Mac Pro/G5 Case Conversion Gallery Thread

[blackknight]

Added a few new pics for you guys after adding the waterblock to my 4870X2. Idle temps on the GPUs went from 54* C down to 35*C and load temps don't go over 42* C now. This is with it in line with the 9950 overclocked to 3.2. Nice!!!

[ginz111]

Wow it really looks great. I wish I had the time and patience do something as nice as you have done.

[aquamac]

Blackknight,

Your mod is looking awesome and you should be proud of it. Very neat, but the watercooling is nicely lit and the window shows it off to it's best advantage.

I have been messing around with the components I have collected together for the current mod I am working on and now have Snow Leo 10a380 working fast and stable on my X58 board. I will be away at an exhibition next week on the stand selling but will be taking my trusty Dell Mini 9 with me to catch up with you guys in the evenings.

It has been a while since I have looked at Cyprio's mod and I have to say, it has really come on. The way he has modded the back panel is superb and really looks stock. He must have spent the last year polishing that thing!! He looks like he has spent some more time on the front button surround area as it is noticeably cleaner than before.

[blackknight]

Thanks a lot Aqua. Honestly I'm just glad that I have some nice temps on that fire-breather of a GPU. As for the lighting, I finally used a makeshift tripod and got the exposure just right. Now it doesn't look all blurry. It really does look like that though. It used to be over-exposed and blurry do to slight movements while holding the camera, but now it looks like it does in my eyes.

Also, I'm sure you noticed I removed the CPU cover. This is mainly because of the 90* bend coming out of the GPU was in the way, but that will be alleviated soon. I will take the two holes that are currently in it and make a cut all the way to the back. This will allow me to slide it on and off without taking apart the water system. I'm still not sure that I want to do that though as it shows the system off more without it. Stock look be d*mned if it looks better, haha.

I'd love to see what you could do now with a new build after several of the latest builds have been done.

I personally have 10a380 Snow Leopard on my MBP, but as there still is no AMD kernel for it, I'll have to wait on getting it working on my PC. I'm pretty impressed with it, but I am having some issues with the built-in bluetooth. I can't seem to turn it on from either the menu bar or the settings preference pane.

Cyprio's mod is really out of this world. I still honestly haven't seen a single case mod out there that took as much effort and time as his and looked as amazing as it.

[HackJoe]

Your rig is lookinh ace pal! nice work.. Those DangerDan blocks are awesome! great stuff.. How did adding the GPU effect or your CPU temps?

I'm working on adding a 4870X2 or two 4890's crossfire watercooled to mine.. I'm at the planning stage I'm wanting to fit a second Rad but internally. all apart of one big loop.

Your really is looking great. you get a great UV reaction.. is all that from one 12" CC?

great stuff!

could you post up or email me any shots of your old dual Rad in the front fan bracket?

J.

[blackknight]

It is from a single 12" AC Ryan Overboost UV cold cathode. the 4870x2 actually didn't increase my CPU temps at all. In fact, without the heat sitting under the GPUs, it actually lowered my cpu and nb temps. Personally, if you have a PA120.3, you shouldn't see any increase in temps by going with the 4870x2. I really suggest not going with an internal radiator. There just isn't enough air flow to cool the rest of the components in the case.

If you really want to see a pic, this is the last one I have: .

[HackJoe]

Thanks for the shot.. I'd do it a little different.. But I may put it on the back burner.. Buy another front Fan bracket and try from scratch.

I'm impressed to hear the x2 did effect your temps.. I'm monitoring a few on eBay. I'd love one.. but its just so hard to say 'Do it' DirectX 11 is down the road and I'm a kean folder. a GTX 275 would be better suited.

but for the money I could get a bargain 4870X2 from ebay..

What fans do you use on your RAD?

J.

[blackknight]

I assume you had a typo when you said that it 'did' affect my temps rather than 'didn't' affect them. Anyways, I read that the DX11 cards aren't coming until at least September or October, and even then, you will have to pay a fortune for the dual gpu card compared to getting an already amazingly capable card now for about $300 on Ebay. DX11 will also take a long time before it's adopted, just like DX10, so I would just get a 4870x2 now and wait on the 5870x2 for next summer or later. The other thing is that you most definitely should buy a waterblock for it ASAP which adds about $150 to the price of either card. I never want to buy another gpu without immediately installing a water block again. I'm amazed that my Black Ice Pro III is capable enough for sub 40*C load temps on the GPUs and CPU. I really can't imagine needing another, unless you stack two of them. Swiftech has a stackable triple rad that looks quite good. I would do it if I had the money as it's cheaper than a single PA120.3 or TFC Xchanger and cools better in most cases. I could mount it to the back of my current setup, so it would still be pretty hidden.

[HackJoe]

Thanks BlackKnight, I've put the front Rad idea on ice for now, I'm gonna do the 4870X2 fund premitting. I'm gonna buy some new fans for my rad and redo my tubing. I've seen an EK and a XSPC block for the 4870X2 which seem cash flow friendly, if your black ice and cool both the CPU and GPU I feel confident my TT PA120.3 will do a good job cooling the lot..

cheers.

J.

[blackknight]

Yeah, you should have no problem with cooling both with that PA120.3. Also, I forgot that you asked what kinds of fans I'm using. The best fans in my opinion are the Scythe S-Flex 1200RPM fans. They are dead silent and move a lot of air. I bought some Arctic Cooling PWM fans, that said they were really quiet, to replace the apple fans, but at low speed, they move no air hardly at all and they make a ticking noise. I decided to put the Apple fans back and used my voltage divider circuit to slow them down. The Apple fans are still some of the best fans I've ever used, except that they can't be controlled by the motherboard.

Again, I think that your best buy for fans is that S-Flex 1200 fan. They also have a 1500 RPM fan, but I've never used them to see how loud they are.

[HackJoe]

I was actually looking at the S-Flex 1900 108CFM fans.. How hard is it to rig the Apple fans for use with a fan controller? cos there 4-pin by default huh. Any stats on how much air they can shift?

J.

[blackknight]

I looked under the gray stickers on the back of the Apple fans and then used the model number on them to search for specs. The exact model is a made for apple exclusive it seems, but the most similar is roughly ~100CFM at full speed. As far as how to wire them up to a controller, there isn't an easy way. I know how to make a controller that will work, but that's about it. Basically, you can use most any fan controller, but you need to change where the controller gets it's power from. I had an old thermaltake 3 position switch fan controller that I rewired to work on the 5 volt line instead of 12 volts and it worked, sort of. The output of the controller goes to the control pin of the fan which means you need to make a custom cable. The RPM signal (the one next to the control wire) goes to the motherboard or other sensor, and the last two wires are power and ground and must be plugged into a molex power connector as the fans draw about 9W and most motherboards can't handle that. Basically, the wiring is the same as a 4-pin PWM fan, but the wire that would normally go to PWM doesn't work with PWM, only analog from 0-5V. This means you provide 12V constant to the fan and change the control wire from 0-5V, though I think the fan won't start at about ~1.8V and below.

I honestly doubt you'll need anything higher rpm than the 1200s as they move air quite well with no restrictions like a radiator in the way and are dead silent. They start to make some noticeable noise at full speed meaning that if they turn faster, they'll probably be kind of annoying.