Mac Pro 2009 modding questions.

[eliassorensen]

Hi there,

Don't know if this is the right place to post - but otherwise, feel free to move the thread, Tony

I've got my hands of a Mac Pro case from early 2009, only with the front panel and DVD cage included.

As I only need one DVD-drive, I'm gonna use the cage for the HDD too by getting a 5.25" to 3.5" adapter.

Have seen plenty of mods here, but I'm a bit unsure how to mount the motherboard.

I know that I would have to remove all the screws for the Apple motherboards, but is it a MUST that I get a motherboard tray (from e.g. Lian Li?), or can I just JB Welt some mounts directly on the case?

Here is my proposed layout:

Help is much appreciated! Hope to hear from some of you guys who have modded their own Mac Pro cases!

 

[eelhead]

No you dont have to get a mobo tray.
You can reuse the Logicboard stand offs with ease. I started out with that way but needed more PCI openings and went with a mobo tray because I didn't want to mangle the PCI openings.

Biggest thing to watch for is height now. Measure the stand of and make sure they are all the same size as the G5 ones are different sizes. Ones you do this test fit the mobo with a PCI card in it, either GPU or what have you and see how that will sit in the PCI opening. There might be a little gap of about .4mm of where you screw the PCI card into the PCI tray opening. You will need spacers or just not tighten it down all the way. Doing so could bend or brake something you don't want that happening too. I know .4mm is small but your mobo wont think so lol. Of course the Mac Pro might not even have this issue but it doesn't hurt to test fit before any JB weld action occurs.

Also using JB weld make sure you do not over tighten as you can brake the bond. The best thing is if you miss place or something isn't right you can remove the standoff very easy and with a new clean razor blade scrap the JB weld off the case with ease as well.

I hope this is helpfull and all this is from my G5 modding extravaganza!
lol Good luck and post pics while your project is going along.

 

[eliassorensen]

Thanks for your reply, Eelhead! Have also been following your mod, and it looks really nice!

Well that sounds good about the standoffs. Are they easy to get off in their current position? How did you do it?

As I'll be using a M-ATX board, there will be no problems with aligning the ports correctly, I guess.

 

[eelhead]

Thanks for your reply, Eelhead! Have also been following your mod, and it looks really nice!

Well that sounds good about the standoffs. Are they easy to get off in their current position? How did you do it?

As I'll be using a M-ATX board, there will be no problems with aligning the ports correctly, I guess.

Here are some pics of how I did it.
viewtopic.php?f=76&t=16300&start=170

 

[eliassorensen]

Ahh.. So you just "wriggled" them with the plier, and they come right off?

Nice