- Joined
- Jan 8, 2013
- Messages
- 138
- Motherboard
- Gigabyte Z370M-D3H
- CPU
- i5-8600K
- Graphics
- RX 570
- Mac
- Mobile Phone
(See most recent version at post #8)
Hi,
Here is my G5 case mod that I've finished for a long time now. I took some picture of the different phases, hope you get some inspiration from this mod!
The Parts:
Motherboard: Gigabyte H81M-HD3
Processor: Intel Core i5-4570S
Processor Cooler: Arctic Cooling Freezer Xtreme Rev. 2 (without fan)
RAM: Kingston HyperX 2x8GB 1600Mhz
SSD: Samsung 840 EVO 250GB (OSX), Samsung 840 EVO 500GB (Data)
Sound Card: HRT Music Streamer HD
WiFi/Bluetooth: Apple BCM94360CD 802.11ac Wifi + Bluetooth 4.0
Power Supply: Corsair RM650
Monitor: Dell U2414H (modified, on iMac stand)
Keyboard: Apple wired keyboard
Mouse: Apple Magic Mouse
I've bought the empty case from a local people for ~20€ it was a bit scratchy some places but fortunately the mostly visible parts were in very good condition.
After removing the unnecessary screws inside the case, I cut out the motherboard tray from an old broken PC case. It was hard not to blend the plate during the cut out. I used a super strong epoxy glue (for metal) to fix it in the G5 case. I got my case without the front IO circuit board so I patched the Power On/Off cable and an Apple style USB extender cable with glue gun. I don't like status LED's so I left this part alone - as well as the front audio jack connector because I use the headphone out on my Denon amplifier.
On the back, basically I left everything untouched as I put the case in a corner under a table where this part cannot be seen... I'm not a fan of the back plates, it's easy to connect all the cables to the hackintosh without it. I only made a short extension cable (Supra LoRad 2.5 MkII) for the PSU to easily access it's connector.
The goal of this build was a cable managed clean looking G5 inside with fanless 0dB system.
I love the covers inside the Mac Pro ~2008-2012 series, it's so beautiful that the motherboard, drives and everything is hidden. I ordered two big G5 labelled cover plate (922-6951) from Ebay: one for my CPU cooler and one for a custom "Storage Cover". I brought this second piece to a water cutting machine to have a nice clean cutting without distortions. I merged the upper and lower piece to one wide part with two screws. This cover hides the SSD drives and the SATA/power cables very nice. The cover is fixed with one screw in it's place so takes just seconds to remove if I have to.
I had a small cover piece left after the water cutting, I used this to hide the Front I/O part. Fixed it with some epoxy glue and two piece of LEGO. For the CPU cooler, I managed to fix the cover with clips. It works great!
The CPU temp is around 38-45°C in idle and 80-85°C at max load. It doesn't go higher than this temp even at continuous max load, so this passive cooling is fine for me! The PSU is also a silent one: below half load (~325W) the fan is not moving - it's funy because even at max system load, the power consumption is less than this so actually the PSU is always passive. For a completely 0dB system, I replaced my HDD's with SSD drives. Without turning the monitor on, you cannot tell whether the system is running or not!
(For Bluetooth I used an IOGear Bluetooth 4.0 dongle first. The massive alumininum G5 case shields the Bluetooth signals dramatically, so I couldn't plug this USB adapter directly in the motherboard. The best solution would be to put it in my Apple wired keyboard, but sadly it can't draw enough power to operate.
You can solve this problem by removing the IOGear's plastic housing at one side (this was pretty hard...) and press the status LED with a sharp scalpel strongly. This way you kill the annoying bright LED and leave all the other parts 100% functional. After doing this I could use the Bluetooth adapter in my keyboard: no low USB power warnings anymore and the connection is very reliable and strong with my Magic Mouse.)
Later when Yosemite came out with Continuity, I switched to the official Apple BCM94360CD Bluetooth/Wifi module with the matching PCI-E Adapter (guide). You can use any PCI adapter theoretically, but for the full functionality and speed I strongly recommend to purchase the one that is made for BCM94360CD. (it's colored black, has 4 antennas and an USB out). For the antennas I simply widened 4 holes on the back of the case and used IPX to RP-SMA extension cables to connect them to the PCI adapter. WiFi ac, Continuity, Handoff are all work fine...
The final pictures after all is done. With and without the covers:
(See most recent version at post #8)
Hi,
Here is my G5 case mod that I've finished for a long time now. I took some picture of the different phases, hope you get some inspiration from this mod!
The Parts:
Motherboard: Gigabyte H81M-HD3
Processor: Intel Core i5-4570S
Processor Cooler: Arctic Cooling Freezer Xtreme Rev. 2 (without fan)
RAM: Kingston HyperX 2x8GB 1600Mhz
SSD: Samsung 840 EVO 250GB (OSX), Samsung 840 EVO 500GB (Data)
Sound Card: HRT Music Streamer HD
WiFi/Bluetooth: Apple BCM94360CD 802.11ac Wifi + Bluetooth 4.0
Power Supply: Corsair RM650
Monitor: Dell U2414H (modified, on iMac stand)
Keyboard: Apple wired keyboard
Mouse: Apple Magic Mouse
I've bought the empty case from a local people for ~20€ it was a bit scratchy some places but fortunately the mostly visible parts were in very good condition.
After removing the unnecessary screws inside the case, I cut out the motherboard tray from an old broken PC case. It was hard not to blend the plate during the cut out. I used a super strong epoxy glue (for metal) to fix it in the G5 case. I got my case without the front IO circuit board so I patched the Power On/Off cable and an Apple style USB extender cable with glue gun. I don't like status LED's so I left this part alone - as well as the front audio jack connector because I use the headphone out on my Denon amplifier.
On the back, basically I left everything untouched as I put the case in a corner under a table where this part cannot be seen... I'm not a fan of the back plates, it's easy to connect all the cables to the hackintosh without it. I only made a short extension cable (Supra LoRad 2.5 MkII) for the PSU to easily access it's connector.
The goal of this build was a cable managed clean looking G5 inside with fanless 0dB system.
I love the covers inside the Mac Pro ~2008-2012 series, it's so beautiful that the motherboard, drives and everything is hidden. I ordered two big G5 labelled cover plate (922-6951) from Ebay: one for my CPU cooler and one for a custom "Storage Cover". I brought this second piece to a water cutting machine to have a nice clean cutting without distortions. I merged the upper and lower piece to one wide part with two screws. This cover hides the SSD drives and the SATA/power cables very nice. The cover is fixed with one screw in it's place so takes just seconds to remove if I have to.
I had a small cover piece left after the water cutting, I used this to hide the Front I/O part. Fixed it with some epoxy glue and two piece of LEGO. For the CPU cooler, I managed to fix the cover with clips. It works great!
The CPU temp is around 38-45°C in idle and 80-85°C at max load. It doesn't go higher than this temp even at continuous max load, so this passive cooling is fine for me! The PSU is also a silent one: below half load (~325W) the fan is not moving - it's funy because even at max system load, the power consumption is less than this so actually the PSU is always passive. For a completely 0dB system, I replaced my HDD's with SSD drives. Without turning the monitor on, you cannot tell whether the system is running or not!
(For Bluetooth I used an IOGear Bluetooth 4.0 dongle first. The massive alumininum G5 case shields the Bluetooth signals dramatically, so I couldn't plug this USB adapter directly in the motherboard. The best solution would be to put it in my Apple wired keyboard, but sadly it can't draw enough power to operate.
You can solve this problem by removing the IOGear's plastic housing at one side (this was pretty hard...) and press the status LED with a sharp scalpel strongly. This way you kill the annoying bright LED and leave all the other parts 100% functional. After doing this I could use the Bluetooth adapter in my keyboard: no low USB power warnings anymore and the connection is very reliable and strong with my Magic Mouse.)
Later when Yosemite came out with Continuity, I switched to the official Apple BCM94360CD Bluetooth/Wifi module with the matching PCI-E Adapter (guide). You can use any PCI adapter theoretically, but for the full functionality and speed I strongly recommend to purchase the one that is made for BCM94360CD. (it's colored black, has 4 antennas and an USB out). For the antennas I simply widened 4 holes on the back of the case and used IPX to RP-SMA extension cables to connect them to the PCI adapter. WiFi ac, Continuity, Handoff are all work fine...
The final pictures after all is done. With and without the covers:
(See most recent version at post #8)
Last edited: