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Mac-mini in G5 tower upgrade?

senseless

senseless

macrumors 68000
Original poster
Apr 23, 2008
1,890
260
Pennsylvania, USA
This might be off the wall, but I'm assuming a macmini would be significantly faster than my G5 dual 1.8 tower.

Is it possible to put a mac mini inside a G5 aluminum tower to replace the motherboard? Would there be a way to connect the existing internal drives and optical drives to the mini?
 
senseless said:
This might be off the wall, but I'm assuming a macmini would be significantly faster than my G5 dual 1.8 tower.

Is it possible to put a mac mini inside a G5 aluminum tower to replace the motherboard? Would there be a way to connect the existing internal drives and optical drives to the mini?
Click to expand...

That depends what mac mini you are talking about, but a new 9400M equipped Mini would beat any PowerMac G5 (except maybe my Quad). If you have one internal HD in your PowerMac, then it just might work, but the optical drive might be a problem. It would be best finding a empty case off ebay.
 
senseless said:
Is it possible to put a mac mini inside a G5 aluminum tower to replace the motherboard? Would there be a way to connect the existing internal drives and optical drives to the mini?
Click to expand...

You'd have to substantially modify the G5 enclosure rear plate and mount the mini's logic board (sans hard drive and optical drive) in such a way to have its rear plate on the back of the enclosure. You'd have two power supplies - the mini's is a strange one and is required to power the logic board. The other PS would provide power to the internal 3.5" and optical SATA drives (two max) since the mini's PS could not supply them. You'd probably want a fan in there as well since you'd lose some of the passive heat sink of the mini's aluminum enclosure.
 
I just bought a macmini 2.0 g dual core (hasnt arrived yet) and i am trying to figure out what to do with the internal hd in my g4. i replaced it this year with a 500gb ide hd and now that im positive this mac mini will be a whole lot faster than this 867mhz processor in the g4, i was thinking of getting an enclosure for the internal hd to turn it into an external hd for the mini. the dvd drive on the g4 went over a year ago and it is just on its last legs....i can do that right?
Patti
 
I just bought a macmini 2.0 g dual core (hasnt arrived yet) and i am trying to figure out what to do with the internal hd in my g4. i replaced it this year with a 500gb ide hd and now that im positive this mac mini will be a whole lot faster than this 867mhz processor in the g4, i was thinking of getting an enclosure for the internal hd to turn it into an external hd for the mini. the dvd drive on the g4 went over a year ago and it is just on its last legs....i can do that right?
should i get one with a fan or is it heat dissapating like they say?
Patti
 
senseless said:
This might be off the wall, but I'm assuming a macmini would be significantly faster than my G5 dual 1.8 tower.

Is it possible to put a mac mini inside a G5 aluminum tower to replace the motherboard? Would there be a way to connect the existing internal drives and optical drives to the mini?
Click to expand...

Hey! Don't fake the Mac Pro with a mini. That's just disgusting!!!
 
All interesting ideas; never thought about the network storage application!

Wouldn't it make sense for somebody to offer a $1000 or so Intel replacement circuit board for the G5 towers? The peripherals and aluminum case are hardly obsolete and even Apple could make money offering these. Why create more landfill?
 
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