Contribute
Register

neilhart's Mac Pro Hack

Status
Not open for further replies.

neilhart

Moderator
Joined
May 25, 2010
Messages
2,686
Motherboard
ASRock Fatal1ty Z270 Gaming - ITX/ac
CPU
i7-7700T
Graphics
GTX960
Mac
  1. MacBook
  2. MacBook Pro
Mobile Phone
  1. iOS
Long story cut short. I built this Mac Pro Hack from two partially complete 2008 Mac Pro cases plus a few bits.

Specs:
CPU: Intel i7-950
MB: MSI X58M
Mem: 6GB (3 x 2GB)
PSU: Inland ATX ILG-500
HDD: 4 SATA II – a mix on Apple slide brackets.
SSD: 2 40GB Intel X25V (SATA II in RAID 0)
GPU: PNY GeForce GTX 460

However the key point is that I used the Micro ATX from factor and can change motherboards when need be to keep the system fairly current.

This is an ego build that may never really be complete. But for now it is up and running and I feel a need to share.

Inspiration for this build was initially from reading the “aquamac” web pages (Google for this site – it is worth the effort). And most recently the documented work of mooner was very helpful (mooner has his build documented here and should be required reading if you are going to do a Mac Pro Hack).

Some photos follow:
 

Attachments

  • Done-Frt-Rgt-no-Side-Cvr.jpg
    Done-Frt-Rgt-no-Side-Cvr.jpg
    189.8 KB · Views: 10,445
  • Done-Rear-Rgt-no-Side-Cvr.jpg
    Done-Rear-Rgt-no-Side-Cvr.jpg
    187.2 KB · Views: 15,436
PSU

I took the Mac Pro Power Supply out of donor chassis # 2 and spent some time trying to reconfigure the output cabling to suit an ATX system. Long story short is that I came up short and decided to junk the Mac PSU guts and install known good guts from a working ATX PSU. The photo story follows.

I am going to reuse the Mac Pro upper shelf in tact with its' 120 mm fan (and not use the original fan from the ATX power supply). You will see the two wire (12VDC) fan cable exiting the back of the original sheet metal.

So my converted PSU has the same form factor as the original.

Later as I had the converted power supply installed in the chassis and the Apple fan running on 12 volts I decided it was just too noisy. So pulled the newly converted PSU and switched to a low speed Delta 120 mm fan. The noise from the Delta fan also annoyed me so I switched the power feed to the fan to 5VDC. That cut the noise, now we will see how long the PSU lasts with less air flow.
 

Attachments

  • 2-donner PSU.jpg
    2-donner PSU.jpg
    156.1 KB · Views: 6,009
  • 5-donner PSU-cover-off-board-only.jpg
    5-donner PSU-cover-off-board-only.jpg
    122.7 KB · Views: 7,509
  • 1a -MP-PSU-Sheet-metal.jpg
    1a -MP-PSU-Sheet-metal.jpg
    131.1 KB · Views: 6,854
  • 9-assembled.jpg
    9-assembled.jpg
    114.1 KB · Views: 6,521
Op. Drive, eject switch, dual drive enclosure

Using the Apple sheet metal, I installed an OEM LG optical DVD drive in the lower position (having pulled the front plate from the tray). I opened up the drive an soldered in the two wires to support an external eject switch and routed the wire out the back of the unit.

I made up a push button switch assembly with a long plunger to provide the convenient eject access. This switch assembly is mounted to the roof of the enclosure using JB Weld.

A dual 2.5 inch hard drive mobile rack was mounted in the upper optical drive position. The three SATA data cables are routed through an existing passage in the upper deck shelf and under the MB.
 

Attachments

  • eject-plunger.jpg
    eject-plunger.jpg
    105.6 KB · Views: 4,727
  • eject-sw-assy-Installed.jpg
    eject-sw-assy-Installed.jpg
    92.3 KB · Views: 4,686
  • eject-sw-assy.jpg
    eject-sw-assy.jpg
    33.4 KB · Views: 4,722
  • Assy-open-on-bench.jpg
    Assy-open-on-bench.jpg
    117.2 KB · Views: 4,917
  • Assy-open-on-bench-2.jpg
    Assy-open-on-bench-2.jpg
    82.5 KB · Views: 4,544
Front panel and wiring (includes the USB/Firewire board).

Okay the credit here goes those that have gone before and documented the task.
The most recent documentation is/was provided by mooner (see page two of his thread here in this section of TonyMacX86). Adding the 5VDC lines to the 8 pin connector per his directions fixed the USB ports. Power button and power LED work with this documentation.

The front audio port is via three wires selectively pinned out to the MB Audio header. Note the front audio has to be selected in the Audio Preference Pane to be functional. Auto detecting switching audio ports would be desirable.

The FireWire 400 and 800 ports are functional. This is achieved by cabling to the PCIE FireWire/USB port adapter card (BYTECC PCIE USB/Firewire card, BT-PEFWBU2 sourced from Newegg). Note for the front FireWire ports to function correctly I had to provide power to the 4 pin connector on the PCIE card.

Also note that there is 3.3VDC to the 8 pin connector.

The plus of using this card, besides the front FireWire ports are the extra rear ports.
 

Attachments

  • original-cables.jpg
    original-cables.jpg
    116.7 KB · Views: 5,433
  • rearpanl.jpg
    rearpanl.jpg
    101 KB · Views: 5,729
  • Frt-pnl-assy2.jpg
    Frt-pnl-assy2.jpg
    185.6 KB · Views: 6,357
  • Frt-pnl-assy1.jpg
    Frt-pnl-assy1.jpg
    170.6 KB · Views: 6,341
  • Bytecc-card.jpg
    Bytecc-card.jpg
    89.2 KB · Views: 5,819
Very impressive! There are some messy looking HackPros out there, but yours looks like an Apple product inside. Your attention to detail makes this build shine. :clap:
 
Cables – Wiring – Infrastructure

If you have seen my other builds, you will know that I do not like rats nest chassis wiring. I am first to admit, that overdoing the wire dress is just for personal taste and usually lends very little to the functionality of a build. That being said, the PSU wiring follows the path of the Apple design with the power cables sandwiched between the back chassis wall and the interior cover plate through the optical drive section and then downward into the lower chassis section.

The original Apple design of 4 SATA 3.5 inch drive bays (pluggable modules using the Apple hard drive slides) is maintained by using a purchased SAS/SATA adapter and cable assembly. Again not my invention but followed the lead provided by mooner (see his thread for the details). The hack task here was adapting the ATX power cable to the Apple SATA power cable.

Where ever possible, I routed the surface chassis wiring under the motherboard. As a precaution, I have a motherboard sized insulator made of dense paper board to help prevent insulation cold flow and shorting. The MB is on 1/2 inch tall standoffs so there is a decent space under it.

Routing the 7 SATA cables under the MB is a effort along with cables to the front panel and the DC power to the CPU 12V connector and the DC power to the PCIE USB/FireWire adapter.

I have added one modesty flat panel in the lower front area that hides the ATX 24 pin extender cable connection. I am toying with the design of a complex panel to dress up the visible area from the fan to the video card.
 

Attachments

  • Early-on-cable-mess.jpg
    Early-on-cable-mess.jpg
    186 KB · Views: 7,785
  • Early-on-cable-mess2.jpg
    Early-on-cable-mess2.jpg
    140.4 KB · Views: 6,905
  • Early-on-cable-mess1.jpg
    Early-on-cable-mess1.jpg
    143.8 KB · Views: 6,975
Neilhart, GREAT BUILD!!!! How did you complete your back panel mods?? Do you have any pictures of the process you used to maintain such a clean look. Did you use a motherboard tray at all???
 
tjjensen said:
neilhart said:
Long story cut short. I built this Mac Pro Hack from two partially complete 2008 Mac Pro cases plus a few bits.
.....
.....

Neilhart, GREAT BUILD!!!! How did you complete your back panel mods?? Do you have any pictures of the process you used to maintain such a clean look. Did you use a motherboard tray at all???

I did not use a tray. The motherboard is on 1/2" standoffs attached with JB Weld. I intend to post details on the fans and the rear panel soon.

neil
 
Motherboard selection

My choice of motherboard for this Mac Pro Hack was influenced by the purchase of an i7-950 CPU which was on sale at the time. I was not really impressed with Gigabyte motherboards having experienced two board failures last year (and enduring the RMA process). So I looked for a Micro ATX form factor alternative and identified the MSI X58M board. This board was available on sale and fit the budget. I was pleased that the OS X integration on this set-up was very straight forward on Snow Leopard and Lion has been no problem.

The idea was to use two small SSD drives in a RAID 0 for the system drive in this setup.

Video Card selection

I had my mind set on getting a AMD Radeon HD 5770 video card. When shopping for one I read that many people were having Hackintosh integration problems with that card and became fixated on the Nvidia GeForce GTX 460. Then TonyMacX86 recommended the PNY GTX 460, so that is what I purchased. Long story short, my sample of the card was unstable in every install but those that had X58 chip sets. In my Gigabyte and MSI X58 MBs, the card is a decent performer without issue (from about OS X 10.6.7 onward).

Motherboard mounting

After several test fits where I would put the MB with the video card into the chassis and try to decide on a mounting plan, I decided no tray and that I needed ½ inch tall standoffs to get the height to be able to use the existing Apple PCI slots. Using this approach, the cutout needed was just the ATX rear panel IO section.

I sliced up some ¼ inch ABS into strips and made up the spacers used between the perf rear panel and the IO panel as a frame. These I paint aluminum silver and attached with small Philips flathead screws using a small countersink to get the screw head fairly flush to the read panel. I’m not very happy with this but for now it is useable.

I shifted the MB mounting up to use the upper 4 four of the 5 existing PCI slots.
By doing this the CPU heat sink (see section on Cooling) was located where I need it.
 

Attachments

  • Done-Rear-view.jpg
    Done-Rear-view.jpg
    317.8 KB · Views: 4,745
  • no more-bulge.jpg
    no more-bulge.jpg
    250.2 KB · Views: 3,648
  • bulge-solution-drill-holes.jpg
    bulge-solution-drill-holes.jpg
    165.3 KB · Views: 3,462
  • What-a-bulge.jpg
    What-a-bulge.jpg
    227.8 KB · Views: 3,446
  • final-cut-out-fit-test.jpg
    final-cut-out-fit-test.jpg
    145.7 KB · Views: 3,932
  • final-cut-out-raw.jpg
    final-cut-out-raw.jpg
    139.5 KB · Views: 3,497
  • InProcess-test-fitting-2.jpg
    InProcess-test-fitting-2.jpg
    166.8 KB · Views: 3,505
  • InProcess-test-fitting.jpg
    InProcess-test-fitting.jpg
    160.4 KB · Views: 3,600
  • Trial-fit-MSI-X58M-too-low.jpg
    Trial-fit-MSI-X58M-too-low.jpg
    186.5 KB · Views: 3,635
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top