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How Hard Is The G5 Mod?

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Hello everyone. I am sort of new to the forums and I want to start on a Hackintosh soon. My birthday is on the 29th and I am hoping to get all my parts by then. I am going to a performing arts school where I will be needing to use programs like iMovie, GarageBand, Logic, FCP, etc., but I still want some good gaming performance. I was dead-set on a macbook pro, but really can not spend that much money. I have been looking around at everyone's G5 mods and they all look fantastic, got me thinking if I could do such a thing.

I'm 15 years old and have never built a computer before, never have modded before either, so I was wondering how hard it would be to complete this task? I am planning on getting the budget-build #2 sandy bridge because I am spending 60% and my parents are spending 40% and I would like to buy the case. Thank you!
 
Putting together a computer is easy. If you haven't done it before, have a look at YouTube. There are plenty guides on where to put what and so on. It's much easier when you see it being done as opposed to a write-up of the procedure.

About the G5 mod:

The amount of time and work you put into it depends on your approach and how much money you can spend.

No-cutting approach: µATX board and wiring the motherboard outputs to the G5 outputs.
Downside: Some soldering and buying small, relatively (for what they are) expensive parts for the wiring.

Cutting approach (what I'm doing): µATX or ATX board and cutting a square hole for the mobo outputs. For an ATX board you'd also have to cut out the original PCI output slots. The easiest way of making it look clean and tidy is using the modular I/O panel from Mountain Mods. Using a complete motherboard tray is also possible but not necessary, IMHO. And both, the I/O panel and motherboard trays are expensive for what they are.
With this approach, it's a bit easier not to use the rear fan assembly and instead mount your own fans.

In any case, you'll have to wire the front panel of the G5 to the mobo, which includes some soldering. If you can live without front USB, FireWire and audio, there's only three lines you need to use (ground, power button, power LED).

PSU-approaches: I don't think that at the age of 15 you have the knowledge to reuse the G5 PSU housing for your own PSU. I'm serious, it's deadly dangerous.
This also saves you some work and since you don't have money to blow, you'd better not void your PSU's warranty by opening it anyway.
BTW: I, too, leave the PSU as it is.

Bottom line: Don't worry about assembling the PC parts.
The G5 mod, however, costs you time and money. How much of what depends on the approach you choose. If you haven't soldered before, get someone to help you with it.

One more thing: If you get a working G5 (maybe only with a dead PSU), selling off the parts you can't use/don't need can repay you part of what you paid for it.
 
Thank you for the quick reply! Access to soldering tools and other things will not be too hard as my brother likes tinker with his guitar and pedals and my dad works with sheet metal and other materials so I could use his tools (with his help) to cut open the case (if that is what I end up doing, which I probably will have to). Again, thanks for the quick reply. Btw, saw your mod, and it is fantastic!

I also checked out the Fractal Design case in your signature (well, the R3 as the R2 is not on their website) and wow :eek: Really nice! I am actually considering that over the G5 case mod, seems more in my ballpark.

I will post back soon! Again, thank you!
 
Hi,
Just wanted to add a couple of things to the good advice flatfoot has given you.
As this will be your first computer project and you are also doing school it might be good to start with a regular build using an off the shelf case.
You can get nice new cases pretty cheaply and get your build up and running. Then later, when you get a bit more time, you can do the G5 case mod. at your leisure and transfer the bits across. That way you won't find yourself under pressure to get something up and running quickly. It'll help you take your time and get everything nice.
Good luck, building PCs is a great way to learn new stuff.
 
flatfoot said:
Yeah, the Fractal Design cases are very reasonably priced for what they offer.
BTW: I'm going to sell mine in a few weeks when my hack is up and running in the G5 case.

minihack said:
Hi,
Just wanted to add a couple of things to the good advice flatfoot has given you.
As this will be your first computer project and you are also doing school it might be good to start with a regular build using an off the shelf case.
You can get nice new cases pretty cheaply and get your build up and running. Then later, when you get a bit more time, you can do the G5 case mod. at your leisure and transfer the bits across. That way you won't find yourself under pressure to get something up and running quickly. It'll help you take your time and get everything nice.
Good luck, building PCs is a great way to learn new stuff.

I think I will do that then. I will buy the Fractal Design case online and then in a couple of months proceed with the G5 case. Thank you both for the help!

Btw, do I need a special PSU for that case? And will the CustoMac builds fit in there? I bought a 24" ACD for dirt cheap and I was wondering if it would look cool on my desk next to an ACD? Thanks!
 
VeganHipster said:
flatfoot said:
Yeah, the Fractal Design cases are very reasonably priced for what they offer.
BTW: I'm going to sell mine in a few weeks when my hack is up and running in the G5 case.

minihack said:
Hi,
Just wanted to add a couple of things to the good advice flatfoot has given you.
As this will be your first computer project and you are also doing school it might be good to start with a regular build using an off the shelf case.
You can get nice new cases pretty cheaply and get your build up and running. Then later, when you get a bit more time, you can do the G5 case mod. at your leisure and transfer the bits across. That way you won't find yourself under pressure to get something up and running quickly. It'll help you take your time and get everything nice.
Good luck, building PCs is a great way to learn new stuff.

I think I will do that then. I will buy the Fractal Design case online and then in a couple of months proceed with the G5 case. Thank you both for the help!

Btw, do I need a special PSU for that case? And will the CustoMac builds fit in there? I bought a 24" ACD for dirt cheap and I was wondering if it would look cool on my desk next to an ACD? Thanks!

The Fractal Design cases take standard ATX PSUs, so just about anything, also the longer ones. You can mount ATX and µATX boards in them, so all the CustoMac builds would fit.
I wouldn't put my computer onto my desk. putting it beside/below it is the easiest way to "make it more silent".
 
VeganHipster

Building a G5 or Mac Pro case can be a lot of fun, a lot of headaches, and you can learn a lot of skills. Its not a cheap case but when its done you will have a case that will last you a very long time with many upgrades of to new hardware, and have a cool factor that is hard to get with an off the shelf case. I'm not saying you should go for it or not, but if you have the free time to work on it and the funds to do it right it can be a blast working on one of these cases. My advice is if you do go for it dont move to fast think about every solution before you cut, its hard to put stuff back on later. Do a lot of reading on what others have done with there cases and figure out how you want yours to end up.

Good Luck
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