A quick glance and scrolling through pictures, prompts me to ask (although it may have been said) how much did the project cost you as compared to purchasing a new Mac tower?
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Power Mac Gi5 (Hackintosh Build Diary)
- Thread starter Arkious
- Start date
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right... well lets see
Power Mac G5 Case = £100
Mountain Mods Motherboard Tray = £100
Perspex = £6
PSU = £55
CPU = £174
RAM = £77
SSD = £175
Motherboard = £126
Graphics Card = £233
Blu-Ray = £27
All in all a total cost of £1073
Based on £1999 for a baseline mac pro, a saving of £926
Even then there is the personalisation and fun factor removed. I have thoroughly enjoyed this project and am eagerly awaiting the completed thing once the water-cooling goes in! I dont recommend somthing like this for everyone as its not really everyones cup of tea, but for those that love macs (like me) but want that little bit more... personalisation. its great fun
I've got this beautiful but broken G5 sitting in my office. Can't bring myself to toss it. I would be outstanding if I could throw in a Mac compatible mother board and get it going again, especially if I could save some $.
Depending on your budget and what you want to do with that Mac, you can spend as little as 500 for new innards.
Have you looked here yet?
I've replaced, added ram, replaced video cards and power supplies. I'm thinking seriously about the hackintosh route. Yes I've peeked there, but not that specific page. Thanks! I wonder how much modification is needed on a G5 case for the new innards...
I assume that OS updates from the App store are no big deal on a Hackintosh?
While the build here is a very good example of how to do it right, this and this are also good sources to learn the ropes.
I abstained for now to use my G5 case, as I lacked the motherboard tray and the tools for cutting, but my next Hackintosh will probably use that case.
I have only had my Hack for two or three weeks and used the current 10.8.3 version for the installation, thus I have no experience with that. Again, have a look at Tonymac, if you decide to go the Unibeast and Multibeast route, as there alternative ways to get Mac OS X installed (I cannot find the link to the article mentioning the other two installers).
I currently have a Hack with one SSD and five HDDs, one HDD has two 250 GB partitions for the clone of my SSD (to alternate and test), thus if a new serious OS X update arrives, I will clone the SSD first and then see, if the update does not **** something up.
And if you go the route and use a dedicated GPU, and use Unibeast, do not forgot GraphicsEnabler=No and entering at the boot selection screen after the completed installation and before having run MultiBeast, it cost me a few days to find that out. At least I got to know Windows 7 again, but man, I got quite some headaches using that, real, physical headaches.
As long as the hardware you choose is Mac orientated, you should have little trouble. Having said that, it is possible to choose pretty much any hardware you like but its much much harder. If you ever read my iMac Gi3 Project (in my signature), you will see the issues you can have when installing on unsupported hardware.
Check this page for recommended hardware for ease of installation and maintenance. http://www.tonymacx86.com/344-building-customac-buyer-s-guide-april-2013.html
Click on CustoMac Budget and find what you need there. Trust me, choosing supported hardware is very very easy. it took me less than 30 mins to have my install running properly with minimal input. My G3 took days of constant trouble lol.
As for updates etc, i dont believe it to be much trouble... new OS release on the other hand is more difficult but its only a few days/weeks before they get a new program to install it
There are also many many ways of doing the Power Mac G5 case, i chose the more expensive route as i wanted it to look neat and tidy. There are many people that just throw the board in and cut out a back panel. Some people buy a cheap ATX case and throw the motherboard tray in there. Its all down to what you want at the end of the day.
If you start a build project, post it up! great to see someone else's work
just one question... how did you replace the drive bays / trays?
I mean where did you put your ssd / hard drive? photo please..
Tnx!
I mean where did you put your ssd / hard drive? photo please..
Tnx!
that is an unfinished bit yet. i have made a little bay to sit above the optical drive and thats where it is at the moment but presently it is just stuffed up there
Ok thanks, considering I would like to modify my G5 following your wonderful project I'm wondering how and where to put my SSD and hard disk inside the case. I'll wait to see your next steps ;-)
Thats great
glad my project can influence others!I will post once i know what i want to do regarding mounting the SSD
well heres a nice big update on the build and its coming to a closure but not fully finished just yet...
the mass of parts etc that were still on order started turning up bit by bit, so started installing them as i could.
To begin, my water turned up, a little more purple than expected but never the less very nice!
not long after, came the new fans and atx extension so i fitted them to the PSU
the morning after, my front panel connector turned up from spain! its very nice and allows complete functionality of the original I/O
Now because i buggered up with the fans, i purchased some new PMW fans. But i wanted them exactly the same as the original ones i put in... so i got right to work...
http://i220.photobucket.com/albums/dd113/Arkious70/null_zps6ddf9c8f.jpg[/IMG
I started thinking about how i was going to mount the reservoir, and the solution i came up with was a block of aluminium, attached to the side of the case with 2 mounting holes. this allows easy removal of the watercooling system.
[IMG]http://i220.photobucket.com/albums/dd113/Arkious70/null_zps9eb9be45.jpg
whilst i was waiting for the glue to dry, i decided to wire an LED into the rear of the resavoir and the side of the water block.
![]()
SO.... i then got to work rebuilding the computer!
Then just before i finished plugging everything back in, i thought a quick test was in order... so i plugged it into the wall and switched the plug then BANG!!!
a nice big spark and a puff of smoke came from the PSU. At this point i feared the worst as i began the thankless job of dismantling the computer again. What i had found was the heatsinks within the PSU had shorted against the frame. This tripped the house RCD and blew the fuse on the plug.
What i had discovered was that when fitting the new extension and fans, i forgot to fit the plastic shield back in place -.-
but after testing the PSU and putting it all back together, thankfully it was still fully operational!
so i got right to work on the watercooling.
----------
It started looking fantastic, up until i started putting the liquid in... The nice spout mayhems supply does not have a very good seal around it so when squeezing, it was dripping into the case without me realising. A bit of tape to seal it soon fixed that though and i continued filling. By this time i was busy filling and starting and stopping the pump to help it push liquid through the system. Just as it was about full i noticed what i thought was a small drip.
But then i realised it was more than a drip...
I was mortified at the fact the PSU is on the bottom and all that was either in it or under it! On its side i let it stand for an hour draining as much as i could out. Now that the watercooling is in, it is even harder to get to pieces again. Never the less i fixed the leak and dried everything up and continued filling the system after having the hair dryer out on it for 15 mins or so.
This time i thought it would be a good idea to run it tilted in the bath to check for leaks
thankfully there were no more leaks but i continued to run it for a few hours in the bath.
Here is a better view of the cooling loop, i think its very nice!
And a view of the whole system with the front panel now working perfectly
Geekbench Score: 12573
Things still to come...
PSU fans arent spinning, this is a critical fix, however the computer under multiple stress tests pulls only >300W so its not getting very hot at all. This will be a difficult fix as the loop needs to be removed in one piece along with every other component again.
Another hole needs drilling in the back of the case to hold the bracket firmly, it has a little bow that i dont like
The SSD needs a mounting point ontop of the DVD drive
but not fully finished just yet...the mass of parts etc that were still on order started turning up bit by bit, so started installing them as i could.
To begin, my water turned up, a little more purple than expected but never the less very nice!
not long after, came the new fans and atx extension so i fitted them to the PSU
the morning after, my front panel connector turned up from spain! its very nice and allows complete functionality of the original I/O
Now because i buggered up with the fans, i purchased some new PMW fans. But i wanted them exactly the same as the original ones i put in... so i got right to work...
http://i220.photobucket.com/albums/dd113/Arkious70/null_zps6ddf9c8f.jpg[/IMG
I started thinking about how i was going to mount the reservoir, and the solution i came up with was a block of aluminium, attached to the side of the case with 2 mounting holes. this allows easy removal of the watercooling system.
[IMG]http://i220.photobucket.com/albums/dd113/Arkious70/null_zps9eb9be45.jpg
whilst i was waiting for the glue to dry, i decided to wire an LED into the rear of the resavoir and the side of the water block.
SO.... i then got to work rebuilding the computer!
Then just before i finished plugging everything back in, i thought a quick test was in order... so i plugged it into the wall and switched the plug then BANG!!!
a nice big spark and a puff of smoke came from the PSU. At this point i feared the worst as i began the thankless job of dismantling the computer again. What i had found was the heatsinks within the PSU had shorted against the frame. This tripped the house RCD and blew the fuse on the plug.
What i had discovered was that when fitting the new extension and fans, i forgot to fit the plastic shield back in place -.-
but after testing the PSU and putting it all back together, thankfully it was still fully operational!
so i got right to work on the watercooling.
----------
It started looking fantastic, up until i started putting the liquid in... The nice spout mayhems supply does not have a very good seal around it so when squeezing, it was dripping into the case without me realising. A bit of tape to seal it soon fixed that though and i continued filling. By this time i was busy filling and starting and stopping the pump to help it push liquid through the system. Just as it was about full i noticed what i thought was a small drip.
But then i realised it was more than a drip...
I was mortified at the fact the PSU is on the bottom and all that was either in it or under it! On its side i let it stand for an hour draining as much as i could out. Now that the watercooling is in, it is even harder to get to pieces again. Never the less i fixed the leak and dried everything up and continued filling the system after having the hair dryer out on it for 15 mins or so.
This time i thought it would be a good idea to run it tilted in the bath to check for leaks
thankfully there were no more leaks but i continued to run it for a few hours in the bath.
Here is a better view of the cooling loop, i think its very nice!
And a view of the whole system with the front panel now working perfectly
Geekbench Score: 12573
Things still to come...
PSU fans arent spinning, this is a critical fix, however the computer under multiple stress tests pulls only >300W so its not getting very hot at all. This will be a difficult fix as the loop needs to be removed in one piece along with every other component again.
Another hole needs drilling in the back of the case to hold the bracket firmly, it has a little bow that i dont like
The SSD needs a mounting point ontop of the DVD drive
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lol your machine out-geekbenches my i7 3820. I wonder if it's because you use faster RAM or overclocked it some. Hehe.
Probably faster RAM. The stock timings on this machine aren't good >> Anyway, that looks really awesome! But I've already said that.
Probably faster RAM. The stock timings on this machine aren't good >> Anyway, that looks really awesome! But I've already said that.
I don't really know how Geekbench calculates, but I have got varying numbers for my 3770K hack, which is not overclocked yet and has had 16 GB RAM and now has 32 GB RAM. I got Geekbench scores from 11756 to 12567 to now 13730 and I have not been running anything else besides Geekbench and some low CPU usage applications back then and now.
Maybe I run it again again.
Now its 13635. It is still a fast machine, as is yours or the wonderful mod we can see in this thread, though seeing it bleed the violet goo made me think of a cylon somehow.
lol very nice. I just got 12089 here. Then again, I'm not running OS X on it. I've seen a few success stories with the X79/3820 (one with this particular build!) but I haven't really had the time to play with that yet. I think I'll have to though, because the Windows FP scores are much lower than the OS X ones even for 3770s.
Guess I'll get to it eventually Also, the purple goo looks so cool XD
Arkious I was wondering why you didn't use the metal panel that goes on top of the PSU. Did it not clear the motherboard? I guess it's just more junk to get in the way when taking the machine apart, so I could see that not being a good idea. I doubt I'd reuse it if I were in your shoes, just curious.
Not to keep driving this off topic but while everyone's looking forward to haswell, I'm looking forward to Ivy Bridge E. Not that I need it xD right now I still haven't been able to find the limits on this!
Guess I'll get to it eventually
Also, the purple goo looks so cool XDArkious I was wondering why you didn't use the metal panel that goes on top of the PSU. Did it not clear the motherboard? I guess it's just more junk to get in the way when taking the machine apart, so I could see that not being a good idea. I doubt I'd reuse it if I were in your shoes, just curious.
Not to keep driving this off topic but while everyone's looking forward to haswell, I'm looking forward to Ivy Bridge E. Not that I need it xD right now I still haven't been able to find the limits on this!
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I actually have a nice piece of aluminium to fit, but because of the size limitations of the radiator I couldn't fit it. The water fittings actually rub on the PSU which causes the leak as it felt tight but it was actually gripping the PSU.
I could fit it round them but I think it will cheapen it and like you say make it even harder to take apart. So it's one of those things that I might look into or just ditch. I really wanted a nice flat clean bottom.
But on a side note, thanks for all the comments!
The CPU is overclocked to 4.5ghz but I'm playing with it to push it further and want to push the ram to 2.6
I realised that my waterblock is on backwards xD so when I remove the PSU to fix the fans I need to reverse the flow haha!
PSU Fans are now working
CPU waterblock is now fitted in the correct flow direction.
I am having trouble with the temperature of the cores hitting 90'c when clocked and 75-80 standard. This has made me believe there is an issue with the CPU so it is being replaced by Amazon.
Anyone else had temperature trouble with the 3570K?
CPU waterblock is now fitted in the correct flow direction.
I am having trouble with the temperature of the cores hitting 90'c when clocked and 75-80 standard. This has made me believe there is an issue with the CPU so it is being replaced by Amazon.
Anyone else had temperature trouble with the 3570K?
Nice work on the PSU! I start my G5 Mod project to but I'm really not sure about the PSU work. Do you know if any "G5 professionnal modder" sell already mod G5 PSU? This is look strange from someone who do a mod project but I don't really want to ****ed up all my work with a badly mod and non-secure PSU.
Thanks for the comments
To be honest, if you know a little about electronics and you check and double check that everything is okay, then you will be fine. Just test the PSU to the best of your ability before putting it to use.
I don't know of anyone that sells premade PSUs, your best bet would be to mount a standard PSU at the top of the case instead. Many do that
well heres a nice big update on the build and its coming to a closure
the mass of parts etc that were still on order started turning up bit by bit, so started installing them as i could.
To begin, my water turned up, a little more purple than expected but never the less very nice!
Image
not long after, came the new fans and atx extension so i fitted them to the PSU
Image
Image
the morning after, my front panel connector turned up from spain! its very nice and allows complete functionality of the original I/O
Image
Now because i buggered up with the fans, i purchased some new PMW fans. But i wanted them exactly the same as the original ones i put in... so i got right to work...
Image
http://i220.photobucket.com/albums/dd113/Arkious70/null_zps6ddf9c8f.jpg[/IMG
I started thinking about how i was going to mount the reservoir, and the solution i came up with was a block of aluminium, attached to the side of the case with 2 mounting holes. this allows easy removal of the watercooling system.
[url=http://i220.photobucket.com/albums/dd113/Arkious70/null_zps9eb9be45.jpg]Image[/url]
[url=http://i220.photobucket.com/albums/dd113/Arkious70/null_zps9405c060.jpg]Image[/url]
[url=http://i220.photobucket.com/albums/dd113/Arkious70/null_zps60937802.jpg]Image[/url]
[url=http://i220.photobucket.com/albums/dd113/Arkious70/null_zps4e3a0fe4.jpg]Image[/url]
whilst i was waiting for the glue to dry, i decided to wire an LED into the rear of the resavoir and the side of the water block.
[url=http://i220.photobucket.com/albums/dd113/Arkious70/null_zps0394cc5f.jpg]Image[/url]
[url=http://i220.photobucket.com/albums/dd113/Arkious70/null_zps56ce1ce0.jpg]Image[/url]
[url=http://i220.photobucket.com/albums/dd113/Arkious70/null_zpsba4d5166.jpg]Image[/url]
[url=http://i220.photobucket.com/albums/dd113/Arkious70/null_zps672daead.jpg]Image[/url]
[URL=http://s220.photobucket.com/user/Arkious70/media/null_zps82cd6c5c.jpg.html][url=http://i220.photobucket.com/albums/dd113/Arkious70/null_zps82cd6c5c.jpg]Image[/url][/URL]
SO.... i then got to work rebuilding the computer!
Then just before i finished plugging everything back in, i thought a quick test was in order... so i plugged it into the wall and switched the plug then BANG!!!
a nice big spark and a puff of smoke came from the PSU. At this point i feared the worst as i began the thankless job of dismantling the computer again. What i had found was the heatsinks within the PSU had shorted against the frame. This tripped the house RCD and blew the fuse on the plug.
[url=http://i220.photobucket.com/albums/dd113/Arkious70/null_zpsad2ad838.jpg]Image[/url]
[url=http://i220.photobucket.com/albums/dd113/Arkious70/null_zps1aeca008.jpg]Image[/url]
What i had discovered was that when fitting the new extension and fans, i forgot to fit the plastic shield back in place -.-
but after testing the PSU and putting it all back together, thankfully it was still fully operational!
so i got right to work on the watercooling.[COLOR="#808080"]
----------
[/COLOR]It started looking fantastic, up until i started putting the liquid in... The nice spout mayhems supply does not have a very good seal around it so when squeezing, it was dripping into the case without me realising. A bit of tape to seal it soon fixed that though and i continued filling. By this time i was busy filling and starting and stopping the pump to help it push liquid through the system. Just as it was about full i noticed what i thought was a small drip.
But then i realised it was more than a drip...
[url=http://i220.photobucket.com/albums/dd113/Arkious70/null_zps7c3d2b89.jpg]Image[/url]
I was mortified at the fact the PSU is on the bottom and all that was either in it or under it! On its side i let it stand for an hour draining as much as i could out. Now that the watercooling is in, it is even harder to get to pieces again. Never the less i fixed the leak and dried everything up and continued filling the system after having the hair dryer out on it for 15 mins or so.
This time i thought it would be a good idea to run it tilted in the bath to check for leaks
[url=http://i220.photobucket.com/albums/dd113/Arkious70/null_zpsf6cbed14.jpg]Image[/url]
thankfully there were no more leaks but i continued to run it for a few hours in the bath.
Here is a better view of the cooling loop, i think its very nice!
[url=http://i220.photobucket.com/albums/dd113/Arkious70/null_zpsaa984df7.jpg]Image[/url]
And a view of the whole system with the front panel now working perfectly
[url=http://i220.photobucket.com/albums/dd113/Arkious70/null_zps3d3cb642.jpg]Image[/url]
Geekbench Score: 12573
Things still to come...
PSU fans arent spinning, this is a critical fix, however the computer under multiple stress tests pulls only >300W so its not getting very hot at all. This will be a difficult fix as the loop needs to be removed in one piece along with every other component again.
Another hole needs drilling in the back of the case to hold the bracket firmly, it has a little bow that i dont like :P
The SSD needs a mounting point ontop of the DVD drive[/QUOTE]
this is very interesting: "my front panel connector turned up from spain! its very nice and allows complete functionality of the original I/O"
where did you find it?
I'm working on my G5 case and I'm interested to have something similar..
Thanx!
Check on G5Modder.com at Custom Parts pages and get the Alohacabs Front Panel ATX Cables or BlackCHs Front Panel ATX Cables depend of where you live.
just a quick update, this thing is working flawlessly, running at 4.6GHz at no more than 70'c under burn test.
if anyones up for the challenge, 100% recommendation to try this out
if anyones up for the challenge, 100% recommendation to try this out
