Apple MacPro 2.1 Case Mod

[blau1431]

DISCLAIMER!! English is not my native language, I appologise for any mistakes I make!

 

Before I start showing yo guys what I did to the case of the old MacPro I had lying around collecting dust, let me tell you why I did it.

 

I bought a new fan for my PC and while taking of the glass sidepanel I dropped it.. so yeah.. good job..

 

First I thought about buying a new one but those are quiet expensive and the case wasn't that good for cablemanagement or airflow.

That's why I decided to rip appart the old MacPro (it wasn't in working condition anymore, so no problem there)

 

Now that you know how this project began, lets get started with showing off what and how I did it.

 

1. THE PARTS

    MB - ASRock B350 Pro4

    CPU - AMD Ryzen 5 1600x

    GPU - Asus ROG Strix RX Vega 64

    RAM - 2x8GB Crucial Ballistix 2666mHz

    PSU - CoolerMaster V850 (80+ Gold, modular)

    CPU-Cooler - bequiet! Shadow Rock LP

    Fans - 1x Noiseblocker NB-eLoop B12-P

               1x Noiseblocker NB-eLoop B12-1

               1x Noiseblocker NB-Multiframe M12-1

 

2. CLEANED OUT MACPRO

taking out the mainboard and fans wasn't too complicated

the mainboard-standoffs snapped right out

I had to flatten some of the mounting points for the SATA cables so the MB would fit inside (I just used a hammer)

getting the components of the PSU out of its cage was quite interesting (almost shit my pants.. cause.. well its something you clearly aren't supposed to do)

 

3. TESTFITTING THE COMPONENTS

I then used a Dremel to cut out some parts of the PSU enclosure to fit the CoolerMaster inside (with an SFX-PSU you wouldn't have to cut so much)

and threaded the wires trough the routing hole (had to extend the EPS cable because it was too short)

I also had to cut out the divider between PSU and 5.25" bay (again something that wouldn't have been necessary with an SFX-PSU)

the PSU is mounted inside the old enclosure by shear force (it's really a tight fit)

The old MB standoffs where screwed into my ATX MB and then glued to the inside of the case using 2 component glue

(the MB was slightly curved so the top right corner wouldn't stay in place, thats why i had to put something heavy on it)

here you can see the new MB standoffs after I the glue hardened (took about 2h before the MB was safe to remove)

I then screwed 2 of the Noiseblocker fans into the old fan holder an put it back in place alongside the graphicscard and ssds for a testdrive

(the GPU doesn't sit properly so I had to remove the metal pieces between the slots, also the MB IO is not accessible atm)

[blau1431]

4. FINISHING

as mentioned before I had to cut out the old IO shield and the metal pieces between the pcie slots,

also had to cut a new hole for the PSU cable

the SSD's are now mounted to the old HDD cages using some simple inateck 2.5" to 3.5" adapter plates

the GPU is secured in place with a standard screw and nut (not elegant but it works)

last part will be trying to place the old RAM cage over the CPU Cooler

(but that won't happen so soon as I won't have time to work on it)

in theory it should fit, but i will have to cut out some pieces of it

(also I want to insert another fan into it - as you can see there are mounting points for one,

atm the case has no exaust fan, so that will be necessary)

 

Now thats that. I don't have much more to show. 

 

If anyone of you has a question feel free to ask. I'll try and answer them.

[TVwazhere]

I totally thought you had painted the case pink in the first few photos because of the lighting

 

@DrMacintosh

[blau1431]

yeah those pics aren't really good, I had to close the curtains because otherwise the pics would have been even worse