Case Mod - In Progress "The Nehalem Apple" Completed! Update 06/19/09

I still have quite a bit to do: at this point I still had to purchase a heatsink and purchase a dvi to hdmi cable in order to use the fan grill in the back. One of the rear usb ports would turn out not to work so I had to fix that too.

 

Looks great !

 

Nice idea of offsetting the motherboard tray internally so you dont make a mess of the rear panel. Crafty!

You going to cover the gap with a strip of aluminium or acrylic?

 

That was a very nice way to keep the original back lookinh 'original'. Several of us have tried ideas similar to yours for the I/O plugs - you made it work!

john

 

Every time someone cuts a hole into a G5-case little baby jesus cries

You got a Macbook Pro and a G5-case... why not go straight for all Apple-PCs then?

Other then that, nice to see someone, who takes another route in modding a G5 instead of replacing the original backplate. Also the positioning of the PSU is an interesting choice

 

kaujazz, jhanlon303, Burnout21, and jrs77: I'm glad to hear you like it Every time I receive a warm comment little baby jesus smiles

Burnout21: I actually wasn't even thinking of that, since I won't be making a window through which to admire all of the "neat" cabling
Jrs77: Last summer I attended this summer program in Boston University. Before that I hated every aspect about macs (overpriced, underpowered, etc). Eventually my roommate and a friend convinced me of the "awesomeness" of macs, and at that time I was looking for a replacement for my old 2001 laptop. So, I was faced with the decision of building a diy laptop and a macbook pro. I chose the macbook pro when compared to a similar windows laptop configured with similar specs mainly due to it's excellent design and battery life. Eventually, I grew to love the aesthetics of macs, and decided to do a little mod of my own However, I despise Apple for charging ridiculous prices for relatively weak hardware, or a weak combination, and besides.... NOTHING beats a good 'ol custom pc
Mac Mini: Un-upgradable, weak laptop hardware
iMac: Barely upgradable, monitor un-upgradable, weak graphics.
Mac Pro: too expensive, weak native graphics, upgraded decent graphics too expensive.
So.....yeah.

Thanks for reading

 

Update!

Okay, here we go again!

The back fans all soldered up.



One of the rear usb ports didn't work, so I decided to convert the female pins to a female usb connector (just by soldering on a new female usb end)







The new heatsink!






All Done!


The heatsink installed. I actually had to saw off the tops of the heatpipes to make it fit.



A behind shot

A Cabling Nightmare


Much Better





My setup

Turns out that the heatsink was faulty; the 920 CPU was idling at 70 degrees C. Now it can't be returned because of the heatpipe sawing
So... I took everything apart and made some slight modifications; I ordered a new heatsink (will arrive on the 14th) and cut a section in order to make sure the same never happens again!


I took MUCH more time getting the cabling neater. Don't worry, I'll remove the the tape holding the cables up once I receive the heatsink and put the mobo in. For now, it's easier to keep the cables up.

Ewww, electric tape!





Sound absorbing material





I've also added a 120 mm fan to the front using three small screws. What do you think about the look? I personally don't mind straying a little from stock

In the spirit of the upcoming Easter holidays I went on a little hardware hunt to find the scattered hardware

Video Card! Check!

Mobo, CPU, RAM! Check!

Power supply! Check!

Anyway, thanks for looking! The two areas I expected the least trouble from gave me the most: The heatsink area and the rear fans. The dvi cable from the video card protruded too much (the fans were too thick, dvi connector too long, etc) so I purchased a dvi right angle adapter. To fit the new heatsink without cutting it and potentially ruining it, I cut a small section off of the G5 (I figured it isn't seen anyway). I have an excellent idea concerning the cable management....stay tuned!
Live long, and prosper

 

Its looking good so far.
But I think the ends of the heatpipes are sealed for a reason. I do not know the reasons though.

 

500mph blody right... it's not worth to say for what they are sealed to hard to explain in few words but i don't know what for is now this cooling

Monkey try to read this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heat_pipe

btw - izolation tape isn't looking good imho

Regards

 

Yeah, I kinda figured something went wrong there lol.
Concerning the electric tape, I'm probably going to devise a cable management system using.... you'll see

 

Haha heatpipes are MEANT to be sealed for effective cooling. It's no wonder you were idling at 70° !

 

Ok i'm waiting for your cable management but unfortunetly you killed this cooler :/ read more about heat pipes or you can make of it a watercooler :> by adding a look in those "heatpipes"

Ooops - you have got problems with photobucket!

 

Oh no *sigh*
I'm working on the cabling as I write; the epoxy's drying

 

Turns out Powermac i7 is already used.... what about Apple i7?

Update: I'm uploading pics right now and have decided on a unique name (will be revealed with the cabling update).

 

UPDATE and New Name

Firstly....
Update!

The old cable holder.

The guilty party.

Before...

After >

A little sanding to clean up the cuts.




All done

Before epoxying.

Epoxying.

After epoxying


Can you say; electric tape?

Oh yeah.
And one more thing....


The new name is The Nehalem Apple!

 

Haha, i was about to tell you to change your signature, but you beat me to it

Nice work man, and a good name

 

Thanks I added a couple of more cable holders that were left over, but they will probably only be seen in future updates.

 

It's coming together really nicely!

 

I voted no fan no bolts. Putting any kind of bolt no matter how small ruins the look of the front, IMHO.

 

Stonedsurd: Thanks
blackflag: Yeah, IMHO I didn't really like the screws there and a fan right behind the holes, but I was willing to sacrifice a little from the look to boost the performance a little. Oh well, I guess I'll remove it (motherboard tray, time to get taken off again). I'll post some pics of the cabling under the tray (promise not to hector me for the electric tape, it's my nature ).

Right now I'm awaiting the new heatsink, it's due to arrive tomorrow.