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I've got a gutted Mac Pro G3 tower which I'm thinking of building a machine into. What form factor should the motherboard be and what are some good starting points for parts?

I'm not necessarily looking into Apple parts per sé. I'd be fine installing Windows in there too.

EDIT:

The tower looks like this, except the front drive and panel is missing.

enter image description here

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Confirm that its a G3 PowerMac? everymac.com/systems/apple/powermac_g3/stats/… – RobZolkos Apr 22 '11 at 0:15
@RobZolkos - No, it's not. It's a blue "Smurf". – Moshe Apr 22 '11 at 0:32
Thanks for posting the image - it reminded me of an article I saw many years ago. See my edited answer. – CajunLuke Apr 22 '11 at 17:56
That's not a Mac Pro, it's a PowerMac G3. – Sherm Pendley Apr 22 '11 at 18:46
@ShermPendley Oh, ok, my mistake. – Moshe Apr 22 '11 at 18:47

1 Answer

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I don't know what motherboard setup they used, but it might be ATX. Can you post some images of the innards and the backside? Then we might be more able to say what would be doable.

(Edit: it'd definitely possible: here's instructions from someone doing essentially what you're talking about: http://www.inventgeek.com/projects/p4mac/OverView.aspx.)

I have a Sawtooth PowerMac G4 and it has a fairly standard ATX motherboard. I'm planning on pulling its innards out and putting a microATX board in there. I'd recommend getting the ATX specifications and a ruler and seeing if all the holes are in more or less the right place. So what you're thinking of is definitely possible.

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