[Hardware mod only] PowerHacintosh i5 - Work in progress

Well, I plan to either write this up for the logs section or perhaps OverClocker.com but as I go I'll post things in here. Only hardware goodies will be posted, the name will not pose a threat on any policy here but mods, feel free to change the H to an M if you must. To thread viewers, no software discussions.

And if you're wondering how I came upon this mac, want to see pics of what it looked like originally or what was wrong with it, see my original G5 related thread here.

Hardware:
PowerMac G5 Case - Bought a whole G5 with a bag logic board for $110
Motherboard - Gigabyte GA-P55M-UD2 for $50 shipped (new in box, but buying used) Big thanks to Evilsizer!
Processor - Intel Xeon X3440 for $180 shipped (used but not abused) Thanks ghost_recon88 - Previously intended to get an i5 750 but IMO this is better and I found a used one.
Memory - Corsair XMS3 4GB (2 x 2GB) DDR3 1600 for $50 shipped, $40 after MIR - One kit for now, another kit to be added down the road
Video - BFG 8800GT 512 MB for $65 shipped when I bought it (a good while ago)
Storage - Western Digital 500 GB, HP SATA DVD Burner, 2 TB drive to come
Power - Uncased Antec Earth Watts 550 with custom wiring to come

I'll start off this thread with a bunch of pics. I've been thinking about everything so much over the past couple days it would be a pain to write out all my thoughts and ideas but from now on I'll probably post them as I go.













So there they are, just some ideas and not much work yet. Did manage to steal some sleeveing too, from now useless server cables. Pictures isn't even half of what I ended up with. Going to be connecting the power supply to the G5's original plug that brings power up to the superdrive and HDDs and then bringing down the fan wires to the bottom bay. I'll have a terminal strip to connect and optimize those. Tonight I finally got the wires labeled on those so things should be pretty slick 'n easy now. The only wires visible (and I'll hide em the best I can) will be the 24 pin motherboard wire, the 8 pin CPU wire and the 6 pin PCIe. Going to sleeve those and make them look all nice. Not the silly one sleeve per wire, but the cleaner more practical one sleeve per bundle

Now, if anyone could help me by fabbing up a front panel breakout cable that takes the powermac's front board and breaks it out to connectors for audio, firewire, usb, power button and the power LED I would be grateful.

Also, thanks to Visbits for hostthenpost.org where I'll be uploading my pics (EDIT: So much for that...)

Up next, after a trip to the hardware store for heatshrink and other electrical related goodies will be the wiring of the power supply and fans.

EDIT: 4/29/11

Here are a few pictures of the completed project, may upload the others again sometime.


Edit: 1/19/12

http://mods.333networks.com/powerhac <== Found some pics from when I sold it, they do it more justice. Also a summary of the build.

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Yeah I'm looking forward to seeing this one. That's a clean case, looks like the previous owner took good care of it. Nice deal for $110.

definitely has potential, keep us updated!

Albaholic said:

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Click to expand...

^ This.
All the glory and functionality of a Mac without the ridiculous price tag.

Not to mention the "user friendly" uber proprietary software

^ Of course....

Looks like a fun build. I like the G5's case but the newer Mac Pros with the quad swap-able drive bays are what I drool after these days haha.

-Max

Yeah, I dig the new Pro cases. When it comes to all that neat lil stuff, the origional build of course fits it best. I'm going to do my best though.

From my trip to the hardware store I bought:

A nice pack of dremel cutting wheels that look pretty rugged, on clearance for $15 for the pack instead of $20
Several packs of heat shrink in various sizes
A terminal strip I'm not sure whether or not I'll use.
A square of the high grade lexan to mount the power supply on
Packet of small bolts and nuts to mount the terminal strip to the lexan sheet.

That all came to about $30... not too bad though. With free sleeves from old server IDE and SCSI cables I can afford to pay Lowe's two bux per small packet of heat shrink tubing.

I'm hoping somebody will respond to my classifieds thread so I don't have to break down and order a brand new i5 and RAM.

Told my dad I wanted his G5 when it was out of commission. He was like, Im selling it. F- that. I want the case.

thats gonna be pretty slick!

georanma said:

Told my dad I wanted his G5 when it was out of commission. He was like, Im selling it. F- that. I want the case.

Click to expand...

Well, had it been easily fixed (without a $200 logic board and who knows if anything else...) it would have fetched $300 - $400... so I probably would have had to dump the mod idea and just make a lil profit. Things turned out sweet though, a great deal for a buck ten. Hopefully the CPU, power supply and video card's sale when it happens will pay for some of my new HW.

Small update, wired on the plug to connect the new Antec PSU to the original HDD and DVD drive leads. Soldered, heat shrink'd and sleeved. Looks pretty good... going to hold off on the case cutting and the MB / GPU lines till the board comes in so I can make them the right length and come out in the right places.

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This is the project i was going to do, I bought a G5 case on ebay, but the seller decided to keep the money I paid, but then decided he wasn't going to send me the case[THEFT].

I did get my money back.

The seller did get banned.

Well, got my broken laptop's SD reader working with a driver so some more pics:




















The powersupply is on some brass standoffs goop'd to a plexi glass sheet. This bolts to the bottom of the case where the original PS attached and will prevent arching from the bottom of the new supply's PCB. The terminal strip (to be used to wire the fans) also was attached with some goop.

As you can see, I'm keeping things pretty original. The partitions and fans and ducts... some people would probably think this was an unhacked G5 just looking in the side. The rear still needs some TLC but I'm feeling pretty good. I repositioned the mobo standoffs and just waiting for the JB weld to cure holding them to the tray in their new positions.

Here's some things my mod will have that others don't, the WORKING cooling system. All the original fans with their sections to get the proper air ducting and flow. A fan for the drives, a blower for the motherboard backside, CPU fans, a fan for the GPU / PCI area, etc. The plastic door will function as a shroud like it should Very happy with the board I picked as it fits great.

hah nice!

is there enough clearance to put a nice heatsink on that cpu?

any reason you tied a 12v yellow in the 8pin to a 5v red cable?

${freak} said:

is there enough clearance to put a nice heatsink on that cpu?

Click to expand...

a h50 would be a good choice to for that case imo

Yes, that 8 pin is going to the original harness for the HDD bays & optical drive So 5v is required and I just recycled an old 8 pin CPU connector. Two 12s, two 5s, four grounds.

Some work I put in tonight... motherboard wires sleeved and to the correct lengths, fan wires, terminal strip in action:

























In the last shot you see a test run with the PSU jumped and five fans running full speed. These fans have three wires I'm using, 12V, 5V and ground. The 5V must be connected to run, but it appears that the 12V lead can be run at either 5 or 12 volts. Things will probably get moved around to get ideal air flow and low noise so the terminal strip will prove useful.

cant wait to see this

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