Mac Pro case switch?

[soupmoose]

I'm on the market to purchase a Mac Pro so that I can run some OSX-specific apps. The problem is, the damn case is too basic. I would prefer to have some 5.25" slots so that I can mount a SATA backplane for easy access to hard drives. And I would like it to be rack-mountable. Among other things...

So. Is is possbile/reasonable to strip all of the components from inside apple's case and put them all in a standard ATX computer case? Yeah, I know, the apple case is actually kinda sexy. But it doesn't have what I need!

(As an alternative to all this, someone could convince Mr. Jobs to let OSX run on x86 hardware. Legally. Just a thought/wish.)

Thanks in advance!

 

[Nathelion]

umm it seems like a sort of silly project to me, but to my knowledge Apple uses the same standard hardware as everyone else, so it should be doable...? I have no practical experience to confirm this assumption with though. As to OSX running on x86 hardware, since Apple has started using Intel processors, there is no difference in processor architecture.

 

[soupmoose]

OK, good deal, I'm hoping the screw holes are in the standard places.

All I meant by running OSX on x86 architecture was that I hoped it was legally allowable .

 

[tungtung]

If I would haphazardly guess. The motherboard is most likely an E-ATX type, the kind they have for server boards (since the Mac Pro is indeed based on Xeon processors).

However if you can look first at a Mac Pro unit before deciding to buy one then trying to move it to another case. For one Mac's are built like rocks, it's pretty hard to remove components that their engineer felt the average user should never have access to. If you've read around there are articles about changing the CPU for the earlier Mac Pro to a higher end Xeon processors (could be by Anandtech, but I honestly can't remember, since it was a while back). It was documented there how hard it was trying to figure out how to remove the heatsink.

Other than that as 'Nathelion' said, their component are most likely standard PC type components. But yea my point is that removing the stuff from the Mac Pro case is most likely the hardest part, and keep in mind that reassembling the thing might not be easy either. One thing to note, look at that memory raiser card thingy. I've never seen a standard PC board with that kind of setup yet, and the installation of that riser board seems to be supported by some brackets which is part of the case itself.

If you really want a rack mount unit ... why not try pick up used Xserve ? Those are rackmount off the bat already, though the price may throw a big wrench in your plan.

I would say probably installing OS X on a regular PC might end up to be an easier path to go rather than buying a Mac Pro and then moving the whole setup to a regular PC case. Although as you said before it is illegal to do so unfortunately.

 

[Keitero]

The Mac Pro is a E-BTX design (Extended board size); so you would need a chassis that could fit such a board.