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Untouched outside look Mac Pro

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Joined
Mar 17, 2017
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Motherboard
Asrock X79 Extreme6
CPU
i7 3939K
Graphics
GTX 670
Hi gents,

I've been reading on these forums for years and also had already build two Mac Pros with the help of articles posted here. My latest project was fitting my main workstation into a Mac Pro Case with the front and back completely untouched from the outside while the insides are cleaned up and functional. Here it is:

build01.jpg


I used custom lasercut aluminium plates I designed in 3D for exactly these components. The backplate is mounted to the original motherboard pins and the new MB is mounted in the center. This is so I could use the gap between backplate and case as well as the gab between rear I/O ports and MB to hide a ton of adapter cables.

build02.jpg


The backplate also bends forward as a new mount for the SATA Drawers, which each also have a laser-cut adapter plate. I re-soldered the front button and LED without the use of the original front assembly. The most difficult part was the custom graphics card mount, which I hope I never have to touch again. Since I don't have sheet metal folding machine, I designed all plates so I could fold them by hand. They never lined up perfectly and the actual build is quite a bit crooked and scratched.


thebuild.jpg


The original donor was a fully functional first gen Intel MP from ebay. I used a lot of paper prototypes for different designs, ultimately the planing and re-fitting was the most amount of work.

thepsubuild.jpg


I wanted to have the original port at the rear, so I used a SFX PSU inside the original PSU Case which is connected to the original power plug. The PSU is upside down and his little space for air, so I used some of the old passive coolers as spacers.

Most importantly the build runs cool and stable thanks to the giant BeQuiet cooler. No other fans were requiered.

Anyway I just wanted to thank you guys for your great forum, I could not have done it without you!

Cheers
Pascal
 
Very nice and clean! Like how the back looks stock, doesn't look like there are any scratches on that case! How much was it?
 
Very nice and clean! Like how the back looks stock, doesn't look like there are any scratches on that case! How much was it?

Thanks! The case was 220€ including the functional mac hardware, original box and a unused keyboard and mouse. It was in near perfect condition externally, but I did manage to scratch up the inside a lot because my custom panels were initially to big. I also pulled a dent into the top when I forcefully removed a screw on the inside...aluminium is softer than it looks :)
 
Wow, this looks really great! I like what you did with the PSU. I'm going to start my own Mac Pro mod soon (but probably more of a traditional one where I keep the original "wind tunnel" design) – will definitely use yours for inspiration.

I'd be very interested to see more of your adapter stuff for the back I/O (and the front panel, too.) Do you have any more pictures or could you explain in a bit more detail how you mounted the ports, etc?
 
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Very nice project. I like the minimum fans as many people go the other way and install way too many.

Good modding,
neil
 
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