Indigo Sawtooth: GA-Z170M-D3H/i5-6600 in a PowerMac G4

[DifferentComputers]

First build! Unlike a lot of first build posters, I've waited until my machine is nearly complete to post here, because I've see the abandoned threads filled with dusty pics of the shells of old Macs that never got filled with actual Hackintoshes. Now, while I'm not 100% up and running and there are still a card reader and an SSD rack to add, I'm booted to a Sierra desktop.

Initially I intended to hack a PowerMac G5 case that I have, but decided I'd rather make my initial mistakes on this old G4 given to me by a friend years ago, along with the original Cinema Display you'll see in pics later. Little did I realize that a Sawtooth mod is more difficult that an PMG5 mod!

I'm skipping the pics of the original case and innards. You've all seen those. Instead, here's a pic of Indigo Mountain and Sawtooth Lake at the foot of it.

This build will replace a 2008 Mac Mini running El Cap. It serves as my whole house audio over AirPlay server, my NO-IP.com client, and most importantly, as my Indigo home automation system. Indigo is a Mac-only HA solution that's amazingly flexible and highly recommended to anyone interested in HA who has an old Mac lying around. Sounds like you guys!
From what this has to do, you can see that there's not much in terms of graphics that's required. Indigo didn't really tax my Mini, so I don't expect processor usage to be all that high. I may even be able to move my security camera software over to this machine, instead of another mini that also runs Plex. In fact, I may be able to move my Plex server to it to.

Since my graphics needs are paltry, I'm staying with onboard graphics. Currently I plan a PCI wifi card and a FireWire card, but I haven't even purchased those yet. Though I do have an old AirPort card from a 2008 MacBook I may buy an adapter for.

I chose an i5 because it seems a good mix of price and performance as well as the lower wattage making the awkward cooling in a Sawtooth less of an issue. I chose the GA-Z170M-D3H because, well, frankly there are posters who are active here who just installed one and I got some help from them.

So here are parts, and then on to the next post before this gets too long and I lose something.

Gigabyte LGA1151 Intel Z170 Micro ATX DDR4 Motherboards GA-Z170M-D3H

Intel Boxed Core I5-6600 FC-LGA14C 3.30 Ghz 6 M Processor Cache 4 LGA 1151 BX80662I56600

Silicon Power SP SSD Upgrade Kit, 2.5" SP120GBSS3S55S27 (Got this one because it was a Deal of the Day.)

Corsair Vengeance LPX 8GB (2x4GB) DDR4 DRAM 3000MHz (PC4-24000) C15 Memory Kit - Black

120pcs 20CM Multicolored 40pin Male to Female, 40pin Male to Male, 40pin Female to Female Breadboard Jumper Wires Ribbon Dupont Cables Kit

EVGA 500 W1, 80+ WHITE 500W, 3 Year Warranty, Power Supply 100-W1-0500-KR (DON'T get this one! It doesn't match up well with the Sawtooth back, and it seems a little noisy to me. It's also not modular. My mistake.)

Silverstone Tek Sleeved Extension Power Supply Cable with 1 x 8-Pin to EPS12V 8-Pin Connector (PP07-EPS8B)

Cable Matters 24-Pin ATX Motherboard Power Supply M/F Extension Cable – 12 Inches

And I already had a bunch of 5.25 HDDs for a total of 3.5 Tb of storage.

Still to arrive:
ICY DOCK ExpressCage MB322SP-B 2 x 2.5” SATA/SAS HDD/SSD to 5.25” Mobile Rack w/ 3.5” HDD/Device Slot

Vantec USB 3.0 Multi-Memory Internal Card Reader (UGT-CR935)

Trying to keep original cable routing

• DifferentComputers
• Jan 17, 2017

A goal for me is to keep Apple's plan for parts layout as much as possible, though I have no...

By the way, the main thing not working yet is NETWORKING. I'm getting the "Connected/Cable Unplugged" issue with Ethernet.

 

[DifferentComputers]

OK On to some pictures. The gallery function here is really odd, and I've just hit my size limit. So now I'll have to delete some and add them back at lower resolution. But for now:

Layout testing

• DifferentComputers
• Jan 17, 2017

Layout testing. Wish I could rotate this pic in the gallery.

odd fitting

• DifferentComputers
• Jan 17, 2017

Fun fact: The PSU will fit into the void left by the system fan/cable management rack.

Odd fact: An ATX PSU fits exactly into the void above the sys fan bracket.

perfect fit

• DifferentComputers
• Jan 17, 2017

Too bad I'm not planning to put a fan there.

Perfect Fit. Too bad I don't need a fan there.

HD Bracket Mod

• DifferentComputers
• Jan 17, 2017

PSU cabling is too thick compared to Apple's ribbon cable, so this bracket needed to be...

I need to modify the front HD bracket because the ATX PSU cables are thicker than the Apple ribbon cable. Here it's marked for cutting and folding.

Wedding present

• DifferentComputers
• Jan 17, 2017

That vice was a wedding gift. Here's the bracket after cutting and about to start the bending...

That vise was a wedding present.

Folded over.

• DifferentComputers
• Jan 17, 2017

Then some hammering to square it up.

Folded over.

Side view of fold

• DifferentComputers
• Jan 17, 2017

Side view.

After hammering

• DifferentComputers
• Jan 17, 2017

just enough to get the fold started.

After hammering to get the fold past 90°.

Squeeze

• DifferentComputers
• Jan 17, 2017

Then into the vice for more even folding than my hammering would do.

Squeeze it in the vise rather than hammer it over for more even edges.

Done.

• DifferentComputers
• Jan 17, 2017

Done.

HD bracket mod installed

• DifferentComputers
• Jan 17, 2017

It's still a tight fit.

Installed. Now the cables fit. Very tightly.

Close up of cable under HD Bracket

• DifferentComputers
• Jan 17, 2017

Close up.

Side View

• DifferentComputers
• Jan 17, 2017

Side view.

ATX opening in the case

• DifferentComputers
• Jan 17, 2017

I want to hide as many cables as possible. If M-ATX power connectors were where the Apple...

Routing the main mobo power outside the case.

RotoZip!

• DifferentComputers
• Jan 17, 2017

This is what I did most of my cutting with, and all the big cutting. There were a few places it...

This RotoZip works much faster than a Dremel. You can make mistakes in 20% of the time!

View media item 188168Cutting away the IO Panel. Hadn't originally intended to use it so I removed it from the case, but changed my mind. This made cutting WAY easier, but was something of a challenge because I bent it getting it out and had to re-straighten it.

Rear panel, cut

• DifferentComputers
• Jan 17, 2017

There she is.

Testing cable runs

• DifferentComputers
• Jan 17, 2017

Testing cable runs.

Checking fit on ATX power

• DifferentComputers
• Jan 17, 2017

And CPU power

• DifferentComputers
• Jan 17, 2017
• cables powermacg4 sawtooth

I cut the case hole to match the plastic latch hole.

CPU power. I cut the case hole to match the plastic latch hole.

Various jumpers from front panel to mobo

• DifferentComputers
• Jan 17, 2017

Various jumpers from the front panel.

 

[DifferentComputers]

Reserved.

 

[DifferentComputers]

One fitting problem I'm facing is the IO/PCI post blocking my main audio out. Typical PowerMac tower problem.

Right now my plan is to use this guide to make a very very low profile plug for audio out, and to route it elsewhere.

 

[DifferentComputers]

So, much to my shame, it turns out that my networking problems were due to a bad switch in my office. One 50' ethernet cable later, and the Indigo Sawtooth is online! I'm typing this from it.

I seem to have a small graphics glitch that's different from what I was seeing before getting help from CorpNewt on Discord. When I hover over a Safari tab, I see odd squarish pixelization.

But more amazingly, I was able to sign right into iCloud AND make iMessage work without a single tweak! Perhaps this is due to my lack of a Wifi card?

 

[DifferentComputers]

Seriously, who has had a switch go bad on them right as you boot up a new build? Ridiculous.

Today I'll be hunting down why the App Store's downloads seem to fail. 0:2 on those so far.

Update: Tried the problematic downloads again, and they worked fine! I seem to be almost 100% of the way there, with just minor graphics glitches in the safari tab bar.

 

[DifferentComputers]

Good news: What I thought would be my last parts arrived.

Bad news: Looks like the ICYDOCK hot swap 5.25 drive rack I ordered won't fit unless I cut the original drive holder aluminum or rig up some other mounts for it, and maybe even then. What I really think I need is a right angle adapter for the 24 pin ATX power! But no such thing seems to exist. Right now the cable bundle coming off the board pushes right onto the drive holder that would hold the ICYDOCK.

Also, I need a USB 3 header extension cable if I want neat cable management going to the Vantec card reader.

I'm also seeing graphics glitches in what I think are WebKit apps. This is probably due to Quartz Extreme not being enabled. If anyone has the same board as I do running on board graphics without trouble, please drop a reply about your config!

 

[DifferentComputers]

A long slow slog of troubleshooting the Quartz Extreme and audio driver problems this weekend. I've learned a HUGE amount about Clover Configurator and how Clover works. Thanks to @RehabMan I realized that my installed clover was using an EFI partition that was NOT on my boot drive, so 2 days of trying different config files was wasted because I was putting the trial fixes in the wrong spot.

But now, thanks to Akinveltor (SP?) on the CorpNewt Discord server, I have a 100% working system with Quartz Extreme, Messages, no menu bar graphics glitch, proper screen resolution for my original Cinema Display, and available sound in and out. I say available rather than working because I've actually not yet made those ultra-low profile 3.5mm jacks required to clear the audio ports. Maybe tonight!