My A1186 Hackintosh Case Mod

[dysanfel]

I have been planning a new Hackintosh for months. After reading several threads on modding a MacPro case I have decided to give it a go. I have got my hands on a brand new OEM A1186 case. I plan to detail the entire build in this thread. The primary goal of the machine will be recording and mixing pro-audio within Ableton Live. This project will keep me occupied in the evenings as a small dedicated studio is being constructed on my property during the day. Perhaps I'll post some pics of both if anyone is interested.

I have built a few Hackintosh computers before, but such a large modding of a case will be a first for me. Good luck to me. =)

 

[dysanfel]

I have recieved my case and some other odds and ends. Still waiting to order the motherboard and other internals until the sales hit. Some parts I could safely order early as they are coming from China and certainly won't be on sale. My order from ModDIY.com is also in.

I am also not going to use the top loading hard drive mounts, but instead place my drives into the optical bays. this build will be 100% air cooled with extra detail on quiet fans, complete vibration control at every place parts touch, and sound damping. I also plan on not using the original front panel.

Pics coming as soon as I begin. =)

 

[dysanfel]

It is finished. Here is my "MacStolgia" 2008 Mac Pro. I custom made the back panel I/O trim with aluminum elbow and used Lian Li parts for the motherboard tray, I/O covering, and power supply trim. I spent at least 40+ hours on it. I have never modded a case before and never done any metal working before. I am particularly happy with my white painted aluminum elbow trim on the rear of the case. The front USB 3.0 and FW800 jacks work great. I want to cover the internal hard drive cage sides to hide the screw holes. I also used rubber washers on all screws, and rubber gaskets on every fan and the power supply to reduce vibration and noise. I also added an additional layer of aluminum to the bottom of the case to hold the cage and rear fans in place.
It has been my dream to own a MacPro like this for at least 10 years, now I have a unique and special creation. I Hope you guys like my silver and white color scheme. =)

HUGE thank you to neilhart for his EXCELLENT posts throughout this site. Your hand written drawn power switch diagram was as epic as it was rough!

My Parts:
Apple 2008 1186 MacPro Case.
GIGABYTE G1 Gaming GA-Z170MX-Gaming 5
Intel Core i7-6700K 4.0 GHz
EVGA NVIDIA GeForce GTX 660 (waiting for Pascal support to upgrade)
32GB CORSAIR Vengeance LPX DDR4 2666
Crucial MX300 525GB SSD (MacOSX)
Transcend 480GB SSD (Audio Editing Drive)
1TB 7200RPM Seagate (Windows 10)
2X 1.5TB 7200RPM Seagate (Storage Drives)
NZXT HALE82 V2 550W White Cable sleeves.
SEDNA PCI-Express IEEE 1394b
ENERMAX UC-8EB 80mm Case Fan
3 x Fractal Design Silent R2 120mm Fans
CRYORIG H7 Tower Cooler

 

[dysanfel]

I hope Pascal support comes soon.

 

[LiveSorcerer]

I plan to make the same config, here.
But in Brazil , the price for most of motherboard, vga and RAM are too expensive.
But is more cheap than a original Mac Pro 2008.