Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

Imac G3 Into 3.1 Pc Case!!!

C

customisbetter

macrumors member
Original poster
Oct 21, 2007
62
0
guess
i was thinking that since i was going to hook this sucker up to my 47 in tv, i might as well get a new case.
i designed one thats awesome (looks strickingly similar to a mac mini) and two pieces of metal bent to form the enclosure (drafting guy) but i dont have the resources to build it. so my friend , the one im in the imac war with, is helping me put the mother board and stuff into an old pc case. itll be ugly and we are incorporating a cooling fan.
if this works then we shall overclock it to possibly 600mhz and then ill have a sweet basement entertainment system computer. WOOO!

please give me responses yay or nay because i think this is cool and want your guys' advice.

p.s. we are working with my white imac g3 500mhz, 256m ram... (more coming), with OSX 10.3.9 and 16mb video ram. and i got this one for thirty bucks. DEAL!!!
 
Dunno how awesome it will be with respect to HD decoding etc - the G3 is a little old. Fantastic idea, though.
 
its happening tomorrow so ill get some pics up of the process. here is what the final result should look like in my basement. its gonna be done this weekend.
l_c2360151d6b52d9f5146127f755cad21.jpg
 
l_e316d8363087dceffabe0b86f2321365.jpg

this was my idea for the case but it didnt work out.

got a 145 watt power supply out of an old pc, dont know if its got enough power. we think that the total requirement is about 130 watts buts thats our calculations. we'll see...
 
4JNA said:
one example of this mod can be found HERE.

good luck, and keep posting pictures!
Click to expand...

I must say, that looks interesting. However as the photos show the logic board itself is larger than a mac mini case. The case would need to be at minimum the size demonstrated in your link.
 
customisbetter said:
this was my idea for the case but it didnt work out.

got a 145 watt power supply out of an old pc, dont know if its got enough power. we think that the total requirement is about 130 watts buts thats our calculations. we'll see...
Click to expand...

I'd just like to say you've inspired me to redo this very same project with a imac G4, thanks, don't give up on it, it's hard work, but it's worth it in the end.
 
ok so we didnt get it done yet but we are moving slowly...
i have an alternate power supply that i havent installed yet because its hard. second, i turned on the mac with the analog board plugged in but not the actual crt. i get the boot noise but its cut off and then it shuts down. this is to be expected no? btw, the boot stops right when the screen usually would come to life.
so my conclusion is that the power has to go into the crt for it to run and secondly,im not sure if the power supply adapter will work correctly, although i havent built it yet. im using this guys site for help.

http://www.ct-scan.com/iMacATX/

any help is appreciated.
 
heres whats going on. im sorry im doing it on carpet and i know thats a sin but i dont care and im using one of those wrist bands. 56k beware!!! 28k get off the internet!!!


l_d5669c977559c373415f1a51546a071a.jpg

l_a1ad1882765d60969aa88f9e46fcc69f.jpg

l_0b7ab676071001463396d757c2da9fa5.jpg

l_24a87a359af0235639bac98f4980557b.jpg
 
HOLY .....! That old POS had a 25 MHz processor AND 1280x1024 resolution?? Shocking. Please continue posting pictures. It's quite interesting. Good luck!
 
were getting there. all we have to do is desolder the ATAPI? connector off the power board and rewire it to the atx power suply. after that we have to splice the pre-existing video cable into a vga cable and we will be done!!!
then come the case fitting...
 
ok so i have the power connector on now and when i plug it in the led binks once and the powersupply fan spins once and then nothing. so it gets power but im not sure if im on the right track. if anybody can help a little on this that would be great.
should i splice the video cable going to the analog video board into a vga female, and then run a vga cable to the monitor. or can i splice both video cable s directly? here are some pics so far...

l_d1d76590ea878017b9b5156859a2fc4b.jpg

l_e8a5b840a849307b098ee318e674c8bc.jpg

l_38c7bcb69c36e366130eaa4a6dda1df0.jpg
 
just connect the corresponding pins (ie. GND 03 on the iMac Display Connector to GND 05 on VGA Display Connector)

1 is the pin with the arrow (or some other mark) on the plastic connector (if it's there : P)

The ones that don't match up, just don't get used.

Cheers
 
ok i have a site that explains the vga...
http://www.cryogenius.com/hardware/imac/

but i dont have a vga connector to apply the pins.
my friend might get one at school today off an old pc card or i can take the existing one of the mobo but thats a last case scenario.

point is, its almost done and we will put it in the case or in a larger but equally old case and present it at the nerd show at our school where everyone brings in their systems and i dont know, wanks? but it will surely be awesome.
 
ok the vga will get done this week. i don't think i can fit it in this case so i got another case thats much larger and equally old.
just need some scsi cable to go to the drives and put it all back together and i will be done!!!

more pics up soon!
 
ok i have news. i connected the imac display cable to a vga cable and plugged it in but....
IT STILL LOOKS HORRIBLE!!!!
i don't understand, i expected there to a line of pixels gone or weak picture but this is exactly the same result as connecting the monitor the the vga port. im confused.
if anybody can help me that would be awesome.
heres some pics of the process.
l_d22fe71a4c4853610411c11360a60f88.jpg

l_273721b109cdc227cbe650206f3e6328.jpg

l_9ee695443d6928af85eea176617ea4e5.jpg

l_24dcc54b38be38bed0370a3a23f8a084.jpg

l_660bf39e82dce2a91b258eaefefa13db.jpg

l_efcbdf4b12de95f72ce14fd05a2f80c6.jpg

l_1cf3003c79a06466668feb0bd0c70f04.jpg
 
i tried it with a crt but the picture is still F'd up. there is some ghosting and the picture is duplicated?
heres a pic...
l_3db9313c5ee48bb0788b7fe4708c3390.jpg



and the crt does work, heres proof...

l_f3d283655e56d32f7b3cdb740e2973fc.jpg



im thinking that the cable is too long? how long is too long?
 
How long is your cable?
Is the whole length of the cable shielded? You may be getting some kind of interference.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back