My Mac Pro Hack

[Kingzone]

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.

All four drive bays will be available.

I think it is important to recognise and support (without going OTT) companies that provide good products and give excellent customer services and support.

 

[VioletDragon]

Looks good. Pretty impressive

 

[Kingzone]

OK it's 99% finished.

The SAS conversion cable has arrived from the US.



This is it installed in the machine:



I am happy to report that this cable and connector works fine and all four HDD sleds are available for use.

I like an indication of hard drive activity so I have added a nano white LED in the front grille just above the switch on the front panel which is connected to the HDD activity header on the motherboard.

So that's about it as far as hardware/moding is concerned.

I have made a start at installing the OS and other software and everything seems to be installing without to many problems.



I will post some final pictures of the finished case in a day or so when the software is fully installed

 

[buzzworm]

I'm getting ready to build a Mac Pro 2006 hackintosh and I have the SAS cable. I'm trying to figure out exactly how people have wired the power to the SATA drives. I saw your post (from Mooner's original build) where you mention buying this Molex adapter. http://www.mouser.com/ProductDetail/Molex/43020-0801/?qs=th8CuLdcYnnUcp9LIcG6sw==
How do you connect this? Is there some kind of tool to crimp this together? I've never built a molex connector.

Do you have a wiring schematic for the 8Pin power connector? I can cut the wires and solder the wires to 2 standard molex 4pin power connectors if that's easier. thanks

 

[Kingzone]

I'm getting ready to build a Mac Pro 2006 hackintosh and I have the SAS cable. I'm trying to figure out exactly how people have wired the power to the SATA drives. I saw your post (from Mooner's original build) where you mention buying this Molex adapter. http://www.mouser.com/ProductDetail/Molex/43020-0801/?qs=th8CuLdcYnnUcp9LIcG6sw==
How do you connect this? Is there some kind of tool to crimp this together? I've never built a molex connector.

Do you have a wiring schematic for the 8Pin power connector? I can cut the wires and solder the wires to 2 standard molex 4pin power connectors if that's easier. thanks

The power socket needs rewiring. I cut of this plug and replaced it with two Molex male plugs that each connect to two drives in parallel (a four pin Molex can be used because the Apple system does not need the Orange 3v connection to the drive)

Some problems are being experienced with this conversion at the moment which can be followed here:

http://www.tonymacx86.com/mac-pro-m...ld-mac-pro-hackintosh-conversion-problem.html

I did not use the plug from Mouser in the end. I traced each of the cables (after I had cut off the original 8 pin connector) back to each drive bay and replaced the original single 8 pin connector for two 4 pin molex male plugs (each 4 pin molex plug serves two drive bays in parallel)

 

[mpompeia]

Just in the middle of a Mac Pro mod at the moment so I thought I would share.

Components:

New Apple Mac Pro Empty Case (lucky fleabay find)
MSI Z97M Gaming Motherboard
Intel Core i7 4790K s1150 CPU
16Gb Corsair RAM
Asus Strix GTX960 2Gb Graphics Card
Corsair CX600 PSU
Corsair H60 CPU Water Cooler
500Gb Samsung EVO SSD
1Tb Western Digital HDD
DVD RW
Apple BCM94360CD BT4.0 / WiFi Card With PCI-E Adaptor
3 Noctua 120mm Case Fans
Lycom ST-187 Dual SFF8088 – SFF8087 SAS Converter Board
SAS SF8088 – 4 SATA Cable
NewerTech AdaptorDrive 2.5” – 3.5” Drive Converter
Apple Wireless BT Keyboard & Mouse

View attachment 149656
(some items not pictured as they have not yet turned up)

I was lucky to come across a NEW unused Mac Pro Case on fleabay which still had it's protective plastic film attached so I snapped it up for the asking price of 35GBP.

For this conversion I decided to purchase several parts from David at The Laser Hive. A front panel conversion, mATX motherboard tray and a low 120 backplate. The parts are of great quality and very well manufactured (shameless plug for David)

So my first job was to fit the LH parts.

View attachment 149661View attachment 149662View attachment 149663View attachment 149664View attachment 149665

View attachment 149666

L to R: Rear of case cut ready for rear 120 panel: Supplied template used to mark where to cut for front panel conversion: Front panel fitted: Rear of front panel conversion (not fully tightened): Rear 120 now fitted: Inside showing motherboard tray with a faulty mATX board fitted to test fit.

More to follow......................

Hi Kingzone,

Nice work!

What was the Noctua 120mm fan model you used?

Thanks!

 

[ArcheonK]

I've been thinking of doing this for a very long time, and I am glad to see it's being done by others! The acrylic glass is a really nice touch to the over all theme, is this going to be used as a hackintosh or just install windows? It would be a pretty beast hackintosh if you ask me with the original Mac Pro case, but the interior is fully decked out.

 

[jrjmulder]

So this is the final look of the build, the two separate cooling zones still work as Apple intended (with the side cover on of course) and work well to keep all components cool.

How does that work with the water cooling? Doesn't the water cooling fan + radiator you installed on the back of the case block the case's airflow because it's supposed to be an outlet instead of an inlet?

 

[LiveSorcerer]

Where did you buy the "cable organizer" that is attached to the MacPro case?

 

[LiveSorcerer]

OK it's 99% finished.

The SAS conversion cable has arrived from the US.

View attachment 152459

This is it installed in the machine:

View attachment 152460

I am happy to report that this cable and connector works fine and all four HDD sleds are available for use.

Hi, where I find this SAS conversion?