[PLOG] Mac G5 --> PC Conversion

[phanbuey]

haha... thats great.

 

[p_o_s_pc]

good work looks great

 

[Ahhzz]

awesome mate, nice job.

 

[Cuzza]

Yeah. You really think the temps are ok? I thought they were a bit on the hot side. I mean I would think that an air cooler could keep a 3.4GHz quad at 70C. :\

Don't ask me, I've never had watercooling, or a quad for that matter. I say if it's running and it's stable, no problem!

 

[El Fiendo]

I love the watercooled PC mingling with the herd of sheep. Freaking awesome. +1 on your sign as well.

I need to scour the local listings and see if I can find me a G5 case, or a whole one for cheap. I've been wanting to do similar for a while now.

 

[phanbuey]

yeah its pretty badass how the red stands out in the light, because they all look the same - its like mac, mac, mac, mac... that one looks.. different... so subtle, in that sinister "my f*()(ing mac is glowing red, oh wait its not a mac" way.

As far as your WC... 70C is hot.. reallllly hot (unless youre in an 80F room). My old Q6600 at 1.5V and 3.75Ghz would only hit 65C under prime small FTT. My guess is the FPI on that Stealth is really high, and if you put your hand behind the rad, there will hardly be any airflow. Those medium loons are nice, but not for a high FPI rad. They need shrouds, or they need to be in pull, preferably they should have a shround AND be in pull, and you can drop 5-10C for sure (maybe even more). Not to mention they will run noticeably quieter.

 

[angelkiller]

haha... thats great.

good work looks great

awesome mate, nice job.

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. I get the same thing during school. Nobody has ever seen a custom rig before, let alone a custom watercooled system in a Mac case.

I love the watercooled PC mingling with the herd of sheep. Freaking awesome. +1 on your sign as well.

I need to scour the local listings and see if I can find me a G5 case, or a whole one for cheap. I've been wanting to do similar for a while now.

Thanks. Definitely look for a broken one. The case is probably worth more than the innards anyway. Plus, these things are about 5 years old now so people will just starting to throw these out. In fact the guy who manages the lab (same one who gave me the case to begin with) says that he's thinking about upgrading all the other G5's to iMacs. And of course, they'll be new ones. Wonder what happens to the old ones?

Don't ask me, I've never had watercooling, or a quad for that matter. I say if it's running and it's stable, no problem!

yeah its pretty badass how the red stands out in the light, because they all look the same - its like mac, mac, mac, mac... that one looks.. different... so subtle, in that sinister "my f*()(ing mac is glowing red, oh wait its not a mac" way.

As far as your WC... 70C is hot.. reallllly hot (unless youre in an 80F room). My old Q6600 at 1.5V and 3.75Ghz would only hit 65C under prime small FTT. My guess is the FPI on that Stealth is really high, and if you put your hand behind the rad, there will hardly be any airflow. Those medium loons are nice, but not for a high FPI rad. They need shrouds, or they need to be in pull, preferably they should have a shround AND be in pull, and you can drop 5-10C for sure (maybe even more). Not to mention they will run noticeably quieter.

Ah. It didn't make it through a 12hr Linpack test, so I'm still fiddling. I've backed down to 3.2GHz now. Yeah, I've learned now that pretty much all Black Ice rads have a really high FPI. In fact, that's why I got the YL mediums instead of low. Looks like I underestimated. But I feel like a shroud would hurt 'the look' a little. It would take some careful planning to get something fit. A good idea, but I don't it's worth it. 3.2GHz is still plenty. (I can't believe I just settled for less than the max 24/7 OC) Good idea though.

I got the CPU crunching and the GPU is folding 24/7. A bit to my surprise, no issues have popped up. Win 7 is very fast and slick too. And I just have to say it again, Google Chrome is wickedly fast.

So I'll definitely keep this thread updated if anything changes. Hopefully I've provided enough description so that people who may refer to this thread in the future will have enough info.

And thanks to everyone who participated. It really made a difference.

- ak

 

[phanbuey]

Wait... so it hits 70C during LINPACK??? I that case - you're fine lol... Linpack makes prime look like easy stroll through cnn.com

 

[travisridesbikes]

hey awesome g5 mod by the way. im about to start my own g5 mod and im really liking the IR lED drive. do you think you can post the steps and the items that you used to make it. im very interested in how it was made and i cant seem to find anything on google. thanks man!

 

[angelkiller]

hey awesome g5 mod by the way. im about to start my own g5 mod and im really liking the IR lED drive. do you think you can post the steps and the items that you used to make it. im very interested in how it was made and i cant seem to find anything on google. thanks man!

Thanks!

First, let me say that I did this a few months ago, and I don't quite remember everything perfectly. But I think I documented it pretty well in this thread. So alot of the info you'll have to pull out from there. But feel free to ask questions about anything you don't understand. That's fine.

And, I'm going to assume you have a basic knowledge in electronics.

I went to Radio Shack and I got an IR LED emitter and dector. They both came in one package and I think Radio Shack only has one anyway. Next, I wired up the IR LED just like you would wire up any standard LED. I got the voltage from the 5v connector from the junction of the Molex pin and the PCB of the optical drive. Ground also came from here. But After the IR LED (aka the emitter) is wired up I had to use a bit more complex circuit for the detector. Cuzza kindly found the circuit that I needed. (great thanks to him!) I've reproduced his circuit below with my comments in red, just clarifing the parts.

One thing I think I did differently was that I used a 1000 ohm resistor instead of the 500 ohm one. The schematic diagram above is pretty self explanatory. You have the two contact points from the switch and a ground from the Molex. When the two contacts of the switch are connected (like when you press the button) the drive opens. This circuit works the same way, but uses a transistor as the switch.

When the IR detector 'sees' IR light, it allows current to pass through it. This completes the circuit of the Collector and Base of the transistor, causing a bit of current to pass through. When the transistor senses this current across its Collector and Base, it connects the Collector to the Emitter, which closes the circuit across the optical drive switch, which opens the drive.

You need a multimeter to determine which contact of the optical drive switch has voltage on it. One contact does, one doesn't. The one that does is Vin and the one that doesn't is Vout.

Hopefully that made sense. If not, feel free to ask questions.

Edit: This pic may help too:

 

[travisridesbikes]

Thanks!

First, let me say that I did this a few months ago, and I don't quite remember everything perfectly. But I think I documented it pretty well in this thread. So alot of the info you'll have to pull out from there. But feel free to ask questions about anything you don't understand. That's fine.

And, I'm going to assume you have a basic knowledge in electronics.

I went to Radio Shack and I got an IR LED emitter and dector. They both came in one package and I think Radio Shack only has one anyway. Next, I wired up the IR LED just like you would wire up any standard LED. I got the voltage from the 5v connector from the junction of the Molex pin and the PCB of the optical drive. Ground also came from here. But After the IR LED (aka the emitter) is wired up I had to use a bit more complex circuit for the detector. Cuzza kindly found the circuit that I needed. (great thanks to him!) I've reproduced his circuit below with my comments in red, just clarifing the parts.

http://img.techpowerup.org/100113/irleddiagram.png

One thing I think I did differently was that I used a 1000 ohm resistor instead of the 500 ohm one. The schematic diagram above is pretty self explanatory. You have the two contact points from the switch and a ground from the Molex. When the two contacts of the switch are connected (like when you press the button) the drive opens. This circuit works the same way, but uses a transistor as the switch.

When the IR detector 'sees' IR light, it allows current to pass through it. This completes the circuit of the Collector and Base of the transistor, causing a bit of current to pass through. When the transistor senses this current across its Collector and Base, it connects the Collector to the Emitter, which closes the circuit across the optical drive switch, which opens the drive.

You need a multimeter to determine which contact of the optical drive switch has voltage on it. One contact does, one doesn't. The one that does is Vin and the one that doesn't is Vout.

Hopefully that made sense. If not, feel free to ask questions.

Edit: This pic may help too:

http://img.techpowerup.org/100113/irledrealpic.jpg

thank you so much, i'll go out and get everything that i need hopefully tomorrow and i'll let you know how i do. if i run into any questions i know who to come to.

 

[travisridesbikes]

do you think you could label the things using this photo? the bottom right kinda confuses me and whats going on haha. thanks

 

[angelkiller]

do you think you could label the things using this photo? the bottom right kinda confuses me and whats going on haha. thanks http://img38.imageshack.us/img38/1299/img2505large.jpg

Actually, that's the simple part. You'll get it once I explain it.

Ok, so you know that the optical drive has a Molex connector on the back of it. Well on there are 4 wires on a Molex Connector. 12v, 5v and two ground wires. Well, there are 4 pins in the bottom right hand corner. Each pin is connected to the Molex connector from the back of the drive. I've labeled the voltages of each pin. This will be the same on any optical drive. (assuming it's in the same orientation. always a good idea to check with a multimeter) Anyway, look at the wired connected to the pins. The two wires on the bottom of the picture are connected to my IR LED. The positive side is connected to 5v, and the ground is connected to the ground pin. My resistors arn't pictured, but they're in that black heatshrink wrapping. It doesn't matter where you put the resistors, just make sure they're in the circuit, you can't run a LED without them. But, I have two wires connected to that ground pin. Look at my first labeled pic from my previous post. See the wire labeled Ground? Well that wire goes from the front of the drive, all the way to the back. And specifically, it goes to the ground pin from the molex connector. And I have one minor correction. You see in that previous pic where I have that 500 ohm resistor drawn? It's actually not exactly there. It's further up on the wire, but it was out of the pic, so I stuck it there. To be honest, it doesn't matter where it goes on the wire, it's all the same.

So those 4 pins are simply connected to the Molex connector and I use them as my grounds and as a voltage source.

Make sense now?

 

[travisridesbikes]

yeah it deffiantly makes a lot more sense to me now, but since you said that you used 1000ohm resistor, should i buy two 1000ohms or two 500ohm like it says in the diagrams? thanks

 

[angelkiller]

yeah it deffiantly makes a lot more sense to me now, but since you said that you used 1000ohm resistor, should i buy two 1000ohms or two 500ohm like it says in the diagrams? thanks

I don't know the values of the resistors used in the resistors for the IR LED (on the bottom of the pic) You'll have to calculate that depending on the specs of the IR LED you use. (Should be way under 100 ohms)

But for the resistor for the IR detector circuit, a 1000 ohm resistor in place of the 500 ohm resistor is fine. You might even need 2000 ohms, because my final product was still pretty sensitive.

 

[Papahyooie]

absolutely awesome. I want one.

 

[travisridesbikes]

I don't know the values of the resistors used in the resistors for the IR LED (on the bottom of the pic) You'll have to calculate that depending on the specs of the IR LED you use. (Should be way under 100 ohms)

But for the resistor for the IR detector circuit, a 1000 ohm resistor in place of the 500 ohm resistor is fine. You might even need 2000 ohms, because my final product was still pretty sensitive.

i went on the radio shack website and the only set i found was this http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2049723 im guessing its the same one you used.

so i was gonna use this PNP transistor http://www.solarbotics.com/products...ct+Search&utm_campaign=Product+Search+(Jan10)

 

[angelkiller]

absolutely awesome. I want one.

Thanks!

i went on the radio shack website and the only set i found was this http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2049723 im guessing its the same one you used.

so i was gonna use this PNP transistor http://www.solarbotics.com/products...ct+Search&utm_campaign=Product+Search+(Jan10)

That set from Radio Shack looks like what I used. You can get everything you need from Radio Shack. I think these are the transistors. And they have the resistors and such there also.

 

[travisridesbikes]

ah alright i'll try and make it out to radio shack soon. do you recommend any watt for the resistors? i was thinking maybe 1watt? but i wasnt to sure.

 

[angelkiller]

ah alright i'll try and make it out to radio shack soon. do you recommend any watt for the resistors? i was thinking maybe 1watt? but i wasnt to sure.

The wattage of the resistor depends on how much power it's dissapating.... generally, 1/4W resistors work fine. To be 100% safe, you could use 2 1/4W resistors half of the value you want. So instead of a single 1000 ohm 1/4W resistor, get two 500W, 1/4W resistors. That way, you get the same resistance, with the ability to dissipate 1/2W of energy. I doubt you would need more than that.

 

[Cuzza]

the wattage doesn't matter in this case, you can use the cheapest/smallest/lowest wattage you can find. that resistor is not going to have much current going through it, and certainly not for a long enough time to worry about overheating. the whole idea of using the transistorised circuit is so you can have a very low current through the detector diode but still trigger a substantial current to "flip the switch" on the drive.

 

[travisridesbikes]

hey whats going on man? i just got my mac g5 in the mail today and im waiting my motherboard tray in the mail but tonight i decided to try and get the power button/LED to work, i was successful at getting the button to work but the LED only goes on with the button is being held, i tryed switching the power + with the LED+ and nothing happened at all. what do you think is the reason why its only turning on when being held in?

 

[angelkiller]

hey whats going on man? i just got my mac g5 in the mail today and im waiting my motherboard tray in the mail but tonight i decided to try and get the power button/LED to work, i was successful at getting the button to work but the LED only goes on with the button is being held, i tryed switching the power + with the LED+ and nothing happened at all. what do you think is the reason why its only turning on when being held in?

You're connecting the Power LED pins to a motherboard, right? Are you sure you have the right pins?

 

[travisridesbikes]

im starting to wire the dvd drive but from the detector going to the resistor is it side C or E on the detector, and same with the emitter going to the resistor? thanks

 

[angelkiller]

im starting to wire the dvd drive but from the detector going to the resistor is it side C or E on the detector, and same with the emitter going to the resistor? thanks

Sorry for the late response.

TBH, I don't fully understand your question.

The detector is connected to a resistor and then to the Base of the transistor. The collector and emitter legs of the transistor connect across the eject switch. Study the 2nd pic in post 160 above.