Information about modding a Mac Pro case

[Chaosmint]

Hi, I recently found a cheap mac pro case for sale, and I'm wondering what I'd be getting myself into if I purchased it. I prefer the internal design and IO of the Mac Pro, so I'm wondering what steps I'll be going through between receiving the Mac Pro and having a finished case mod.

I already have a hackintosh I'd like to transfer into the Mac Pro, it is as follows:

CPU - Core i5 3570k
CPU Cooler - Hyper 212 plus
Mobo - Gigabyte UD5H (non-wifi)
RAM - Corsair Vengeance (1 x 8GB)
HDD - 2 TB Seagate Barricuda

- Possibly two more 2TB Hitachi 3.5" drives to be setup in RAID 1​

SSD - OCZ Vertex 3
GPU - EVGA 660Ti SC
PSU - OCZ ModXStream 600W
ODD - Sony Optiarc DVD burner

I have opted to use a motherboard tray, as it seems easier for a novice in case modding.
So far, it seems like there are several things that need to be addressed in this mod, and I'd like to know if you guys know the best way to go about them, or if there are other things that need to be considered as well. It's kinda hard to find info on Mac Pro mods since most people opt for G5s.

Anyway, do any of you know about the following things?

1. Getting the Front I/O to work.
2. What I'll need to do to enable the hotswap bay with 4 drives, or if I could just use SATA cables
3. Any other miscellaneous boards that need to be accounted for (I've heard about a rear IO board, don't know what that is).
4. Whether the included case fans will work or if I'll need to adapt/get new fans for it (I know I'll need two 80mm fans on the back.

Thanks!

UPDATE: Will not be modding a Mac Pro, read below to see why.

 

[eelhead]

So a Mac Pro case with a motherboard tray your basically going to follow the same route as the G5 cases. You'll be cutting the back I/O section and trimming out the top shelf to make room for the motherboard and tray. Now this is if you want to keep it simple for your first build and of course your metal cutting and fabrication experience.
If you check out aquamacs forum you'll see some Mac Pro mods and also info on the front IO for you as well. Keep in mind that different year Mac Pro cases have different front panel set ups.

Now make sure you do lots of research about how and what you really want to go about this. If you really decide to not use the motherboard tray and say keep the upper tray then your ATX motherboard will not fit unless you cut a notch out like aquamac did on his first Mac Pro case at the bottom. So take into count all of what you have and how much space you have, the best mobo for a Mac Pro case is mATX.

 

[Chaosmint]

If I trim out part of the upper tray, will I still be able to use the HDD bays there, or will the trimming get rid of that ability?

 

[eelhead]

If you trim out the tray for the ATX mobo and/or motherboard tray then you will loose both those HDD spots.
If you try and keep them then you have to cut a slot out the bottom of the Pro case or use a mATX motherboard and trim the poop out of the motherboard tray.

These are the reasons why the G5 is used a lot, easier to stuff a big board in and keep the upper shelf and to be able to change HDD locations.

 

[Jerime]

Would there be much difference between mATX and ATX, apart from size?

 

[Chaosmint]

Well for one I'd need to buy a new motherboard, and I'd probably lose some rear IO if I did that.

 

[neilhart]

Please spend time reading what others have done as most problems have been addressed one way or another. I used monner's thread when I was working on mine.

Here are two theads:



http://www.tonymacx86.com/case-mods/20826-mooners-hackpro-gigabyte-z68mx-ud2h-b3-mac-pro-case.html

http://www.tonymacx86.com/case-mods/28892-neilharts-mac-pro-hack.html

Have fun,

neil

 

[tom.humphrey]

1. The Front I/O has been documented many times. I opted not to use it myself, and used a usb 3.0 cable instead so I had usb 3.0 on the front. This meant that I had to rewire the power switch which was pretty tricky, and I ended up wrecking one the first time I did it which was a huge bummer, however once replacement was modded worked very nicely.

2. Don't know I'm afraid, maybe use some sort of back plane attached to a PCI card, to make them look external?

3. The rear IO board as far as I'm aware was designed by one of the guys on here, so that he didn't have to cut out the case. He mounted the motherboard further away from the back of the case and created a custom PCB so that all of the ports on his motherboard would line up with the ports on the mac pro case.

4. I just got new fans. You couldn't really see them from the outside anyway and I replaced them with slimmer and quieter Fractal Design fans.

The Mac Pro case requires a lot of time to get working, and is difficult to fit in an ATX board.

I spent weeks doing mine, and at the end still wasn't 100% happy with it, but it was functional. The G5 requires a lot less cutting from what I understand, and I think if you're not too fussed about a second optical drive, is the best way to go personally after doing my mod.

Hope that helps, if you've got any other questions would be happy to answer, and look forward to seeing the progress.

 

[Chaosmint]

I don't think I'll be buying the case. With school, and having just built my hackintosh, I don't have the time/money to invest in different parts I'll need to additionally buy. I can't be spending hours upon hours fiddling with the case; I have way too much schoolwork.

Thank you all for your advice, hopefully other people looking into modding a Mac Pro will find this thread of use, but at the moment modding just isn't for me.

 

[Jerime]

That's too bad. I had a lot of fun working on my first G5 case mod. (Too bad it's not on here, next one should be)