MDD tech info

[wirehead]

Hi, I've got a FW800 MDD with dual 1.25 Ghz CPU's and a gig of RAM and I've been surfin' round looking for info on the details of it's innards.

I just installed a replacement CPU fan (Silenx ixtrema 120 from FrozenCPU) which seems to be working very well although it's not yet using the mobo's plug as the original did, so it's running full on all the time.

I'm toying with the idea of making a new case for the machine that will sit behind my new 24 inch screen in an otherwise useless space at the back of the desk. . . .
the only slight technical hitch at the moment is that the Combo drive would need to be out front on the desktop, but then that could also be considered an advantage. I also like the idea of having the power button and USB plugs out front.

Having checked out the mobo I see that the front two ribbon connectors are named "ATA 66" and "ATA33". Is this correct? So if I put HDD's in the front bay they will run on a much slower bus than the rear one, right?

Anyone else tried putting this mobo in a new case? hints/warning?

[aquamac]

Hi wirehead and welcome to aquamac forums. You are right that the two front busses are slightly slower than the rear one, which is 100 ATA. Having said that you will not notice much difference in real terms with the ATA 66 connection, the ATA 33 is meant for connection to the CD drive but you can connect HDD's too.

You could consider a DVD drive in a USB 2 enclosure out front or for some faster speeds you could use a Sata DVD drive connected by a long eSata cable. You would need something like a sonnet sata card for that though.It should be fairly simple to fit an illuminated switch to the front of the USB 2 DVD drive case in place of the current power switch, then run wires back to the logicboard.

For fitting the MDD logic board in another case, the easiest solution is to find a BTX case, or fit the whole drop down door (minus the plastic outer) into an ATX case and leave the board still attached to this. I have seen this done a few times. I will post links if I can still find them.

[B B]

Yes, indeed I did it by fitting the whole drop down door into an G5 case and leave the board still attached to this. forum.macbidouille.com/index.php?act=module&module=gallery&cmd=si&img=3648
I am looking for a picture from the Mobo tray empty.

[wirehead]

Thanks for the prompt replies folks! I've now wired the new fan up to the old plug and it's humming along a bit quieter than before but the temp before with fan running full tilt all the time was below 55 degrees even when I pushed the CPU to heavy operation. It's now sitting at around 57 but (as found on this forum) it seems the fan doesn't even ramp up until it's over 58. Okay, so does the system shut down if it overheats? What is a safe temp limit?

On the other issue, thanks for the hints about a new box - a BTX will probably do fine. It will not be seen so the artistry of Apple's case designers would be wasted anyway I'll probably do the door thing since it's much simpler.

On a completely different tack: I've been looking around for a VESA mount for the screen that could be bolted onto the case side (in theory!) but the only ones I have seen so far donot have a height adjustment. This seems to me to be very stupid. Have you ever seen one that can do that?

[B B]

another link which was given earlier on aquamac.com : www.macmod.com/content/view/361/1/