G4 Case Mod Black & Red

[Metalcored00d]

Hi all

Like so many others out there, I got seriously interested in doing case mods on the mac pro cases.

I've had the luck that my grandfather had both a G4 and a G5 to spare (in exchange for a faster hackintosh build I still had lying around).

I finished my G5 months ago (although one could say a casemod's never really done, innit?) and with an empty G4 case staring at me, I decided to give that one a go as well.

I must say that the building experience appeared as easier to me than the G5 (or maybe I just got more used to modding?) but I really had an awesome time doing so.

The donor for my project this time hasn't been the most reliable build at all, but it got the job done; since I work in retail in a computer store, we sometimes can get our hands on "broken" computers where obviously most parts still work. The old switcheroo left me a working HP mobo with an Intel Core i5 and an AMD Radeon 8xxx (which is not suitable on a hackintosh :/).

Apart from stripping the case, I drilled a hole in the case so my PSU could still draw air.

I forgot to paint the CD tray as well, so that's the only major change I'll have to do.

I have no photos from the build process since I always forget to do so. However, here's the final result: (Note that in the background you can see one of my 2 G5 cases^^)

 

[ChildOfBodom]

Hi all

Like so many others out there, I got seriously interested in doing case mods on the mac pro cases.

I've had the luck that my grandfather had both a G4 and a G5 to spare (in exchange for a faster hackintosh build I still had lying around).

I finished my G5 months ago (although one could say a casemod's never really done, innit?) and with an empty G4 case staring at me, I decided to give that one a go as well.

I must say that the building experience appeared as easier to me than the G5 (or maybe I just got more used to modding?) but I really had an awesome time doing so.

The donor for my project this time hasn't been the most reliable build at all, but it got the job done; since I work in retail in a computer store, we sometimes can get our hands on "broken" computers where obviously most parts still work. The old switcheroo left me a working HP mobo with an Intel Core i5 and an AMD Radeon 8xxx (which is not suitable on a hackintosh :/).

Apart from stripping the case, I drilled a hole in the case so my PSU could still draw air.

I forgot to paint the CD tray as well, so that's the only major change I'll have to do.

I have no photos from the build process since I always forget to do so. However, here's the final result:

Hehe knew I wasn't the only one that wanted to see it in black and red!
My build

Yours looks sweet I was thinking of going gloss on the handles and side panels but decided to stick with mat black and glossy red.

 

[Metalcored00d]

Hehe knew I wasn't the only one that wanted to see it in black and red!
My build

Yours looks sweet I was thinking of going gloss on the handles and side panels but decided to stick with mat black and glossy red.

Thx bro

I really like yours as well! The only thing I have to redo is my DVD tray cuz I completely forgot about that . Maybe you should paint your DVD tray black as well, just my idea.

Today I got myself a new G4 case where I hope to figure out a better mobo mounting system.

Grtz
Metalcored00d

 

[Metalcored00d]

buildlog

The inside of the case has seen a lot of dremel to fit my hardware. I stated before that I used a stock HP motherboard. Well, this wouldn't be a hackintosh forum if I didn't use hackintosh compatible hardware! That's why I decided to redesign this entire casemod, starting with new hardware.

The specs:
* Intel Core i5-3330, a 3GHz Quad Core Processor, taken from the HP mobo.
* Arctic Alpine 11 Rev. 2 CPU cooler, cheap and quiet!
* Asus P8H77-M LE mobo.
* Asus GTX650 TI-1GD5 (works ootb!)
* OCZ ModXStream Pro 600W Modular PSU.
* 12GB DDR3-1600 RAM, taken from the HP mobo.

To make this mod successful, I had to:
* Find a way to extend both the 24Pin and the 4 or 8pin PSU cables, so you can open the case completely while the pc's running. I did this by literally cutting the PSU cables from an old broken PSU. I just cut off some of the plastic sleeve and twisted the bare wires, which I could then just insert in the working PSU. Because I wasn't too confident if that'd work, I used an old PSU to test things out . Btw, I love the plastic piece Apple added to hold the cables together.

* Find a way to mount the mobo. I just went with the cheapest and easiest solution: nuts and bolts. It actually works! It's also great because you can adjust the height and it's fairly easy to unmount the mobo if you need to work on the case.

* Cut out the size of a 120mm fan for the PSU in the side of the case. For my OCZ I'll have to make the hole even bigger, since it has a 140mm fan.

Pictures of the build so far

The red marker on the case are parts I still have to cut out with my dremel tool.

 

[Metalcored00d]

To enable functioning Power Management on the Asus mobo, I had to patch the BIOS.

1) I downloaded the patched version here;
http://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/288751-dsdt-for-asus-p8h77-m-le/

2) Install the patched BIOS using CodeRush's method, FTK for DOS;
http://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/285444-pmpatch-uefi-patching-utility/page-10#entry1893689

Now it's time to install!

 

[Metalcored00d]

I had some trouble getting both the installer and the actual system to run properly. I always had to boot in safe mode (-X bootflag) or it would hang on "iobluetooth... missing transport".

I could solve it using the bootflag dart=0, which disables vt-d;
http://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/288751-dsdt-for-asus-p8h77-m-le/

Once that was done, the build was finally done and I could put it back together!