Case Mod - In Progress Darkmac Pro (March 2013)

Really liking the colour. Wasn't sure when I first saw it, but really grown on me.

 

Coming on really well, some very good ideas going into it. Paint those mobo heatsinks too
Keep it up mate, really is nice and clean so far!

 

I totally know what you mean! I've had an aluminum (as in the color) case for a couple of years now, so it was definitely time for a change. For a little while there I secretly thought I should have gone with black, but the gray was the right choice in the end. Thanks!

Thanks Father Time!I didn't know you could paint the heatsinks - does it mess with efficiency? What type of paint is best? Maybe gray heatsinks and a gray PCIE cover is just what the doctor ordered

 

Well a small plans update. I was thinking about the Mac Pro aesthetic and I realized that I really do love how the top is sectioned off with aluminum shields. I also realized that with my current hard-drive placement, I wouldn't be able to have a DVD/blu-ray drive without some serious cutting to said shields, something I don't want to do!

Luckily, my Lian-Li PC-V353 is donating yet another part - the hard-drive cages. With only minor modifications (two holes to drill), I can attach this cage to the top shelf with the handy standoffs already attached! It should look something like this (excuse the picture lighting):




With this solution I can maintain the top aesthetic (once I save up for the top shields), have a blu-ray drive (or two!), as well as have easy access to the hard-drives. I also have space to the right of this location for a second cage when I need it, as the Lian-Li has two. I'll be having the shields anodized once I purchase them to match the outer gray, further emphasizing the synergy of the two tones!

Right now I'm waiting for some spray-paint to dry, after which I will drill the two holes needed and post some picture updates! Thanks for watching.

 

Another small update - I finally decided to leave the DVD bezels the stock aluminum-silver, and re-mounted the whole mechanism. More than anything else, this is the most complicated and over-engineered part of the Mac Pro, but by Jehovah does it look sweet! After much fiddling I got both of them back in place. The top bezel sticks open for a second or two, but then the tension finally kicks in and puts it back into place - the bottom bezel opens and closes just fine. Here's a shot of the front - I decided to follow my own rules and cleared off a space close to my office window. The natural light doesn't alter the brightness of the anodizing, so finally I have a decent picture that shows just how dark this beast really is, enjoy:

 

I was expecting yet-another-G5 mod.. but I am so glad I read this log!

I've been seduced by this shade of grey. Beaut colour choice, makes the case look so much more stylish too, and more modern overall (sort-of Samsung grey). The contrast in greys/silver is really nice too (the side panel apple logo I thought is a little too silvery) but otherwise love it.

It's also refreshing to see somebody who went for a realistic approach - you cut corners like the rest of us... But you did not compromise the mod and it's nice to see that it's not another OCD perfectionist build that noone has the time for.

 

I dont really know about the efficiency of the cooling to be honest (its aesthetics i concentrate on), when i have done it in the past, it has been a light spray with autotek paint, mask the base. spray the rest. A light spray is usually good enough as it doesnt take any hits, you take it off, spray it, put it back on, i am guessing that it doesnt improve heat transfer though , but damn it looks good, JUST like this build

If you want to paint the PCI/Mem slots i have used "gamesworkshop" paint, which is easily applied by brush, but looks acceptable on those "Difficult to see" parts.

Good Luck Mate

EDIT : Colour is absolutely is gorgeous

 

Wow, thanks so much abezors! I was always perfectly happy with the silver-aluminum of Apple products, but recently just felt like a change. I thought about black for a while (and may still give it a shot with a G5) but the gray (as shown in the last picture) is really growing on me.

Sometimes I wish that I had the skills of some of the people on here (I mean, some of these custom metal or wood builds are just incredible), but I'm just some dude with ok modding skills and a good knowledge of the inside of Apple towers

 

Thanks!!!

As far as the heatsinks go, I'm thinking I will check with the anodizing specialists to see if they are anodized (it sure looks like it). If they are, I can get them re-dyed for a few bucks which would totally make my day! I only have one blue PCIe slot to cover, so I might just pick up some of the plastic covers that FrozenCPU sells and call it a day.

Really appreciate your comments - this will be my final mod for a while ("yeah right" says my brain), so I want it to hold me over

 

Well, I got the hard-drive caddy mounted. It took a couple of tries to drill in the right spot (did I mention I never bother with measuring?) - but finally everything lined up and it's perfectly solid. I made sure to keep space on the right hand side for a second caddy if/when needed - now I just need to work out a way to get cables back there without making a mess




Optical drive cage has been ordered, which means a trip back to Anodizing Specialists is in order soon!

 

Does anyone have experience with dual-color LEDs? The HDD caddies have LEDs that are a constant blue for power, with a pinkish-red to show activity. Preferably I would like to just replace them with constant white LEDs, but what do I do with the third cable? Can it be ignored? Thanks in advance!

 

Just a mini mid-week update: I put on my big boy pants and changed out the LED in the graphics card. Ok, so it doesn't seem like a big deal, but with no budget to replace anything if it all went south I was pretty nervous (modding vets - feel free to chuckle now).

First I took apart the plastic casing to take a look:



The whole system had several different parts, all with clips and screws and other such nonsense. More on that later. I initially thought I was going to try and fit my white LED in the holder, so I sanded down the edges some:



Next I tackled the little plastic part diffuser with the Sapphire decal. No chance of warranty with this kind of defacement:





The above picture makes it look obviously sanded, but that's just the flash from my camera. It's super smooth and looks much better in person. Next I soldered in the white LED, using 1/16" heat shrink to make the connection nice and solid:



I then grabbed my trusty glue gun, put aside all the tabs and screws, and put a nice big dollop on the LED. Since this should be the last time I ever have to take the thing apart, I'm not worried, and it's our little secret right? Finally, I plugged it in and to my great delight, it worked!



It's not too bright (which was my intention), and has now reduced the blue lights in my case by 30%! I'm just glad everything works...crisis averted

Tomorrow my LED lighting strip arrives, and then fingers crossed that more parts come in soon! Thanks for watching!

 

The colour works really well. If it was darker the mesh would probably fade into the background too far and you'd lose the G5 look.

 

Thanks! I'm probably going to try a black anodized case too, but more as an experiment than anything else. I just bought a white Phobya LED lightstrip to help emphasize the mesh - I'll be showing that off in the final pics!

 

Black & White Power Mac G4 Not a G5 but I like what they've done. I have a spare G4 case lying around but never gotten round to modding it...


Also here is a black G5 but I'm not convinced by the powder coating, anodizing is definitely the way to go Black G5

 

Yeah I've seen that G4 before - it's pretty dang sweet. Funny you should mention, I just bought one on Craigslist for $25

So a small update, my optical cage and LED lighting came in, so I spent yesterday getting things installed. Here' the optical cage:



Still with the protective plastic on - just how I like it! I'll be anodizing two of these in the main gray color as soon as the other comes in I did have to cut the back of it because all of my cables are running back there and it wouldn't slide in properly:



Oh well, guess I'm not having two DVD drives - one minor problem is that the DVD drive will eject just fine, but when it goes back in it gets stuck on something and immediately spits itself back out. I'm thinking some very minor modification to the DVD tray itself will be all I need - I will update later with a report!

I also got the LED lighting installed. I went for a very non-flashy white LED strip from Phobya, and am very pleased. Not only does it burn with the fire of a thousand suns, but it's just a nice plan white! Maybe I'll do colours next time...

I finally found a use for that bottom part (which I found out held a godzilla-sized wifi antenna) and installed the switch for my LED lighting. I'm pretty pleased with myself - the cables run on the inside of the door and are totally invisible! It may not seem like much to others, but for someone who is a cable-management freak, it's a small victory:



Finally, here's a very quick shot of the lighting. My tripod is out of commission (one bent leg...no kidding) so excuse the quality:



Oh, and I also got the power socket JB Welded into place, adapter to a right-angle power cable so that I can plug any PSU in that I want. No pics, but it's just one more step to a fully-completed mod!

As soon as parts get here, I'll be installing the custom front panel (USB 3.0) and getting the two top cages anodized. Thanks for all the feedback and views!!!

 

This mod is great. Last week I got my hands on a G5 tower and am planning a mod soon. I love your direction, especially since it won't be mine

 

Thanks TheGreatSatan!

I have a few G5s under my belt, it's really a satisfying project! If you're looking for some good resources, G5Modders.com is the place to go.

I totally share your opinion on direction - I love seeing the wide variety of G5 mods (and of course everything else one can find on this site and others). My wife finally understood that case modding isn't simply a nerdy pastime of mine - it truly is an expression of individuality, and is more artistic than first appears!

p.s. your avatar is one of my favorites on the forums

UPDATE
I should have the second top cage coming in tomorrow or Tuesday. I will be bringing them both to Anodizing Specialist, and this will mostly complete my mod. I just need to finally get around to modding the HDD LEDs and keep my fingers crossed that my front panel from China actually gets here...

 

HOLY COW. I finally got the rear audio plugged in and working. I used this right-angle 3.5mm plug and these female screw-mount jacks from Radioshack. After much cutting of plastic, soldering and praying everything worked, I spent about 20 minutes trying to get the dang thing plugged into the headphones-out jack on the motherboard. Why I didn't just dismount the motherboard and plug it in like a normal human being? I have absolutely no idea. It was one of those things where once I got started and found it difficult, I felt as though I HAD to finish. Oh well, it's done now, and I can remove one USB device from my cramped USB ports!

I'll have a few pictures soon - just thought I would let everyone know that I'm still hard at work

 

Well, time for a pic update! While I was waiting for my front panel cable to go through customs, my second top cage came in. Now, for those of you considering a Mac Pro mod, you should know that if your case doesn't come with a PSU, it is VERY hard to find one on eBay. They really are incredibly well built, and I have only seen one or two dead PSUs come through eBay in the last 5-6 months. That said, there is a solution to complete the top area, and that's with a second optical drive cage. These go for about $10-20 with shipping, and wil fit with some cutting. I will be documenting that process today!

Here's the second optical cage in brand new condition - it cost me $10:




Now after trying to fit it, I realized that both sides needed to be trimmed. Here's the left hand side marked up for cutting:






As you can see, I just cut the part that slides in to the case but you also have the option to cut all the way up in a straight line so it sits perfectly flush with the first optical cage. I don't trust my dremel skills enough to pull this off well, so I decided to keep the stock lines for aesthetic reasons.

Pre-sanding shot:



Here you can see it now free to slide in where I made the cut:




I took the piece back up to my case, and roughly marked the cut:




Spoiler alert: it was definitely not perfect first time. Cutting curved metal to fit a flat area is an art that I have not quite mastered. Something tells me that my maths teacher was right when he said I would need the subject one day, but don't tell him that!

The super feint line is my awesomely drawn cutting line:




And it fits! I had to take it back down to the garage and shave off a few pieces with the grinding attachment, but I was pretty pleased overall that it slid in with little effort.



Here you can see what I mean about it not sitting flush on the left hand side with the curve it has:




Honestly, I would prefer the curve being there than a poorly cut straight edge, but for $10 I might just order another and give it a go! Some positive notes: first the weight of the PSU and the way I cut this means that it fits very solidly without any need to fix it down, and secondly the airflow is MUCH improved for the PSU, as the path of least resistance is now straight back over the heatsinks, rather than out the side that is now closed off.

Now that everything fits, it's time to dismount it all and send it over to Anodizing Specialists for a makeover! Final pics are coming very VERY soon - a guy that I shoot weddings with is going to come over for an afternoon and help me