[WIP] Project Impracticality *Update About This Build's Future 11/10/14*

[CtW]

Project Impracticality

 

 

Introduction

So my sister got a new laptop to replace her (this) super slow  8 year old iMac. Me being me, I decided that I would take the computer and do something crazy with it, instead of it just being thrown out. Of course before I could do anything crazy, I had to dismantle the damn thing first, which is the main topic of this first post. That ended up being harder than I would have liked, but it was infuriating enough to make me give up.

 

What I plan to do with it

Yeah, about that. I have no idea what the hell I should do. I have parts to a slightly less old computer (7 years instead of 8) lying around and I figured I might cut some holes in the thing to fit them, get a video card for it, and a new display that I can easily take apart to use in the build. After I came up with that idea, some crazy thoughts of water cooling popped into my mind. That would mean cutting holes to fit a radiator, which would probably be sticking out at a 15-25 degree angle to go with the curve of the back of the case. In order to deal with the limited space, tubing would pop out of the back to go to other semi or non exposed parts. If I were to do that, the theme would probably be blue and white or white and grey/chrome. That probably won't happen due to the fact that I have no experience with custom loop water cooling and don't have a gazillion dollars to buy all of the parts. i would have no objections if anybody wanted to give me parts. 

Btw, the parts function and I might be copying the data off of the 250 gig HDD for use in a hackintosh type thing.

 

IF YOU HAVE ANY IDEAS THAT ARE REASONABLE PLEASE TELL ME ABOUT THEM, I NEED INSPIRATION

 

How I will use it

I probably will have it be a second computer in my room for my friends to use if they come over (co-op gaming) or will put it in the basement for anybody to use. In the case that I do water cool it (which I want to happen, but I doubt ever will) then it will be kept in a place where nobody can touch it or even look at it without my permission.  This probably won't be used that often, if ever. 

 

So then why the hell are you doing this in the first place?

My main reason is simply "why not?" and my secondary reason is that I want to gain some major modding experience with plastic and it does not really matter if I mess this up due to the fact that the iMac was going to never be used again. i also just want to have some fun while feeding my addiction to doing shit with computers. Also I got a new toolkit recently and wanted to use it, 

 

Parts

Um.. there aren't any besides the shell of an iMac. When I am sure what I will be using, then I will update this or just put it in a new post.

 

The old parts I could be using are: An AMD Athlon X2 5600+, 3 GB of DDR2 RAM, some terrible OEM board from HP, a 500 gig WD Green drive, and some crappy stock cooler.

LOOK IN THE UPDATE  FOR PARTS!!!

 

Updates:

1. 21/6/2014 - Small Parts/Design Update

2. 11/10/14 - About this Build's Future

 

On to the Teardown!

 

Some Pictures of the Toolkit

^ This is the box it came in ^

 

^ This is what is inside of the kit. ^

 

^ These things are the "Security" bit set, "Precision" bit set with screwdriver and other thing, and the ratcheting screwdriver with a compartment to hold the bits in. ^

 

Pictures of the iMac Before the Teardown

^ Yes, this thing has/had mini DVI and 2 firewire ports. ^

 

Now for the Teardown!

^ First thing off is the memory bay cover. ^

 

^ This is the 2 x 1 gig kit of RAM that was in before I dismantled it (used to be 1 gig). ^

 

^ Getting the front bezel off was by far the hardest part of the entire ordeal. It involved shoving things into the rear vent in order to release 2 latches which was a royal pain in the ass. ^

 

^ Apple really knows how to place screws in just the right place to piss me off. ^

 

^ Fist look at the components. The ones visible are the 2 speakers, the north bride, chipset/south bridge, wireless card, 2 fans, and a few which I can not name. ^

 

^ The wiffy card (yup, i said it) ^

^ One of the 2 speakers. ^

 

^ IR thingy ^

 

^ First look at the insides. ^

 

^ The screen is off. ^

 

^ Now the HDD is too. ^

 

^ No idea what the hell this is. ^

 

^ A proper view of the inside w/o the HDD and other daughter board thing. ^

 

 ^ The motherboard is out! Im pretty sure the CPU is a Core 2 Duo and the GPU is an ATI X1800m or something like that. ^

 

^ Having to remove 7 torx screws at a retarded angle made me begin to hate the people who designed this. ^

 

^ It is finally off. ^

 

^ The back seems so much larger than before due to the fact that it no longer has a screen. Here it is in relation to a basketball. ^

 

^ After much annoyance, the DVD drive is finally removed. I think Apple should win an award for worst screw placement because they thought that it would be a good design choice to make one of the screws completely impossible to reach.^

 

^ This is the frame that everything is attached to inside the computers. ^

 

^ Here is the PSU, which is rated at 185 watts. ^

 

^ TIme to disassemble the stuff on the rear of the screen. ^

 

^ This is the cable that hooks the screen up to the motherboard. Its flatness is ridiculous. ^

 

^ The main board on the screen. I did not remove it as there is a possibility of me using the screen again. ^

 

^ Here is the shell put back together to show  what it is like empty. ^

 

 

The shell of the iMac is now being used as an over-glorified HDD stand

 

 

This is how many screws I had after disassembling it

 

 

 

Any and all feedback/ideas for what to do are greatly appreciated! 

[SAV1OUR]

idea bet the crap out of the apple motherboard till its a pile of carbon fiber

[CtW]

idea bet the crap out of the apple motherboard till its a pile of carbon fiber

The computer still functions so that is out of the question. For now...

[Lord Gaben]

Maybe Install Debian on it and run it as some sort of server maybe a file server, If not install Windows 7 on it and as you said run it as a Secondary Machine

[CtW]

Maybe Install Debian on it and run it as some sort of server maybe a file server, If not install Windows 7 on it and as you said run it as a Secondary Machine

I have a 500 gig HDD with Vista on it that I'll probably use for the time being. It will be pared with some new hardware in the computer. Yay modding!

[Maki Role]

Got 3 of these downstairs, turned them into Plex/XBMC servers, work pretty well thanks to the great wifi range on the internal airport extreme.

[Lord Gaben]

I have a 500 gig HDD with Vista on it that I'll probably use for the time being. It will be pared with some new hardware in the computer. Yay modding!

OK, upgrade to win7 asap though vista sucks

[CtW]

OK, upgrade to win7 asap though vista sucks

I know. It is from an old HP which we never bothered upgrading. I think that I might get some new parts and turn this into a file server/guest computer.

[Lord Gaben]

I know. It is from an old HP which we never bothered upgrading. I think that I might get some new parts and turn this into a file server/guest computer.

OK if you turn it into a file server I highly recommend installing a Linux based OS, My choice would be Debian

[darkspeedy26]

having a broken imac myself (mid 2008 model i think) (gpu was broken) (really every part is out of the shell):

-i did put the hard drive in another desktop

-i wondered if i could convert the pannel itself into a standalone monitor, i know they work for a lot of other screens, (with those converter thingies on ebay)

-i also wondered if the wifi card works in other laptops (didn't do any research on this yet)

-maybe keep the ram to put in a random cheap laptop? (mac ram works on any computer with laptop-ram ... right?)

-keep the psu for when you randomly need 12 or 5 volts

-this leaves pretty much the case, wich you could hammer down if you feel the need

[CtW]

having a broken imac myself (mid 2008 model i think) (gpu was broken) (really every part is out of the shell):

-i did put the hard drive in another desktop

-i wondered if i could convert the pannel itself into a standalone monitor, i know they work for a lot of other screens, (with those converter thingies on ebay)

-i also wondered if the wifi card works in other laptops (didn't do any research on this yet)

-maybe keep the ram to put in a random cheap laptop? (mac ram works on any computer with laptop-ram ... right?)

-keep the psu for when you randomly need 12 or 5 volts

-this leaves pretty much the case, wich you could hammer down if you feel the need

in regards to converting the panel to a standalone monitor, I'm not so sure if you would be able to do that. You probably could just look up the panel's serial number and see if there are any adapters for it or something. As long as it fits in the laptop you are putting it in, the wifi card should work. In regards to the ram, it should be absolutely fine. When i upgraded my laptop's RAM from 8gb to 16gb (stupid idea, I saw no performance increases and have learned my lesson), I shoved the old RAM into my mom's iMac and it worked perfectly. I have actually come up with an idea of what to do with the case and will be posting it along with some renderings (potentially) of what it will look like in an update. Teaser: It is overly ambitious, idiotic, way too expensive, extremely hard to do, and will look AMAZING.

[DJ46]

 

^ One of the 2 speakers. ^

 

I think you might be lying there

 

Apple makes lovely build machines. It sucks to take them apart...

[CtW]

I think you might be lying there

 

Apple makes lovely build machines. It sucks to take them apart...

Oops! That is fixed now. Anyway, I think apple agrees with you as this was extremely difficult for me to get open.

[Yummychickenblue]

I didn't know that iMacs came with a white bezel.

[CtW]

I didn't know that iMacs came with a white bezel.

This is one from 2006 and is made from plastic. Due to its age, I'm not surprised you haven't seen one.

[shadydutchguy]

looks lovely and sturdy build.

 

now ehmm, watercool the sht out of it? should be possible since it has fan headers.

 

on second thought, a watercooled imac would be awesome, having stragicly placed a rad somewhere and white hoses sticking out of the sides orso. sounds lovely to me.

[flibberdipper]

I'll be waiting for this.

[CtW]

I'll be waiting for this.

I am too  

 

Also, renderings that will tell all what I am doing with this/what it will vaguely look like will be up shortly. Unfortunately I had to use SketchUp instead of AutoDesk Inventor because Windows 8.1 is stupid and won't run it. As a result, the iMac in the model is the wrong generation, the edges are all fucked up (they were supposed to only be partly mesh, not entirely mesh <- explained later). Also the controls for manipulating the model are the reverse of what they are in Inventor, which is just awful.

 

The project will either be completed in a half assed way, have crap parts and be done in a couple months or less, great, sponsored parts and take 2 months (which will never happen), or have great parts and take a year+. (enough money for the parts will be saved up by then and modding work will be complete)  

[CtW]

 

 

on second thought, a watercooled imac would be awesome, having stragicly placed a rad somewhere and white hoses sticking out of the sides orso. sounds lovely to me.

ikr

[CtW]

ikr

also the tubes will be sticking out the back not the side 

[Rashy]

How did i miss this.. oh some pic is broken.. i think >.>

[CtW]

How did i miss this.. oh some pic is broken.. i think >.>

I checked and all of the pics are fine.

[Rashy]

I checked and all of the pics are fine.

Oh yeap.. yeah sorry just my grandma's internet.. downloading 100MB feels like days..

[Almercenary]

Mine (or my parents to be more precise) is a nice little heater for the winter if I for some reason can't fold overnight...

[CtW]

Parts Update

 

School is over and now I can properly begin the process of working out what the thing should look like. Currently, I am thinking about a blue and white theme with blue for the coolant and heatsinks on mobo/ram and white for the pcb's of the ram, mobo, and gpu as well as the fittings. The plastic chassis will be thickened in order to accomodate the parts. Blue mesh will fill the gap for extra ventillation. The tubing will be acryllic and will also stick out of the sides.

 

Parts (ideas)

• CPU - unlocked i7 or i5 (depends on budget and time of purchase
• Motherboard - Maximus VII impact or this Asrock one (it's blue and cheap) http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157504&nm_mc=AFC-C8Junction&cm_mmc=AFC-C8Junction-_-na-_-na-_-na&cm_sp=&AID=10446076&PID=3938566&SID=
• Ram - the ram that is in my current rig will be used after I upgrade to 16GB of vengeance pro ram (I'm doing more and more video editing and that ram looks amazing)
• GPU -  GTX 760 or better
• PSU - Silverstone ST45SF-G 450w fully modular SFX psu
• HDD/SSD - 500GB WD green drive I have lying around and some cheap 128 gb SSD
• Monitor - I'll get to that later

Water cooling and mod stuff

• CPU block - EK Supremacy clear nickel block
• GPU block - EK Clear CSQ nickel block
• Radiator: XSPC AX360 White
• Pump: Swiftech D5 pump w/ EK clear top and Bitspower blue pump casing
• Fittings: A bunch o' White 90^o fittings w/ blue o-rings and bitspower logo (yay detail work!)
• Fans: 3x Corsair SP120 fans painted white w/ the blue plastic rings
• Cables: Blue/White sleeved cables (I'll try to do them myself)
• Coolant: Mayhems Pastel UV blue
• Res: Some Bitspower or EK one that is small, cheap, and easy to paint
• A butt load of white, clear, and light blue acrylic for the fan grill, interior, and monitor housing
• Metal mesh
• Let me know If I forgot anything that one would expect to find in this build

So, about that monitor... Well, I had initially planned on getting a 21.5 inch monitor and removing the frame then enlarging the hole in the cover to fit it. There is a slight problem with that. After measuring my mom's Dell ultrasharp monitor (which is 21.5 inch ofc), even if the monitor had absolutely no bezel whatsoever, it would still be too wide to fit the case. This leaves me with two options. Either I settle for a 19" monitor (which will be  900p probably) or I find some monitor with a weird aspect ratio that maximizes the space I have. (Suggestions are welcome) 

 

To tide you over until I am able to get some initial drawings done in inventor (or Sketchup if I can't get the materials library to work in inventor), here is a hand drawn schematic for the interior/loop. Please excuse the terrible handwriting/erasing/drawing.

 

 

 

Expect a proper CAD drawing of this in the coming weeks. Also, a sponsorship would be sweet but that'll never happen, so expect the build to not be done for quite a while! (Unless I get a job that will easily be able to fund this thing)