Power Mac G4 "Rainbow Apple" Build

[rramon]

Very decent job and documentation @ProjectIcarus

I‘m doing a thoroughly planned longtime QuickSilver Mod myself (custom loop with HWLabs 240 radiator in the bottom and HWLabs 120 radiator in the back, CNC-machined aluminium and Lasercut acrylic parts) which - in my opinion - is one of those projects you never want to end because of its beauty.

This project will go along with an Apple Cinema HD 23“ M8536 Display which I purchased this summer, completely disassembled, restored and which sits in my basement in its original box.

Eventually, the M8536 is going to get an Eizo 2360 panel along with USB 3 while preserving the outside look as much as possible.

Attaching some pictures all oddly rotated in the preview but fine when expanded to fullscreen due to the forums software. The concept of cable management is foreseeable nevertheless though.

Question:

In what order did you rerivet the case?
I‘ll get it powdercoated in a paint shop (RAL 7035 to match the acrylic parts) and was thinking to do the front-part at first, followed by the back-part and the door at last.

Does this make sense? Happy to hear about your experience!

 

[ProjectIcarus]

looks really nice! the aluminum bracket looks great- the whole system is solid.

how are your temperatures? I have a similar build I'm working on squeezing into a quicksilver case and I'm not sure if I need to go with a closed loop cooler or if traditional coolers are good enough.

Thank you

The temperatures have been pretty good. Using prime 95 synthetic load, It hit a max temp of 69'C, and under real world load, a max of 62'C, so not bad for a G4 Case.
I really wanted to go with an air cooler, but the biggest I could fit in the case would be a Noctua NH-L12S, which scored worse in cooling tests than a corsair H60 (with a Noctua 120mm fan), so I knew I had to go with the water cooler.

 

[ProjectIcarus]

Very decent job and documentation @ProjectIcarus

I‘m doing a thoroughly planned longtime QuickSilver Mod myself (custom loop with HWLabs 240 radiator in the bottom and HWLabs 120 radiator in the back, CNC-machined aluminium and Lasercut acrylic parts) which - in my opinion - is one of those projects you never want to end because of its beauty.

This project will go along with an Apple Cinema HD 23“ M8536 Display which I purchased this summer, completely disassembled, restored and which sits in my basement in its original box.

Eventually, the M8536 is going to get an Eizo 2360 panel along with USB 3 while preserving the outside look as much as possible.

Attaching some pictures all oddly rotated in the preview but fine when expanded to fullscreen due to the forums software. The concept of cable management is foreseeable nevertheless though.

Question:

In what order did you rerivet the case?
I‘ll get it powdercoated in a paint shop (RAL 7035 to match the acrylic parts) and was thinking to do the front-part at first, followed by the back-part and the door at last.

Does this make sense? Happy to hear about your experience!

Wow, that's an impressive build so far, puts mine to shame! I wish I had done custom CNC machined and lasercut acrylic parts. I really wanna see more pictures! Please do a build post of it, I really wanna see how it turns out.
That Cinema Display also looks brand new, you did a really good job with the restoration!

In regards to your question, I genuinely can't remember the order I riveted it. I think if I remember correctly, it all fits back together one way, you can't really go wrong with it. It was 3 years ago I did that, so my apologies that I can't remember that!
That will be awesome getting it professionally done! I look forward to seeing the results!

 

[rramon]

Thank you and yup, I‘ll definitely create a build-log once it’s finished!

I was planning to do a 20th anniversary out of it as the QuickSilver was released in 2001 but I’m taking my time and don’t really need a new unit right now.

No need to rush.

Next step is ordering that L-shaped CNC part for the 240 radiator and cutting the holes.

Guess I’ll try to run it with a negative pressure once it’s finished and see if that works out.

With approx. 300-350W TDP this will pretty much be the maximum you can get coolingwise in a G4 while still running relatively quiet.

After that there’s some fiddling with the acrylic part in the door for the pump/reservoir unit and various other things but I guess you know what I’m talking about.

Regarding reriveting I‘ll just think about it and see how it goes.

Thanks for your feedback!

 

[Soupdog50]

This is a great build, I like the detail of the chime!
I have a few questions for a similar build I'm hoping to finish off.


If you had to do it again would you sand the inside of the side cases or use the spirit? What grain did you use for the sanding?

Any reason you went for the MSI board? The options are pretty limited, I was considering a ASRock X570M Pro4.

 

[ProjectIcarus]

This is a great build, I like the detail of the chime!
I have a few questions for a similar build I'm hoping to finish off.


If you had to do it again would you sand the inside of the side cases or use the spirit? What grain did you use for the sanding?

Any reason you went for the MSI board? The options are pretty limited, I was considering a ASRock X570M Pro4.

Thank you .
If I was to do it again, I would do neither, haha, but in all seriousness I would start with the spirit to get as much off as possible, then sand. I can't remember what I used, but I would probably start with nothing harder than 600. Purchase 600, 1200, 2000 & 3000 if you're going for a clear side panel (as well as plastic polish like Meguiars PlastX). If you want to repaint it, I wouldn't go higher than 1200, as the paint won't adhere as well with higher grades. If you're really impatient, you could use 400 to get the paint off quicker, then use 600 & 1200 to tidy it up.

In regards to my motherboard choice, this isn't a Hackintosh, so the board choice was purely based on price to performance for a mid-range gaming PC, and the MSI board was a better choice for what I needed over the ASRock.

 

[Soupdog50]

Thank you .
If I was to do it again, I would do neither, haha, but in all seriousness I would start with the spirit to get as much off as possible, then sand. I can't remember what I used, but I would probably start with nothing harder than 600. Purchase 600, 1200, 2000 & 3000 if you're going for a clear side panel (as well as plastic polish like Meguiars PlastX). If you want to repaint it, I wouldn't go higher than 1200, as the paint won't adhere as well with higher grades. If you're really impatient, you could use 400 to get the paint off quicker, then use 600 & 1200 to tidy it up.

In regards to my motherboard choice, this isn't a Hackintosh, so the board choice was purely based on price to performance for a mid-range gaming PC, and the MSI board was a better choice for what I needed over the ASRock.

Thanks, I've got a dremel with some sanding pads, I think I'll try and clear off the inside with that and If I end up doing damage I'll just prime and paint the outside....

 

[ProjectIcarus]

Update:

So after posting the build on another forum, quite a few people pointed out that the radiator mounted on the bottom was a bad idea due to air pockets being In the radiator pump on the CPU (because it's the highest point), which would cause issues and also cause the pump to fail earlier, and that Gamers Nexus made a video showing why, and what the optimum positions were. LINK TO VIDEO

So after watching the video, I sat down and stared at the inside of my case and tried to think about where the hell I could actually mount the radiator to insure that the top of the radiator was higher than the pump (so the air pocket collected there rather than the pump).

I decided that seeing as I had air coming in from the front of the case with the two 80mm fans I added, that was probably the best place to put it, as I didn't want to be cutting holes in the top of the case and ruining the look. I wanted the outer look to remain unchanged.

I decided to test fit the radiator bracket I made and drilled the holes into the chassis. If I decided It didn't work, the holes would be covered by the door tray, so It wouldn't matter. I made sure the bracket lined up with the door tray, and that it would clear everything when the door was closed

I couldn't mount the radiator to the bracket with the tubes facing down (the optimum position), so I filed out two sections to allow the tubes to fit.

I ran numerous tests and benchmarks to see if there was any difference to the temperatures, and I did notice that during the Prime95 stress test the highest temperature it reached was 62'C, while before it would get to 67'C, but general use, the temperatures were more or less the same, maybe slightly better.
Seeing as everything was working fine and fitted, I decided to go with this set up, and drill the holes in the door tray.

They're not the best holes, but I thought it doesn't really matter, as the bracket will be covering them anyway.

I used a spacer and a nut to allow just enough room to clear the door tray, but not be too high

The Cable combed 24pin lead fit just nicely in the gap between the motherboard and bracket. The cable management doesn't look quite as nice as it did with the radiator on the bottom, but it's still alright.

Radiator and fan fitted. It's really difficult to screw in the fan screws with the ATX cable in the way, so in future, I will probably unscrew the bracket and then remove/install the radiator and fan.

Now it's all finished and working, I decided that I wanted to paint the radiator bracket to match the rest of the case.
I didn't have any satin black spray paint, but I had some normal brush on paint, so I thought I would use that, as the bracket is mostly hidden anyway, so Even if the brush strokes were visible, you wouldn't really notice them.

The bracket came out alright, though In hindsight, I wish I had just gone out and bought some Satin Black spray paint and just did it so it matched the rest of the sprayed case.

The final result:

I also purchased a Noctua NF-S12A PWM chromax.black.swap to go on the bottom where the radiator was, to bring in cool air, which has definitely helped with cooling. The case still isn't the best for cooling, but the temperatures never go over 70'C on the highest. It's just the idle temperatures that can be erratic sometimes, where it can be anything from 40-60'C at idle, but it's still not high enough to cause any concern and should be fine.

 

[Kalikstus]

This is truly one of the best looking mods I've ever seen. Very inspiring, great job!

 

[rramon]

@ProjectIcarus

Given the fact that you’re using an AIO without a reservoir your solution probably is the best option.

Good job!

It wouldn’t be needed if one decides to use a custom loop though.