How I rescued an iMac (aka Frankentosh)

[product26]

I have always liked the idea of rescuing and repurposing dead macs. See my previous G4 to G5 case conversion HERE.

I found a seventeen inch intel iMac with a broken screen on ebay and dreamt up this little project. This is an early 2006 iMac that has had the EFI updated from 4,1 to 5,1 allowing for more ram to be installed.

Due to the unreasonable cost of replacing the screen on the 17" iMac's I set out to built a mid tower mac with a sleek simple look, a quiet cooling system, easily accessible hard drives.

System Specs:
2.33 ghz T7600 Core 2 Duo CPU
3GB Ram (2+1 GB)
64GB SSD System Drive
1TB Western Digital Green Storage Drive
1 DVI port (digital only)
USB 2.0 (4 ports)
Firewire 400 (2 ports)
Gigabit Ethernet
Headphone Out
Audio Line Input
Original internal speakers

Classic Mac Pro Inspired cooling system (quiet and efficient)
2 filtered front panel fans (120mm & 140mm)
Reconfigured original heat pipe cooler
Spot cooled graphics and system chipsets with temperature monitoring and thermal controlled fans. (The fans and thermal sensors for the optical and harddrive have been repurposed for cooling these chipsets. GPU thermal paste was redone with arctic silver)

Some pictures!

 

[mvmanolov]

very nice indeed well done sir

any ideas for a water damaged 2010MBP?

 

[BlueHedgehog]

I wonder if a similar Frankentosh could be built to "rescue" a mid-2011 iMac (not that it currently needs a rescue right now).

A few questions I have regarding this Frankentosh:
1. What version of OS X is it running?
2. Is the DVI port on the back the one originally used for external video out?
3. I don't know much about video output via DVI, but are u able to use two displays using only that DVI port?

Speaking of video out, if you were to rebuild (or rescue) a mid-2011 iMac (if possible), would there be a way to have a video out port (mDP or DP) connected to the main (internal) DisplayPort connector found in the logic board (used for the iMac's internal display)? It'd be great to retain video output to 3 displays instead of being limited to two (via the 2 Thunderbolt ports).

 

[macs4nw]

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Good to see there are still hobbyists like yourself around; people who have the inclination and patience to see what is possible with limited resources. Kudos to you!

Let's not forget that this whole computer revolution came about by people like you, who came together at the Homebrew Computer Club, exchanging ideas and showing off prototypes.

 

[product26]

A few questions I have regarding this Frankentosh:
1. What version of OS X is it running?
2. Is the DVI port on the back the one originally used for external video out?
3. I don't know much about video output via DVI, but are u able to use two displays using only that DVI port?

I'd say so. I am contemplating picking up a newer Mavericks compatible iMac with screen issues (NOT graphics issues.) Combine that with a G5 or Mac Pro enclosure and have a go at round 2.

1. 10.6 (10.7 possible but not officially supported by Apple.)
2. Yes
3. No. The internal display connector has been disconnected and is only compatible with the OEM LCD panel. This leaves only the single Mini DVI output that is included in the I/O panel on the back of the iMac.

Good to see there are still hobbyists like yourself around; people who have the inclination and patience to see what is possible with limited resources. Kudos to you!

Let's not forget that this whole computer revolution came about by people like you, who came together at the Homebrew Computer Club, exchanging ideas and showing off prototypes.

Thank you.

 

[product26]

This thing is kind of amazing!

Aside from the older GPU, this thing scoots along quite well!

I just upgraded to 10.8.4 via MLPostFactor. I have dual wifi antennas on order. The stock iMac configuration only used one antenna but the airport card has two antenna terminals so I figured, why not upgrade?

 

[Kek]

Instead of putting the iMac parts into another case. You could have removed the screen and replace with plastic and turn it into a Pizzabox Mac.

 

[product26]

Instead of putting the iMac parts into another case. You could have removed the screen and replace with plastic and turn it into a Pizzabox Mac.

I've done just that with another iMac and a 19" server rack tray. It's my computer at the shop where I work.

 

[Kek]

I've done just that with another iMac and a 19" server rack tray. It's my computer at the shop where I work.

Can you take pictures? Also, how did you deal with the fact that the back of the iMac is round?

 

[xraydoc]

Can you take pictures? Also, how did you deal with the fact that the back of the iMac is round?

With no screen, the front is nice & flat.

 

[product26]

New photo of the inside.
I rearranged some cabling and removed one of the 'spot cooling' fans because there is already plenty of air flow. One spot cooling fan remains to blow air behind the logic board, over a heatsink and out the back of the case.
Dual wifi antennas also installed. The stock setup only used one antenna.
BTW: I am putting this up on ebay.

Picture: (Gotta love the EF-S 10-22mm lens)

 

[kazmac]

that's wonderful

So great you can repurpose the innards and get them working again.

I'd be curious to see what you do with a recent iMac's components.

 

[product26]

I'd be curious to see what you do with a recent iMac's components.

Me too... but it takes a TON of time and I am a bit burnt out on projects at the moment. Maybe I will pick up an i3 or i5 imac with screen issues or a broken internal display connection and fit it in a G5 or Mac Pro case.

 

[kazmac]

Understood

Me too... but it takes a TON of time and I am a bit burnt out on projects at the moment. Maybe I will pick up an i3 or i5 imac with screen issues or a broken internal display connection and fit it in a G5 or Mac Pro case.

Understand on the too many projects angle. If you ever should update an i3 or i5, it would neat to see what you do.

 

[product26]

An update... I sold this to someone who seemed to be quite excited about it and extremely appreciative of the entire project. Sounds like it went to a good home.