dongle
G4 Cube new Hardware.jpg


- Apple Bluetooth Keyboard
- Apple Magic Mouse
G4 Cube Keyboard and Mouse.jpg


Here are some pics of the first modding works

the preassembled drives with the original heatsink and the guide rail
Preassembled  SSD and HD.jpg


The rear panel, marked with the planned cutout for the thin-mini-ITX backpanel. I will mill this tomorrow.
G4 Cube IO Shield Dimensions.jpg


The strut with integrated cable retainer must be on the right side. Because I will reuse the heatsink, I can't turn it over. So I will cut out some material to make space for the integrated cable retainer.
G4 Cube Cable Retainer .jpg


To make space for the Bluetooth dongle, I had to cut off the original antenna holder.
G4 Cube Cut Off The Antenna Support.jpg
 
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MacTester57 - You are doing a great project. Please keep your progress posted - more is better from my perspective.

One thing that I would share on the subject of adapting the IDE Optical drive to SATA; when I did it, my optical drive was single layer and I could not read the DL Snow Leopard DVDs. For about $ 80 USD you could choose to upgrade to a slim line slot loading RW DVD drive (I used one in my White Prodigy build and it works great with OS X ML).

The special thing that you are doing is the heat sink bridge to the original. MiniHack has done this and he is the current authority on the subject. Your work will make it easier for us that follow with that concept.

neil
 
THanks for the mention!
And I am loving the pics, great looking so far.

I Have the same bars and set up for my HDD drive as well, great minds lol

Looking forward to seeing more and the end product!
 
Yep, good luck with this one. I'm watching too!

One thing I'd agree with is getting rid of the IDE dvd drive. Not just because it will not read or write very much these days, but also I have yet to meet an old Cube that didn't have a pathetic disk eject. Maybe it is just the ones I have bought, but by the time I got my hands on them usually the disk would only just peak out of the top of the slot - not cool if you have to use tweazers to pull your disks out.

I think your board should be ideal for the Cube. I'll be interested too to see how you attach the copper block and the mobo.

:thumbup:
 
Thank you all for your kind words!

One thing that I would share on the subject of adapting the IDE Optical drive to SATA; when I did it, my optical drive was single layer and I could not read the DL Snow Leopard DVDs. For about $ 80 USD you could choose to upgrade to a slim line slot loading RW DVD drive (I used one in my White Prodigy build and it works great with OS X ML).

Neilhart, thank you for this comment.
I did not realize the problem with dual layer DVD's. Anyway, the adapter only costs about 4 bucks. And who really needs an optical drive today? But I think a G4 Cube without an optical drive is like a toaster without bread :lol:
 
Today, I made some progress with the mechanical works

Milling the Heatsink
G4 Cube milling the Heatsink.jpg


Heatsink with milled cutout for the cable retainer
G4 Cuble Cutout for Cable Retainer.jpg


Backplate prepared to mill the cutout for the IO-Shield
G4 Cube Milling for IOShield.jpg


The milled result. Unfortunately, I did a mistake. The cutout has an offset 1mm to the top, so a bit of the original cutout will be visible at the bottom of the IO-Shield...:banghead:
G4 Cube milled for IOShield.jpg


Milled Slot for the MOBO
G4 Cube milled Slot for MOBO.jpg


The modified IO-Shield
G4 Cube prepared IOShield.jpg


Drilling and tapping M3 for the MOBO standoffs...
G4 Cube Drilling for MOBO Standoffs.jpg


The mounted standoffs. I used M3 threaded rods. To make it more stable, there is an additional M3 nut on both sides.
G4 Cube mounted MOBO Standoffs.jpg


All 4 standoffs are mounted. To adjust the MOBO's height position, I used M3 locking nuts
G4 Cube all MOBO Standoffs mounted.jpg


The test fitted IO-Shield
G4 Back with testfitted IOShield.jpg
 
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Looks cool. I like the idea for the rods there. I assume that is how you are going to apply the needed pressure between the copper block and the original heatsink?

I am working on a design for my copper block that uses the original 3 holes on the original heatsink but then also uses the 4 holes for the motherboard side. It is proving to be quite complex and the dimensions have to be EXACT. Now using just a copper plate that attaches to the motherboard and using the standoffs to apply pressure of the board onto the heatsink sounds far easier. ;)

My only reasoning behind my approach was a bigger contact patch with the original heatsink. I am anxious to see your results. My progress has been halted while I wait for a new CPU for my board. Hopefully it is here this week.
 
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