neilhart's Slow Roll G5 Power Mac - System on Slides

[neilhart]

Cable management…

Again I used tall standoff for the motherboard mounting to provide cable routing space. And I added a sheet of file folder material to the bottom of the motherboard as a caution of cold flow of pinched insulation.

Then I would call your attention to the brushed aluminum pieces;

Front panel area,

The bridge area between the drive bank and the fan-rad,

The piece along the bottom.

These are my modesty panels that hide cables from view.

And along the top of this photo, the stepped panel is also a modesty panel but also contains a second power switch, power LED and drive activity LED. This little feature make running the system outside of the case possible with little or no fuss.

And so that no one has to ask, I modified the Sapphire Radeon HD 6870 by de-soldering the two power connectors and soldering the power cables directly to the GPU card. This was a height issue where the choices were to go purchase another GPU that had a more favorable form factor or do what I did.

That is it for now. I am sure that I will continue to tweak this machine and maybe implement the kickstand and optical drive. However I am done for now and need to get onto other pressing items.

Good modding,
neil

 

[franknitty]

Hey Neil, this is nice. You never cease to amaze me with what you come up with next. I also wanna thank you for your guidance on helping me with my first mod. I would've had a more difficult time without you.

 

[Plaverda]

I'm going to use two extra pieces in the middle sandwich that utilise the existing split in the case. So only one line will be visible until they have been refinished into one. The existing line will be in the same place as the case under the handles. I'll then bond on a piece of aluminium top and bottom to strengthen and improve it's appearance. The end of these will also use the bolts that the G5 uses - although I'll try to source more attractive nuts that are flat to gain valuable millimetres for my top PSU.

I am also going to weld two G5 PSU sleds to make a space for a LCD fan control and additional storage space, which will probably be for my SSD's.

My only regret so far is that I bought a lovely Corsair H110 kit (secondhand 2 weeks old) that I also wanted to use, but in my haste Supermicro Server boards can't be water cooled. But at least the replacement Phanteks fit with the G5's interior. I guess I'll have to use that on my 2.7DP G5 at somepoint.

 

[neilhart]

I'm going to use two extra pieces in the middle sandwich that utilise the existing split in the case. So only one line will be visible until they have been refinished into one. The existing line will be in the same place as the case under the handles. I'll then bond on a piece of aluminium top and bottom to strengthen and improve it's appearance. The end of these will also use the bolts that the G5 uses - although I'll try to source more attractive nuts that are flat to gain valuable millimetres for my top PSU.

I am also going to weld two G5 PSU sleds to make a space for a LCD fan control and additional storage space, which will probably be for my SSD's.

My only regret so far is that I bought a lovely Corsair H110 kit (secondhand 2 weeks old) that I also wanted to use, but in my haste Supermicro Server boards can't be water cooled. But at least the replacement Phanteks fit with the G5's interior. I guess I'll have to use that on my 2.7DP G5 at somepoint.

Well you have lost me. I do not understand your concept for this case hack. If you could photoshop your idea or provide a sketch maybe I could provide some input.

Good modding,
neil

 

[ersterhernd]

Very impressive, Neil. The concept is truly unique and your implementation is flawless!

Excellent!


Ersterhernd

 

[mykuls]

That is cool! Excellence again!

 

[kiwisincebirth]

Perfection, from design to execution.

I have two (sort of) questions:

1. What is the little Apple power switch (inside the case), on one of your brushed aluminium panels do ? Is it a separate power switch.

2. Is the design just to slide the machine out and work on it still attached to the chassis ? OR do you slide it out and remove it? If it is removable then how is it secured, and how do you release it.

Thanks for sharing.

Kiwi

 

[MacTester57]

Neil, you are the G5 king.

MacTester

 

[neilhart]

Perfection, from design to execution.

I have two (sort of) questions:

1. What is the little Apple power switch (inside the case), on one of your brushed aluminium panels do ? Is it a separate power switch.

2. Is the design just to slide the machine out and work on it still attached to the chassis ? OR do you slide it out and remove it? If it is removable then how is it secured, and how do you release it.

Thanks for sharing.

Kiwi

Kiwi - The "on board" Apple power switch, power LED and drive activity LED are there so that the drawer can operate free of the case. It is part of the "done my way" concept.

The slide out system design is in response to working inside of tightly packed cases. This system can be opened and removed from the case is a few seconds (even while running). While it is not "art" to most people, I see it as an expression of myself and enjoy having the covers off at times.

And you have identified one of the issues that I have not resolved to date, and that is there is no latch on the drawer.

And thank you for the praise. These hacks are my hobby and I am very thankful for the tonymacx86 community and Apple for OS X.

Good modding,
neil

 

[z0lt4n]

Hoooo-ahh!