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PowerMac G3 case mod

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Question: What do you do when you have a non-functioning PowerMac G3 sitting around your house?
I'll tell you what I did. I turned it into the most powerful G3 I've ever seen.

IMG_0518.jpg


I've been building my own custom system for a while, and was working on a custom acryllic case, when I decided that it would be much cooler to put it inside this G3 case I have.
The specs of my system are as follows:

Asus P7P55 LX ATX motherboard
Intel Core i7-875k 2.93GHz quad-core w/ unlocked multiplier
12 GB DDR3 PC3-10666 Memory(9-9-9-24 timing)
Sapphire ATI Radeon HD 5870 2GB GDDR5 memory EyeFinity 6 edition
Corsair h50 CPU Cooler
4x 500GB drives in a RAID 0 array running windows 7
1x 500GB drive running OS X 10.6.7
1000w ATX Power Supply

It was a little challenging to get all that to fit in what would be classified as a ATX mid tower, especially with the monstrous video card. Fortunatley, the G3 used a standard sized power supply, so that was the easiest to install. As for mounting the motherboard, the motherboard is just slightly bigger than the original mobo, and because of it, needed to be set back in order to clear the chamfered edges of the door. This does mke plugging things into the back a little difficult, but it isnt too bad. Mounting it was a bit of a PITA, since I needed to not only drill holes for the standoffs, but I need to carve around a plastic spring plate in order to let is move freely, so that the latching hinge works the same. For the harddrives, I used 2.5" laptop drives due to their low power consumption and small size. Power macs have plates on the bottom that you bolt the hard drive to, and with 1 screw you can remove the entire hard drive/plate assembly. I used that with my hard drives to make it just as easy. In the first iteration of this build, I used lots of tiewire to hold things in place, just so I could run it for a while and make sure there is good airflow, etc. Now, everything is mounted with custom aluminum brackets, and is much sturdier/safer. And just for style points, I had some green cathodes, so I installed them outside of the metal case, but inside the plastic shell, and it makes the whole case glow when turned on!

Here is the link to the gallery of my mac!! http://gallery.me.com/eovnu87435ds/100215
As soon as I get the time I will post pics of the second iteration as well.
 
looks good, what temp you get with the corsair H50? (idle and max) I might return my coolmaster 212+

**FYI your whole picture gallery is open, not sure if you knew that or not** so what's hidding in the keepers folder LOL j/k :shifty:
 
I get some pretty good temps from the h50. Room temperature is 74 degrees, and speedfan in Windows shows 29C (85 degrees F), so a 10-11 degree difference , with a 95w TDP processor. Oh, and that is on the most conservative fan settings. If I blast the fan, I can get it down to 25.5C (77.9 F), and I bet a dual fan could get it closer to room temperature. Just mind you, you cant get a water-cooled system cooler than room temperature. I really love the h50(and the h70) because it's a 100% effort and hassle-free water cooling setup. The downside is that you can't expand it to cool other components, like your GPU or memory or chipset. If you wanna build a custom water-cooled rig, look no further than http://www.swiftech.com/, they have the best equipment for even the most insane computers.


As for the gallery, yeah I know it's open, I have nothing to hide. as for the keepers, get your mind out of the gutter! :D My girlfriend needed me to upload pictures of her art to send as a portfolio for art school lol.
 
Thanks. It wasn't easy to make it all fit, and I have been thinking of "upgrading" to a Power Mac G5 or Mac Pro, and reusing this case with a mini ATX system that would fit alot better.
 
Lol Ive had my fitting issues with a G5 case. I did manage to get it all in there but I had to remove the Scythe CPU cooler for the OEM one because I measured wrong on mu custom PSU lol. I'll figure something out.
 
i feel your pain did a build in same case used a gigibyte h55n mobo
this board is tiny and fit nice
only issue was cutting cd bracket for ram chip clearances
mounted hd and ps same as you
way better than the ppc that wus in this case
and it runs 10.6.7 hehe
ps stock cooler fits nice (i3 550)
and runs all day no thermal issues
 
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