G5 Mod Help

[pablobtown]

So I bought an empty Power Mac G5 tower today, my parents picked it up because the guy on craigslist was very close to them, and they are coming home tomorrow morning. So I haven't been able to personally play with it yet However I know I will need help with it.

-Where can I find an internal HDD rack? Or should I attempt to build one?
-Should I use epoxy to mount the motherboard tray?
-Where should I mount my radiator?
-Where can I find a schematic of the front panel to convert it to ATX? (I dont have firewire capabilities on my current mobo)
-Where's a good place to velcro my ATX PSU (The G5 comes with orignal PSU, but I dont know if it will work, or if it powerful enough. I need it to be the 600W model and not 450W) So if it is the 600W can I just use it instead of my ATX PSU?
-Can I use the orignal SuperDrive? (It also comes with that)
-How should I go about reattaching the G5 CPU cover? (It also comes with that)

I got an amazing deal on this, so I would love to be able to convert this to my ATX stuff and get my current hackintosh inside of it. Im pretty good with modding, and I have friends in robotics that are even better that would help me out with wiring, cutting, and just about anything else I could think of.

Thanks guys!

 

[hardgrove]

Ok, as for hdd rack, the g5 has space for 2 3.5 inch hard drives. I know many people reuse this setup (its really nice, you will see)or if they have more drives they will obtain more of the G5 racks and glue/screw them together. Some have recycled racks from other computers or built them from scratch. I plan to use multiple g5 racks, they can be found on EBay from time to time, but the screws that hold the drive in are $2.50-$3 each. Look at people's custom builds and maybe you will find a setup you like.

Motherboard tray epoxy? Can you be more specific? You can epoxy it, or if you leave some of the logic board standoffs in place you can mount it that way.

As for radiator mounting, what size do you have? Anything is possible if you have the patience and skills. If its a CPU radiator most likely on the rear, then again, I'm no expert on radiators.

Front panel schematics

http://www.tonymacx86.com/attachmen...ntosh-powermac-g5-powermac-g5-front-panel.jpg

I know that a guy on insanelymac sells premade ones with firewire jumpers for like $30 plus shipping. Believe his handle is Aloahcab or enjoyfebuary. If you're not skilled at soldering it may be the way to go. I'm sure others will post the correct contact if I'm wrong

As for the power supply in the G5, it won't work on ATX without heavy modifications. With that said, you can easily mount the atx power supply on bottom if you make a pigtail connector. Depending on motherboard size you can mount it up top where the hard drive currently resides. If you're skilled with a dremmel and soldering iron (and can stand to void your psu warranty) you can take the internals out of the powermac PSU and put the ATX in its place (I did this). If you're not skilled in electrical things DON'T do this, you can short the psu, electrocute yourself, or other general bad things!!!

As for the "SuperDrive" mine was a dvdrw drive with slow speeds. I threw in a Samsung drive from Microcenter for less than $15 on sale. I don't know if you can reuse it actually, but I don't see why not, though I could be wrong.

If you want to reuse the G5 CPU cover, I'm sure it's as simple as placing it where you want in the case with a dab of glue. Different G5 models had different sized plates.

Hope this helped? Check out others builds and feel free to shoot a PM if you're stuck. I'm building my first hackintosh using this case, freaking love it!

 

[chaosdesigns]

Read my G5 mods in my signature. I have done three of them. Many of your questions are really answered by personal preference. There are lots of ways to skin this cat!

Remember to take photos and post your progress!

Happy modding!

chaos

 

[taumaz]

i am just about to complete my own g5 mod, i made my own hard drive bay that can hold 8 drives and is hot swap capable. also i mounted a corsair h60 cooler on the back of the case.

here is a few pics to give you some ideas...

 

[samisnake]

taumaz, got anymore photos of your case mod? looks really good

 

[taumaz]

taumaz, got anymore photos of your case mod? looks really good

yes, but planning to start my own thread (did not want to highjack this one)

will try to do as soon as i have time.

 

[Dschijn]

yes, but planning to start my own thread (did not want to highjack this one)

will try to do as soon as i have time.

Please do it! It's looking good. Which HDD tray did u use?

 

[taumaz]

Please do it! It's looking good. Which HDD tray did u use?

I did not use a hard drive tray, I built my own using 2 Hot swap Backplanes from corsair and designed my own side panels witch I had water jet cut. This designed also uses "Rubber Hard drive screws" (witch have not arrived yet) to suspend the drive in the tracks and provide vibration dampening.

This setup is Sata 3 Hot Swap compatible.

Links below:

http://www.corsair.com/obsidian-series-800d-sata-6gbps-upgrade-kit.html

http://www.frozencpu.com/products/8...Anti-Vibration_Screw_Shoulder_Screw_Type.html