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Case Mod - In Progress Project: HeckaFresh Apple G5 Mod

Discussion in 'Project Logs' started by numps, 30 Apr 2009.

  1. Digitalize-

    Digitalize- What's a Dremel?

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    Put my down for a G5 :p

    Mods a Good'un (Y)
     
  2. The boy 4rm oz

    The boy 4rm oz Project: Elegant-Li

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    Ah Antec Tri-Cools, I love those fans, excellent build quality and they can move a lot of air while being quiet, I use them on my 240mm radiator. Yep looks like you are ready to give her a test run ;).
     
  3. DonT-FeaR

    DonT-FeaR I know what a fk'n Dremel is ok.:D

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    looks sweet.. great work
     
  4. numps

    numps Noob G5 Modder

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    Power Test on hold til i get my PSU

    So I decided to work on the hard drive bay a little bit more because as you can see from this picture

    [​IMG]

    It's not gonna let me easily place the G5 Hard drive holders back into place. So I'm going to have to do a little bit of cutting...Only for the bottom holder....

    Before cutting:
    [​IMG]

    After cutting and smoothing
    [​IMG]
     
  5. numps

    numps Noob G5 Modder

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    Same goes with the hard drive fan that goes right next to the hard drive holder:

    [​IMG]

    With Fans removed and marked for cutting
    [​IMG]
    [​IMG]

    After cutting and smoothing
    [​IMG]

    Here are the results for the fan holder and hard drive holder:

    [​IMG]

    They fit now!! But, due to the motherboard being there, the bottom hard drive will not fit in completely (by 1 CM of the mobo sticking up :( I so sad) Oh well, I'll have to figure out what i'mma do with that, most likely the bottom HD will just stick out an inch from the top hd. Oh well. :D I also plan on replacing the main fan blowing at the hard drives with another 80mm case fan, since I'll just get some new fans to ensure reliability and ease of connecting to the Molex connectors as I didn't feel like messing with the wiring anyway. As for the further back fan, I probably won't end up using it and will get another fan for that. I'll keep you posted
     
  6. numps

    numps Noob G5 Modder

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    Opening and installing my Gigabyte UD5 Mobo

    I've finally opened up my mobo from the packaging and it looks very pretty. We would make a cute couple. Booya gf (if you read this, i'm sorry)!!

    [​IMG]

    And here I have it installed into the case with my noctua cpu cooler of awesome. It fits rather nicely:

    [​IMG]

    Money shot with ram installed:
    [​IMG]

    Money shot with air deflector:
    [​IMG]

    At this point, I'm rather happy that everything is fitting so well, especially the cpu cooler, I thought it would be a problem, but its not.

    Next: Power On Test...for real this time...
     
  7. dark4181

    dark4181 Ero-sennin-tebayo

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    Looks good so far. Though there are some nice MATX x58 boards coming out soon that you could have used (EVGA Micro, for example)

    I can't wait until I have money, I have been itching to mod the g5 cases I have sitting in my closet O.O
     
  8. numps

    numps Noob G5 Modder

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    ooh, that's rad...maybe for a future mod...but yeah, that woulda been nice. Hopefully down the line, I can get a Mac Pro case and do the mod again with all the knowledge I've gained from this project.
     
  9. The boy 4rm oz

    The boy 4rm oz Project: Elegant-Li

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    Damn, never actually realized how big those Noctua coolers actually were haha. Everythign is fitting in very nicely buddy.
     
  10. Cyprio

    Cyprio G5 Supermodder

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    It also highlights how small the insides of a G5 are. :)

    Good luck with the power on test numps!

    Cyp.
     
  11. numps

    numps Noob G5 Modder

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    power on test failed!! Board turns on then split second turns off. So many strange things going on it's hard to tell who the culprit is. My guess psu. I'll update more when I can test it more. Light a candle for me tonight and pray it's not my mobo.

    UPDATE: Turns out it was the PSU....bloody anus!!! I bought a new one...Cooler Master Silent Pro 700w... THe Corsair had wayyyy tooo many bulky wires for my taste....
     
    Last edited: 30 May 2009
  12. DonT-FeaR

    DonT-FeaR I know what a fk'n Dremel is ok.:D

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    yeah fitting nicely good work
     
  13. numps

    numps Noob G5 Modder

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    UPDATE EXTRAVAGANZA!!

    Okay, after the last post, I have done lots! I've replaced my 750w Corsair PSU with a 700W Cooler Master Silent Pro PSU. It's amazing! It's quiet and the wire clutter has magically disappeared. The mobo boots like a dream and everything is working smooth.

    I needed to be able to get usb working since I can't use the PS2 slot for my keyboard once the mobo is installed. So my first back part mod is this little beauty here:

    [​IMG]

    Is comprised of 2 usb receptacles, soldered onto 2 micro sd readers like this guy here [​IMG]. I had to strip all the little plastic parts because it's pretty useless and cumbersome. So then I wired it to the motherboard front USB ports:

    [​IMG]

    And this is the final outcome:

    [​IMG]

    So when I put my motherboard in, I can use a usb mouse and keyboard. Success!! It fits right where the usb parts should go in the back of the G5 case too. In the future, I'm going to try to connect the wires into the back panel usb part so it will be less cluttery.

    During this period, I also purchased a Sata Western Digital Caviar Black 640 GB HD to replace my IDE Maxtor 60gb, because I didn't have any more IDE ports on the mobo. The DVD-ROm is currently using it and it didn't want cables going everywhere.

    I've also done the wiring for the front part so I can turn on the computer without having to press the power button on the motherboard.

    This part took me a while and I was beginning to become frustrated but I took my time and....

    [​IMG]

    Success. Power switch works as well as the LED light!! YIPPEE!!

    Thanks to this picture here:
    LED & POWER SWITCH WIRING
    [​IMG]

    found in this forum here: http://www.insanelymac.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=13805&st=20

    USB/AUDIO/FIREWIRE WIRING
    and this diagram here: [​IMG]

    from this forum here: http://www.insanelymac.com/forum/lofiversion/index.php/t86468.html

    I haven't done the wiring for the firewire yet as I don't have any peripherals that use firewire at the moment, but i'll get right on it when I get the chance.

    Now I can take a breather and use my computer for a little bit and fill out some rebates...
     
  14. The boy 4rm oz

    The boy 4rm oz Project: Elegant-Li

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    Why didn't you just cut the back of the G5 to allow access to the rear mobo connectors? Cool solution though.
     
  15. numps

    numps Noob G5 Modder

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    I'm going for the all apple look. I like the way the back looks, even with less usb ports. And I don't think it'd turn out very well if I would cut it, it would just turn out to be a huge mess and I would regret it and mope in my room. And besides, I like challenges...
     
  16. The boy 4rm oz

    The boy 4rm oz Project: Elegant-Li

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    True, I would have just stuck a USB hub on the back haha, but that's cos I hate soldering lol.
     
  17. numps

    numps Noob G5 Modder

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    Soldering that little gizmo I made was a pain in the butt. Then I soldered the wiring onto the USB receptacle, and that part was more annoying than anything...
     
  18. DonT-FeaR

    DonT-FeaR I know what a fk'n Dremel is ok.:D

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    looks sweet


    great idea
     
  19. numps

    numps Noob G5 Modder

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    current state of my g5 mod...it didn't quit....yet....

    Hi, wow, it's been months since my last post...anyhow, I just wanted to update everyone, that i'm still working on it...my last post, right after that, I couldn't get my computer to boot and I had to do all sorts of testing and it was troublesome. I couldn't get why my computer wouldn't start...oh I remember, I was using an old nvidia 8400gs and one day I decided to treat myself to a new gtx 260. I got the card in, booted up the computer and got no video!!!! I tried all sorts of settings and tried other nvidia cards and they worked, but my new gtx 260 didn't. It worked on everyone elses computer but not mine.

    Here's a whole thread about it if you care to read...http://forums.tweaktown.com/f69/ud5-not-detecting-my-nvidia-gtx-260-a-32709/

    But long story short, my motherboard was faulty and I RMA'd it. Even though it was working perfectly well and had no issues, it didn't detect my gtx 260 so I got a new board and BAM! Worked!! I was relieved. So since then, I've just been using my computer for whatever and hadn't touched it as far as modding it. This is what it looked like....

    [​IMG]

    But I'm back in the game, and I got a new power supply box for my power supply, and you might be surprised to see who it is!!

    So I start my gutting my current psu, mr. coolermaster silent pro 700w. This part was very difficult, so had to come up with a new technique, I call the "just unscrew everything" technique...:p it was actually simple...

    [​IMG]

    I had to clean out Mr. coolermasters new home shown here:

    [​IMG]

    Yes, it's an Apple G5 PSU case! I gut that foo too!! So then I place it inside and see how it fits...

    [​IMG]

    PERFECT!!! well you can't really tell here, but it fits inside just perfect, it's not too high, not too wide or long.

    Next step was to get the plug to fit into the G5's slot, which I compared here:

    [​IMG]

    Both were made up of basically the same thing, but since I didn't know what the electronic parts do, I couldn't just do a simple switcheroo...I had to switch all the electrical parts exactly the way it was on the CoolerMaster socket, so first, I cleaned out the G5's electrical stuff as you see here...

    [​IMG]

    Then take all of this stuff from the cooler master and transfer it over....

    [​IMG]

    After a few hours of de-soldering and removing excess junk, I get the essential parts here all laid out:

    [​IMG]

    Then I did some soldering making sure it looked exactly the same as it did on the cooler master socket, (note: very difficult to desolder the old stuff making sure I don't burn anything or break any wires) which took me a while because i'm not that great at soldering stuff...and my soldering tip started melting off cuz it's crap, then I put it in place on the G5 casing and see how it looks:

    [​IMG]

    It's beautiful! I like it...but....does it work or did I eff something up in the electrical department?

    NOPE! I didn't, and it boots up just fine...look!!!

    [​IMG]

    Oh, did I mention I also got Snow Leopard working on my hardware? Yippee dooo daaa!!!
     
    Last edited: 31 Oct 2009
  20. numps

    numps Noob G5 Modder

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    My thoughts today...

    I notice a lot of the projects on here work on the outside first and then start working their way into the innards stuff...makes my inside to out approach seem boring... :( but I guess the good stuff is yet to be shown...I guess it's hard for me to go about and paint my case when the computer isn't in working condition yet...cuz I needed a computer to use while I work on it. (I meant that I need my gaming PC up so I can play my games)...as I did have my Macbook Pro...
     
    Last edited: 31 Oct 2009

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