My Mac Pro Hack

[Kingzone]

Great looking mac pro man!

Nice that you keep the original look to it.

To give you a tip uhm maybe its cool to put some plastic glass into the mac pro pice that covers the cpu to that you can still look inside but still keep the airflow there.

Rick,

I think a clear acrylic window would be great and I was considering that option but the window would block access to the two fixing screws which are on the inside of the cover.



Once the side panel is fitted I think that its close enough to the cover to maintain good airflow.

If anyone can think of a way to secure the cover with a window in place that would be great (I don't want to fit a removable window fixed on the outside of the cover)

 

[Kingzone]

That wiring looks complicated good luck with getting it all working.
As for the case amazing job and is that cover in front of the cpu windowed from factory or did you put it in?

Last thing I think would be awesome would be a windowed side panel with some lighting and maybe no stickers for a cleaner look but thats just personal preference.

Again great build and very entertaining to read thanks for sharing

I wanted to keep the look of a stock Mac Pro as far as possible so a windowed side panel and internal lighting is not an option for me.

The stickers will divide opinion but they are not visible with the side panel fitted so the stock look is maintained.

 

[JaggedAce]

All good mate you knew exactly what you wanted from the build and got it done masterfully just the last hard drive hurdle to take care of!

Only solution I can think of for the window would be some sort of hinges like you have on window frames you would just push the bottom of the window in to gain access to the screws then a tiny tab to pull the window back.

Might be a challenge to find such small ones and probably a lot more work than it's worth but thats up to you

 

[rehpotsirhc]

All good mate you knew exactly what you wanted from the build and got it done masterfully just the last hard drive hurdle to take care of!

Only solution I can think of for the window would be some sort of hinges like you have on window frames you would just push the bottom of the window in to gain access to the screws then a tiny tab to pull the window back.

Might be a challenge to find such small ones and probably a lot more work than it's worth but thats up to you

Maybe hinged at the top and magnetic at the bottom.

 

[Kingzone]

Maybe hinged at the top and magnetic at the bottom.

I've had an idea...........watch this space

 

[Kingzone]

The window is in!!

I cut a piece of 5mm clear Acrylic to size and just fitted some runners on the inside of the frame out of some Acrylic off-cuts so all I have to do when I want to do an internal dust clean up is first remove the fan unit which pulls forward on it's runners and is secured to the rear of the case with one screw, then slide the window to the left out of the frame. With the window removed I now have access to the two screws that secure the frame to the case.

I created a black edging for the window using satin black spray paint to hide the Acrylic runners.

I think it looks OK



All that is left to do is to install the new SAS-SATA conversion when this arrives from the US.

I'm off on my late summer vacation and will continue the work when I'm back and also install the OS and other software.

(the Samsung SSD that can be seen through the window will be installed in HDD bay 1 when I receive the SAS-SATA conversion)

 

[JaggedAce]

Nice!! Looks like it was made that way! The black edging adds so much to it the case looks amazing!
This is the part where you say I had my fun and now I want to do a give away! Which I'll gladly accept!

 

[neilhart]

Kingzone,

I think that you Mac Pro hack is very well done and attractive. I was having trouble understanding what this piece is:

But concluded that it is being replaced by the SATA Adapter that you are waiting for.

Check this out; this solution presented by mooner in post #6 - http://www.tonymacx86.com/mac-pro-m...kpro-gigabyte-z68mx-ud2h-b3-mac-pro-case.html

I used this in my Mac Pro hack in 2011 as seen here: http://www.tonymacx86.com/mac-pro-mods/28892-neilharts-mac-pro-hack.html

The SATA drives are 100% functional and continue to run today. This system is now on Yosemite 10.10.5.

Again, I your system is an excellent mod.

Good modding,
neil

 

[Kingzone]

http://www.tonymacx86.com/mac-pro-mods/171322-need-solution-old-mac-pro-hackintosh-conversion-problem.htmlhttp://www.tonymacx86.com/mac-pro-mods/171322-need-solution-old-mac-pro-hackintosh-conversion-problem.html

Kingzone,

I think that you Mac Pro hack is very well done and attractive. I was having trouble understanding what this piece is:

But concluded that it is being replaced by the SATA Adapter that you are waiting for.

Check this out; this solution presented by mooner in post #6 - http://www.tonymacx86.com/mac-pro-m...kpro-gigabyte-z68mx-ud2h-b3-mac-pro-case.html

I used this in my Mac Pro hack in 2011 as seen here: http://www.tonymacx86.com/mac-pro-mods/28892-neilharts-mac-pro-hack.html

The SATA drives are 100% functional and continue to run today. This system is now on Yosemite 10.10.5.

Again, I your system is an excellent mod.

Good modding,
neil

See http://www.tonymacx86.com/mac-pro-m...ld-mac-pro-hackintosh-conversion-problem.html for the saga of the SAS to SATA conversion.

I did see mooners thread but I could not contact macupgrades.com so I had to try something else.

 

[minihack]

Not been looking at this site for a while so had not had a chance to see your mod.

Very nicely done!!!

Out of interest, will you be able to fit all 4 of the drives to original hangers do you think or will it be just the front one or two?

PS I like the 'shameless plug' in the first post.