Apple Power Mac G5 ATX conversion (LTT style but less expensive)

[ChaosLasse]

About two month back, I purchased an old cheap Apple Power Mac G5...

Just because I saw this Linus guy and the LTT-Team build their HackPro.

 

Components in the heart of my machine:

Intel i7 6700k

Asus z170-A

ASUS GTX 1080 Strix

 

Since the guy I bought the G5 from sad that it didnt turn on, I didnt even try. I got strayed into the teardown, i found a leaking Liquidcooler-Unit and some parts with water damage.

After everything got unscrewed and taken out of the case, it was time to take mesurements.

While I waited for the Aluminium sheets to arrive, the design for motherboard-tray and rear io plate was going great.

Templates were printed and Aluminium was cut ( buy Hand/Jigsaw... )

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Turns out, it didnt fit (Spoiler, the final version isn't fitting perfectly either)

The cutout for the fans in the back of the case needed to be a fear mm to the right.

 

So I adapted my CAD file to the changes and redid the backplate.

 

After cutting that again, it was time to mill the edges to fit flush with the original backplate, again...

And getting the PCI-slotbracket in place with epoxy, again...

 

 

The motherbaord-tray still needed some holes so i could bolt it to the original standoffs, cutouts for cables to go through and to safe some weight, of course.

 

 

In the final version, there is a bridge in the coutout in the top right.

 

Now it was actually looking really promising.

I found some spare old parts to use for test fitting in my creation.

 

 

The pcb-standoffs arrived. Since I only have metric thread cutting tools at home, i use the standoff it self to cut the threads. It worked out fine.

 

 

 

The radiator braked in the front still needed some tabs to secure it to the Motherboard-tray, so I welded some on to it. It would have been possible to make it without the need to weld, but then I would have had to get a taller sheet of Aluminium, which was out of the question.

So I ended up with this:

 

 

I wanted to have my PSU securely mounted (not like some other people ).

So i rigged a "nice" solution out of spare aluminium that was left over from cutting, which in the end would also be used as a SSD mounting option.

 

 

And a HDD cage holder was also the result of rigging stuff with aluminium left overs.

The HDD Cage was not in the final orientation though.

 

 

I though I was set up pretty good from the inside, thats when i started drilling some holes.

The original cutout for the powercord was taken and placed with some epoxy.

(The original plug was used and soldered to a short extension to connect to the PSU and act as a passthrough)

To really blend both parts together, I used some filler and smoothed it all out.

 

 

Now it was time for painting, as i am always short on money, its ghetto rigging time again.

Everything was sanded and properly prepped.

 

 

After redoing the main two parts were the evenness of the paint matters the most, I am still not 100% satisfied, but it is good enough for the time being. In the end, if i dont like the look of them anymore and I have the time. I can just swap them, since they are not modded at all.

 

 

For front io, i used the existing plug, cut of the wires and soldered the on/off switch, the power LED and the headphonejack to some longer cable i harvested out of an older case.

The USB 2.0 Port was repleced with a USB 3.0 Port and some epoxy. The Firewire Port just sits there without a purpose in life.

 

 

That is all I can do without the real parts in it.

 

Its time to disasamble the old machine. I took some good bye pictures.

Don't worry, these aren't all

 

 

My cpu isnt the newest anymore, that means there is no warranty to be voided, so lets chop the head of with some cheap chinese tool and apply some liquid metal ( dont worry about the professional sketch in the background ).

To check if I killed it, I just used my "testbench".

 

 

The Problem is, that because I dont have a second pc, i was so eager to have my source of addiction back in my life, i took zero pictures of the normal build process...

So this is all I got:

 

 

The cutout behind the Motherbaord was usefull to maneuver the cables around and also helped the plate to screw down, by leaving more room for the 24 pin extation connector.

 

 

Here is almost everything in now. I still needed to make a new mount for the reservoir.

The rear radiator mountingpoints didn't aline with the rear io plate holes. (there is the mistake I mentioned earlier) I solved it by cutting away some sheetmetal in the case to make it fit.

 

 

At this stage, its almoste done. Gpu support bracket is made, Pump was mounted, SSD's and HDD's are mounted, tubes were bend and front panel stuff was connected.

Filling the loop was very easy and no leaks were discovered.

 

I added a LED lighting system with some brackets and used a "normaly closed" switch to turn the lights off when the sidepanel is closed.

Ready is my somewaht sleeper build.

 

End result:

 

All Components:

 

Heart:

-i7 6700k

-ASUS z170 - A

-ASUS GTX 1080 Strix

 

SSD's:

-Samsung 750 Evo 250 GB

-Samsung 850 Evo 500 GB

 

HDD's:

-some 1 TB thing

-some 500 GB thing

 

PSU:

-Bequiet! Pure Power L8-CM 730W

 

Watercooling parts:

-Alphacool NexXxos XT 45 Full Copper 360mm Radiator

-Alphacool NexXxos ST 30 Full Copper 240mm Radiator

-EK-Supremacy Evo CPU Block

-EK 1080 Strix Full Cover water block + Backplate

-Alphacool D5 Pump with EK antivibartion-mount

-Aqua computer aqualis eco 100ml reservoir

 

LED system:

-Aqua computer Farbwerk

-RGB LED strips

 

Fans:

-4 Bequiet Pure Wing 2 120mm

-1 Corsair "case fan" 120mm

 

That was my Project.

If it is ok I would poste the CAD files and the techinical drawings for the rear io backplate, motherboard-tray, front radiator mount, HDD mount and PSU mount.

Its not really clear to me, if that counts as selfpromotion or not.

 

Have a good day everyone!

edit: Greetings from Germany

 

[Radium_Angel]

Love it. Always wanted to have something like this for my own system. 

[RollinLower]

what a beauty! i attempted something simmilar way back when, but i have to admit your result looks much cleaner!

also nice job welding the aluminium, i know how finnicky welding thin alu plate can be.

 

[Drama Lama]

That looks awesome 

maybe I‘m gonna get an old Mac and try it for myself 

[stangbullitt]

can i have the CAD files?

[WhitetailAni]

On 10/15/2020 at 12:27 PM, Drama Lama said:

That looks awesome 

maybe I‘m gonna get an old Mac and try it for myself 

Only get dead ones.

Don't kill working ones.

[DudeFace]

i tried this more than 10 years ago with a non working g4 i picked up from my local recycling centre, but failed!

thought it would make a good hackintosh for kalyway 10.5.2,

 

i remember i binned everything but the psu, did a lot of cutting and drilling, the motherboard was on the flip down panel upside down, but i was determined to make it work! the problem i had was with the standoffs for the motherboard,

i drilled holes and screwed them in, but they were very loose as the panel was too thin to hold them, i then tried making standoffs with nuts and bolts, which didnt seem like a good idea, the case was a bit of state by this point and i just gave up,

 

later found out the g4 wasnt working as the psu was fried, should have tested it myself rather than take someones word that its no good, i ruined a perfectly good mac,

 

i should have gone with my first idea to cut the side off an old pc case with the standoffs, and fit it in,

i didnt have a spare case to sacrifice at the time.

 

yours tho i think you've made a real good job of it!

 

 

 

[ChaosLasse]

Thank you guys

So, i guess better late than never.

Here you go, the CAT files for the main components!

 

Happy hacking!

Netzteil-Halterung.rar Motherboard_Tray.rar HDD-Cage_Holder.rar Back_Pannel_G5.rar

[davidtoledo69]

Thank you!!