Quicksilver Skylake Hackintosh

[rmd]

pleasure to meet you,

i'm a 3d artist working in the games industry BUT i've worked mainly on macs during most of my career.
my 2011 macbook pro served me well but my current project is pretty demanding and it's really time to invest in a new, proper workstation.
i mostly use adobe creative suite, autodesk maya and unity3d.

the current mac pro is 3000$, about 3 years old and doesn't really suit my needs.
since apple doesn't seem to care about updating it i decided to put together a hackintosh.

my goals for the system would be:

— has to look like a mac (bought a nice G4 quicksilver for 25 euros)
— current intel skylake chipset (efficient and future proof)
— plenty GPU power (might do 4K and VR stuff soon)
— be very quiet

i kinda lost track of PC hardware over the years, but put together this hardware list:

Gigabyte GA-Z170MX-Gaming 5
Corsair CX Series Modular CX650M
Intel Core i7-6700K, 4x 4.00GHz
MSI GTX 980 Gaming 4G, GeForce GTX 980, 4GB GDDR5
Crucial Ballistix Elite DDR4-2666 UDIMM 32GB Kit (8GB x 4)
Samsung SSD 850 Evo 1TB

the case is 80% done,
i just received the GPU so i can adapt the standoffs to the microATX board
and do a nice backplate for the ports.

i'm still trying to figure out how to properly cool the system,
and would love to hear your input on that.
would you recommend a water-cooling solution?
are there any that provide long enough tubing for the side-door construction?


let me share some pictures of the case-mod
(first time i did this, with great metalwork-help from my dad)


emptied case


test-aligning the mainboard


cutting air-vents


paper mock-up for the backplate
(will probably be a black, laser-cut PVC piece)


diagram for the cooling, do you think this could work?


thank you!
r.

 

[rmd]

most of the components are in.
the corsair PSU fits perfectly!
the GPU is quite high and almost hits the power supply,
but it's fine.

my dad helped me to enlarge the bottom fan hole to be able to implement a 140 mm fan
to get enough air in, and i hope that slit above the ATX panel will be big enough
to stream it out the back.

i ordered a low-profile CPU cooler (Scythe Big Shuriken 2 Rev. B) that would fit into the small space,
and two additional 120 mm fans to get more air towards it.

now thinking about the cable layout.

case modding is really a lot of fun! and it was a nice project to do together with my dad.
i'm really glad and thankful that this forum here exists, i just looked at the various other quicksilver mods and that gave me all the ideas and confidence that i could even do something like this.
so thanks for the ride!

now that i put the plastic panels back on the machine it looks just lovely,
and inside it's a beast.

next weekend i can hopefully get to do fans, cables and the CPU.

 

[grg3]

Very nice!

Keep us posted on how your cooling solutions work out. I am contemplating cooling improvements for my G4. I expect that it will entail some sort of hole in the bottom similar to your layout.

 

[Padawanyves]

Hi rmd, really very nice Job !!

I plan to do the same mod as you, I already have a nice quicksilver and I would buy the same motherboard. I have some question about your job.
For example... How did you do to secure the motherboard to the door of the G4? you used the original card bindings or you had to make new holes in the door to fix the motherboard ?
How did you get the card back with holes, next to the DVI connectors, HDMI connectors...
I also have questions about the installation (I'm scared of getting started)
thanks for the answers

 

[chinese_spy]

Hi all!
I've almost done my G4 with same config. The only way to cool the system imho is watercooling. I plan to post a quick overview in the near future.

 

[psycho_rocker]

View attachment 193745 Hi all!
I've almost done my G4 with same config. The only way to cool the system imho is watercooling. I plan to post a quick overview in the near future.

@chinese_spy I'd love to see some more images of your watercooling setup, I've been looking into watercooling my G4 Quicksilver for over a year now but I still cannot find a suitable rad, res and pump setup.

 

[chinese_spy]

I'd love to see some more images of your watercooling setup, I've been looking into watercooling my G4 Quicksilver for over a year now but I still cannot find a suitable rad, res and pump setup.

Hi, Rocker!
I've seen your G4, it is impressive.
If you need my advice, try to place the DDC pump on top of the left fan (which is closer to the speaker) and make custom narrow reservoir. You can place it in the upper part of the case, where cd-drive was.

Update:
Check this out, i think this guy should fit: https://www.ekwb.com/shop/ek-sbay-ddc-3-2-pwm-incl-pump
As for rads, I would recommend Coolgate HD series - HD240 at the bottom of the case and HD120 at the side there original fan was placed. http://www.coolgate.net/radiators_240HD.htm
http://www.coolgate.net/radiators_120HD.htm

 

[schwingel]

Hi. how much money do you spent in this build?

 

[Metalcored00d]

pleasure to meet you,

i'm a 3d artist working in the games industry BUT i've worked mainly on macs during most of my career.
my 2011 macbook pro served me well but my current project is pretty demanding and it's really time to invest in a new, proper workstation.
i mostly use adobe creative suite, autodesk maya and unity3d.

Hello there, you have done some amazing work on your 3d model. I daren't ask for a copy, but do you know the dimensions of the inner case (without the plastic covers)? That way I could start planning a future build without buying a "new" case first

 

[graphicstation]

View attachment 193745 Hi all!
I've almost done my G4 with same config. The only way to cool the system imho is watercooling. I plan to post a quick overview in the near future.

Is a CPU cooler required? I didn't see anything in the manual for this mobo - ideally I'm sure, but my use won't be that intensive. Thanks.