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My Power Mac G5 ATX Mod

tevion5

tevion5

macrumors 68000
Original poster
Jul 12, 2011
1,967
1,603
Ireland
I am building myself a gaming rig and figured the best looking case out there is the power mac G5 tower. I bought an old broken G5 which unfortunately arrived with a little case damage just like my good G5 :mad:. DPD and UPS are useless cowboys. Anyway I got a full refund and was let keep the case so I think I'll rivet it back again or something as subtle as possible. I am willing to put in the extra effort as I know the amount of work that is involved. Wish me luck! :)

Phase 1: Removal of internal parts and cleaning.

I never thought stripping a machine could be so difficult! This was the single most tedious exercise I have ever performed. Especially removing the processors with those enormousness air cooling heatsinks in the way. No guides for the air cooled one by the way! I had to fashion myself a super long screw driver just to get at those awkward Phillips screws hidden deep down in a little abyss between the heatsinks. Motherboard wasnt too bad to remove after that. The top tray was very time consuming also. I am terrified I will lose the tiny tiny metal horseshoe for the latching mechanism. Have it stored in an old jewellery box! :p

The back top handle is warped out of shape as seen. Hopefully I can deal with this later.

image_22.jpeg

The first and hardest job was removing the big ass heatsinks and processors. (1-2 Hours between finding tools and figuring it out)

image.jpeg

Then the infamous top shelf needed removing. (Almost another 2 hours before I could get the whole lot off!)

image_3.jpeg

All the internal parts, taking up my entire middle shelf!

photo 3.JPG

Finally got it totally emptied! :D I cleaned the case inside and out with wipes and polish. (I think it's former owners had kept it outdoors for some amount of time. There was weird dirt on it...)

photo 1.JPG
 
Good luck Tevion!

I've just finished mine, and after the blood and sweat, it's so worth it!

What motherboard are you going with? I went with a full sized one, but If I had to do it again I'd opt for a smaller m-atx to keep the hard disk caddy in place.

Unfortunately I had all the parts already so I wasn't going to buy a new board just for this project!

If I can help in anyway let me know (As in advice, I'm not flying over just to hold stuff in place while you dremel! :D )
 
bigeasy_uk said:
Good luck Tevion!

I've just finished mine, and after the blood and sweat, it's so worth it!

What motherboard are you going with? I went with a full sized one, but If I had to do it again I'd opt for a smaller m-atx to keep the hard disk caddy in place.

Unfortunately I had all the parts already so I wasn't going to buy a new board just for this project!

If I can help in anyway let me know (As in advice, I'm not flying over just to hold stuff in place while you dremel! :D )
Click to expand...

I'm sure it is. Will be very satisfied when I'm done :D

I'm going to put in:

i5 4670K (Haswell :) )
Intel Z87 Motheboard (Full ATX)
8GB Corsair Ram
VTX Radeon HD 7870 2GB
500GB HDD + 64GB SSD

I havent ordered any parts yet, but I'd prefer to have full ATX for upgrade purposes anyway so I don't mind too much about the extra effort. :)

I don't suppose you know any shortcut to requiring the power button and fans? :p
Maybe some little converter you can buy or something? It's a lot of work!

Thanks :D
 
666sheep said:
Get the Black edition. It's based on Tahiti LE instead of Pitcairn = more shader units and transistors. I have one and it's pretty close to 7950.
Click to expand...

I just won a normal one for £120 including shipping on eBay. I think that's a pretty good deal so I might stick with it. :)
 
tevion5 said:
I don't suppose you know any shortcut to requiring the power button and fans? :p
Maybe some little converter you can buy or something? It's a lot of work!

Thanks :D
Click to expand...

I used BlackCH's cable, it was 28.5 euros delivered from spain, it came pretty quick too. I posted the link in my g5 mod thread but here is a derect link to his website: http://g5atxcables.weebly.com/g5-atx-adapter-cables.html

Just send him an email, his communication is excellent. He makes quite a few a week and updates his website daily with tracking numbers and eta's.

I replaced the fans with zalman ones, you can convert the originals, but it's a lot of work. To do it properly you have to open up the fans and replace the motor and control board with ones from inside a regular pc fan.

I think if you plug the G5 ones directly onto a motherboard they go at full whack like the G5's 'panic mode'!
 
bigeasy_uk said:
I used BlackCH's cable, it was 28.5 euros delivered from spain, it came pretty quick too. I posted the link in my g5 mod thread but here is a derect link to his website: http://g5atxcables.weebly.com/g5-atx-adapter-cables.html

Just send him an email, his communication is excellent. He makes quite a few a week and updates his website daily with tracking numbers and eta's.

I replaced the fans with zalman ones, you can convert the originals, but it's a lot of work. To do it properly you have to open up the fans and replace the motor and control board with ones from inside a regular pc fan.

I think if you plug the G5 ones directly onto a motherboard they go at full whack like the G5's 'panic mode'!
Click to expand...

Might just stick in some old fans off some 90's Wintel machines I have lying about so :p

Thanks for the link, that'll save a ton of time. I'm no expert at soldering so I think buying that cable is a smarter option...

Sent him an email there, cheers :)
 
I have concluded that the damage to the top rear case handle is beyond repair. Seeing as I am doing all this extra effort purely for aesthetic purposes, I think I am going to have to find another case...

Perhaps a prebuilt ATX ready case? Does anybody know where I can get such a specialty item? A ready to go ATX power mac G5 case?
 
I'm not sure about pre-built atx G5 cases, but I agree with you about the damaged case, it's a fair bit of work to get one converted and I know the bent back handle would drive me nuts. I picked my G5 case up off gumtree, £50 working with a benq lcd and apple mouse and keyboard, which I thought was a pretty good deal.
 
I've bought and received an empty Power Mac G5 Case in mint condition! :D

Now I need to order a motherboard tray and back panel from a guy in the UK and a front panel cable from a guy in spain. Then to assemble.

I will post pictures when I have more to show :)
 
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