Reto Cube

[aminorjourney]

Hi all

So, after lurking for a number of years and tweaking all sorts of macs (used to be @auntiesolder back on AppleFritter back in the 1990s) I'm back in the world of case modding and hardware tweaks.

A little bit of background: I've worked on pretty much every mac generation made since the early 90s, and used to sell used macs on as a bit of extra money while at uni in the late 90s while I was at music school.

As well as a bit of time at Macformat in the UK, I got into hackintoshing back in 2006 with some of the first hack mods, but it was more of a hobby than anything else since I had a couple of real Macs.

Then when I became an adoptive mom in 2011, I built both my kids a customac mini -- one each -- because I wanted them to have a mac they could use for school work without letting them lose with an expensive mac. (Plus, I couldn't afford two macs)

I also helped my friend get lion running on his Lamborghini Asus laptop. (That one was a toughie, as it wouldn't boot with stock unibeast)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nxyxrXWReY4&list=TLL0McJVbDxmHiReZ11ETL6zx18drzQqmC

These days, I've got two Mac Pros from 2006/7 (Which I use in a live-streaming studio setup) running 10.9, and a 2012 CustoMac Pro maxed out with an i7-3770k running at stock speed on a GA-X77UP5TH with 32GB RAM, Nvidia GTX 670, 1TB RAID 0 SSD for boot and video editing, and (gulp) 12 TB of other connected drives. (I'm a content creator these days so use a LOT of video)

I'm also a prennial tinkerer. I'm heavily into plug-in cars, and I've built my own plug-in Prius before, even if it met an untimely death

BUT

I'm a little bit of a workaholic, and I work from home, so I'm giving myself a project that isn't work that I can work on. Behold the RetroCube!

The idea

Inspired by all your excellent G4 cube mods, I'm looking for a Mini-ITX board Mac Cube build, probably the GA-H97N-WIFI. I'll either add this to a low-powered i7 (4770s probably) or a mid-spec i5, a fanless graphics card (My kids' machines have the silent 5450 silent series in them) and a coupe of SSDs.

Ideally, I'd like to have thunderbolt, but I don't see any boxes with mini-ITX and thunderbolt, so mwh.

That's part one, but I'd also like to retain the stock feel from outside, and use an emulator to drop back to a retro OS 9 boot when I feel the need to play Marathon in its original form.

Where I'm at

I've got the cube! I picked it up off ebay this week, and I've got it booting (after a fashion) in its original OS. It's the earlier 450 Mhz model with just the power unit and cube, so I'll have to keep my eyes open for keyboard and mouse.

The case itself is in pretty good condition and I've already cleaned it and reassembled. Eventually, it'll need some gentle surface cutting to bring the shine back and get rid of some of those scratches. But it'll do.

I'm firmly at the planning stage right now, so taking my time to choose the right kit. But my biggest problem right now is getting the emulated G4 Cube running on my HackPro before I gut the G4 one last time forever.

Here's the issue: I can't seem to get the G4 rom image I've grabbed to work with SheepShaver, so if you know anything about that, I'd really appreciate it. Yeah, I know that's a little OT for this forum, but I figure I'm not the first person to try and keep the original OS in virtual form...

After that, I'm going to gut the cube, and start planning final components. While this won't be a quick build, I do want to start getting components by Xmas, as I'm generally a little bit more free then.

Why Series 9? Isn't it full of woe right now?

I figure by the time I start building, the great TonyMac community will have figured out how to get Series 9 boards running really sweetly. And frankly, what's the point in going for a series 8 board when the series 9 boards are now cheaper? Sure, it may be more trouble in the short term, but I'm not intending to rebuild the cube again and again...

And since my free time is Really limited -- partly because of the kids, partly because of the business I'm running but we're also planning a move to Portland, OR next year from Bristol UK -- this is going to be a GLACIAL build.

Any whoo. Hi *waves* and what do you think?

 

[MacTester57]

I would not use a separate graphics card in the cube, unless you really need the graphics power. Unfortunately I don't know the details of newer boards, but my DQ77KB still works like a champ. It just works perfectly in a Hackintosh, if there is a patched BIOS installed and you have a proper DSDT and SSDT.

Long live the Cube (it's my main system and in use every day)

Good luck with your project

MacTester

 

[aminorjourney]

Retro Cube

Hey MacTester,

Yeah, I'd thought of that, but I do tend to push my graphics quite a lot. That said, I'm intending the Retro Cube to be a desk-based machine for doing article typing on etc, since I already have a monster machine for video editing.

I'm thinking though that the discrete graphics card would offer me some future protection -- and I've had problems in the past getting integrated graphics to play nicely. Hmm. But then airplay would work...

Tempted by the DQ77KB, and I know that a lot of cube builds use it. Think Intel is going to update it for the new chips?

 

[kiwisincebirth]

Tempted by the DQ77KB, and I know that a lot of cube builds use it. Think Intel is going to update it for the new chips?

It is unlikely at this stage. The Thin Mini-ITX form factor seems to have been abandoned by Intel. Instead of updating it Intel instead released the NUC line of devices.

Remember it really was a bit of luck that the Thin Mini-ITX was such an ideal fit for the cube. But in general use he Thin Mini-ITX form factor probably wasn't all that popular.

Based on the article (below) Intel may have something else in the pipeline, but trying to predict if this has any applicability to a Cube build is anyone's guess.

http://www.pcworld.com/article/2109...-with-new-core-chips-portable-all-in-one.html

If you want the modern CPU/Chipset then your best with a normal Mini ITX motherboard. There are a few gigabyte boards listed in the Buyers Guide. The main hassle is fitting the Pico PSU inside the cube, and the extra height of the Rear IO, and other motherboard components.

Kiwi - DQ77KB Cube builder

 

[aminorjourney]

A bit gutted that the Thin Mini-ITX isn't going to get much moving forward, but I've been doing some more looking at parts etc in an attempt to try and get stuff to fit on paper at least.

Probably going to go the GA-Z97N-WIFI with the i7-4790S or possibly i5-4690S. I know the Gigabyte board is bigger than a Thin Mini-ITX, but I think it will also give me more flexibility. Not sure yet if I'll go with integrated graphics or not.

Regarding cooling, I'm thinking either the http://www.akasa.com.tw/update.php?...ers&type_sub=Low Profile&model=AK-CCE-7107BS# -- which reminds me of the coolers used for laptops and small, compact installations...

Or the Scythe Kodati SCKDT-1000

Still a LONG way to go... but I won't even start pulling the donor cube apart for a few weeks.


Thoughts so far?

 

[kiwisincebirth]

Regarding cooling, I'm thinking either the http://www.akasa.com.tw/update.php?...ers&type_sub=Low Profile&model=AK-CCE-7107BS# -- which reminds me of the coolers used for laptops and small, compact installations...

Or the Scythe Kodati SCKDT-1000

I would stay away from the Akasa as it is very noisy comparatively, the Scyth Kodati looks OK, it really comes down to the TDP of the CPU. An i7 will need a better cooler. Check out the following list for some other options

http://www.tonymacx86.com/hardware-parts/103860-low-profile-cpu-coolers-3.html

 

[aminorjourney]

I would stay away from the Akasa as it is very noisy comparatively, the Scyth Kodati looks OK, it really comes down to the TDP of the CPU. An i7 will need a better cooler. Check out the following list for some other options

http://www.tonymacx86.com/hardware-parts/103860-low-profile-cpu-coolers-3.html

Hey Kiwi,

Thanks for that I was looking at a TDP of ⩽65 watts, which is what the i7-4790S and i5-4690S have. I've been looking at i5 and i3 processors too, but I don't like the processor drops you get with the lower-power i3s (54W TDP).

If I *can* get a TDP 65W processor, then it makes sense to go for the i7, doesn't it? I understand that the i7 *will* get hotter when doing complex stuff, but I don't anticipate doing complex, heat-intensive stuff all that much. It also has 8 threads rather than 4, which is a draw. I'd like to try and keep this running as long as I possibly can.

I've got to admit though that this is my *first* hack with low-profile cooling. My main studio machine -- which is based on a Gigabyte Z77X-UP5-TH with an i7-3770K cooled by a Zalman CNPS12X and a whole host of large volume, low speed, low-noise case fans -- isn't exactly a low-profile machine.

My kids hackintoshes are using standard i3 coolers, and fanless Silent AMD 5xxx series silent graphics cards. While they're Mini ITX boards in fairly small Mini ITX cases, heat hasn't been a huge issue, although I note my daughter's Motherboard has now stopped working on one of its two memory channels.

Anyway. Back to cooling.

I'm aware that I won't have a completely silent cube with an i7 in it. I'm willing to accept that. My G4 Cube in its stock format is quite noisy, thanks to the 5400 rpm hard drive in there. I figure if I can get the fan on the i7 working at the same volume as the drive, I'll be onto a winner.

As for SSD? I'm pretty set on the SSD 850 Pro from Samsung. Got two of these puppies in my main machine, and they're blisteringly fast (more than 1GB/Sec through a four-way RAID 0 I've got striped for audio/video work)

I figure if I can keep other components small, I'll fit the i7 in... and cool it.

Right?

 

[neilhart]

aminorjourney

You may want to consider the i7-4770T at 45W. I used it on my LOL project with the AR04 low profile CPU cooler from SilverStone. Also, that project used a Thin Mini-ITX motherboard which helps to keep the internals simple.

See: http://www.tonymacx86.com/others/130664-neilharts-lol-mini-g5-pm-no-just-fun.html

The main thing is to enjoy the project.

Good modding
neil

 

[MacTester57]

I'm using the 3770s with 65W TDP (in combination with the stock heat sink, a copper block and a thin 80mm fan, mounted on the original fan support) in my Cube. During normal usage, the Cube is whisper quiet and the temps are very good.

 

[ersterhernd]

Same here. i7-3770S in my Cube using the Gelid Cooler. As MacTester pointed out, whisper quiet under normal operation. Louder under heavy loads, which is rare usually the result of an offending application that hogs the CPU. 40 to 43 degrees at idle in Yosemite.


Details here.


Cheers!