Macintosh LC II Mod

[Cuzza]

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.

 

[Cuzza]

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.

 

[Cuzza]

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

 

[Frick]

Take a look at this one:

[Case Gallery] iHac

PCI-E riser!

Looking good btw.

 

[mlee49]

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.

 

[Frick]

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.

 

[Cuzza]

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.

 

[pantherx12]

92/80mm rad perhaps?

 

[(FIH) The Don]

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

 

[Cuzza]

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.....

 

[(FIH) The Don]

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

 

[Cuzza]

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

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.

 

[(FIH) The Don]

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

 

[Cuzza]

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?

 

[Cuzza]

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?

 

[t_ski]

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...

 

[(FIH) The Don]

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

 

[Cuzza]

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

 

[t_ski]

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

 

[Cuzza]

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:

 

[pantherx12]

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

 

[Yukikaze]

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.

 

[Cuzza]

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.

 

[Cuzza]

in fact, I sketchupped one of those too:

 

[Cuzza]

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)