Whiskeynipple's G5 "Intel Fitment" Purist / Future Proof Mod

[whiskeynipple0088]

First, thanks to the many very talented people that have help make this possible.
And to the many I learned from before I did mine (use a dremel!).

So after 7 yrs of service my G5 said good bye. Since Apple no longer supports the G5, my only option was to refit using intel components. Darn!

The main objective was to keep it as original as possible and easily replaceable.

I re-used all original fans, Standoffs, Harddrive (yes it still works...yes I backup) wireless and bluetooth antenna board, air dams, wiring, PSU housing (fans and plug), component layout and part of the I/O shield. I re-wired fans, front panel header and power cables. With help from Gus and eelhead I was able to get the exact connector housings and pins.

I also installed the Mini NG fan controller. (not very please with it- but it does ok for just my HDD fans)

If you look close you can see the BT up behind the CD ROM and the orig. BT and WiFi antennae board under the bottom rear fan.

 

[whiskeynipple0088]

more pics

 

[Gus]

Me likey. Me likey.

I actually thought your first photo was the original G5. Then I noticed a blue PCIE and had another look. Very nice. I like your idea of gluing in the airport and bluetooth rear I/O and reusing the antenna cables. What wireless board do you have? As I know that that board has only a single antenna for the wireless instead of 2 or 3 like almost all modern wireless boards.

How loud is it? I too used all the original fans, fixed at +5V. I didn't like the noise and would not recommend using them to anyone now.

 

[whiskeynipple0088]

thanks Gus, Im sure like the most of you - the only people that appreciate this stuff are those on this forum - my family thinks im off the deep end - well at least till I was finished.

"I actually thought your first photo was the original G5." that is the best compliment I could get -

So I have not hooked up the wireless card yet (though I have it -from a MBP) as I dont have the PCIe to mini PCIe and I have Cat5 to it anyway. But when the time comes to hook it up Im sure the single antenna will do - never had a problem under the orig. conditions so I figure it should work fine. But I prefer wired if possible.
Glueing the BT and Wifi I/o just happened by chance - when I was cutting the case I was very carefull to under cut (so as to not screw up) once I cut out the rear I/O and realized the antenna board was just bolted the G5 Mobo - why not.... a little 2 part epoxy, housing from a bic pen (cut to length) and a fine thread screw (right into the existing hole to the side panel - make sure the screw is just long enough and not too long though.)

The fans are very quite and controled by the mobo - (I cant be the first person to figure this out Im sure - but I couldnt find any success stories). I connected the 12v and 5v from the fans to the CPU fan header 12v - GND to GND and one Rpm wire - set fan control by voltage in Bios and it speeds up and slows as the cpu heats. Did a stress test (creating system overload in LOgic Pro 8) max temps were 52C fans speed up and slowed accordingly - really works great. However I did not have the same result when connecting to the System Fan Header - idle RPM's were higher then CPU fan header. So I wired the 4 CPU fans and the PCI fan to the Mobo Header. - very very happy with it - very quite and b/c I reused all the fans it even sounds like it used to.

based on my stress test (IMO benchmarks are not 'real world' use) I believe this is about 10 to 12 times the power of my original G5... at least in Logic Pro 8.

 

[doctorevil30564]

That's a very nicely laid out build. Are you going to do anything with the case for the Audio and Microphone connections or are you going to use the motherboard connector to add them to a pci slot or something similar? I'm asking because in the one picture it looks like the edge of the case may be overlapping enough to make it hard or impossible to plug into the jacks on the motherboard's IO plate.

I love how you re-used all of the original dividers,etc. in the case, It truly does look like a Stock G5

 

[Gus]

thanks Gus, Im sure like the most of you - the only people that appreciate this stuff are those on this forum - my family thinks im off the deep end - well at least till I was finished.

"I actually thought your first photo was the original G5." that is the best compliment I could get -

So I have not hooked up the wireless card yet (though I have it -from a MBP) as I dont have the PCIe to mini PCIe and I have Cat5 to it anyway. But when the time comes to hook it up Im sure the single antenna will do - never had a problem under the orig. conditions so I figure it should work fine. But I prefer wired if possible.

Yes. My friends and family and girlfriend don't get it. Think I spend way to much money and time on computers. It is probably true but it's enjoyable.

You could try getting an adapter to change the plug on the G5 antenna board. As you will have noticed the newer wireless cards have multiple antennas and also use U.PL to MC card or MCX connector. I can't remember which on the g5 has. It is on the web somewhere. Anyway, this might cause for slow network over wireless as I think the wireless card has multiple antennas for both sending and receiving data.

 

[whiskeynipple0088]

thanks Doctorevil - I honestly thought I had enough room for the audio when I fabricated the case (I was using a dead mobo - that had diff I/O layout) and once I realized - I had already start re-assembly and didnt want to have to re-clean everything again. I use this machine in my recording 'studio' so I dont use the onboard audio anyway but did want the ability - I use a Motu 896 via firewire for my I/O audio (which is why I sheilded my firewire from the front header - what a pain in the a$$ that was)

Gus - thanks for the heads up - I was not aware the connector was diff - will take a look tonight - prolly good I didnt intend on using it immediatly as I was waiting for pricing/availability of PCIx mini to USB adapters to come down - and I need to save PCIx slots for future UAD2 cards.

I tested my build the other night in the studio recording 12 tracks of drums for 15min - did this twice - not one issue - oh yeah and I was controlling it thru a G4 using Chicken of the VNC.

 

[chorner]

At what point do you stop and say "I love using Apple products and OS X... I should probably support the company again"

 

[doctorevil30564]

thanks Doctorevil - I honestly thought I had enough room for the audio when I fabricated the case (I was using a dead mobo - that had diff I/O layout) and once I realized - I had already start re-assembly and didnt want to have to re-clean everything again. I use this machine in my recording 'studio' so I dont use the onboard audio anyway but did want the ability - I use a Motu 896 via firewire for my I/O audio (which is why I sheilded my firewire from the front header - what a pain in the a$$ that was)

Gus - thanks for the heads up - I was not aware the connector was diff - will take a look tonight - prolly good I didnt intend on using it immediatly as I was waiting for pricing/availability of PCIx mini to USB adapters to come down - and I need to save PCIx slots for future UAD2 cards.

I tested my build the other night in the studio recording 12 tracks of drums for 15min - did this twice - not one issue - oh yeah and I was controlling it thru a G4 using Chicken of the VNC.

Ah ok that makes sense then. I've considered purchasing one of the more expensive USB Audio cards for my build, but I actually own a couple of the cheap Chinese ones available on ebay. My intent is to possibly use them internally with USB header cable and use a short Audio jack extension cable to connect them to a PCI slot cover or something similar.

 

[whiskeynipple0088]

At what point do you stop and say "I love using Apple products and OS X... I should probably support the company again"

when this economy stops sucking and we can earn a good living again - I have 2 other macs in my home plus the only thing in my G5 that isnt OEM of apple or certified apple compatible is the mobo - funny thing is that its actually a 'apple branded product' still