What's better than a LianLi V series case? Silverstone? Antec? Nope - Apple.

Today I got my hands on this...



It just oozes class... Down to the latch that youhave to pull in order to remove the sidepanel...



Some heavy duty modding will be required. I am reluctant to cut too much of the externals. Instead I will be mounting the mobo further in the case and routing cables to the corresponding ports on the case itself. Well that's the plan anyway. Less cutting, more soldering.

Here is the drive bay (where the PSU of a regular ATX PC case would reside)



And the front optical drive bay. It has a neat bay cover that slides down like a window blind rather than the usual out like a hatch design. Note that Apple has prerouted wires for drive connectors and power. They are all black so identifying them would be another chore prior to soldering. I intend to use as much of the original equipment as I can.



The Apple mobo connector will have to go. Note the front panel connectors are housed in thier own cage. Typical Apple design touches.



The motherboard bay is very spacious. I plan to mount the PSUtowards the back of the case with the mobo towards the front bringing connectors from the mobo to the corresponding ports at the back of the G5 case. I will try to maintain the clean lines of the G5 Enclosure as best I can.



Some case cutting however may be unavoidable. Well, I need to make some measurements. Should be a fun mod. Hopefully I am able to complete it...

This post has been edited by MacDaNife: Sep 12 2006, 10:47 PM

Got it for FREE!

Have a good friend in the Apple support industry in Malaysia who made me an offer I (obviously) could not refuse. I agree about the sakit hati bit too. Will try not to cut this baby at all.

Actually I'm having fun just looking at it for now!

My darling LianLi?

I'll never part with it!

Actually I've been thinking about how to go about with this mod... Lots to consider. Should I go with a regualr ATX Mobo? Due to the location of the PCI slots, it would have to be mounted upside-down as with the LianLi v1000. This would help with placement of the PSU as well. I'm thinking an acrylic panel to separate the PSU from the mobo. However, I don't think I'd have sufficient space for complete separation of PSU and mobo so.... Have to make some measurements...

Very nice! This is what I'm thinking of at the moment....

The pics that UglyVamp put up illustrate an important point that other G5 PC casemods overlook. The original design of the case separtes the innards of the PC into zones. Hot, cold, intermediate and has fans of matched cooling power for each zone. I want to try to maintain this in the mod.

Additionally, I do not want to cut the case if I can avoid it. The mod UglyVamp posted is possible but not with a regular ATX mobo. Possibly with a Shuttle that is canniballized for parts this would be feasible. Cost factors aside, this would create problems should I want to upgrade my mobo in the future. I'd have to either redo the mod, or buy another Shuttle. With my track record, perhaps a mod that would fit a ATX case would be better for the long run. I intend to keep this case for a long time.

I've got an idea of how to do it now. It involves getting hold of a case with a removable mobo tray and using that to mount the mobo with the PCI slot connectors/mobo connectors facing DOWN. Making a third compartment below the mobo compartment which will also house the PSU (again of standard size to facilitate upgrading).

Well, that's the idea anyway...

Have decided how to proceed with the mod.

Will utilize the top compartments as they are in the G5 case. Front bay for optical drive, rear bay for hard disks.

Middle compartment will house the Mobo. This will be mounted with the rear end pointing downwards. That is with the rear motherboard connectors exiting through the bottom compartment which will also house the PSU.

Compartments will be divided with Clear Acrylic. A sheet of clear acrylic will also serve as the base of the motherboard allowing me to switch mobos in the future should I wish to.

Perhaps a diagram will best illustrate the plan. Will work on this soon.

In the meantime, does anyone (AllanGap perhaps?) know where I can source clear acrylic in KL?

The diagrammatic representation of what I intend. will need a clear acrylic as the base of the mobo and to seperate the mobo compartment from the PSU compartment. Note that the PSU compartment will not have ventilation above or below the PSU. Only from the front and back.

Have bought a PSU today from LYP which fulfills this criteria. Pics tomorrow!


Attached thumbnail(s)

Ok, here we go... First, patience guys... I intend to take my time with this mod (and I do have a real job) so please excuse a lack of progress on the mod. Rest assured, progress will be documented and put up here. I'll put up the recommended retail price (RRP) for the stuff so I won't get the inevitible "How much ah?" on this thread. Please refrain from the equally inevetible "Wah, so much ah!". It irritates and adds nothing to the thread. TIA. Occasionally I may get some discounts of the RRP but I will not disclose that for obvious reasons of maintaining relations with the retailer. I work hard at building relationships with people. You should too.

So far I've got to the stage of assembling the required tools...




Considered getting the more easily available Black and Decker RTX. This retails for RM299 (I guess the RM1 is for the parking ticket) and the B&D Flexishaft for RM200. However, on modding boards when the two are discussed, I read a lot of early failures with the RTX. I intend to use this tool for a lot more than PC Modding and would hate to have to replace out of warranty so... The Dremel is available only from Jaya DIY in Jaya Shopping Centre's thrid floor. The proprieter: a Mr Eddy Ng is a very knowledgable and friendly guy and the shop is contactable at 03-79540509. They stock a wide range of Dremel acessories too.

The kit comes with all the acessories pictured and retails for RM599 . The Flexishaft is another RM214. But I figure I'll be using this for a long time and power tools are just so sweet...

The only other kit that I have aqquired is the PSU. I've mulled over where to place it in this case. In the G5 hard drive bay where it would traditionally sit in a standard ATX PC box? Front? Rear? Standing up? Fans reversed?

Finally I decided that I should maintain the functional design of the G5 case. To divide the case into thermal compartments. For this I will use clear acrylic. True, hiding cables will be a bit of a challenge (but more fun). It will also be easier to cut.

With this in mind, I'm putting the PSU at the bottom of the case. As there are no ventilation holes at the bottom my options were to either cut a hole or find a PSU with fans only at the front and rear. None at the bottom. Enter the Coolergiant...









The next question is how to fit the mobo... The Apple G5 case has mobo standoff screwholes that do not align to the traditional PC mobos. In addition, the backplate and PCI slots will not align. Most G5 PC mods that I've seen have cut the back of the case in order to fit a PC mobo. I am reluctant to do this because I don't want to ruin the design that is really very elegant. I've decided to mount mobo tray of clear acrylic which I will screw to the back of the case using the original Apple mobo standoff screws. I will then mount mobo standoffs on this acrylic plate in the regular PC position.



Next: How to position the mobo? Rightside up? Upside down?

I'm going with a "on the side" approach. This will mean that the backplate ports and the PCI slot connectors will exit out of the bottom of the case. I will be using a number of USB cord extenders, Network wire extenders and Monitor cable gender changers to accomplish this. The cords will then be sleeved together and a large trunk exits out the rear of the rig, rather like a tail.

Personally I feel that this would neaten the cable clutter normally seen at the rear of a PC and I could put the rig on the desk without it being too unsightly. I dunno, this requires some more thought.

Finally the thermal compartments. Clear Acrylic again, cut to fit the shape of the clear acrylic moulding of the G5 case. I will then have three compartments: The bottom one with the PSU, The middle one with the Mobo/Processor/RAM/PCIe/PCI cards and the top one with the drives.



Well, that's the plan for now. Thanks for your interest and encouragement. And I welcome suggestions/comments! Just don't get upset if I don't follow em!

Thanks aaron.

This EXACTLY what I'm thinking of doing. PSU at the bottom, Compartments to seperate the internals into thermal zones. Wish he'd take more detailed shots of the rear of the mobo though. I'm not sure how he overcame the lack of PCI slots in the G5 case. Since he did not cut the rear, how did he do it? It's remarkable how he's utilized the rear USB/network slots in the G5 as well. Some nifty rewiring there... Well an example to utilize anyway. Thanks again.

I note he's used aluminum as the basis for his compartments. I'm going to try this with acrylic. I figure it will be easier to cut and fit. For me anyway. Am going to try and source for some sheets of acrylic to work with. Hopefully today.

Yesterday was spent (in between work) sleeving the PSU. Will update with some pics later today. Will have to do some soldering in order to reutilize the stock apple wiring to the drives. Interestingly apple uses soft black wires throughout. VERY good quality but being all the same color, will have to use the voltmeter to determine which wire goes where. I've realized why Macs are so expensive. Better quality components. Definately.

AllnGap... About a airflow diagram. Not necessary as it is very simple. Horizontal compartments. In through the front, out through the back like a windtunnel. Well, be patient and all will be revealed.

Won't try to repeat UglyVamp's excellent PSU sleeving guide here but two points that he left out... How to sleeve the PCIe and Mobo power connectors and how to sleeve the SATA cables.

The PCIe and FourPin ATX mobo connector (or if you have a newer PSU the 8 pin BTX Mobo connector) have the exact same connector. They are very easy to remove if you use this method. Straighten a pair of staples and insert them on either side of the pin. The pin will then slide out quite easily. Photo below:



The SATA cables easy if you have an Enermax PSU. This is because Enermax uses SATA connectors that are as below:



This allows you to slide off the connector, and sleeve as you would any other PSU wire. In addition, If you are really serious about tidy cases, you can extend/shorten your wires and place the SATA connector to line up exactly with the position of your harddrive. This of course requires you to measure very exactly but hey, if you're a perfectionist, that ain't a problem now is it.... If you have a Antec PSU, you need to cut off the Antec SATA connector and use one of the connectors as pictured above. Molex to SATA adaptors generally use the connector pictured above and you can take them off one of these adaptors which are quite easily found.

I also prefer to cable tie the heatshrinks to avoid the sleeves from slipping off. I've also used small heatshrink to neaten the wire tips as shown in a thread over at BitTech.





The end result:



Today I'll be rewiring the Apple PSU wires. These are a sleek black and are soft and of very good quality. They are routed through the back of the top compartment and supply the hard drives and optical drive. It's a shame to rip em out so I plan to rewire them.





However the fact that they are all the same color is not very friendly to the modder. I'll be using a voltmeter to identify the wires. These will then be soldered onto a regular PC Molex connector in order to use them with standard PC PSUs. I plan to make this case "upgradeable" meaning if I were to change the PSU in the future, I should be able to do so without repeating any work done previously. Here are the stuff assembled for today's rewiring:



Well, that's all for now. Until the next update.

But it's not what they do over at PC Power and Cooling (where I wish I could buy my PSU from....)

Done the rewiring of the Apple power connectors. No soldering necessary in the end. Just cut, expose wire and crimp. A crimping tool ( available from Jln Pasar and seen in the pic above) is a necessity. Can't remember how much it cost but the job would not have been possible without it.

Considered sleeving the Apple wires but with them all in black, it is not necessary. Ended up with just some heatshrink at intervals to neaten things off. More PC PSU manufacturers should follow Apple's example and produce PSUs without sleeves but with single tone wires. IMHO it looks better and much less distracting within the case. Well, that's my view anyway.

Bought a whole lot of acrylic from a Sign Maker shop in Pudu. Sorry, forgot to get the address/phone number. In any case, I'd assume these sign making shops are quite easy to find. Clear acrylic comes in various thickness. Went for a 5mm (RM25 thereabouts per square foot) and 2mm (RM20 per square foot) thickness. Will be cutting this with the Jigsaw and Dremel tomorrow. Can you smell the burning plastic yet?

Have changed my mind about the Mobo positioning. Will follow a upside down approach with the PCI slots towards the back of the case - similar to the LianLi v1000 layout. This would mean that the uppermost PCI slot will reside in the top compartment behind the drive cage. Most probably it will not be usable (unless used with a small PCI card like a WiFi card...).

The reasons for this are:

1. Neatness: no need to run extenders to the back of the case.

2. Thermal compartmenting: The GPU (SLi config) will be in the upper mobo compartment and I intend to make a acrylic divider to create a windtunnel for the SLi-ed cards.

3. The main Mobo power connector will then be closest to the PSU and wiring will be neater.

Unfortunately, this would mean part of the mobo goes into the upper compatment and part of the mobo goes into the lowest (PSU) compartment. Some creative use of acrylic will be necessary in order to make sure airflow stays within the specified compartments.

Pics to follow tomorrow. Goodnight.

Ready to fit the mobo. But first will need to have the actual mobo on hand. Tried to buy an Abit Fatality SLi AN8 yesterday at LYP but all retailers are out... Guess I'll have to go DFI. Meanwhile, in preparation for cutting the top tray, I've removed a great number (but not all) of the torq screws that hold the GP case together. I need to get to the rear of the top tray in order to cut part of it. This is to make space for the mobo as the lower compartment and PCI slot placement make it necessary for part of the mobo to jut into the upper compartment. With all of this, the harddrives may have to move... we will see...



The back of this tray is what I'll have to cut in order to fit a standard PC mobo. Note that the G5 has only four PCI slots. This means that the topmost PCI slot will have to sit in the upper compartment



Also removed the other odds and ends from the case in preparation for cutting and here they are:

1. Apple CD bezel. The door slides down (as opposed to opening outward like a hatch). Very neat and all shiny stainless steel inside. You don't find this kind of quality on a PC case unfortunately...




2. The Apple hard drive cage: Note the drive latch marked A and B in open and closed positions.




3. The divider between the Optical and Harddrive bays contain two fans. One grey (Delta?) fan and one turbine fan that is directed to blow behind the harddrives. Both fans have an odd four wire lead. I suspect that these are variable speed fans. There are also two circuit boards one in the top of the case and one towards the rear in the middle. I suspect that these are temperature sensor. I will try to reuse the 8cm fan. The turbine is in the way of the mobo, so will have to go. The divider of course stays though I may have to cut it so it does not get in the way of the mobo.




While taking all these stuff must SEEM easy but trust me, this case is built like a tank. The aluminum while thin is EXTREMELY sturdy and resistant to bending. There was also a multitude of screws to remove in order to loosen the back of the aluminum top tray from the mobo frame. Even then, it was quite impossible to remove the tray entirely for cutting. If I did not have a flexishaft for the dremel, it would be impossible to proceed with the mobo position as planned.

These are the screws that I removed in order to loosen the top plate:



Note that almost all of these are Torx screws. Not the usual phillips or flat head. Hence if you plan to mod the G5 case, these are essential.

Also rewired the apple wiring for the PSU. Following the SATA and Molex convention, identified the proper configuration and crimped some female molexes on. Considered sleeving the fellow. In fact started to thread the sleeve on but it actually looked better unsleeved with the wires all a standard black... So just some heatshrink to tidy things up.







That's all for now. Time to get the mobo. Wanted to try the Abit Fatality but nowhere has stock. Looks like I'm destined to stick with DFI...

Afternoon plans at work cancelled... More time to work on the rig!

Thought of giving the Abit Fatality SLi board a try for the G5 rig. Certainly the red will match the PSU. However, after going round LYP and even trying to get Scoot to pull some strings: no go. Trotted over to get this:



On checking my PM on return, Irenic offers to sell me his fatality. Well, destiny is DFI...

Today's job, cutting a piece of acrylic to act as a motherboard tray. The problem with the G5 is that the mobo screws don't line up, the PCI slots don't line up. In order to overcome this, I'll be mounting the DFI mobo on to the acrylic with regular mobo standoff screws. The acrylic will then be mounted onto the preexisting Apple mobo standoffs. This is the plan if I have adequate depth to allow for proper seating of the PCI /PCIe cards. I may have to drill the acrylic in order to have the right depth. In any case - acrylic is easier to drill and work with. I'm using a 5mm sheet btw. Does not bend and will be deep enough to support the mobo standoff screws.





Must not forget eye protection!



And the finished result: An exact match:



With the mobo mounted onto the acrylic with regular mobo standoff screws, I'll mount this into the G5. I've marked the parts of the upper aluminum tray that I will have to cut. The more I look at it, the more I'm convinced that the harddrive bays will have to be moved... We will see.





That's all for now. Happy berbuka puasa!

The WorkRig is so named because it resides at my office, hence at work. Truth be told, I rarely do any "real" work on it. Obviously, the power is for gaming... . Am presently replaying FarCry which is a totally different experience @ 1920x1200 4xAA/4xAF.

Don't want to talk too much about the job. Suffice to say, there's a lot of waiting around required, so the WorkRig provides entertainment for the slow periods.

Haven't decided. Actually I was hoping to delay the choice of mobo to allow for the crossfire based mobos to surface but... need a mobo in order to make the backplate and see how the PCI slots line up... No Fatality available so went with another DFI. Same goes for GPU. I'll probably take one (or both) of the 7800GTXes into this rig. Or if the X1800xt cards become available... who knows...

No firm plans to components as yet. Will take things as they go along...

And post em here of course.

Agreed... Water cooling this rig would be ideal (and there's the space for the hardware too..) Trouble is, hard to find the components that I would like to use, for example:



Have cut the upper tray with the dremel. Sparks were flying today...

As little as possible...

Finally. took the dremel to metal. Cut the top tray case.

Preparation is everything. Measure many times. Mark and recheck. Cut only once.

Workplace safety: Keep the workarea neat. Isolate your working area and minimize dust contamination. Facemask, protective eye and handwear are essential. In order to keep the tray steady while cutting I supported the back with a folded towel (wrapped with a paper so won't have to clean it later). In order to keep the aluminum dust off the insides of the case, the area was isolated with a plastic sheet.



With that done, used the dremel with the 32mm (1mm thick) cutting wheel. As the insides of the case are hard to reach, used the Dremel Flexishaft. My advice to cutting aluminum: Use a high rotation speed BUT cut shallow and use repeated bites rather than a continuous cutting action. Your hand grip is important. Use a golf grip (with both hands) as there is significant kick when you begin to cut. If the dremel goes out of the groove, an unsightly burr would result. Lots of sparks. Protect hands with gloves, protect eyes with plastic non shatter glasses.



The end result after cutting and deburring (Used a 3.2mm Shank no.8175) was quite neat even if I say so myself...