I have always been a huge fan of the PowerMac G5 / Mac Pro computer case. It probably doesn’t come as a surprise, then, that I own three late '05 PowerMac G5s, a Mac Pro 2007, a Mac Pro 2008, and a Mac Pro 2010. All have been upgraded and are in frequent use today (with the exception of the G5s). Earlier this year, in February, I came across a more or less local ad for a PowerMac G5 case that had been somewhat modified for use with an ATX motherboard. I really liked how the seller modified his 2003 PowerMac G5 case, so I messaged him and made an appointment for pickup. I took the train to collect the G5, as I didn’t want to risk any shipping damage. The train journey took three hours in total (round trip), but I really think it was worth it. The cost was €60 for the enclosure, and taking the train was basically free, more or less, since I have a flat-rate ticket that allows me to travel anywhere within the country.
So there I was with that beautiful case but no other parts. The idea was to create a relatively budget-friendly Hackintosh that could run the latest macOS and consumes less power than the most powerful Mac Pro I own, my 12-core Mac Pro 5,1. In terms of performance, a secondary goal was to match the specs of my Mac Pro 5,1 as closely as possible. Due to my extensive tinkering with the Mac Pro 5,1, I learned a few things about OpenCore. It caught my interest, and I read as well as watched a lot about hackintoshing. From my PC days, I knew that Gigabyte is a solid motherboard brand. On eBay, I managed to win an auction for a Gigabyte GA-H270M-DS3H with an Intel i7 7700K and 24 GB DDR4 RAM installed. A previous RAM upgrade to my iMac 5K (which coincidentally has the same CPU as the motherboard I purchased) left me with two 8 GB DDR4 SO-DIMM sticks. Those were used (with adapters) to bump up the RAM size even more, so eventually, the computer now has 32 GB of DDR4 memory. Locally, I found an ASUS Vega 64 for a steal with 8 GB of RAM, which I installed in the case. Various other PCIe cards were also put into the case. The vast selection of I/O on my “Hack Pro G5” is best described with pictures:
Since the previous owner took care of all the sawing necessary for mounting an ATX (or mATX motherboard in my case) inside the case, installing all the components I mentioned was pretty straightforward. Some things, however, weren’t that simple, and I had to come up with solutions, namely mounting the SSDs, making the front panel work, and using the two PCIe connectors that were blocked by the GPU.
Regarding mounting the SSDs, I was fortunate to have a custom-made acrylic front intake panel (where I also installed two brand new white-LED fans. That particular acrylic panel had mounting points for fans but also other holes whose purpose I didn’t know. I used those for mounting an L-shaped metal bracket that can hold two SSDs. It probably isn’t the most professional-looking solution, but it holds the two SSDs firmly and safely. Two other SSDs are also in the system: one is an NVME on a PCIe card and a third SATA SSD is mounted directly onto the acrylic panel.
Despite all the nice work the former owner of the G5 case did, I have to critique one thing: the non-working front panel that was merely for show. He did rewire the power button but soldered positive and negative wires directly to it. Normally, you would have a small 3-pin connector going from the power button to the front panel circuit board, but that connector was not included with the case, likely trashed after rewiring the power button. Furthermore, the connection to the small white LED was also gone due to the previous owner’s modifications. I really wanted the white LED, even though the former owner of the G5 case mounted a PC front panel in the optical drive bay. From a PowerMac G5 I purchased in 2022, I had an extra power button lying around. This was one of the cases where I was really lucky to have kept the parts. I had trashed the case from my 2022 purchase because it had severe blemishes and dents, but I kept the working parts. I swapped the modified and cut 2003 power button for the 2005 one, and problem solved! Another must-have for me was USB and FireWire. Rewiring all that stuff not only took a bunch of time but also required trial and error since the pinout diagrams on the internet about the PowerMac G5 front panel differ. They are not entirely coherent but serve as a good starting point. I also had to make my own FireWire header because modern motherboards do not include one. The solution was to use the internal FireWire 800 port of my Sonnet Tango Express and attach a FireWire 800 to 400 adapter. Next, I looked at the typical FireWire pinout and sliced a run-of-the-mill FireWire 400 cable open to access the individual six cables inside (pins). I exposed a small bit of insulation so that I could attach each front panel cable to the corresponding end of the FireWire 400 cable . Since soldering isn’t really something I master, I decided to crimp the cables (as they mostly do in the automotive industry). To my surprise, the front panel is working like a charm, except for the audio, since I didn't bother rewiring it. Here are a few photos of the rewiring:
Finally, I attached a small USB speaker in the front of the case. I connected it to a free header on my motherboard via an adapter. Just like the original G5 and the Mac Pro, I wanted my Hackintosh to have its own speaker just in case.
This has been a pretty long post already, but the takeaway is that I have built my dream "PowerMac G5 Hackintosh." Countless hours went into the project, not only into the planning, building, and rewiring but also into setting up the software. I found an OpenCore configuration for a similar motherboard on GitHub, but it required a few changes to run on my particular system. Literally, everything works on my Hackintosh besides sleep.
I know this post has not been entirely about PowerPC. Nevertheless, I’m advocating for breathing new life into old PowerPC enclosures if you have the chance (e.g., if the original hardware inside is broken). Note that the thread title states "PowerPC cases." I’m in the process of building another Hackintosh into a PowerMac G4 case, which I’ll post about once it is finished. So stay tuned! Thanks for reading, and kindly tell me what you think! Of course, I am also open to any questions you might have if you plan on building a similar system.
I'm ending this post with various pictures of the finished system:
So there I was with that beautiful case but no other parts. The idea was to create a relatively budget-friendly Hackintosh that could run the latest macOS and consumes less power than the most powerful Mac Pro I own, my 12-core Mac Pro 5,1. In terms of performance, a secondary goal was to match the specs of my Mac Pro 5,1 as closely as possible. Due to my extensive tinkering with the Mac Pro 5,1, I learned a few things about OpenCore. It caught my interest, and I read as well as watched a lot about hackintoshing. From my PC days, I knew that Gigabyte is a solid motherboard brand. On eBay, I managed to win an auction for a Gigabyte GA-H270M-DS3H with an Intel i7 7700K and 24 GB DDR4 RAM installed. A previous RAM upgrade to my iMac 5K (which coincidentally has the same CPU as the motherboard I purchased) left me with two 8 GB DDR4 SO-DIMM sticks. Those were used (with adapters) to bump up the RAM size even more, so eventually, the computer now has 32 GB of DDR4 memory. Locally, I found an ASUS Vega 64 for a steal with 8 GB of RAM, which I installed in the case. Various other PCIe cards were also put into the case. The vast selection of I/O on my “Hack Pro G5” is best described with pictures:
Since the previous owner took care of all the sawing necessary for mounting an ATX (or mATX motherboard in my case) inside the case, installing all the components I mentioned was pretty straightforward. Some things, however, weren’t that simple, and I had to come up with solutions, namely mounting the SSDs, making the front panel work, and using the two PCIe connectors that were blocked by the GPU.
Regarding mounting the SSDs, I was fortunate to have a custom-made acrylic front intake panel (where I also installed two brand new white-LED fans. That particular acrylic panel had mounting points for fans but also other holes whose purpose I didn’t know. I used those for mounting an L-shaped metal bracket that can hold two SSDs. It probably isn’t the most professional-looking solution, but it holds the two SSDs firmly and safely. Two other SSDs are also in the system: one is an NVME on a PCIe card and a third SATA SSD is mounted directly onto the acrylic panel.
Despite all the nice work the former owner of the G5 case did, I have to critique one thing: the non-working front panel that was merely for show. He did rewire the power button but soldered positive and negative wires directly to it. Normally, you would have a small 3-pin connector going from the power button to the front panel circuit board, but that connector was not included with the case, likely trashed after rewiring the power button. Furthermore, the connection to the small white LED was also gone due to the previous owner’s modifications. I really wanted the white LED, even though the former owner of the G5 case mounted a PC front panel in the optical drive bay. From a PowerMac G5 I purchased in 2022, I had an extra power button lying around. This was one of the cases where I was really lucky to have kept the parts. I had trashed the case from my 2022 purchase because it had severe blemishes and dents, but I kept the working parts. I swapped the modified and cut 2003 power button for the 2005 one, and problem solved! Another must-have for me was USB and FireWire. Rewiring all that stuff not only took a bunch of time but also required trial and error since the pinout diagrams on the internet about the PowerMac G5 front panel differ. They are not entirely coherent but serve as a good starting point. I also had to make my own FireWire header because modern motherboards do not include one. The solution was to use the internal FireWire 800 port of my Sonnet Tango Express and attach a FireWire 800 to 400 adapter. Next, I looked at the typical FireWire pinout and sliced a run-of-the-mill FireWire 400 cable open to access the individual six cables inside (pins). I exposed a small bit of insulation so that I could attach each front panel cable to the corresponding end of the FireWire 400 cable . Since soldering isn’t really something I master, I decided to crimp the cables (as they mostly do in the automotive industry). To my surprise, the front panel is working like a charm, except for the audio, since I didn't bother rewiring it. Here are a few photos of the rewiring:
Finally, I attached a small USB speaker in the front of the case. I connected it to a free header on my motherboard via an adapter. Just like the original G5 and the Mac Pro, I wanted my Hackintosh to have its own speaker just in case.
This has been a pretty long post already, but the takeaway is that I have built my dream "PowerMac G5 Hackintosh." Countless hours went into the project, not only into the planning, building, and rewiring but also into setting up the software. I found an OpenCore configuration for a similar motherboard on GitHub, but it required a few changes to run on my particular system. Literally, everything works on my Hackintosh besides sleep.
I know this post has not been entirely about PowerPC. Nevertheless, I’m advocating for breathing new life into old PowerPC enclosures if you have the chance (e.g., if the original hardware inside is broken). Note that the thread title states "PowerPC cases." I’m in the process of building another Hackintosh into a PowerMac G4 case, which I’ll post about once it is finished. So stay tuned! Thanks for reading, and kindly tell me what you think! Of course, I am also open to any questions you might have if you plan on building a similar system.
I'm ending this post with various pictures of the finished system:
