Sawtooth G4 Mini-ITX Mod (yaK-iNt0sh)

[JohnnyPrime]

yaK is old gaming handle of mine, so there ya go. I just joined this awesome forum, hi! I just started tearing down my old Sawtooth PowerMac G4 for a mod'd gaming sleeper. General plan: paint or powdercoat case metal black (at least inside), mini-ITX with 16 lane PCI-E extender for GPU, modular PSU (original location), 120 mm AIO where original 120 fan was, possibly a 5.25in fan insert in front (perforate CDROM cover). I'd be ok with using mATX too, PCI-E doesn't need to line up with extenders - I might want two m.2 slots for NVMe and wireless as is like to redo antennas behind side panel.

Has anyone done similar? What are the pitfalls to any of these ideas? Also, motherboard adapter plates or kits were mentioned in this forum, is that real? Does anyone sell them?

 

[kdv6]

Hi there!

I'm new to the forum as well. I haven't started building my Powermac G4 Hackintosh but I'm in the similar boat as you. I'm still waiting on some parts, but I thought I'd share some main points that I've come across from my searches.

The main points that I've noticed are cooling, and how you can achieve good cooling without cutting the external plastic too much. Of course If you want to take out the DVD drives for airflow that would help. But from most of the builds I've seen, people have cut the metal case on the bottom to allow airflow coming from the bottom. You cant put an AIO cooler in the original fan location, because then you wouldn't be able to open the door to the case. People have attached coolers to the bottom of the case where new intake holes were cut, however the next step depends on how large the GPU is. A short GPU would fit with a normal AIO barely. However if you have a full size card, you would need custom longer tubing.

As far as adapter plates for the motherboard, what I've also seen is people tearing out the existing stands to the Apple motherboard since the standoffs are different, and then using the new motherboard as the template. Also another note is that alot of people do a mATX build for better GPU placement.

The only kits that I'm aware of is from a British company called Laserhive that makes a kit for the IO plate to fit in the back.

Hope that gives you some ideas.

 

[O305]

Hey there! Recently signed up after visiting the site for about 5 years. Starting my build once I return to the states.

Cooling is something I'm still planning out, but it seems like cutting out metal seems to be inevitable to get cooling.

I took a look at build and the user went ahead and cut two holes on the metal but just left the holes: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLULE_cEbe0bpKmsiNR7d5KhmX20QI1H4a

I wasn't too fond of limiting the video card to fit in the water cooler. So I took the idea from another video and using the heat sink he used and add holes + fans on the side of metal. This is the heat sink: https://m.newegg.com/products/9SIA4RE4RT5002

As for the motherboard template, as if right now laserhive is the only one to provide the template.

Looking forward to your builds. Post process!