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Post by blackknight on Oct 29, 2008 4:30:17 GMT
Hey guys, I figured I'd finally start a gallery thread on Mac Pro and G5 case conversions. I guess I'll start with mine: Mac Pro case with full-ATX Gigabyte GA-MA790FX-UD5P motherboard Phenom x4 9950 Black Edition overclocked to 3.0Ghz watercooled 4x2GB Corsair Dominator PC8500 DDR2 RAM Radeon HD 6950 (unlocked to 6970) 2GB Graphics Card watercooled 2x WD VelociRaptor 300GB 16MB Cache HDD (RAID 0) 4x WD Caviar Green 2TB 32MB Cache HDDs 2x WD Caviar Black 1TB 32MB Cache HDDs in external enclosure LG Blu-Ray burner Custom water cooling setup with external Triple 120 radiator        Enjoy the pics of mine and please post yours if you have them. BlackKnight *Edited for new pics* |
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Post by aquamac on Nov 23, 2008 7:12:08 GMT
You have made a really lovely job of this - kudos to you! I think it may be the first Mac Pro with water cooling to retain the plastic fan shroud and memory cage.
What do you have planned for the back panel?
I have been off the radar lately, working on the worlds smallest mac - the Advent 4312 with built in Airport, built in 3G, 250 GIG HD, and 10" screen laptop (Christmas present for some one -have finally sorted it, just need to take the ram to 2 x 1 gigs now for the ultimate mobile experience.
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Post by dark4181 on Nov 23, 2008 23:38:17 GMT
Blackknight.. How bout a few pics from more of a distance. I want to see the full scope of your layout  |
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Post by blackknight on Nov 24, 2008 19:45:42 GMT
Hey guys, thanks for the comments on the build. I'm quite pleased with how it came out. dark4181, I posted another pic at the bottom which shows a little bit wider of a shot, but I'll take some more and get them up for ya. I really wish I had a better digi-cam than my iPhone for these shots. @aqua, I haven't really figured out what I can do about the back panel. I mean I made a pretty clean cut, but it just looks unfinished. Most of the time I don't worry about it as it's the back and nobody sees back there but the wall behind my entertainment center, but I would like it to look a little better. The problem is that if I put a border around it, I won't be able to plug in the mini-plug connector for the front speakers as it is about as close as I can get to the edge. I have to jam the cable in as it is right now. I plan on getting an Auzentech X-Fi HomeTheater HD when they come out which has HDMI sound, and at that time I won't need the analog sound from on-board. At that time I can consider putting a border around the hole. |
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Post by blackknight on Nov 24, 2008 19:48:47 GMT
Also, I had to add another fan to the top of the radiator due to the lack of moving air above the ram cage. Basically my hard drives and northbridge were getting quite warm due to most of the air from the front fan being blocked by the radiator. Now I get better airflow through the radiator and my hard drives and northbridge run almost 8 degrees C lower than before. The downside is that now I have to cut the panel between the fan shroud and memory cage a little to make room for the fan. It won't look bad, just not as stock. Well, maybe it will. We'll see.
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Post by HackJoe on Dec 8, 2008 10:32:29 GMT
The problem is that if I put a border around it, I won't be able to plug in the mini-plug connector for the front speakers as it is about as close as I can get to the edge. I have to jam the cable in as it is right now. I plan on getting an Auzentech X-Fi HomeTheater HD when they come out which has HDMI sound, and at that time I won't need the analog sound from on-board. At that time I can consider putting a border around the hole. I know that feeling! My DS2R had that issue.. I ended up stripping down a stereo jack so it would fit in. luckly the DFI boards use a daughter card for there sound. If I were you I'd take a close look at Aqua's MacPro v1 he did a very tidy job on the back of that.. you'll see he had to cut the back out right upto the first expantion slot. but having placed a border round it, it looks great. J. |
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Post by blackknight on Dec 8, 2008 18:14:20 GMT
Well, I just got HDMI sound working on my 3870x2 with my Yamaha receiver and Sony TV (a known problem that requires a DVI-Doctor) and now am not using the analog sound. I plan on getting a 4000 series ATI card and it has 7.1 PCM out which will be all that I need. I'll also be living at home soon where my Dad has a bit more power tools that I can use to make a better frame, so I'll attempt that soon.
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Post by reddrag0n on Dec 31, 2008 16:20:57 GMT
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Post by blackknight on Jan 2, 2009 18:48:46 GMT
Cool. Thanks for keeping this thread for pictures of Hack Pro pictures.
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Post by reddrag0n on Jan 3, 2009 3:12:00 GMT
Cool. Thanks for keeping this thread for pictures of Hack Pro pictures. No prob, now let's see more of these mod pics. I want to see more wonderful ideas that you guys come up with. |
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Post by blackknight on Jan 30, 2009 6:21:04 GMT
Hey guys, I just edited my original post for new pictures. I was unhappy with the airflow through my Black Ice GTS 240 radiator, because it wasn't enough to cool the hard drives and northbridge, so I busted out my older Black Ice Pro III triple radiator. I knew I couldn't mount it inside due to it's size, so I looked for ways to mount it externally. At first I thought I would try to mount it on the bottom, but that would require cutting large holes in the bottom of the case AND raising the whole case by about 2 inches somehow. This idea would have looked terrible as I haven't found anything that would do the case's looks justice. I then though about mounting it on top using the "roof" that I've found available on the net, but this would still not look very good and probably wouldn't get much airflow. I then thought about how to mount it on the back. This is where it gets interesting.
I had seen several custom cases on the net that used threaded rod with spacers to mount the radiator vertically, but they usually were mounted to a standard 120mm exhaust fan hole. Without having one of those, I was stumped. Then I looked at the fan mounting holes on the radiator, then at the back of the case (i'm talking about the many, many small holes), and noticed that they were about the same size. I took a 6-32 screw (same as the mounting screw for the rad fans) and tried to thread it into one of the holes. PERFECT!!! I found that I could use these holes without permanently damaging the case. I went to the local hardware store and bought some threaded rod in 6-32 and some nuts to go with. I then used a screw to "tap" some threads into the holes that would line up to a 120mm fan and then used the nuts to mount a fan on the other end of them. I then mounted the radiator to the fans.
Next was getting the tubing into the case from the rad. I had already cut out the Airport antenna bracket, so I ran the tubing up from the opening there. Voila, much better airflow and watercooling. My HDD temps have dropped from 42 C down to 32 C and so did my northbridge. I'm quite happy with the result.
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Post by blackknight on Feb 20, 2009 7:41:29 GMT
Hey, just edited my original post again after getting a new DFI LP DK 790FXB-M2RSH motherboard. It was quite a pain in the ass to install, but worth it in the end. Some of you might have seen the topic that I had on here about the power switch not working on the DFI board, but then saw that it was missing. I found out what the problem was and removed the topic. I found out that the pins on the motherboard were bent when trying to connect the wires going to the switch. Once I straightened them out and hooked it up again it now works.
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Post by HackJoe on Mar 2, 2009 1:03:30 GMT
BlackNight, good work.. I've been eyeing up something like this.. you've given me food for thought.. what Pump and Res are you using? is that 1/2" tubing? have you thought about using two 90" angle pipes and some tubing brackets to smarten up the finish underneath?
J.
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Post by blackknight on Mar 2, 2009 5:43:39 GMT
I'm using a Laing DDC pump with a Danger Den acrylic top and a Black Ice Pro III radiator, though I don't recommend this radiator due to the need for high CFM fans. I will eventually replace the radiator with a Feser triple rad which should be much quieter. I am using 1/2" tubing. I'm not sure I want to use 90" bends due to the constriction they cause, though you could probably use them and make it look a bit cleaner if you still get good flow.
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Post by HackJoe on Mar 30, 2009 19:13:30 GMT
I'm using a Laing DDC pump with a Danger Den acrylic top and a Black Ice Pro III radiator, though I don't recommend this radiator due to the need for high CFM fans. I will eventually replace the radiator with a Feser triple rad which should be much quieter. I am using 1/2" tubing. I'm not sure I want to use 90" bends due to the constriction they cause, though you could probably use them and make it look a bit cleaner if you still get good flow. I'll upload my HackPro soon guys.. Its looking prety clean! I just bought two more Apple side doors.. ;-) working on something a little cool! *cool being the word* J. |
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