A Skylake Cube

[neilhart]

Very nice looking bottom panel, super clean! How did you adhere the metal plate in place? Epoxy/Solder? Did you use a drill press for the holes or a hand drill?

Also, if you don't mind me asking, why did you leave so much space without drilling holes? Do you think your missing out on potential air flow?

lee.iii.will I used J-B Weld epoxy to secure the aluminum insert. I also used the J-B Weld to fill in the gaps and used masking tap to keep the epoxy from running into areas where it is not wanted.

The hole pattern is subjective. More holes can easily be added. I conducted a goodly number of thermal tests with no air holes in the aluminum plate and found the system with the i7-6700T ran in the high 50s and low 60s C under full loading of both CPU and the GPU functions. These were with the system fully assembled and standing in the upright position.

And I used a drill press and a scrap piece of mesh for the hole pattern and hole alignment.

However I am in a no op spin loop as I wait to learn the status on the RMA on the first H110S1 motherboard which died on me. In the mean time I had purchased a second ASUS H110S1 and that motherboard came up quickly but also died after running about an hour on my desktop. The second board I returned to Amazon as a DOA for a refund.

I am exploring my options now. I may assemble the hack and put it on the shelf for some later date as I can not bring myself to order a third motherboard. Or I could switch to an ASRock STX motherboard or to an ASUS Q170S1 when and if it becomes available.


Good modding,
neil

 

[lee.iii.will]

I used the same method when J-B Welding my PowerMac G5. My only problem when doing that was from time to time I'd end up with an air bubble between the bottom of the J-B Weld and the masking tape.

Those temps sound good, no complaints here when I run around those Temps.

Sorry to hear about the bad luck with motherboards! That is really odd that it happened to you with two different boards. I usually have good luck with ASUS products. It'd be a shame to have to switch boards when you already have the bottom panel cut to match the H110S1! Best of luck with the RMA process, hopefully ASUS gets back to you with good news!

 

[graphicstation]

AppleMann,

I notch the inside of the bottom cover to make clearance for the motherboard as seen here:

I do not mod the motherboard as some have done.

And the photo story of my second cube is here: http://www.tonymacx86.com/threads/new-player-low-profile-intel-dh61ag-mini-itx-g4-cube.36616/page-11

The motherboard is mounted onto two custom ABS side rails (1/8 inch black ABS) that rest upon two of the corner supports. When completely assembled, the motherboard is captured and does not move around.

However someone came up with the idea of suspending the motherboard from standoffs attached to the side rail/latch assemblies which is just as effective as my solution.

An example of this mounting can be seen here on Rayds project: http://www.tonymacx86.com/threads/r...sh-i7-4790s-gtx-750-ti-dvd-rw-1tb-ssd.162210/

Early on, I attempted to include a GPU in my cube builds. I was never happy using a flat cable PCIe extender and in some attempts the system just would not run reliably with an extender cable. There are more of these cable assemblies on the market now and build quality has improved greatly and it may work for your set of parts.



Good modding,

neil

Introduction:

Computers and Apple OS X have been my primary interest for a number of years. I call it a hobby but it is really an addiction. We own three Apple laptops and I have built and collected a goodly number of of systems, where most run OS X. If you are not familiar with my obsession, you can get an idea by browsing this link: http://www.tonymacx86.com/threads/neilharts-completed-case-mods.87399/

Background:

The Apple G4 Cube was released in 2000. It was not a great success but was loved by many and scorned by a few. I was not into Apple at that time so I missed the event. I discovered the G4 Cube in 2010 and proceeded to hack one and that project was not a great success as my system ran hot and was just did not meet my (self set) standards.

Then in late 2011 I happened upon the Intel DH61AG “thin” mini-ITX motherboard and took on the project of getting OS X to run. A key feature is the external AC to DC power supply. Long story short, I put that motherboard into a G4 Cube and I was happy with the end result and I maintain that system today in my collection.

The original Apple G4 Cube used an external power supply so the “thin” mini-ITX is not a great leap away from the original design.

Also, along the way sometime in 2013 I picked up a working cube with the external PSU. I maintain this in my collection along with the appropriate Apple display, mouse and keyboard.

Last year I did a survey of available “thin” mini-ITX motherboards and recently discovered several Skylake additions. I was very pleased to find one that is reasonably priced and that has both m.2 WiFi/BT socket and m.2 PCIe 3.0 x4 data socket (bootable).

So what’s up?

The following is a costed list of material to build a compute engine that would “easily” fit into a G4 Cube hack. This system would be able to run El Capitan and macOS with ease and dual boot into Windows 10 , if desired.

One of the key device selections is a low power CPU. The low power consumption lessens the cooling task in the system and make success much more obtainable.

The down side that I see is the Apple OS support of the Intel Graphics HD 530. I own two Skylake systems and I have given up on dual displays when running HD 530 (at this writing I and basing this on El Capitan 10.11.5).

However I am itching to see this system built. I can not justify the expense of another system and will offer advice and support to anyone that takes on this build. Key is finding an intact G4 Cube at a reasonable price (say about $ 100 US or less).


Motherboard: $ 80 US

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813132833

Thin Mini-ITX - uses external wall wart (not included) so no need for internal PSU! Has provision for m.2 WiFi and m.2 data/boot drive!

Intel CPU $ 149 US

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01BH4XX74/?tag=tonymacx86com-20

Core i5-6400T - low power 4 core 4 thread - 35 watt TDP, 2.20GHz with turbo to 2.89 GHz.

CPU Cooler: $ 20 US

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00K8PLRMM/?tag=tonymacx86com-20

Low profile cooler - could be a single fan installation…

SODIMM Memory: $ 60 US

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B015HQ9VEM/?tag=tonymacx86com-20

Crucial 16GB Kit, 2133MT/s SODIMM DDR4

SSD Drive (m.2 boot & system drive): $ 186 US

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00VELD92U/?tag=tonymacx86com-20

This is the famous Samsung SM951 AHCI that provides near fastest SSD performance. Silly Fast.

WiFi/BT: $ 29 US

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0156DVQ7G/?tag=tonymacx86com-20

Radio card - BCM94352Z in the m.2 configuration = WiFi and Bluetooth (optional as wired Ethernet would be working).



The total is $ 524 US for the compute engine… cube purchase and modding material extra.



- - - - - - - - That is it! - - - - Comments or discussion welcomed.



Good modding,

neil

Okay, WITH only one mod under my belt (guess I'm a glutton for punishment) now I want to mod my G4 Cube. My goal "would" have been to have few cuts as possible, but from all the threads I have read, at minimum looks like 1. A new Mobo requires a cut in the bottom where currently the original panel connectors are as well as the GPU, and 2, GPU is moved to the other side in the somewhat open space is and holes cut for it's connections. Just want to know when I'm getting into I'll see reading all threads, wish me luck!

 

[neilhart]

Okay, WITH only one mod under my belt (guess I'm a glutton for punishment) now I want to mod my G4 Cube. My goal "would" have been to have few cuts as possible, but from all the threads I have read, at minimum looks like 1. A new Mobo requires a cut in the bottom where currently the original panel connectors are as well as the GPU, and 2, GPU is moved to the other side in the somewhat open space is and holes cut for it's connections. Just want to know when I'm getting into I'll see reading all threads, wish me luck!

View attachment 218756

I am pleased to learn that you are taking on a G4 Cube project. There are many cube projects documented here in the forum and some are outstanding. A good plan helps avoid miss-steps that can cost time and money.

From my point of view, one should select the lowest powered system that will meet your requirements. The most significant problem is getting rid of the heat generated. Also I along with others have had very mixed results using PCIe cable risers to the extent that I don't recommend using a GPU card in G4 Cube.

Please start a project thread and keep us posted on your progress.

I am currently on hold with my current cube project as I try to sort out motherboard and CPU issues.

Good modding,
neil

 

[neilhart]

A small update.

I have acquired another ASUS H110S1 motherboard and an i3-6100 CPU as the best that I have been able to determine is that I somehow damaged my i7-6700T CPU.

The G4 Cube hack is back in play and I am sorting out using the original touch sensor. Currently I have a power switch installed in the top panel (accessed through the wide vent slot) and the Apple power and reset switches on the bottom panel. This all works.

The ASUS STX motherboard has 3.3 volt standby power where you would normally have 5 volt standby power. I am waiting for a step-up voltage device that I ordered on line and in the mean time have the touch sensor working in this setup.

I am using a miniature 5 volt relay to isolate my hack circuit from the motherboard power on circuit. And I am mounting the Apple touch sensor rotated 180 degrees as I have a space conflict with the USB hub that I am using.

More to follow,
neil

 

[neilhart]

Final Update:

I have finished this G4 Cube project.

The final system is:

Motherboard - ASUS H110S1[CSM] - mini-STX form factor
CPU - Intel i3-6100 - 2 cores 4 threads 51W TDP
Memory - 2x 8GB DDR4 SODIMM - 2133 MHZ
CPU Cooler - noctua NH-D9L - modified see detail in post
M.2 SSD - Samsung SM951 AHCI 256GB
M.2 WiFi/BT - BCM94352Z
RF Cables - 2x IPEX U.fl/PEX to RP-SMA MHF4 MHFIV
Optical Drive - Panasonic UJ167 Ultra Slim Slot Blu-ray combo SATA 9.5mm
O-Drive Cable - StarTech 6 inch SlimLine SATA
Hard Drive - HGST Travelstar 7K1000 2.5-inch 1 TB 7200 RPM
Type C USB Hub - Cable Creation USB 3.1 USB-C to 3 ports USB3.0 and Gigabit Ethernet
Power Switch - Adafruit Mini Illuminated Momentary Pushbutton - Blue Power Symbol
Drive Activity LED - Adafruit Bright Blue LED
Stand-by Power - Adafruit PowerBoost 500 Basic - 5V USB Boost @ 500mA
Relay - Omron 5V DPDT Non-Latching
Audio - Right Angle Male Male TRRS cable and two female receptacles with TRRS term.
AC Power Adapter - Oneda 120W 19V 6.32.A
Plus - Misc. bits and pieces from my salvage stock
Apple G4 Cube

Fully assembled idle system runs 30 to 32 degrees C and fully CPU loaded (Prime95 torture test) runs 65 to 68 degrees C both with a ambient of 74F (23.3 C). This is with the single 92mm fan on the CPU cooler.

Line power consumption is 16 watts idle and 74 watts running 100% CPU load

I have installed both El Capitan 10.11.6 and Sierra 10.12 and upgraded to 10.12.1.

I am not too pleased with Apple as Sierra is royal pain. I have included the patch for the HD530 top menu bar glitch, and the patches for WIFI/BT. With the latest Clover config.plist patches, El Capitan goes into a reboot loop so I will remove it if I don’t run across a solution soon.

The system is stable and runs 24/7 without issue. Note I don’t test for Sleep and wake from Sleep as these function are not useful for desktop machines as I use them.

I have a little over kill on the power switching. The Apple touch sensor works as does the blue LED lit top panel power switch and the bottom panel power/reset switches.

Anyway this is the first time in years that I took time to sort out the touch sensor and get it working. I searched for minihack’s touch sensor write up which made the task easy. This mother board does not have a 5V standby power line but does have a 3.3V one. I used an Adafruit up-converter to get the 5VSB and a relay to isolate my add-on.

Also I rotated the touch sensor 180 degrees as a space work-around (avoid hub type C connector). Note that I had to drill new mounting holes for the sensor and make up an adapter plate to space the sensor back to nearly the original location.

I had never been happy with cube hacks due the low profile CPU coolers blowing at right angle to the up draft air cooling design. So with the noctua NH-D9L being just about the right size for a standing up CPU cooler and the STX motherboard CPU location in a favorable location I had to do this hack. This would be a better hack if the cooler was no wider then 92 mm and the STX motherboard had all of the IO on the IO side of the board.

Adding in the top panel USB hub with the USB Gigabit Ethernet is just frosting on the cake as is the slot loading Blu-ray player.

If I do a mod to this system, I will move the hard drive and mount it with the optical drive. As it is now, the HDD does not get any cooling air and it runs warmer then I would like.

Comments and/or questions are welcome.


Good modding,
neil

 

[gatofelix86]

Hi Neil,

I have a cube waiting to be converted to a hackintosh and would like to make a similar build. I have a copule of questions. How did you fixed the motherboard plate to the g4 chassis? and is it possible to explain a little more detail on the sensor button? relay, power booster, etc. I'm thinking of using the STX motherboard, thanks in advance, gatofelix86

 

[neilhart]

Hi Neil,

I have a cube waiting to be converted to a hackintosh and would like to make a similar build. I have a copule of questions. How did you fixed the motherboard plate to the g4 chassis? and is it possible to explain a little more detail on the sensor button? relay, power booster, etc. I'm thinking of using the STX motherboard, thanks in advance, gatofelix86

Well when all is said and done, the motherboard mounting plate is captured in place. It is actually not attached, it is captured by the top and bottom panels. I started by making the plate as large as would fit in the G4 case, see post # 14. Then as I added things, I modified the plate by removing material... see posts 14 through 18,

The G4 touch sensor was bench tested and I found that it worked as explained in the minihack guide. I found that the STX mother board did not have 5 volt standby power but did have 3.3 volt standby power. After an internet search, I selected a voltage up converter module from AdaFruit to get the 5 volts needed from the 3.3 volt supply. So my circuit has the touch sensor wired to actuate the mini-5-volt relay when it turns on with a touch. The contacts of the relay are then used to complete the motherboard Power + to Power - pins on the motherboard front panel header.

As noted, the bottom panel retains (relocated) the original power and rest switches and I added the small power switch in the top panel (with a blue LED). These switches are in parallel so that each works independent of the the others. These are not needed because in this cube the touch sensor works very well (which was not the case in my past cube build experience).

Good modding,
neil

 

[gatofelix86]

Thank's Neil for the info, will try when I get all the parts.

 

[gatofelix86]

From where do you take the 3.3V standby, on the motherboard?