[Power Mac G5] Type of Liquid Cooling System?

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Level 1

4 points

[Power Mac G5] Type of Liquid Cooling System?

Is there any way how to determine type of LCS just by looking to the case?

We have at school old Power Mac G5 DP 2,7GHz (early 2005) which we use for editing (well for last two couple of years it just sits there and no one wants to touch this old piece of ... ). They will throw it away within a year, and since I have been taking care of it for some time, I thought I would take it home when they do so and use it as backup machine for my and my wife's data. I would like to max the memory, put there some large HDDs (and small SSD, but there seem to be a lot of problems with that) and run Linux (more problems).

But first I would have to clean the machine and look at the state of it. What particularly worries me is the LCS (all DP 2,7GHz have it) - these things were prone to leaks and what I have found there exist at least three revisions of LCS - second of them made by Panasonic seemed to be the most reliable. I cannot look inside deeply, because it has to be ready for use at least for another 3-4 months, maximum I can do is to open the case and pull out the front fans and look at the outside of the heatsink.

So this brings me to my question: Is there any way how to determine type of LCS just by looking to the case?

Thanks...

PowerMac, Mac OS X (10.5.8), null

Posted on Oct 7, 2016 6:59 AM

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Answer 1

Rysz

Level 8

44,455 points

Oct 7, 2016 7:28 AM in response to AlertChimp

Apparently, there were two models more prone to leakage than others, although still extremely rare. See this http://www.everymac.com/systems/apple/powermac_g5/faq/powermac-g5-liquid-cooling -info-leaks-issues.html

The damage done by a leaking system is pretty serious and it's almost impossible to hide or completely clean up. As soon as you open the side panel on the Power Mac, you'll be easily able to tell if that unit experianced a problem.

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Answer 2

K Shaffer

Level 8

36,070 points

Oct 8, 2016 10:43 PM in response to AlertChimp

There are a few more articles, from favored sources of the era, that may be of

some help; to have an official service manual in PDF would be handy, especially

once you could actually be able to inspect the unit deeper, via take-apart...

https://www.google.com/search?q=g5+powermac+identify+liquid+cooling+system+manufacturer+without+takeapart

A few articles from XLR8yourmac look promising; however to see the correct parts

in variant build models may require a visual guide, such as a copy of official support

technical repair manual that Apple had made available to certified authorized techs.

A few details may be found by use of MacTracker.ca download database application.

Either from the maker website or the app store; I have it from the web site. There is

a fair bit of build information to help identify the unit. By serial number may offer more.

See if this helps: :Click here to download your manual

Some may be available online, or similar information with images covering same topic.

For a time I had a few PDF service manuals for PowerMac & iMac. Not for this series.

Not sure if the iFixit.com repair guides show these monsters. Hadn't looked...

An identify by serial number could be able to show what the build hardware was per

date of manufacture; not certain how complete older archive specs are now. One is:

powerbookmedic lookup: https://www.powerbookmedic.com/identify-mac-serial.php

Hopefully you can find out by serial number, what original parts it contained.

Good luck in this matter! 🙂

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Answer 3

K Shaffer

Level 8

36,070 points

Oct 10, 2016 1:13 PM in response to AlertChimp

The everymac.com page Rysz posted is fairly helpful as it includes

additional page URLs with details -- otherwise requiring extra effort.

And points to consider with these, as they age.

You may have noticed a link to get PDF manual, within previous post;

that can be helpful to see how it was supposed to be handled at an

original service situation. However back in the day, that would have

been a fairly simple matter (if one could afford it, or under warranty)

to just throw parts at it until a solution was found. Like car mechanics.

Given these models use more power & generate heat, the cooling

systems are invariably going to need inspection, attention, & so on.

If you can get the unit for next to nothing, or get two (spare parts)

the odds could be in your favor; at least for a time. Replacement parts

are becoming harder to find. Items such as power supplies, & others.

For more casual uses, you may consider a smaller unit, such as Late 2012

Mini server, one that has seen upgrade to SSD and more RAM. The server

shipped with dual rotational hard disk drives; fairly slow 5400-RPM ones.

Hopefully any matter involving these 'aluminum space heaters' will be

an electro-mechanical delight. Yet do consider the limits of older PPC

and their reliance on vintage OS X 10.4.11 -through- 10.5.8 software.

Good luck & happy trails! 🙂

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