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[PLOG] Mac G5 --> PC Conversion

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awesome progress

I ilke the look of the exposed PSU, you did well there.

Soldering, yeah that was a bit of a mess but don't worry about it, it will be fine. Resistance is SFA. in future you should twist the wires together, there's a knack to it, but it makes a stronger join and better contact when you do it right.

PSU fans - I think you should put one more on there just to be safe, I would try to mount it horizontally to blow air down on the PSU. Might be tricky but give it a go.

Lastly teh bluetooth adapter. I think you should be able to jam it straight into a USB port. if it is loose cut some slivers of plastic and jam them in there - the tension on the pins should hold it in place. And then put some hot glue in on top to keep it there. If you don't want to ruin your usb port, get a short extension cable and stick it in there.
 
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jesus... i get scared when I see open PSU's... just dont touch the caps! :D...

You do need extra fans on the PSU, I used to run silent setups, where I would have a silent 50CFM fan instead of the ones that came with the PSU, and at moderate loads the PSU would overheat and the system would shut down.

So yes... the more direct airflow that sucker gets, the better IMO.
 
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looks like its gonna get some awesome airflo
 
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Alright. More clamps and 2 80mm fans ordered! I picked 2 80mm ones instead of a horizontal 120mm one because I thought it fit in with the airflow better. All the air in that area will be coming from the front 2 120mm fans and moving to the rear. Not that a horizontal fan would really affected anything though, but it does have to be mounted.

@ Cuzza,
What's the best way to connect wires like that? You mentioned twisting, but I assume there may be a bit more to it than just that. I still have to connect the wire that connects the mains. Don't wanna flub that one too.

And lol @ the bt adapter idea. I'll give it a try though because I don't see any other options.

Thanks for sticking around people! :toast:
 
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I've made some progress over the last few weeks, but I never posted the pics. That'll happen soon. The tubing is in, the PSU is fully in, the PSU wires have been custom cut. Everything is starting to come together. Still need to solder the front panel wires.

In the meantime, I need some SATA cables that go off to the side. It's like a right angle Sata cable, but the right angle doesn't go up or down, it goes to the side. The left side specifically. Here's a pic:


Where can I get something like that?
 
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just a wild assumption, the black box is the end of the hard drive? /unannotated diagram rant

well, I've never seen a cable like that, neither can I find one after a 10-min search around. But you're not the first to go looking, check this thread
http://www.hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1402085
And it doesn't look like he found one. So you might be shit outta luck. But don't take my word for it.
 
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Yeah, I think you're right. I guess I'll have to use regular right angle connectors.
 
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Long overdue. School's a bitch.


This is the main AC plug. I had a concern earlier about how I would get the AC plug to 'be' in the same place that the stock one was. Here's what I did. You see the gray plastic ring shaped piece? That's the stock Apple mount. So that piece fits perfectly on the inside of the space where the plug goes. In fact, it locks into place in that space. So anything attached to the inside of that will be able to snap in to that place. See where I'm going? I sanded the edges of the OCZ plug, (the black one) until it fit perfectly into the grey ring piece. To get it to stay, I used plastic epoxy. The end result works perfectly! (No pic tho. Sorry!)

Simpler explanation: Look at This pic. See the grey piece? Well I sanded the black OCZ plug until it fit in there then I glued it with plastic epoxy.


I also got the tubing in. Not much to say here cept it looks AWESOME! :rockout: Oh, and the tubing stains... I guess the dye used to color the tubes comes out really easily. It kinda dyed by hand. :laugh:


This is how the system looks RIGHT NOW. All this other stuff was done before I took a huge break! Right now the system has water in it and I'm putting the final touches on it. I have a long weekend right now so I'm off till Tuesday. :D I plan to take the system to school Tuesday, so it'll be up and running well before then!! STAY TUNED BECAUSE I'M ALMOST DONE!! :rockout::rockout::cool::toast:
 
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Finished the front panel connectors. Major PITA. In case anybody ever uses this thread as reference for their own project, this is the one that I used.


Hm. This is funny. I THINK I'M FINISHED GUYS!!
 
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Hm. I guess I'm not finished. It won't turn on. :cry:

Please have a look at at this diagram which shows how the front panel connectors are connected. The diagram says that the ground for the power switch isn't needed if the FW and USB are correctly connected. I followed the diagram exactly except for 1 expectation. I didn't use the Firewire Shield ground nor the USB Shield ground. How important are these? Either way, how is the power button grounding?
 
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Your PC is rebelling against being put in a Mac case.:roll::roll:
 
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I think you need to find the power switch itself, wherever it is, and see where it grounds to. I would guess that there is common ground with the USB and firewire. These shield grounds would normally be permanently grounded. So you're going to have to ground them, methinks.

Failing that, wire in your own ground directly to the switch.
 
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I think you need to find the power switch itself, wherever it is, and see where it grounds to. I would guess that there is common ground with the USB and firewire. These shield grounds would normally be permanently grounded. So you're going to have to ground them, methinks.

Failing that, wire in your own ground directly to the switch.
Sorry for the late response, been busy with SAT stuff.

The front panel connectors are all on a single PCB which connects to the stock G5 mobo by a single wire with all the connections on it. I've connected the front panel stuff the my P35-DS3L by cutting that single wire and getting a pinout to show where each individual wire goes. Hopefully that makes sense. So it's kinda hard to see where the switch grounds to because its on its own PCB. (instead of simply being a button or something)

Both the USB connector and Firewire connector have a shield ground. (Ever wonder what that nineth pin was for? USB has 4 pins per port, and has 2 ports per mobo header and FW has 8 pins per connecter) Unfortunately it would be rather difficult to run 2 more wires from the mobo to the front panel becuase they've all been sleeved and such. However, I could simply attach the USB and FW Shields to a regular USB and FW ground. Would that work? I'm not sure what the ultimate difference between FW Shield Ground and the ground that is in a FW cable.
 
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*sigh*

Anyone can chime in here. That includes, but is not limited to Cuzza.
(though I greatly appreciate his input!)
 
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Try putting a metal object or flat head screw driver to the two power pins on the motherboard, if it doesn't turn on it's a motherboard problem.
If it does turn on by jumping the pins (by using your metal object as a power switch essentially), then it means your power button was not working. :)

my two cents....
-smee
 
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Good idea about starting turning on the mobo manually. At least I could use the system. (assuming it works)

Problem is that the front panel pins are not really accessible.
 

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Personally, I prefer a paperclip for that job. Light Resistance, so I don't have to worry about not having enough voltage to travel from point to point, I can bend it to fit pretty much anywhere I need to, and relatively easy to manipulate without worries of shorting out other things. My 2cp. :)
 
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Ok ok. Due to popular demand, I'll see if I can get access to the pins. I'm gonna be busy for a while, so it'll have to be tomorrow evening at best. Will report results.

Going back to post 115, does anyone know how the front panel connector is supposed to ground?
 
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I suggest grounding the USB and FW shield grounds directly to a PSU ground lead (tap one off a molex).
 

ib_prime

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I just registered to say great thread (the only one that's active i can find on this G5 mod). I'm also working on a G5->PC mod, I will try using the pinout you provided for the front panel and see how it pans out, will update here.
 
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ib_prime

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Okay the power button + goes out to USB Shield Ground (pin 6) to complete the switch, if I remember correctly from my playing around with my setup.
 

ib_prime

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Okay the power button + goes out to USB Shield ground if I remember correctly from my playing around with my setup.
 

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