Ersterhernd's Second G5 Project

[ersterhernd]

You mentioned that your G5 case is 'late 2005'. How did you manage to get Alohacab's cable to work? He claims that his cable will only work with 2004 and early 2005 cases. He says that Apple changed the front panel thing for the late '05 edition.

I ordered a 2004 Front Panel PCB off eBay. It swapped over very easily. Correct, his cables will not work with the late 2005 front panel, as there are no pins to plug it into on that model of PCB.

How did you mount the rear fan assembly to the front of the case? Any drilling of holes involved?

The rear fan assembly is so well suited to these mods and looks so nice that I didn't want to simply throw it away. The assembly itself is mounted (with 8-32 bolts) to a piece of aluminum angle bar. This piece of angle bar is then bolted to a piece of 3/4" x 3/4" aluminum bar that is drilled and threaded. The 3/4" bar is JB Welded to the case wall.

I've attached a couple of pics at bottom of this post to illustrate basically how I did it.

Where did you get your G5 cases? They look really clean. I'm completely jealous.

The 04 was a naked case off eBay. The late 05 was a complete working G5 off Craigslist. I would never buy an empty case again, the hassle and expense of obtaining all the necessary screws and missing parts just isn't worth it. Buying a complete G5 was definitely the better option, by a long shot. In the end, it was cheaper too. Couple of pics of the late 2005 right when I got it home. There wasn't a mark on it, I couldn't believe I got one in such great condition.

Ersterhernd

(Attached Pics of the Front Fan mounting)

 

[StudioK]

That 2005 case looks like new. What a great find.

I've bought an early 2005 G5 from eBay for $96.00. It hasn't arrived yet, but I'm certain it won't look like new. It is, however, a working system. After reading your work logs, I am glad that I chose a complete system instead of a gutted case. I was thinking that an empty case might be missing the front panel power switch thing or that the power switch may not work (no way to test it if it's gutted). So I went for a working system, because then you know the power button is working.

I have ordered the G5 120mm kit from David Chugg/Laser Hive. How much time passed before yours arrived?

 

[ersterhernd]

I paid 180 for my G5. They're frequently on Craigslist here, but not in the condition of this one. I paid him his ask price and walked out with it. No point in dicking around for a few dollars.

You made a good choice. The HDD racks are great, there should be 4 extra HDD screws up top in the fan assembly, they're 3 DOLLARS each on line. Disassembly isn't difficult, but you'll need an extra long hex driver (I forget the size) to get the CPU Cooler off. I said to heck with it and hacked away with a dremel on the cooling fins until I could get a regular allen key in there. Get a no. 8 and no. 10 torx, too. You'll need them.

LaserHive's products took about a week to get to Canada. The 120 kit is sweet, you'll love it. Well worth the money.


Good Luck!

 

[StudioK]

The G5 has arrived, and it looks really nice. Unfortunately, it was damaged during shipping. The rear foot was dented which forced the bit on the side upward and out.

This looks like what happened to your 2004 case. How did you go about forcing the aluminum back to its original shape and position?

 

[ersterhernd]

I've read about so many cases damaged in transit. Very unfortunate.

Mine was bent outward only. I roughed the inner surfaces as best I could, applied JB Weld in the narrow opening and clamped it tight with two clamps. Left it 48 hours.

It's still holding great. JB Weld is vital for the G5 builds.

 

[minihack]

I've read about so many cases damaged in transit. Very unfortunate.

Mine was bent outward only. I roughed the inner surfaces as best I could, applied JB Weld in the narrow opening and clamped it tight with two clamps. Left it 48 hours.

It's still holding great. JB Weld is vital for the G5 builds.

Seriously if you can buy a case within driving distance then always drive to pick it up....I always filter eBay by distance now as sellers don't realise how fragile the G5 case is.

I had one guy send me his case to convert it and, though the box it was in was not damaged, it still had the bent foot thing. There needs to be a LOT of padding between the G5 and the case it is travelling in to absorb shocks and just putting it in a close fitting box is no good - without the internal padding the case will be the thing that takes the shocks and not the box. The aluminium is so soft that unless you have a really careful courier (anyone know a man with a white van that drives carefully?) it stands a high risk of being trashed in transit - and once those bottom captive nuts pop out it'll never be the same again.

Right now I'm trying to figure out what to do with the spare inner from the last damaged case I have here.

 

[ersterhernd]

Agreed Minihack.

First lesson I learned from G5 project number one...

"Buy a complete G5 locally, NOT a bare case off eBay"

 

[tiinbe]

Can you please comment on how you cut the back panel to fit a full ATX mobo? I just got my G5 from craiglist today and am eager to start my own mod.

 

[ersterhernd]

If you mean the rear of the case, its a Laser Hive back panel kit. It was designed and cut by David Chugg of Laser Hive. To fit the panel, he encloses full instructions. Basically, you temporarily mount it, trace out the portion that needs removing from the G5, then cut with a dremel. This build was not a full ATX by the way, it was a micro ATX format. My first G5 build (see my sig) was full ATX. Both used Laser Hive's rear backplate kits.

Hope this helps. Good Luck with your new build!


Ersterhernd

 

[StudioK]

how difficult was it to remove and attach the front panel IO pcb thing? What's involved? I don't suppose it's as easy as popping it off and on.
I've been looking closely at mine and it's not obvious to me how to remove it. Not that I need to, but I'd like to know how in case the need arises.

Also, I've noticed that the IO panel on my 2005 G5 says 'Apple Computer 2003' on it. I wonder if all the early '05, '04, and '03 G5's have this printed on them. The G5 was introduced in mid-2003 and I can only assume that those use the same IO front panel as the 2004-05. AlohaCab does not specifically mention the 2003 as compatible with his cable.