Project Umbra Aqua Objective: 1) Convert a MacPro 2006 case to accept modern computer hardware. 2) Create a cooling solution that can surpass what is required of it. The cooling system that is required is a custom water cooling loop, which consists of three radiators in series. In order to achieve this, the case must be modified to fit a mATX motherboard; this will provide enough space to fit the third radiator. I got my hands on a mac pro 2006. I knew when I saw it, I had to get back into modding. I have always loved the g5 case. I did some research and found that there was many ways of turning the mac pro into an atx or matx. Route I am taking is a blend of many of them. The key difference is in my conversion phase I am not going to keep all the Apple wiring system, front panel, and mounting. What I decided to do was use a donor case to get all pc mounting systems and parts. Index - Preparing the cases - Water Cooling gear pack 1 - Rad mounting bracket - Front Panel I/O - Front Panel and PSU mounting - Second Rad mounting and second round of orders - Motherboard tray designing - Road trip to Frozencpu.com - Reinforced Rad frame - Front Panel (Fan controller / switches) - Acrylic bending for custom fan shroud. - Rear I/O, Rear fan mounting and Finishing Rad Shroud - Paint makes everything look better - Installing Water Blocks Special Thank You: Really special thanks to Evdokia Flook: Thank you for donating the Mac Pro, all the video editing and banner. David from: The Laser Hive Laser Design, Cutting and Engraving at an affordable price -1/30/2013- I found a name I would like to use. Umbra Aqua, its latin for shadow water. How I came up with the name? Well the case is silver and I am so far planning to paint it two tone silver. So I guess you can say I went from shades to shadow. There you have it, Umbra Aqua I picked up a Lian- li pc600f for $69 which had: -mother board tray -120mm x2 fans -140mm fan -front wiring with usb 3.0 Now the Mac Pro. This was a working Mac Pro. It toke me about 1 hour to get to this point Time to strip the lian li Window one window 2 This is to create a frame to mount the water cooling too. I am going to cut from here for the front panel So as you can see the Lian li case was great to harvest from. I have ordered my water cooling set up for phase one of the cooling. Monsoon Free Center Compression Fitting - 3/8"ID x 5/8"OD - Modders 6 Pack Chrome Alphacool VPP655 Variable Speed Pump - HF Top Edition Alphacool NexXxoS UT60 Full Copper Dual 120mm Radiator XSPC 240mm Radiator Gasket Reusable Radiator Template Phobya Balancer 150 Reservoir - Silver Nickel
I am actually having a hard time deciding if I should mount the motherboard lower in the case, this will mean in the future I can put a full atx board. The problem is that in my ideas for phase two of the water cooling, I would like to mount a 280 rad on the bottom. But with a atx that wont work.
So the water cooling parts arrived. They look pretty sweet. I am still missing the pump top and stand. Its on its way and should be here by next week. I am going to be moving soon I am going to try to get all the cuts done for the water cooling frame before I move. After I move it might be a couple months before I swipe out the whole case again. I might just do my wiring in the mean time. The whole lot. The res is so sweet and has some weight to it. I am still in shock how sweet the fittings look. In these two photos you can see the space that is left after the mother board will go in. First is with rad fitting at the bottom and second photo is with the rad fitting at the top. I am almost 100% sure I will mount the res to the water cooling frame. But here is the photo just to see how much room I had before the tray. I found something I want to change. The little stand under the rad is going to have to go. It looks ugly. Instead I will make a cover for the whole bottom to hide wires and bottom of the rad frame.
Feb 5th frame and rad mount So I left last time with being unhappy with the raised area under the rad. So lets just dive right back into the swing of things. Drilling out the rivets Took the plate off and realized I could reuse it upside down. As soon as I found the screws for it I found that was a no go. The screws were tiny like watch screws So I made my own out of green acrylic. Little bit of filing here Now there is more room for that rad. After I fit the rad. I was playing around and found that the old ram and CPU cover fit perfectly straight up. So I started thinking why not use them as the rad shroud. So once I get the rad mounted, that's next on my list. The frame for my rad and water cooling. I was so happy with my find I started working on it before the rad mounting was done.
A package came today. The missing pump top. I thought it was going to be the rounded corner version from the photos but I got the square one. What ever no biggie I am just happy its here to I can mark it up on the case. Time to go back to the case. I dont get much time off and I am moving soon so I was a man on a mission today. Tapped the piece I made. I used the threads to line up the aluminum stock Then drilled and tapped it. Here I am lining up the frame to find the point to drill it. I also find the hard drive rack needed to be cut to clear the frame just a hair. Drilled and tapped the two frames together.
This is some work I did on the front panel. I am going to moving in less the two weeks so I really got keep the mess to a minimum. BTW do you guys like the description of the picture to be on top of the picture or under the picture. So for the front panel I will be using the Lian Li case. It has the cut out I need and USB 3.0. I really did't like the Mac front panel because it has fire wire which I never use. Marked it up. Made my first cuts with a Dremal then cut with a jig saw. Here I filed the piece. Then filed some more. When I thought I was done, I filed for ten more minutes. I think it look good now. But I have a funny feeling that I am going to be filing it some more. I cut a piece of acrylic to match this piece. I sanded it down. Then I started drilling the hole for the connectors. Did not go so well. Its ok though I didn't like the design any way. I made a new piece that allowed the connectors to be flush with the front panel. I started glueing it together this morning. Nothing like the smell of J&B when you wake up.
That's a tiny dual socket motherboard there Also I see you're going to use monsoon fittings, nice choice!
19 Feb front panel/ psu done So since the last time I posted I have got a little more work done and no packing. Which looking back is a little insane cause I am moving in 9 days now. I was able to acquire a Corsair HX 1050 of kijiji for $140 CDN. I really like the Corsair psu's I got a HX 650 in my main rig right now. Its was great for overclocking my A10 to 4.6 so I thought it would be great in this build also. I would love to put Corsair AX in this build but lets be honest I don't got a money tree on my balcony. The J & B weld is also now cured so I went to work on mounting the front panel to the case. I found there is still to much room between the button and the panel. So I am thinking either make a spacer to go on top of the button or cut more of the case. Right now I am leaning towards making a spacer. So here I am lining up the holes to drill and tap the new piece. Cut my hole on the case then filed down the edges All done for now. Now time to work on the psu. So here you see the mounts were drilled to fit the new screws. I mounted the psu standing upward because I have designed it to be off the floor of the top. Then I placed one of the apple rubber spacers under the psu before I rotated the case the right way. You might have noticed I have placed the psu with the fan upward. There is two reasons for that. One is to keep the top area as its own thermal zone. Two is because then the psu wires that are hard wired in the psu will be facing away from visible side. BTW I tried this time to place the description on top of the pic. Its easier to write this way. I hope its easier to read for you guys.
