Well I already started revealing some of this in maxuhmilian's Xbox 360 in an iMac G3 thread, so here goes.

I am working on fitting a PC into an iMac G3. It will have the following specs:

• Windows 7 Ultimate
• 2.66ghz Intel Core 2 Duo E7300 (will be overclocked to 3.33ghz, possibly higher we'll see )
• ATI Radeon HD4670
• 6gb RAM (4gb and 2gb stick)
• 460w Cooler Master power supply
• 1tb 7200rpm hard drive
• Integrated speakers will still work
• Integrated mic will still work
• Power light/button will still work
• 15" 1024x768 LCD monitor
• Blue and white case lighting

Pics: (because a build log is boring without them)
Here you can see the screen installed into its frame, this is where the CRT was mounted before.

It fits perfectly in the inner (structural) bezel, but the outer (decorative) bezel needs a bit of trimming.

My workspace:

Here I'm testing the motherboard, graphics card, large CPU cooler (dual 92mm fans!), and PSU for fit:

This is where the 200mm exhaust fan will be mounted:

Here's how I mounted the monitor and its driver components (strips of wood, a few screws, and hot glue):

Angle view with everything except monitor in place (nothing mounted yet, just setting there):

Here's a possible easy access drive-tray-style mounting of the hard drive. It wouldn't stick out this much, it can be pushed in to be just barely sticking out from the back.


TO-DO LIST:

• Finish side port panel
• Secure power jack
• Mount 200mm exhaust fan
• Mount motherboard/psu
• Buy speaker amp/build headphone amp/get volume knob ready
• Mount front USB ports (in the CD drive slot, since there won't be a built-in CD drive)
• Wire up power light/switch
• Wire up microphone
• Install case lighting
• Mount hard drive

Nice! Shouldn't it be at least dual-booting OS X?

Blasphemy!

Every project like this needs the appropriate software to bring it full circle.

You can run OS X 10.3 or 10.4 on PearPC, OS 9 on SheepShaver, or just plain old Hackintosh it. (The last option would give you the most stability. You should be able to run retail Snow Leopard on it since it's an SSE3 Intel, and there's probably a driver for your ATI card.)

Oh don't worry, the Gigabyte motherboard I bought had many reviews on Newegg from people who had successfully used it for Hackintosh purposes. In addition, one of the Intel iMacs uses an ATI Radeon 4670, so I should be able to find drivers for that easily.

But I'd really only make it a Hackintosh just to say I can, the primary purpose of this is to have a highly portable gaming PC.

Update!

In addition to crossing off a few smaller items on the todo list in the first post, I finished the audio board. This has a headphone amplifier and speaker amplifier, both controlled by the same volume control, where you push in the knob to mute the speakers.

I'm using this speaker amplifier module for the speakers, coupled with a high-pass filter (because 1" speakers won't play the lows, and if you filter out the lows you can play the rest of the music louder without distortion). I've gotta say, I'm super-impressed by this amplifier module. Not only is it tiny (2 11/16" x 1 5/16" x maybe 1/2" high) but it is LOUD. It powers my desktop speakers/floorstanding speakers way past the comfortable listening volume. It's also incredibly clear sounding. I may consider using this in a portable if I'm not concerned about making the smallest possible portable...

Oh and here's another pic for the sake of having pics. This is my 12v adapter to power the monitor off of the PCIe power plug, along with my home-made right angle VGA connector. I did buy an official right-angle adapter from eBay, but I didn't pay attention that closely. The guy was selling a right-angle 9-pin VGA connector.

It looks like your sound amplifier board has a rumble motor (for simulating the bass tremor that it isn't putting out?). What is that thing really?

Looking good. I like the right-angle VGA particularly.

That's the volume knob for the 15w speaker amplifier. The knob is only on it temporarily so that I can set the level, that potentiometer will be inside the case. There's another potentiometer that actually controls the volume/mute connected with the ribbon cable going off the picture (which will use the same silver knob eventually).

Very awesome. Can I get a video?

I like this project a lot. Nice work!

Will the screen adjust buttons on the LCD be functional?

I honestly haven't really touched this since Spring Break. Spring semester got pretty busy, then I for some reason was crazy enough to do a 40-hour-a-week internship plus ~6-10 hours at Target plus having a course over the summer.


I wasn't going to make them super-accessible because there isn't a really good reason for it. Once you hit auto-setup once, it's taken care of everything. There's also only one input, so you don't need to worry about an input switching button. I was thinking about making it accessible from one of the rear access panels or something, just so you wouldn't have to rip the entire thing apart if something went goofy with the monitor.

This has changed form some from the original project, so stay tuned! Now that I'm back in school I have more free time. (which is the opposite of most members )

Hey, I've been following this for a while but just got an account setup because I gave up working from the information I had. Can you give me specs on your monitor? I'm looking to do this exact thing, and I've only found two places that are doing it the way that I'd hope. The other source quit and isn't doing anything else. I've got an iMac G3 Tray Loading and an impatient GF (it's hers) and I refuse to start without fixing the monitor first.

I used a Sylvania 15" monitor. It's a pretty old model. What I looked for primarily was a monitor that didn't have the 3-prong AC jack but rather had an external power brick. Makes it much easier, especially in the case of the monitor I have that just takes 12VDC. 12VDC is really easy to get from whatever you're hacking into the iMac, whether it's an Xbox or a PC or whatever. You sometimes can get lucky with a monitor that DOES have the 3-prong AC jack and the internal power supply is separate from the LCD controller board. If you're buying a monitor, I wouldn't bet on that though. You could post a WTB thread here asking for this; alternatively, you may be able to find something similar via Google.

As far as fitting it into the iMac, you have to completely disassemble the monitor. Typically the part that is so wide on LCD monitors is just the decorative plastic part, the actual panel is usually quite a bit smaller.

I've found this one. It looks like it'll work.

So, assuming it works....I splice cables from my PSU into the 2-pronged wires to feed 12V into the monitor and that's it? I'm fairly handy, but electronics and I aren't good friends. I think that's all I'd need to do. Thoughts?

Yep that's pretty much it. Just make sure you get the polarity right, match the polarity noted on the monitor/power brick. I bought a barrel plug from Radioshack so I didn't even have to take off the power jack from the monitor, but you could do without that if you wanted.