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Apple G5 Powermac to ATX Case mod (Finally FINISHED!)


CAINuKe

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   So personally I would like to extend a thank you to everyone who made this mod possible,

Claymeow (Vector for decals)

Bosco (Because OverclockersClub)

Ccokeman (Broken Corsair H50 for an add on mod for this)

and everyone on the forum for the support.

 

There is still some minor cable management and hiding I have to do but I was too exciteded not to show you guys! 7 solid power hours just to put everything back together and wire it up!

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So recently I started to hate my case and the fact I had to remove entire drive bays to fit my 7990s. I bought a working (supposedly?) Early 2004? as a Debian server, problem was I was too lazy to buy ram and a HDD for it. Well I found it in my closet and the gears started rolling.....This is a pretty common mod but I decided to take it a step further to make it unique

 

So this is what I have so far.

-Hole cut for the Mountain Mods (2x 80mm one, the 120mm single wont fit)

-Back plate slightly cut to retain use of the lever for the side panel

-Completely stripped the case down (For powder coating of basically everything)

 

Whats left to do:
-Mounting of the original HDD cage....somewhere

-Fabricate a 2x 120MM fan bracket for the front to mount the radiator.

-Wire up the front button,  LED and USB. Maybe a HDD activity light if I live dangerously

-Powder Coating (Gloss white)

-PSU Location, probably on the top shelf if it will fit

-Drill holes for motherboard tray and rear 80MM fans

-Figure out some sort of cable management

-Individually sleeve PSU Cables (Guuuuhhh)

-Possibly Adapt a Lian Li Card bracket to fit and hold the GPUs

-Maybe CNC a window on the side panel if I can workaround the panel bracket

-Use the clear inner case cover to mount 2 120MM fans (Still figuring this out)

 

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I meant to post more but I lost my photos in a phone reset. Dropped the ball on that one. Everything listed in my sig is going to be thrown in there.

 

Edited by CAINuKe

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Finally got the tray fully mounted in there and luckily the standoffs on the case that the tray mount on are high enough to hide my SSDs under it. Since basically I have to make my own cable management and I want to keep it looking as minimalistic and stripped on the inside. I am defiantly not making brackets for SSDs. Double sided tape? YES!

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After much trial and error (and several missed holes...) I got it to seat perfectly on the case. I still have to shave some of the mesh off the 80MM Vents and drill some more holes on the backplate to fit more bolts. All and all its coming together pretty quick. Still have to figure out how I am going to mount the power supply. The shelf that is usually in these has enough clearance to put it on top of it and sit there but my Enermax hasnt came back from RMA so I have no idea what to cut when I mount it. I'll probably have to fabricate a bracket to hold it in there.

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All my other fans are in my case and I am too lazy to take them out. But I scavenged some 220CFM fans from my old IBM X3850 M2 server and I'll just use them to find where to drill on the bracket to mount my radiator fans on the front of the case. I'll probably end up buying more and building a card bracket and a set of side fans. Theres a clear (I think it actually acts as an air duct when it had its old stuff in there) siding that covers 3/4s of the case. I've been toying with an idea to replace the quick access aluminum siding with a single piece of acrylic if I can get it in the EXACT thickness and size as the old plate....maybe later 

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So I am finally making progress. I am in the process of fitting everything to see if I can mount it in there and using the mounts it came with put the radiator in a odd and uncomfortable spot no matter how I mounted it so I am in the process of fitting some mounts to push it away from the motherboard to make it MILES easier to fit it in. Also ordered some REALLY nice Noctua 80mm fans for the back to match the theme to the case.

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I also ordered some buttons and Aluminum sheet to form the new I/O panel since I really dont want to leave the firewire port exposed and empty because......I'll never use it and cant adapt it to be a USB port

 

I also ordered a Lamptron FANATIK so the mesh will match the case. But the drive bay is too wide to use the stock bezel and I'll have to cut and form a new one and powder coat it as well to match the theme. Initially I wanted it powder coated white but I am moving towards a digital snow camo theme. Still getting it powder coated white, I am either going to get stencils and do it that way or get some vinyl cut in the way I want it so all I have to do it simply apply it.

 

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The top shelf where the HDD cage and the DVD drive has to be cut to fit the radiator since it has to sit level with the CPU block and I am waiting for my EVGA P2 1000W to come in so I can measure it out and see if I either need to modify the shelf further or just cut a hole in it. Should be fun..

 

For cable management I decided to just simply remove ALL the mounts for everything inside the case and use Nylon 3M tape backed cable clips and zip tie mounts.

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I've been trying to solve the power cord issue. I just cant have it hanging out as a empty hole with a wire through it and I like the luxury of having a power switch on the back to do a easy hard shut down. Bonus would be a fuse holder since I live in a lightening rich area. I have a surge protector but......

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Does not include a fuse, I did the math and for a 1300W draw at 120V I'll need a 10Amp fuse. Simple enough...I hope

 

Now for the big one, I posted a thread about using a Terracoin miner liquid cooling system from CoolIt (Uses the same water blocks as the older Corsair H60s) to keep the temps down on my 7990s. I still have to wait for it to come in the mail, make a mod tutorial video and post it in my thread, but the mounts I need to make will be specific to this case mod so wish me luck!

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Nice looking build! 

 

 

Liking the progress!

 

Thanks guys! It means alot. I have another from scratch build in the design stage that will be really exciting!

 

I am still waiting for my EVGA Supernova 1000W To come in so I can finally get the thing powder coated but in the mean time

 

I cut the Top tray about 4 1/2 inches to fit not only the CPU radiator but the adapted Terracoin Miner radiator to cool the 7990s. The SIZE of this thing is impressive at least. Totally dwarfs a 120MM fan. So the idea is to place it in front of the CPU radiator top fan for it to suck through the GPU radiator and then into the CPU radiator

 

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Still waiting for new supplies to finish the fabrication work. Should be here tuesday! and the case completely done by the end of the month.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Sorry for the delays. I've been waiting on parts and apparently they are shipping from china. Ordered some others domestically so I dont have to wait a month for stuff to arrive. 

 

I couldnt find a drill bit big enough to widen the holes for the power and reset button. So I used a Carbide stainless steel cutter to widen the firewire and the power button wider to fit the 21MM and the 16MM buttons. I plan on using another power button on the bottom to toggle the LEDs for when I sleep at night. I plan on using 2x 1 foot strip LEDs for the bottom, 1 inside the case and one for the back (Had an extra strip..) Painting the small stuff, screws and prepping the case off to the powdercoater who will match the paint on the small stuff. The OverClockersClub Decals are being printed in the theme of the case (Digital Snow Camo, White, Grey and black) There will be one 14 inches long along the side on the lower rear, 3 for the top of each water block (2 inches across) and one for the front emblem of the case. (Thanks for the file Bosco and Claymeow!)

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Testing the water blocks before I do any further cutting on them. I thought one was leaking but it was just a small hose leak. Just had to test them. I had to buy a caliper to measure the GPU screws and they are M2 but finding ones long enough for me to use the bracket mounts that came with the blocks. Luckily one seller on ebay had some 30MM long which is just long enough to have the bottom of the card mate with the block (With some springs to hold firm pressure) Now to wait on CCokemans radiator he graciously donated to the build. I plan on using both the Coolermater and the radiator he sent me. One for the GPUs and one for the CPU. I'll have to use custom tubing to route everything but it wont be an issue. I plan on sandwiching the radiators between 2 Gentle Typhoon fans. Should work fine

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Edited by CAINuKe

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Finally! My OCC Decals were printed and look AMAZING! The small 3 are for the GPU and 2 GPU water blocks and the big emblem is for the front. The dark grey is reflective. I couldnt get it to show up. This thing is going to look amazing!

 

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Finally felt motivated and made the fan controller bracket. Entirely with a dremel since I am doing this out of a 20x20 foot barracks room. 

 

1/8 inch aluminum. I thought I ordered 1/16th but had to work with it. Broke 4 cutting wheels to try and shape it but it turned out pretty good.

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Edited by CAINuKe

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The 4 main pieces are at the powder coaters and getting sand blasted and all powdered with the white hotness. But the pieces I did get back have a base coat of Gloss white and the paint is a stencil of flat grey and black primer that I had on hand....that happened to be the perfect shade of black!

 

I bought white LED strips for the back, under the case and one on the inside. They will all be controlled with a single switch so I can turn it off when I sleep (My case is literally 2 feet from my head. It has to be SILENT and dark)

 

I also bought some huge sheet of fan filter material that is actually.....for an air purifier so it is going to actually filter the air and dust and muffle some of the sounds of the fans. Some soundproofing soundbox foam is also being put on the inside to muffle the sounds of the fans

 

When the weather clears up and the case is finished I will bust out the big boy camera instead of using my potato phone

 

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