Quick idea - I am doing some planning wrt psu setup, and maybe I will redo stock Apple PSU housing out of aluminium, make it a little higher, so I can fit a single 120mm fan horizontally across the heatsinks?

So, I buy a sheet-metal brake, I have enough alu sheeting, and I manufacture an exact apple replica, but around 4cm higher, and slightly shorter in length, so as to better fot the rad, and it's fans.

Should look very good....now to find a decent sheet-metal brake on ebay.....some good ones for around Aud $95, that will work perfectly...

The idea is something like this over at Bit-Tech, where Ggnome made a decent motherboard tray - I would be using same method to do a decent psu housing

Ok Boys and girls....been doing a bit of modding lately, had to run around to get small bits and pieces from Bunnings, like taps and dies, some rubber standoffs etc....and of course metal blades for my Bosch Jigsaw - with the relocation mine got packed in somewhere, and I just couldn't find it.

anyway, this is what I have been busy with....



Here is a close-up shot of the new motherboard tray, with brass standoffs fitted. take note that mobo-tray will be secured with allan-cap stainless steel screws, those used is just for testing purposes....

Formed the tray to blend in nicely with the top tray, looking very good.



Here is a close up shot of the rear, showing that I will be using original pci-slot integrated plate of G5 case. The I/O plate will be changed though, I will dremel that out later, but again, as mentioned earlier, I will not butcher the case, even the original fan holes will remain And yes, the system will be SLi of course.

Here I have test GFX cars, ATi X600 Fitted. Also note the 108Mbit D-link wireless card...



And, here's a shot of the motherboard test fit, with gfx card and motherbaord mounted to motherbaord tray....



And here is a head-on shot, showing a little more detail.



As mentioned earlier, original G5 psu housing will be retained, but fitted out with Enermax 600W internals.....This will go in the area immediately below the motherboard....

Ok, just to show you where rad, and psu fits in the picture (no pun intended)





And a nice angled shot from the rear, giving you an idea of the real-estate available in the case....remember, reservoir will fit inside psu housing too, and then harddrives and cdrom will fit in original Apple positions, on the top tray......

Ok a short update - got home late from work today, so only a tiny bit....psu work of course.

Here is the front of the stock supply, showing mounting location of 2x 60mm (original) fans. This will change.



Here is the top where 2x 120mm fans will be resting, the one on the left is towards the rear of the case, and will suck through the psu housing, where the one on the right will blow into the housing, to create proper aeration.



Don't worry, it makes sense to me, and will work a charm....I will run fans 8v or so, have them very quiet, but still have better-than-stock cooling/flow across the heatsinks.



Here is a last piccie (for now) to show where the Enermax electronics will be located - you can see where I installed the threaded inserts (rivnuts they are called) to mount the electronics.



Don't worry about the color, etc, there is a lot to be done before psu is finished, eg good spray, etc.....some filing, dremel action, making holes for fans....all in good time.


To explain airflow a bit better, look at my artistic rendition of airflow into housing, flowing left-to-right across electronics, and being evacuated by the rear fan - don't worry about actual directions, but the principle is simple Then, once the hot air is evacuated, there will be 2x 92mm rear case fans, mounted in original Apple location, that will exhaust it from the case.....

Ok, been studying the radiator placement a little.....height, and slightly off-center to accommodate standard G5 powerswitch etc....

This is where it will go.....



and a little closer view....yes, that is a temporary support keeping it at the correct height Will be replaced by something the exact same height, but a little more permanent....hehe



And this is the view from the front, not much I can do to hide the rad...except maybe using a nice black fanfilter material that will make the view a little more opaque...

Another worry I have is how to secure the rad - but I may have a clean solution....



You guys reckon this looks good, or not? I will replace the front "fan-mount" brackets by decent alu, or remove those completely so you can only view rad outline....and in the dark interior it will be less visible than those chrome mounts in the front?

Agreed?

Mmm...I was toying with this idea, thinking on how I want to do this, doing something unique, while keeping the stock G5 rear.....original intent was to keep fanholes, cut out G5 ports, and replace it with my own io plate.....but.....won't that distract from one of my goals, to keep case (on the exterior at least) as close to stock as possible?

Well, I might still go the io plate route, but, am considering a different approach - more difficult, but, end result would be more aesthetic......why don't I jump onto my Protel software, and design a pcb, double layer, buy new usb/ps2/optical audio etc ports from one of the many such distributors, remove the old ports from the motherboard......and then solder new ports onto the newly designed pcb, so that the io ports will now be removed from the mobo, relocated to the new pcb, 2 or 3 very small screws bolting this to the back of the G5 case, and you will never be able to tell the difference?

New pcb will have ide-like cable connecting it to the connections on the motherboard....at the same time, I will do away with the legacy parallel- and serial-, and analog audio ports.....

I will have 4x usb2, 1x firewire, 1 x digital co-ax audio, 1x digital optical audio, 1x ps2 mouse and 1x ps2 k/b...

What you guys reckon? I know it's overkill, but it would really ook so nice? Indeed very unique idea, I can only recall maybe once before on a mod where I saw the ports removed from a mobo, but never onto a purposely designed rear io plate.....

Let me know if it sound ok'ish or not....

Just to refresh everyone with what I have in mind.....or as close to this as possible...this is why I have to go for a new rad Mine is slightly to tall to fit between psu, and top baffle plate (the one where harddrives/optical drive mount onto)

This rad is 313mm tall, the one I will be getting now is only 277mm tall - that would give me the room I need....hehe - but, let me go think about this, and see exactly what I want to acheive....this step is quite important in the overall scheme of things, so please bear with me....

This is what I want to to have at the end of the day....;)

I had to secure the mobo tray with the correct distance from the case shell, so that, when using standard length brass mobo standoffs, the cards would socket firmly into pci/pci-express slots, and still be able to but against pci-slot io plate, so it can be secured with a screw....

So, I used these little spacers......



and here....(the stainless nuts with washers....)



Then I had to countersunk the 5 little 3.5mm holes......



a little cloe-up shot....



to accept the very nice 3mm allencap stainless screws, like so.....



Ok, I also got myself some very decent aluminium Coolermaster 120mm fans to go with the theme, that will push air through the rad....yes, push not pull, in this case, as I am after a specific aesthetic result...for the purists.....rofl....

I got 4x 80mm at the same time, also Coolermast alu's, but unfortunately the rear fans on Apple G5 is 92mm....well, the hunt's on...

Will post some shots of the fans later, I also have to get my hands on another radiator, slightly lower than the current Coolwave at 313mm..... I need max a 290mm high unit....something like the new Black Ice 240 Gt or similar...

the Scythe fans featured earlier were donated to my PC70 mod, so I had to get new fans for this babe....well, finally found something I thought would complement this mod.....

4x 80mm Coolermaster alu fans, yes, real aluminium housings, and 2x 120mm units.....I will only use 2x 120mm, and 2x 80mm for this mod.....it will all become clear a little later, but real simple anyways....



Here is a shot of the 80mm specs....



and the same for the 120mmm unit...notice the rather hefty 12W power consumption for the 120mm fan....1A @ 12V...a bit rough for the 57cfm airvolume it delivers......



Here you can see the nice finish on the fan body, and this is what made me realize how well the will fit in with the G5 casemod theme....perfect color!



Here are a few sots showing front and back of 80mm vs 120mm, and size difference...boring, I know, but I just luv these fans...so pretty...



and



Here is a nice review should you guys be interested using these.....

Ok, a small update....my new GT 240 Black Ice rad has arrived from David and Karma's, so finally hardware needed for this mod complete, except psu mod kit, and extra Tygon tubing....

Not a problem now, I can do a lot before that's needed.

Here you can see a pic of the size diff between Coolwave 2x120, and BI GT240.....



Will the thinner rad be less effective in this setup than the thicker Coolwave....well, I don't think so, and here is why.....look at the fin density of new rad, vs Coolwave.....



Here's a side on comparo between the new (right) and old (left) rads....



the hight difference is what makes it fit in here so nicely....exactly what I wanted to start off with, so I can stick to original goals.......



Here is another angle.....and from this shot you can form an idea of what I want to acheive, if you think back to original layout of G5 Powermac setup....so, I will have some kind of mobo-cover running from rad all the way to the back of the case, aluminium of course.....will finalize details, but the idea is there...



You guys like or not? And yes, I believe I will not loose more than 1-2 deg c compared to the old rad, but gain quite a lot in functionality and aesthetics....

Nice

Another small update....fitting the fans to the rad....fans are 38mm thick, rad 30mm....




This is what the case looks like from the front, you might be just able to spot the fans behind the grill, in real life it looks extremely good with fand around 11cm away from front grill...just the look I was after...



And here's the same, fitted to the case....



And another angle, showcasing how nice the fans blend in with case color....



I have used 4 rubber feet, 2x top, 2x bottom to mount rad, tomorrow I will make use of aluminium angle to mount rad to rear mobo tray....going to look pro...