Project: PPPPPPOWERMAC!

pingwing

pingwing

pingwing

Soldato
Joined
9 Apr 2008
Posts
19,735
Location
Bedford
Project: PPPPPPOWERMAC!

Hello and welcome to my project PPPPPPOWERMAC! which has been born out of getting really interested in the Mac Daddy project found there - http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=18185680 (full credits to Craterloads and DeadMan for some inspiration)

So I went on the bay and payed £60 for this beast of a G5 case! (including postage to my door here in Belfast which is pretty reasonable) And here it is in all its glory!



Have to say im pretty pleased, considering the price, as it has all the bits and G5 components (havnt tested yet but ill throw them on the MM for free when I tear it down), only problem is there's some damage to the feet which im going to have to experiment on how to bend back into shape. Here's a close up for what I need to fix



As for modifications, I plan to turn it into a full on gaming pc (like how I picture the real life mac pro but not 2 grand) with an matx i5 or i7 system (depends on what tickles my fancy at the time) but try and not have to demolish the original appearance of the case (mainly to see if this approach is viable). So instead of doing the back panel mod's most g5 and mac pro mods I plan to mount the motherboard away from the edge of the case and use some short(ish) cable extenders to the outside of the original case and build a small support structure to hold up the graphics card.

Other things im going to look into doing (depending on how much time I have) will be taking inspiration from another G5 case mod on another forum where the inner cage has been sprayed black and the outer turned into a mirror shine. Now I dont plan to copy this directly (as it looks a pretty long process) but ideas and suggestions to what sort of direction to head with it would be appreciated. :)

First things to do will be the tear down (which I could do with a rough guide to) and will commence when I get me a decent screw driver set!
 
Last edited:
Apologies there deadman did mean to give you some acknowledgement too as I loved seeing your approach to modding the G5 case (just got a bit over excited last night having a poke about the case whilst typing it all up)
 
pingwing said:
Apologies there deadman did mean to give you some acknowledgement too as I loved seeing your approach to modding the G5 case (just got a bit over excited last night having a poke about the case whilst typing it all up)
Click to expand...

Hehe no offense taken, just thought Project Gattaca may be more relevant as Mac Daddy project is based around a Mac Pro case which is quite different. Good Luck! :)
 
DeadMan said:
Hehe no offense taken, just thought Project Gattaca may be more relevant as Mac Daddy project is based around a Mac Pro case which is quite different. Good Luck! :)
Click to expand...

Yeah I can see what you mean (was just following the MacDaddy getting it excited its all coming together). :D

My question for you is did you start with a componentless case?? The G5 iv got (think its the last revision with pci-e and dual G5's) is a beast for getting some of the bits out and I cant quite see how all the panels are held together, that G5 cover seems a strange one to get off to start with, did you just rip it all out and chuck it??
 
pingwing said:
Yeah I can see what you mean (was just following the MacDaddy getting it excited its all coming together). :D

My question for you is did you start with a componentless case?? The G5 iv got (think its the last revision with pci-e and dual G5's) is a beast for getting some of the bits out and I cant quite see how all the panels are held together, that G5 cover seems a strange one to get off to start with, did you just rip it all out and chuck it??
Click to expand...

hey pingwin, ive got a couple of G5s here aswell which ive stripped. Dont just rip everything out as these parts are expensive and will come in use later.

You can re-use all the fans with a litle bit of rewiring (just give me a shout if you need any help regarding this) plus you can reuse most of the panel/plastics to keep the original look with a bit of modding.

You will need a torx screw driver (not sure what size, may be 6 but will check) to dismantle. You cant just rip suff out as everything is really well put together.

To be honest i would return that case as looks to be beyond repair and with the amount of work you will put in to PCfying it, its not worth starting with a damaged case!!
 
Last edited:
Hello all, well it turns out that Craterloads is probably right about the case I should have emailed them, complained a bit and got another, but out of general interest iv perused my original plan with the original case (for now) as it seems pretty easy to put back together.

Turns out that for future reference a T8 torx screw head is needed to get the case parts separate :)

Anyway here's some pictures of what I have now, the inner case:


The outer shell being clamped back together:


Here's the collection of parts out of it:


I plan to keep the plastic defector bit, the top shelf and maybe some of the fans for learning how to re-wire (the button doesnt look hard to sort out)

And here's my home made tool to get cpu out :D:


Uploaded with ImageShack.us

So yeah its been a fair amount of work to get it all in bits (and a lot of tupperwear to hold all the screws) but it doesnt look to difficult to progress from here with. Next few things to do are to clean ALL of it as all of the parts of the case as water damage really does sum up what was wrong with it on the ebay listing. Its got a sort of oil based gunk on it which I think should be reasonably simple to clean off. Im also going to have to invest in some no more nails to get 14 of the mounting points for the exterior that have become detached...

Iv also come to the conclusion that instead of spending money getting an matx motherboard tray from America (as getting one in the uk seems hard) im going to do something that might break my heart a little and destroy my loved sugo sg03 to use the inner shell as my mounting point for the case.

Final one is to decide on a colour scheme! I really want to put the inner cage black but the outer is going to be more interesting. I dont have the time (or will power) sand the out side to make it shine so im going to have to spray it to get the scuffs sorted, im thinking of either keeping it silver or potentially going another colour (white maybe) but im open to suggestions :)
 
Bah! Thought id update a bit, so after much cleaning (sugar soap is beastly!) iv got it clean and ready to spray. Unfortunately I think I wont be able to actually bend the exterior of the case back into one part and get all the screw end parts back into the holes they fell out of. :(

So this weekend im going to continue looking at spraying the inner cage whilst looking for a replacement outer onsie part (or hammering out the bends in my one)
 
So here's my quick part 1 of my weekend update! After getting the case all cleaned and looking reasonable I did my undercoat for the inner cage last night :)

dsc3397.jpg


After a little sanding (didnt get the best coverage last night) it seems ready for a black coat this afternoon! :D
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom