Power mac G4

Hi everyone
I'm new here, great website just looking through the things people have come up with! There are some very clever builds on here.

Anyways, so basically I've been looking for a new computer project and I was given this old G4 tower sitting around for a long time, it does still run and I upgraded the hard disk to a 250 gig one (though it doesn't recognise all of it.)

But what I want to do is do a case mod with it and install a micro atx motherboard inside, probably will just run windows for now as I like my games and I can't program at all

I know this has been done many times before and I need a bit of advice on a few things:

Firstly, has anyone managed to keep the original cd drive intact? On mine it looks like I'm going to have to pull it out because of the cpu cooler on the new motherboard, but I thought maybe I could use a laptop dvd drive or something like that to replace it.

Secondly, can I simply install an ATX PSU in place of the apple one? The only thing that might be different is the holes from the looks of it.
In terms of cooling I'll probably replace the fan at the back and maybe add a new one, also I will be getting a non working G5 imac (logic board broken) so I can get some nice fans out of that.

Thirdly i was wondering what kind of tool would be best to remove the plastic case covers? it looks like a small allen key, and the panels will have to be removed to make the new motherboard mounts.

Here is the computer, and the motherboard I may be installing:



Thanks in advance for any help you can provide, I know my way around a normal desktop PC reasonably well ( I am guilty of gutting poor computers and of installing led fans
but this is the first time I've even contemplated playing with a mac!

Original parts removed

Well today I carefully removed all the original g4 parts (motherboard, ram etc) and I have put them in bubble wrap since they do still work and could be reused for another project.

After some experimentation I soon realized that the motherboard with RAM wasn't going to fit, so out came the drill and I drilled through all the rivets and removed it and the dvd drive. Would have been nice to have a dvd drive, but there is just so little space in these cases, even with a mATX board! I also pulled out the front panel connectors and buttons from a stone age beige box case I had lying around, I'm hoping to connect these up to the original power buttons somehow and then I'll have nice plugs ready for the motherboard to connect to
I also cleaned out about 12 years worth of dust from the back cooling fan!

I don't have any modern hardware, the best I'm hoping to dig out of my collection of old pc parts is maybe an old AMD board with pcie and a few gigs ram. I'm only planning on using it for mostly web surfing and the odd old windows game my current set up still has AGP so it'd be nice to upgrade to a slightly nicer system!

I've been trying to work out the best way to mount the motherboard, I have seen it simply bolted in but the other way is to use the old back plate from a pc and simply bolt it on to the existing motherboard plate. Any ideas on which is the best way to go?

Anyway here is the ''progress'' so far:

Great Progress so far! But I was wondering if you have anything planned for doing anything to the outside of the case? or are you going to leave it in its good old stock factory look?

Kind Regards,

FezClone (CS15)

Hi again!
I'm probably going to leave the paint stock as I like it and I have absolutely no idea how to paint properly either haha
But I am going to be installing a colour changing led behind the apple logo at the top of the case, with a switch at the back so I can turn it off if I want leaving it looking basically stock.

Anyway I really didn't want to hack up the original start button board as I thought I might want it later so I measured the original board and made my own one with normal motherboard plugs and when I saw the electronics shop had blue leds, I couldn't resist... it's the ''high power'' one too I'm going to make a small 3 volt regulator set up to run the power on and colour changing leds straight off the supply
Also looking at best fans to use for the case, not much point in the led ones though since you can't see it
Here are some pics anyway:

Let me know what you think

The G4 is a fun mod. I enjoyed mine and still use it. There are several ways of doing this mod. You can see what I did here http://www.tonymacx86.com/powermac-g4/93656-g4-mod-february-2013-a.html

Yeah I sure am having fun with it
Also I'm very impressed by the way you managed to do the back motherboard panel, I'm a bit nervous about doing mine as I don't want to hack it up
It looks like you cut out the shape of the I/O plate and pushed in the new one right?
One guy suggested I use extension plugs, this seems like a neat idea as then I won't have to cut any of the back panel up, just mount the plugs I need
But if I can simply replace the back plate then I might do that...

Next step is find a decent fan and wire up the colour cycling led

I tried to find another microatx back panel that would fit, but found it easier to use the original. Just do careful dremeling and sneak up on it. Some matx mother boards will require removal of the pillar between the io and card slots. It depends on the audio output layout.

More progress
Spent a few hours wiring up the regulator to power the led lights and also installed the colour changing led. First try with the regulator I stuffed it up somehow (think I burn it out by accident) but had better luck second try! The leds wouldn't power on until I'd adjusted it to minnimum 2.5 volts so I actually set it about 3v to get a decent brightness. My first go at using heat shrink as well, much neater and easier than the electrical tape I used on my last computer

I mounted the voltage regulator on the plastic clip thing that houses the speaker, and the wire is from an old front panel.
Next step is try to mount the power supply, not quite sure on that yet but I'll work something out. Then I'll pick my hard ware and attempt to cut out the back and install the I/O plate which will be interesting to say the least

The led behind the apple logo changes colours about every 3 seconds or so, I installed a switch at the back so i can turn it off if it gets annoying
here are some pics!

Hi again
Just wondering if anyone could give me some tips on using the dremel to cut out the back, I haven't used mine much but I've gone through most of my ez cutting wheels so I went and got an accesssory pack with ''cutting wheels'' but they aren't the ez lock type. I worked out how to use them, but are they the right thing to be using on the back panel of the computer?

Also should I use a clamp or anything like that or do you just mark out the lines you want to cut and go for it? And is high speed or low speed better for this task?
I'm thinking I'll get some scrap metal and have a practice with it first so I can get a feel of how to control it, I have some broken power supply case around so I can try cutting up those

I'll post some pictures of my dremel and the attachments later.
Thanks!

hey hows it going. dremel is better on highest speed but let it cut don't force it or you will wear out the blades real fast . remember to compensate for your standoffs if your using them . i like to put mine in the board upside down so the thread comes out the top and secure them in place by screwing some more or a nut on top . then you can mock fit it to the back as close as you can get to check the alignment of your marked up back panel .

those photos are on the way for you although a tad late