- Joined
- Nov 25, 2010
- Messages
- 1,211
- Motherboard
- AsRock X570M Pro4
- CPU
- Ryzen 3700x
- Graphics
- RX 580
A Little History
Hello everyone, first a brief introduction to my iMac G5 iSight 17". I rescued it off Craigslist last year for free by answering a local ad as shown below. As advertised, it didn't work because there was no image on the screen. The backlights came on just fine, however, so I figured I'd give it reset (PRAM and SMC) to see what happened. The good news is that it immediately came back to life. A quick update to 10.5.8 and it was good to go.
We used it here on the kitchen counter for several months. The machine is a pleasure to use; compact, quiet and uncluttered because there's no additional cables anywhere. Perfect for a clean look on the island in the kitchen. A couple of weeks ago, unfortunately it lost it's screen image again and regardless of the PRAM/SMC resetting method, it never regained its functionality.
The question now became 'what to do with it?'. We'd grown quite fond of the system from the use we'd made of it, and I didn't really want to just throw it away or part it out. Aesthetically it's terrific. Could it be a mod candidate?
I set to work to see exactly how this machine would stack up as build project.
Initial Observations & Questions
First and foremost; in their usual fashion, Apple did an incredible job of fitting all their hardware inside this thing. It was sad to have to rip out all of their handy-work, but didn't take long to get the iMac down to an empty shell. I disassembled everything carefully without damaging any cables, connectors or other hardware.
In my observation of the gutted system, it became obvious that there would be four key 'hurdles' that would need to be cleared before any success could ever be achieved, and that spending any money on this mod wouldn't happen until I found a workaround for each of the four challenges.
I'll list them off...
1. Video. The proprietary TMDS video connection from the 17" LCD to the iMac G5 logic board is small and essentially unworkable (in my opinion) for anyone but an absolute expert with a soldering iron.
2. Rear I/O. The ports (including AC power) on the back of iMac would need to be re-used in their original form, due to the shape of the exterior shell and their precise mounting angle on the iMac logic board. Repurposing the rear I/O as I've done in each of my iMac G4 builds wouldn't be feasible here, there simply isn't enough room or means to do it.
3. Fitment. Would an Intel NUC and PSU even fit? If the machine won't close up, it's useless.
4. Cooling. Could efficient airflow be drawn inside the iMac to properly cool it in a modded form?
Fortunately, I found answers to all of the above. This project is a go. As it turns out, this 17" iSight model is surprisingly turning into a great candidate for a mod. I will cover each portion of the project in a Build Log for the sake of clarity, with full explanations of my rationale.
Parts are ordered, and should start arriving in a week or two. As is with all mods, there is no guarantee of success, and from what I can tell there isn't a fully completed example of such a mod as this avaiable for my reference. I'm hopeful that it works, and at this point I'm fairly confident that it will.
Ersterhernd
Hello everyone, first a brief introduction to my iMac G5 iSight 17". I rescued it off Craigslist last year for free by answering a local ad as shown below. As advertised, it didn't work because there was no image on the screen. The backlights came on just fine, however, so I figured I'd give it reset (PRAM and SMC) to see what happened. The good news is that it immediately came back to life. A quick update to 10.5.8 and it was good to go.
We used it here on the kitchen counter for several months. The machine is a pleasure to use; compact, quiet and uncluttered because there's no additional cables anywhere. Perfect for a clean look on the island in the kitchen. A couple of weeks ago, unfortunately it lost it's screen image again and regardless of the PRAM/SMC resetting method, it never regained its functionality.
The question now became 'what to do with it?'. We'd grown quite fond of the system from the use we'd made of it, and I didn't really want to just throw it away or part it out. Aesthetically it's terrific. Could it be a mod candidate?
I set to work to see exactly how this machine would stack up as build project.
Initial Observations & Questions
First and foremost; in their usual fashion, Apple did an incredible job of fitting all their hardware inside this thing. It was sad to have to rip out all of their handy-work, but didn't take long to get the iMac down to an empty shell. I disassembled everything carefully without damaging any cables, connectors or other hardware.
In my observation of the gutted system, it became obvious that there would be four key 'hurdles' that would need to be cleared before any success could ever be achieved, and that spending any money on this mod wouldn't happen until I found a workaround for each of the four challenges.
I'll list them off...
1. Video. The proprietary TMDS video connection from the 17" LCD to the iMac G5 logic board is small and essentially unworkable (in my opinion) for anyone but an absolute expert with a soldering iron.
2. Rear I/O. The ports (including AC power) on the back of iMac would need to be re-used in their original form, due to the shape of the exterior shell and their precise mounting angle on the iMac logic board. Repurposing the rear I/O as I've done in each of my iMac G4 builds wouldn't be feasible here, there simply isn't enough room or means to do it.
3. Fitment. Would an Intel NUC and PSU even fit? If the machine won't close up, it's useless.
4. Cooling. Could efficient airflow be drawn inside the iMac to properly cool it in a modded form?
Fortunately, I found answers to all of the above. This project is a go. As it turns out, this 17" iSight model is surprisingly turning into a great candidate for a mod. I will cover each portion of the project in a Build Log for the sake of clarity, with full explanations of my rationale.
Parts are ordered, and should start arriving in a week or two. As is with all mods, there is no guarantee of success, and from what I can tell there isn't a fully completed example of such a mod as this avaiable for my reference. I'm hopeful that it works, and at this point I'm fairly confident that it will.
Ersterhernd