Project: G5 conversion, Art is a philosophy

[ultimeus]

Hi all, I begin my first worklog, it's a apple G5 conversion, I try to keep the apple look outside and inside but with my own choices.

Hardware :

Q6600
DFI P35 UT
4GB crucial ballistix tracer 5300
Twintech 8800GTS 512 (to change with black pcb card)
Samsung T166 500gb raid
Corsair HX 520w
Sony dvd burner

Liquid cooling if budget can be complete
Ek supreme
Laing ddc 3.2 with Ek acetal top
Ek northbridge cooler
EK nickel block (depend from graphic card)
Dual microcool 240 rad (stacked rads)
10/16 compressions fittings
10/16 white tubing

Mod parts:

Apple G5
Lian li A10 motherboard tray
Lian li rack drive
TJ-07 watercooling rad supports
Full white sleeving
Nanoxia Fans

Some objectives of the project:

Try to keep the mac look with mods, painting of all parts to mac grey,

Reuse powersupply plastic surround port in lian li motherboard tray

Cover rads, bottom case with custom aluminium plate.

Color scheme : white, grey, green.

Repaint case to original grey.

Sponsor : EK waterblocks






Modding parts



Case ready for some action



First placement of motherboard tray



Cut for opening door mechanism



Motherboard tray inside



Second cutting session and more adjustment



Cutting back plate for door opening and lapping





Adaptation of powersupply plastic surround port , final form of hole would be made with mastic



Holes will be filled with bondo too

I'll try some sketchup for final look

[jdmR]

i have a feeling this is gonna be a sweet outcome

[breathemetal]

Sweet. I love the mac cases. Where did u get one?

[lowfat]

Sweet. I love the mac cases. Where did u get one?

you can find them on ebay quite often.

[ultimeus]

You can find them on ebay or mac replacement shops, I buy mine from my graphic designer teacher

http://www.welovemacs.com/9227346.html for mac pro enclosure

[Boogerlad]

nice build mate! g5 conversions are awesome. I can't believe that you spent 500 bucks on it!

[felix_w]

looking forward to see the rest of the conversion....nice start

[ultimeus]

nice build mate! g5 conversions are awesome. I can't believe that you spent 500 bucks on it!

I pay 80 euro for mine but it's used and need some paint

looking forward to see the rest of the conversion....nice start

Thanks I'll try my best, next update soon, I begun playing with bondo yesterday.

[hmmisee]

Nice, i love Apple case conversions
Definitely looking forward to this !
Subscribed

[Henry8601]

Can't wait to see how this one turns out

[ultimeus]

Thanks everyone for subscribing

I contact Eddy from EK watercooling, he accept to sponsor me, I'm really happy and want to thanks him because this is my first worklog.

Tomorrow big update, I play all the afternoon with bondo, some parts are modded and painted with filler.

[LogAn'sRun]

You can find them on ebay or mac replacement shops, I buy mine from my graphic designer teacher

http://www.welovemacs.com/9227346.html for mac pro enclosure

Ebay FTW, I see them there like for less then 80 bucks all the time. You have to have money pouring from your pockets to spend 5 large on a *new* case with no psu. .

[felix_w]

Ebay FTW, I see them there like for less then 80 bucks all the time. You have to have money pouring from your pockets to spend 5 large on a *new* case with no psu. .

I pay 80 euro for mine but it's used and need some paint

80 euro, not 500...

[ultimeus]

Maybe you see G5 for less than 80 bucks but shipping not included. And mine was complete inside.

If I had 500 euro for a case i'd buy a murdermod.

[dualbrain]

ultimeus: Go for it! Nice guy, nice Case, nice materials ... the final outcome is expected to be nice

[LogAn'sRun]

80 euro, not 500...

jupp, saw that, but if you clicked the link you would see that they're selling those cases new for 499usd . . . .

[AlucardCasull]

Holes will be filled with mastic too

G5 conversions are always cool, but what is mastic?

[SpazBoy357]

what is mastic?

Mastic is a generic term for a material used to seal or fill in imperfections in a surface, though it isn't a word frequently used that way in the US. Bondo is a common example.

[avddreamr]

When you use bondo, you'll have to sand, paint? I wonder how hard it would be to find a match. The g5 case is sick. I'd love to get one, but not sure where I would but my 3x120 radiator , or 8 hard drives.

Oh well. Really nice work, i'm looking forward to see how it comes out. If you're detailed enough, I might get inspired and follow your lead.

We went the easy way in getting a mac look, silver lian-li pc-v1000a with a silver 343 3 bay fan mount.

[AlucardCasull]

Ah bondo, i know bondo

[SpazBoy357]

When you use bondo, you'll have to sand, paint? I wonder how hard it would be to find a match.

I was wondering the same thing. Unless the whole case is getting painted a different color, matching that silver is gonna be a PITA.

[felix_w]

jupp, saw that, but if you clicked the link you would see that they're selling those cases new for 499usd . . . .

i saw that too...kinda robbing isn't it ?
just because mac cases are prestiguous ? nevermind...

back to the topic...any progress done ultimeus ? people are thirsty for visual material!!!

[ultimeus]

Mastic is a generic term for a material used to seal or fill in imperfections in a surface, though it isn't a word frequently used that way in the US. Bondo is a common example.

Exactly, I change the term in first topic (french is my usual language)

When you use bondo, you'll have to sand, paint? I wonder how hard it would be to find a match. The g5 case is sick. I'd love to get one, but not sure where I would but my 3x120 radiator , or 8 hard drives.
Oh well. Really nice work, i'm looking forward to see how it comes out. If you're detailed enough, I might get inspired and follow your lead.

We went the easy way in getting a mac look, silver lian-li pc-v1000a with a silver 343 3 bay fan mount.

When I made my cut I have seen a hole when placing motherboard tray, so I cut a little aluminium plate that I fix with bondo and made a nice transition with bondo.

I'm going tu use 2x 2 120mn rads insteed of 3x120mn for not making more holes.

I was wondering the same thing. Unless the whole case is getting painted a different color, matching that silver is gonna be a PITA.

I had the chance to paint an other case 3 years ago, and grey used is quite the same as G5 color.

i saw that too...kinda robbing isn't it ?
just because mac cases are prestiguous ? nevermind...
back to the topic...any progress done ultimeus ? people are thirsty for visual material!!!

When you see apple prices for each part you understand the global price, apple case are really well construct more than lian li, and I am a big fan of lian li.

I'll try to upload more tonight, problem I lost my usb key (I work in a friend's garage and use his camera). I'll try to find a solution.

I buy some white sleeving and pin remover to dualbrain. Waiting for shipping now

[avddreamr]

I'm pretty sure the case is made of some very thick aluminum. It's remarkably quiet. Although i'm sure that is lost on most mac users.



nes

[ultimeus]

Update (26/11/08)


Hard drive rack prepared for some modding (3 to 2 hard drives)



Integration of apple psu hole



backside



superior side, there was an hole in the upper side, I cut a little plate from aluminium and filled with bondo.




Rack drive modded and prepared with filler.




Back motherboard tray finished





Painted



I'm not very happy with paint, it doesn't look professional, kind of plastic texture and don't match apple grey.

Since I had planed to repaint the case ( to much little dents, and color dismatch because smoking) soon, I've ask a friend who work in a paint garage to resparay all the parts.