Hi there,

I was wondering - is it at all humanly possible to completely take all of the innards out of a Mac Pro and then put them into a case of your own choosing? I have some pretty neat ideas for a mod (not saying anything about the theme) but I want to know if anyone has documented ways to take the innards out of a Mac Pro and then repurpose them into a new case.

Warmly,
Jessica

Jessica, first of all, welcome to MacMod. As for re purposing the innards, there is a lot that goes into that. The first thing is going to be to obviously remove all the parts, and that's actually rather simple and should be pretty self explanatory if you are attempting a project of this caliber.

When you get the case that you will be working in you firstly need to think about layout and proper cooling. That is paramount for the computer to function properly. Aside from that, its really about aesthetics and getting it to all fit inside.

Without more details on the case you will be using or any other specs, its hard to give too many recommendations. Just plan carefully and ask any questions you might have.

Seems like any Mid/full size tower will do. Just have to hack and slice up the rear, also fabricate mounts for the logicboard.

As for cooling you could always toss on bigger cooler/s.

It can be done, but why? Is the case damaged? I would scratch build a case for it, if I was to do it. Check out http://www.performance-pcs.com for parts. You will need to mod the mounting posts, rear I/O panel and figure out how to cool it. Again, if it were mine I would water cool it. That would be sick! If you buy a case, get a big one, something that will fit a extended atx board. Good luck and remember to show lots of pix!

Water cooling is an interesting idea. But I'll tell you right now, Mac Pro's run cool, so why would you need to do it? The Apple factory heat sink is awesomely good. Now if you wanted to water cool a Mac Mini--that might be a good idea if you have a hot chip in it. My mini runs hotter than my Mac Pro.

As for you Jessica. I assume you want to put together a horizontal case? I don't get why you would want to do a case mod. It is one of the nicest looking cases around. If you want a standard case, you might as well buy the OS and build a Hackintosh.

The Mac Pro case is nice. But its getting on a bit nowadays. I say go for it.

I would give my own born child for a MacPro case but at the same time they are too plain for the everyday modder.

TCPMeta, if you want a nice big case...
LianLi PC-G70.
They also have many other large cases but good luck getting them in north america. :P

Nah, I already got a case that is almost 4ft tall I customized a while back.