# Macintosh LC II Mod



## Cuzza (Sep 27, 2010)

Hi everybody!

It's been a while since I did any sort of modding, or gaming, or anything exciting computer wise; the Sega SC-3000HC has been sitting quietly waiting for a new heatsink, my socket A rig is tucked away under my desk without even an OS, my Samsung notebook is doing everything including Sketchup case design duties (it struggles the poor wee thing) and my Macintosh LC II which I bought last year with the intention of modding has been hiding in the top of the wardrobe.

But no longer! The Mac has emerged and crazy ideas are starting to fly around in my head.

Here are some pics of what they call the "Pizza Box" Mac:





















Here's the inside:






All the bits unclip and slide out! It's so easy, no screws, you can assemble this thing in about 20 seconds if you know what you are doing.










The insides are lined with thin metal sheeting. Perhaps for EMF shielding? I'm not sure. But I pulled them out anyway.






Now I'm starting to realise that there isn't much room in the box. My half-arsed measuring tells me there is about 41mm of height to play with in there. And here's the thing - I really would like to make this thing into a gaming PC, because I don't have one right now. Obviously not a triple-SLI death rig, but something respectable. How the heck can I do that? I'm working on it.  Stay tuned folks.


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## Cuzza (Sep 27, 2010)

Hey guys, guess who's back on the modding horse? *celebrates*

This project is now dedicated to my late father






RIP Dad.

Now I'm planning to take this mod a bit more seriously than my last project, the Sega (which I built with a soldering iron and an angle grinder), and I may even splash out on a Dremel.

But first I need to work out what the heck I am making, and that means planning, and that means our old friend SketchUp. Thanks to my Dad's tools which are now my tools, I now have calipers and other measuring devices and can do this properly:






So I measured it all up and guess what? My hamfisted estimates of the amount of height I'd have to work with in the case were dead on, 41mm.

A wee while later and here's the lovely beige model, complete with apple logo:












The case is in two parts so I can slot things in and out, easy peasy. Not too much detail in the case, I could spend all day putting in slots and grooves and stuff. Maybe another day when I'm bored.

That's all for now, spot you next time.


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## Cuzza (Sep 29, 2010)

A couple of quick screenies of what I'm working on:





That's right folks, water cooling!






There's even room for a fan underneath


/teaser


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## Frick (Sep 29, 2010)

Take a look at this one:

[Case Gallery]   iHac

PCI-E riser!

Looking good btw.


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## mlee49 (Sep 29, 2010)

Yeah but that doesn't have WC! lol 

Smallest pump I know is the DDC355/350.  Is that still too big? Looks like it will fit ok.


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## Frick (Sep 29, 2010)

mlee49 said:


> Yeah but that doesn't have WC! lol



Aye, but it's a neat job on fitting it all in there anyways. Might give ol Cuzza some ideas.


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## Cuzza (Sep 29, 2010)

Oh yes, I will definitely need a PCI-E riser, that's a given, but I don't know where to actually mount the card. Normally it would sit horizontally on the riser but the PSU is in the way, and there's nowhere else to put the PSU. or is there? working on that one.

@mlee49, thanks for the suggestion. gonna sketchup one of those and see where it can fit.


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## pantherx12 (Sep 29, 2010)

92/80mm rad perhaps?


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## (FIH) The Don (Sep 29, 2010)

perhaps you should just dump the dvd drive? and get an external slim drive or similar? 

then you have some extra room

and btw, use 90c fittings on all the things, 

if i were you i would use something like this for pump http://www.aquatuning.co.uk/product_info.php/info/p5079_Laing-DDC-pump-12V-DDC-1T.html

dunno what you should use for reservoir, maybe something custom


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## Cuzza (Sep 29, 2010)

pantherx12 said:


> 92/80mm rad perhaps?



I didn't know you could get such things. But now I do. http://www.dangerden.com/store/micro-80mm-style-radiators/

This could work.....


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## (FIH) The Don (Sep 29, 2010)

just to be sure...you do know that those small rads are 50mm thick right?


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## Cuzza (Sep 29, 2010)

(FIH) The Don said:


> perhaps you should just dump the dvd drive? and get an external slim drive or similar?
> 
> then you have some extra room
> 
> ...



No way, gotta have the DVD drive. 

What's 90c ? yes I am a watercooling noob

Yes, a pump like that should fit. And custom res definitely.

EDIT: And yes I see the rads are rather fat, but I think I can make that work.


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## (FIH) The Don (Sep 29, 2010)

sorry, 90 degree fittings 

well, you have to get rid of something to make room for a gfx somehow

unless you wanna make the case higher


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## Cuzza (Sep 29, 2010)

I take it back, I can't make it work. The 80mm rads are too thick.

I think I have found another way to mount the PSU that will leave space for the gfx card. But it doesn't leave any space for the pump. I was wondering, could I get one of those CPU blocks with the built-in pump, and mod it to cool the gfx card too?


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## Cuzza (Sep 29, 2010)

Thanks for the thoughts folks... I've been trying different combinations and moving things around, here's what I have:

(by the way, the black rectangular thing represents the pump)

*Option A:*

The motherboard is moved to the other side of the case. The PSU is mounted in a hole in the bottom of the case, sloping lengthways. This frees up space for the graphics card. The problem with this option is the PCI-E riser will need a very long ribbon which is not ideal. 














*Option B:*

The motherboard stays in its original location. The PSU is mounted crossways beneath the ODD in a hole in the case. Graphics card is placed in the orthodox location.
This option leaves one end of the PSU clearly visible from the exterior which I don't like. But if I could cover it with a piece of beige plastic it might look OK.










I have a third, somewhat crazier option as well, but that is going to need a bit more sketchupping.

What do you all think of this so far?


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## t_ski (Sep 29, 2010)

What if you used some kind of external power supply?  I have seen some mini-ITX cases that used an external AC adapter style PSU, which allowed the case to be smaller since it did not have to house the PSU.

Like this one:

APEX MW-107V Black Metal Mini-ITX Tower Computer C...


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## (FIH) The Don (Sep 29, 2010)

t_ski said:


> What if you used some kind of external power supply?  I have seen some mini-ITX cases that used an external AC adapter style PSU, which allowed the case to be smaller since it did not have to house the PSU.
> 
> Like this one:
> 
> APEX MW-107V Black Metal Mini-ITX Tower Computer C...



meh, look at what he is powering

dont think that psu would last 1 sec


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## Cuzza (Sep 29, 2010)

Thanks t_ski, but The Don is right. I'm going to need 250W minimum for this thing


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## t_ski (Sep 30, 2010)

What about fabricating your own so it's external?  Find some kind of mini PSU and redo the housing and cables.  Just a thought...


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## Cuzza (Sep 30, 2010)

All thoughts are appreciated, that is an option if I can't get it to work any other way!

Anyway, I've been busy sketchupping the actual motherboard I want to use in this mod:


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## pantherx12 (Sep 30, 2010)

Ahh shame about those rads, I have seen 25mm thick ones somewhere though, in xbox 360 modifications : /


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## Yukikaze (Sep 30, 2010)

Subscribed. This has all the look of an epic system in the making.

BTW, have you considered using a low profile GTS450 or HD5750 for a GPU? Unless you were planning on fitting a more powerful GPU in there, one of these two should save you up some space.


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## Cuzza (Sep 30, 2010)

Hi Yukikaze! Yes, a low profile 5750 is near the top of my list, but if I can fit something better (and power it!) I will.


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## Cuzza (Oct 1, 2010)

in fact, I sketchupped one of those too:


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## Cuzza (Oct 1, 2010)

OK guys I think I have cracked this one!!

I figure I can put the gfx card upside down over the motherboard like this. That leaves plenty of room for all the other components.






An angled DVI or HDMI connector will be able to get in the back of the case to the graphics card.

You can also see in this pic I have taken the chipset heatsink off the motherboard. There are no other clearance issues.






Now, if we zoom in, what do we find? CPU, GPU, NB, SB, all together like a wee chip family.






Only one thing to do with this situation: a custom waterblock to cool them all in one fell swoop!
Bear in mind this is a just a concept, the actual block will probably need a bit more thought put into it.






A couple of fittings on there and voila! The gfx card can be screwed down onto the waterblock to hold it in place.






What do you all reckon? Can this work? Am I crazy? (remember I have never done watercooling before so I don't know wtf I am doing here)


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## ERazer (Oct 1, 2010)

looking good bud, my question is u gonna make ur own block? (cnc)


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## Cuzza (Oct 1, 2010)

No, I can't make it myself, don't have access that sort of equipment.


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## miahallen (Oct 2, 2010)

Looks like it might be rather impossible to fit the PCIe flexi-riser in there......to be sure if it's not impossible, it'll be a puzzle in and of itself


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## Cuzza (Oct 2, 2010)

I think it's possible, the riser board will fit like this







and the ribbon is a bit of a pain but I'll run it over the top and is should get there. will be rather long though, about 230mm I think


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## Cuzza (Oct 10, 2010)

Right guys, conceptually nothing much has changed recently. I have been sketchupping a lot though, looking up dimensions and doing things properly.

Here's the latest design for the heatsink, those screws look crap so I'll change them. 






Now I'm currently working on sketchupping the tubing, the pump and the res. Pics to come.


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## Yukikaze (Oct 10, 2010)

This is impressive and ambitious. I wanna see the end product!


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## Gas2100 (Oct 10, 2010)

countersunk black allen bolts would look better then them screws


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## wolf (Oct 10, 2010)

what an insane idea! subbed. I'd like to think there is a better way to situate that low profile gfx card, but given you've run all the dimensions, you might well be onto one of the only possible combinations. and a 5750 IMO is plenty of power for the kind of unique system you are building, pair it with a 19-22" monitor, and when you rock up to lans people will be utterly amazed, especially when you say its w/c.


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## NAVI_Z (Oct 10, 2010)

interesting build there my friend. cant wait to see it up and running!! subbed.


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## Red_Machine (Oct 10, 2010)

Agreed.  Awesome build idea.  Subbed.


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## Solaris17 (Oct 10, 2010)

use a slimline dvd drive and get a pico PSU


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## Yukikaze (Oct 10, 2010)

Solaris17 said:


> use a slimline dvd drive and get a pico PSU



A pico PSU with a HD5750 ? That's not going to work.

Of course, he could use two of those and split the load between the two, but that's going to be relatively tricky.


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## Solaris17 (Oct 10, 2010)

Yukikaze said:


> A pico PSU with a HD5750 ? That's not going to work.
> 
> Of course, he could use two of those and split the load between the two, but that's going to be relatively tricky.



sure it would depending on what wattage he got. and splicing PSU's isnt all that hard their are multiple people on this forum that have done it and their are guides on doing such. it really isnt a difficult concept.


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## Yukikaze (Oct 10, 2010)

Solaris17 said:


> sure it would depending on what wattage he got. and splicing PSU's isnt all that hard their are multiple people on this forum that have done it and their are guides on doing such. it really isnt a difficult concept.



I believe the highest-rated Pico-PSU is a 150W one.


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## MohawkAngel (Oct 10, 2010)

Could take a cheap brand psu remove the other casing dump it inside the case and instead of high rise metal heatsink inside the psu put a 120mm right on it. just suggesting but dont know if it will fit.


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## Deleted member 89070 (Oct 11, 2010)

Good luck if this goes ahead, looks real good!


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## Cuzza (Oct 11, 2010)

Gas2100 said:


> countersunk black allen bolts would look better then them screws



Definitely. The screws are just placeholders!



wolf said:


> what an insane idea! subbed. I'd like to think there is a better way to situate that low profile gfx card, but given you've run all the dimensions, you might well be onto one of the only possible combinations. and a 5750 IMO is plenty of power for the kind of unique system you are building, pair it with a 19-22" monitor, and when you rock up to lans people will be utterly amazed, especially when you say its w/c.



Thanks. I have tried a lot of combinations and every method means some sort of compromise. I can mount the gfx card in an orthodox fashion but then I would have to mount the PSU somewhere strange and have it hanging out. Ultimately what I have come up with is the most space efficient. It's not perfect but it is very interesting and the idea of this waterblock is a lot of fun to try to design so even if there are better ways I like this way.


Solaris17 said:


> use a slimline dvd drive and get a pico PSU



I do have a slimline DVD in there......



Yukikaze said:


> A pico PSU with a HD5750 ? That's not going to work.
> 
> Of course, he could use two of those and split the load between the two, but that's going to be relatively tricky.



I did consider picoPSU, you can get PSUs designed for in-car applications that do 250W which would almost be enough for this computer.... but the more watts you want out of the DC-DC PSU the bigger power brick you have to get, and those high wattage power bricks are hard enough to find let alone pay for.... so i'll give that a miss for now thanks.



MohawkAngel said:


> Could take a cheap brand psu remove the other casing dump it inside the case and instead of high rise metal heatsink inside the psu put a 120mm right on it. just suggesting but dont know if it will fit.



I'd rather not use a cheap PSU. But I see what you are saying and I will certainly be open to modding whatever PSU I do use, might free up some space. Don't really like the 40mm fans that come in flex-ATX and 1U PSU's, noisy little fuckers.


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## Cuzza (Oct 12, 2010)

This is the (almost) final layout. I have labelled a few things for you (I know some of them are pretty obvious!) and also put in some arrows to show the cooling loop.

New since last time are the pump and fittings which I have modelled myself, the tubing, and the reservoir. I was greatly inspired on the reservoir by craigbru's Project Hutch . The thin sandwich acrylic should work nicely here, there is the angle in the case which gives some fall along the res and the res where it is can feed the pump from above which is ideal.


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## Red_Machine (Oct 12, 2010)

Looking great.  I might just get into this sort of thing in the future.

I would suggest painting the front of the optical drive to make it match the shell of the LC as much as possible.  Either that or get a slot-loading one!  Then all you'd have to do is extend the floppy drive slot.


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## mlee49 (Oct 12, 2010)

Cuzza said:


> http://forums.losias.net/gallery/image.php?album_id=22&image_id=316
> 
> This is the (almost) final layout. I have labelled a few things for you (I know some of them are pretty obvious!) and also put in some arrows to show the cooling loop.
> 
> New since last time are the pump and fittings which I have modelled myself, the tubing, and the reservoir. I was greatly inspired on the reservoir by craigbru's Project Hutch . The thin sandwich acrylic should work nicely here, there is the angle in the case which gives some fall along the res and the res where it is can feed the pump from above which is ideal.



Just a word of caution, a res right over your ssd/hdd's may be a questionable idea.  All the times I had leaks was due to my res.


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## Completely Bonkers (Oct 12, 2010)

I love retro-builds.  Looking great... and nice job on the CAD work.

I wouldnt advise the offset/angled squeezed design. I think you are asking for more headaches and heat issues.  I would think "out of the box". Get that radiator out of the box and free up some space.  Why not pick up an old mac accessory like this and turn that into an external rad case?






yes, I know that the is an EVEN EARLIER generation accessory that doesnt really fit the LC, but the old logo is beautiful, it has a metal case good for heat dissipation (you in the plastic pizza box original design is going to struggle to get the heat OFF the radiator) and the whole combination would fit together aesthetically. The "in use" LED would look cool. You could even get it to change colour depending on temperature of water. Or if that was too tricky, then just use it as the HDD LED.


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## Cuzza (Oct 12, 2010)

Red_Machine said:


> I would suggest painting the front of the optical drive to make it match the shell of the LC as much as possible.  Either that or get a slot-loading one!  Then all you'd have to do is extend the floppy drive slot.



Oh yeah definitely going for a slot-load. Maybe it doesn't look like it in the pic but it is supposed to be. Once the floppy slot is a bit longer no one will ever know.



mlee49 said:


> Just a word of caution, a res right over your ssd/hdd's may be a questionable idea.  All the times I had leaks was due to my res.



OK I'll keep that in mind. Maybe I can put in some drip-shields or something....



Completely Bonkers said:


> I love retro-builds.  Looking great... and nice job on the CAD work.
> 
> I wouldnt advise the offset/angled squeezed design. I think you are asking for more headaches and heat issues.  I would think "out of the box". Get that radiator out of the box and free up some space.  Why not pick up an old mac accessory like this and turn that into an external rad case?



Thanks for the input, that would definitely be a cool idea and using an accessory box is an idea I have toyed with but not for the rad, I was mostly thinking for the PSU. Ultimately I want to keep this all-in-one and am willing to compromise in other areas. If I build it and the thing overheats and melts down, I won't come crying to you, promise!

Besides that sort of stuff is hard to find in this country


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## [Ion] (Oct 12, 2010)

That looks really nice, I especially like the all-in-one WB.

What CPU are you planning on?

And do you think that you can cool everything with a 140.1 rad?


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## reidras (Oct 16, 2010)

*Reservoir*

Could you not put the reservoir in the long foot at the front of the case or would it be too small and awkward to work with?


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## Cuzza (Oct 16, 2010)

[Ion] said:


> That looks really nice, I especially like the all-in-one WB.
> 
> What CPU are you planning on?
> 
> And do you think that you can cool everything with a 140.1 rad?



I was thinking of getting a 910e . If I can find one. Keeping it low power should mean the 1 rad will suffice.



reidras said:


> Could you not put the reservoir in the long foot at the front of the case or would it be too small and awkward to work with?



Perhaps, but I wanted to mount the res at the high point in the case, so it is above the pump


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## Cuzza (Apr 1, 2012)

Well, what a blowout this project turned out to be. Nothing has happened in ages. I have decided to drop the whole complicated waterblock idea. It was a fascinating design concept, but the whole thing is flawed and over complicated. I am going to simplify the rig and make it into a HTPC. I'm eyeing up a trinity APU when they come out.


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## Cuzza (Apr 12, 2012)

First update in ages! Hold your breath..... lol







I bought this little flex-ATX PSU for the grand sum of $1. And it it in mint condition, looks unused, no dust at all. Hope it works! Only 150W, but with a low-power APU and only a couple of drives, I should be fine.

The PSU pictured above arrived last night and is now sitting in the mac case. I am a bit gutted however. It appears that my estimates of the space inside the case were a bit out. I estimated 41mm of height in there. The PSU is 40mm. It appears to be 1mm too tall. So only 2mm out, but enough to screw me around. But don't worry; I'll make it work.

Anyway, I got cutting with knives and saws and pliers today and made a new opening in the rear of the case for the PSU power plug and ventilation. Check the pics.

Making a mess!






Here is the hole:






And here with the PSU in place:






Now, two weeks later, I bought myself a birthday present:






Time to Dremel.

So you may recall that the PSU was 1mm too tall. So I have spent about 2 hours cutting and grinding and sanding at the raised edges in one corner of the mac case. Just had to take them down a little bit, still a serious job.

Here's the result. Compare right of pic, that's what it used to all look like:






I also extended the slot I cut in the rear of the case for the power connector and tidied up around the edges. 
Here's how it looks now with the PSU in place:






So that's all for now. I have a slot-load BD drive on its way and mounting that baby is going to be tricky. Motherboard is still over the horizon.


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## InnocentCriminal (Apr 12, 2012)

WAYHEY! Worklog.

Likin' it so far. 

Good luck, sub'd.


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## NAVI_Z (Apr 12, 2012)

some people have all the fun.


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## Cuzza (Apr 13, 2012)

Today's progress: minimal. But slow and steady gets you there.

What I have done is cut a hole in the underside of the case for the PSU fan. It will bring in cool air and expel it out the rear of the case. Remember that there is no space inside the case above the PSU so it would be useless if I had  put it up the other way, and I sure ain't cutting a hole in the top! Added bonus, the fan mount screws serve as the mounting screws for the entire PSU and she is in there very solidly.


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## NdMk2o1o (Apr 13, 2012)

Nice log, though has to have the record for slowest as well


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## Cuzza (May 16, 2012)

OK team, back to Mac

Tonight I have been making up some mounts for the BD drive. This took a long time to get right. I butchered an old laptop and cut up the interior parts for some strips of metal I could bend and cut to the right size, and be able to shorten them and bend them differently in order to get the thing sitting at the right height inside the case. So the dremel and the drill and the scissors (who needs tin-snips?) have been busy.

Here's one of the finished mounts:






Yeah, it looks like sh*t, but it works, and its the right height. Maybe further down the track I can measure it up and make a nicer looking one.

Here are two of them together:






These front ones are crucial to get right because they will set the thing at the right height for the slot in the front of the case lid. The back brackets ain't as important, in fact I think I will only screw one of them down. 

Here is the drive in place:






Still need to make some slight adjustments - you can see it is not quite level. That should be easy enough.

Next step - wait for a suitable trinity motherboard to come on the market. Patience is a virtue.


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## Cuzza (May 26, 2012)

Self explanatory really.

Make sure you wait til the end. Takes 20 secs of so for the drive to load up, then eject itself on instruction from the OS.

And yes, that is Rod Stewart playing in the background.


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## micropage7 (May 26, 2012)

subbed
cool project


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## Cuzza (Dec 21, 2012)

It's happening again!! 

OK update time:

Thanks to the brilliant people at AlphaCity.co.nz and PBT Couriers, my board and CPU turned up about 6 hours after the order was processed... Frickin' outstanding.

Anyway, here's a shot of the board and associated parts. Phew!! All running sweet on the 150W psu.







The big issue is that the stock heatsink has no chance of fitting into the mac case. So, time to mod!

Take 1x thermaltake DuOrb:






Cut in half:







Try to fit on the motherboard:







Guess what, it fits perfectly, and exactly the right height to fit in the mac case.... now how to mount it to the board??

So I spent the afternoon with a hacksaw, drill and dremel. Mutilated a AM3 mounting bracket, and some pieces of aluminium off-cuts. The result?











The cooler works perfectly, and the CPU is sitting at 10 degrees above ambient in the BIOS. Then I undervolted it and dropped another 3 degrees. So I'm confident the cooler can handle this workload.


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## Wrigleyvillain (Dec 21, 2012)

Looking forward to seeing more...


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## Cuzza (Jan 4, 2013)

OK, another minor update.

2 things:

1. RAM has arrived! Shiny Kingston DDR3 1600MHz. I was worried I might need low profile but regular memory fits.

2. I have cut out the back of the case for the plugs and connectors. Admittedly I could have used a backplate and all that but I wanted to leave as much of the case in place for structural integrity. Check the pics.






<---------->






So to get this thing running properly I need to order myself a SSD. After that it is just cable management and tidying up a few loose ends.


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## InnocentCriminal (Jan 5, 2013)

Good stuff!


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## wolf2 (Aug 20, 2014)

fine mod especially that it has more power than my MSI-945GSE-A atom board.
any speed facts about your mod? how fast at what temperature is it?


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## Cuzza (Apr 29, 2017)

Crikey frickin heck Cuzza returns!

4 years since I did anything on this project. You know why? Kids is why. When I last posted in this thread I had none. Now I have three. Priorities huh.

Anyway, I got out the drill, dremel again today and attacked the Mac. Check it out.

Here is the system as it is currently set up:





The only things different here to in earlier posts: (a) the mobo is screwed down. (b) those mutilated blue brackets for mounting the cooler? I forgot to put them in. But it seems to work OK. (c) Cable dangling out the back is power button. This will be mounted at some point.

What I did today was drill some holes in the top cover for the CPU cooler to draw in air. This kinda spoils the "stock" appearance of the case. But I don't care anymore. I just wanted to get on and do something to this project to make it useful.






I was dubious at the beginning, but considering my rudimentary techniques, the end result is not half bad.






I had to attack the raised sections of plastic because these were making contact with the fan. Not much clearance in there!

Here it is with the lid on, all powered up:






Mint! Fan is still kinda loud though. Need to drop the voltage on that one. 

Stay tuned... I might even finish this project one day soon. Peace to all the old school TPU guys who are still rockin this place. And hi to the n00bs.

- Cuzz out.


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## insane 360 (May 18, 2017)

very cool.  what you need to game on it would be a gaming pc setup for streaming and just use steam in-home streaming.  very cool project!


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