Full ATX > PowerMac G5 quick & dirty

[Hiluksi]

So I found this G5 in electric trash pile and decided that my old LAN-machine was going to get and update.

Asus P8P67, Core i5-2500k, Scythe Mugen 2, 16 GB Gskill 1600 MHz, Asus GTX 970, Samsung 256 GB SSD, Seasonic 520W and some other junk have a new home!

Took everything out and cut a hole in that upper shelf thing for ATX-mobo. Piece of scrap plastic held in place with apple screws for new motherboard standoffs. Of course it cracked. Epoxy to the rescue. This way I could use those original card slots.

I'm sure there are better ways to do this but this is what I did.

Power-button got new wires and USB and headphone jack got replaced with new ones.

At this point it all still looks fairly tidy...

But after some new/old fans, power supply, extension wires, RGB-lighting, SSD-drive and some more wiring, it starts to look like rats nest in there.
Everything is mounted the way they are because I didn't want to do anything to exterior of the case. Original screws and holes.

Need to do some cable management but other than that it's pretty much done. Works well too.

 

[colinzeal]

We would like more details!

like where did you get the motherboard plate and the front USB port interface from?

looks fantastic though.

 

[Hiluksi]

Mobo tray is just a piece of plastic I had laying around. Used that asus motherboard as a template for spacers and such.
Some of the apple screws are just spacers under the tray (marked black in picture) and those flat wide ones hold it in place. Only genuine apple products here
Front usb (and back) is just extra usb port chopped and epoxied in place.

Audio jack I took from old case and that too is epoxied in place.
Rear lan-port is short RJ45 extension from mobos port. That took some trimming but it fits just barely.

 

[Hiluksi]

For power socket I chopped and gutted one of these (mine came from old UPS or something like that).

And then epoxied male-end of one of these in there.

Need to shorten that power cord someday...

 

[MartyGee]

You've done a great job there, I need to get onto doing mine, you've inspired me

 

[craighazan]

Beautiful and inspiring, great work!. I think the early G5 cases offer the best variety in configurations and options for building a great machine!. It speaks volumes that three completely different G5s are on the home page, sorry two G5s and a 2009 Mac Pro. After 15 years it's still 'the' case to stuff a brilliant build into.

Interested to know how you mounted your two Artics to the rear fanguard?. I will definitely be copying your PSU cord solution for my G5, thanks for sharing.

 

[Hiluksi]

Just drilled holes to that plastic mount in G5 and then used screws that came with fans. Then mounted that whole assembly back in case with original tiny screws. Standard 92 mm fans fit perfectly. At least in mine which is late 2005, I think.

 

[craighazan]

Just drilled holes to that plastic mount in G5 and then used screws that came with fans. Then mounted that whole assembly back in case with original tiny screws. Standard 92 mm fans fit perfectly. At least in mine which is late 2005, I think.

Nice!, mine's 2004 so it's very similar to yours. I have two 92mm Noctua attached to the rear plastic fan guard, and a 92mm Arctic mounted in the front fan guard. Yes those tiny screws!, I've lost 5 already.

 

[haller]

looks really cool. could treat my spare G5 case exactly the same like you did. was wondering, how did you go about that USB port on the back? I might need Ethernet port as well so that would be a problem...

 

[craighazan]

Was wondering, how did you go about that USB port on the back?

I think Hiluksi and I are using the same cable in our G5s, they plug into the internal USB header on the motherboard, they can be found easily on Amazon, Newegg and eBay. On my current G5 I have this mounted in the top bracket and there's still room behind it to add a NVMe drive attached to an adapter in the X4 slot. Ethernet is bit more of an issue!, but you can get right angled extensions that would give you better access.