Case Mod - In Progress Project: Apple G5 Identity Crisis (Update: 26-10 Testfit & Photo Shoot)

I forget what the shipping was when I bought my G5 tower. It's the dual 2.5Ghz models so it's liquid cooled from the factory, weighs a freaking ton. I've since pulled the optical drive and installed a third hard drive for the os. So now it has an 80Gb ide drive for the os, and a 1Tb and 500Gb drive for data. It sits down in the rack in my garage and acts as a file server.

 

Got some more work done this weekend, taken a little while as i have been trying to decide what tools to use for my fan holes, the holesaws ive been looking at are very expensive coming in at about $150 AUD just for a few fan holes so i decided to use a circle cutter instead, its a great tool costing only $35 AUD with full adjustments upto 125mm.

All in all it went great, i used a lubricant to keep the tool and metal cool pulling out every 30secs or so and letting it cool also. I finished the edges up with a dremel tungsten carbide cutter, a warning though, the carbide cutter makes horrendous metal shards that are like tiny splinters, wear gloves!

Now i just need to find some nice grills for the outside, why cant AC Ryan make 80mm versions of the aluminium ones

 

Nice work with the fan holes mate.

 

Very nice cuts Orry.

 

Those fanholes look too close to actually mount two fans there. Are you quite sure that it'll work? I'm kinda worried for you, bit of an expensive mistake if it doesn't work

It looks good, I just hope it works

 

more G5 ... I LIKE!!! good luck.

 

i love the g5 case!!!! always wanted one to just sit there and look pretty

 

na it fits fine i took that into account, i would have liked a couple of mm to play with but unfortunately the lian li only came with 1, why they did it i have no idea as they could have moved 1 up easily and slotted 2 in...

 

Fits like a glove.

 

if you're still looking for an optical drive. my phillips spd2513 is only 7cm deep. its pretty small, almost square. works great too, i've been really happy with it. nice works so far bt the way. g5 case are stunning as it is, will look forward to seeing how it comes out. another thought is you could always go with a laptop optical.

 

do you mean 17cm deep? or are you talking about another dimension ? I considered a laptop optical drive but i really want to keep the case as clean as possible making use of everything

As it stands i have enough room at the top to get everything in but if i can shave another cm or 2 off the drive it would makes things a bit better

 

I got a G5 case off ebay for £25 and intend building a pc in it at some point so i'll be watching this thread closely,good work so far though

 

yes i meant 17cm. sorry i miss keys alot when i type quickly, and often don't proof read anything.

 

£25?! I just paid £125 incl delivery for one... I hope yours is in good condition because at that price its a freakin steal!!

 

Wow all the talk about the g5 case, I have one for sale and Ive gotten no hits and its been on the forums for about a month.

 

Time for more updates

Sun was shining today so i got outside quicksmart and continued on with the mainboard tray mounting, i riveted the Lian-li tray back together and did some test fits seeing where more cutting was required and im about 90% done, i still have to work on the actual back plate and do a cutout for the panel latch and also clean up the edges.

I couldn't get it all done today as my long time modding companion the Dremel decided to pack it suddenly when i clipped a burr on the panel with the carbide cutter. Guess after 6yrs of solid service it was time to get another one, i shall hang this one and mount it on the wall as she went out with a bang

On another note a few parts ive decided on are Noctua fans, 2 x 120mm thick radiator, UV blue tubing and some other nice goodies once i source them and finalize my final hardware config

 

If you need help with Australia water cooling stockists mate let me know, I can point you in the right direction.

 

cheers mate, wouldn't mind knowing some places, ive brought tons in the past but if you have any new places to recommend please do, saves me ordering from the states

i brought a new dremel with flexi tool this time and also managed to pick up a new circle cutter

 

Nice new Dremel mate, I have the same one, bloody fantastic. How well do those circle cutters perform? I was thinking of picking one up.

I have dealt with all 3 of these stores in Australia for water cooling, all have been great.

PC Case Gear:
www.pccasegear.com.au

Chilled PC:
www.chilledpc.com.au

GAM Mods:
www.gammods.com.au

PC Case Gear has the Swiftech, D-Tek and Alphacool stuff with a few other pieces.

Chilled PC has Danger Den, HWLabs, EK and a lot of other good stuff, a bit pricey though.

GAM Mods stocks EK, Swiftech, D-Tek some XSPC and the always fantastic ThermoChill rads. Also stocks a lot of modding stuff, even some MNPCTech stuff.

 

thanks for those links, i deal with pccasegear all the time ill check out the others though

Yeah i just grabbed the equivelant new dremel to what i had before, i was going to get the digital one but it really aint needed, as long as the new ones are just as robust as my old girl was im happy...the circle cutters work very well, the old one i was using though did flare the edge up a little bit but you could clean it up easily but i got this new one that is supposed to give a perfect straight edge. I prefer them to the dedicated hole saws as you can finely adjust them right up to 125mm and they dont cost an absolute fortune... not sure if they are truly rated for metals but i have found that as long as you take it slow and lubricate they will cut through fine. I havn't tried the new one yet but i will be giving it a go tomorrow after work on some thick alloy, ill put some pics up