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Axo1ot1 · Jul 21, 2003, 06:35 PM

The single processor G5s have tons and tons of open space where the second processor would be. It wouldn't be hard to stick 6 or 8 drives (albeit ghetto-mounted) in the enclosure, and if you put another fan in for them you might not melt a hole in the Earth's crust while you're at it

Eriamjh · Jul 22, 2003, 06:01 AM

Another, albeit slightly more expensive solution, is to use a "Notebook HD on a PCI card" from Sonnet.

Otherwise, you could try cramming a HD above the CD-rom drive or precariously mounting one in the unused processor space or even PCI space. Hard to say how well it will work until hardware ships.

silverlode · Jul 22, 2003, 08:57 AM

Don't take this as discouragement...I'm all for people doing crazy, innovative stuff, but...

Why would you want to risk voiding your warranty, frying you machine, etc.? We can assume that there's at least one internal IDE channel for the optical drive, but we have no idea if it will accept slave devices. Why not just get an external solution? I seems to make so much more sense, and the cost is probably equal to the hassle of getting something like this to work.

ss1 · Jul 22, 2003, 10:16 AM

Well there will be at least one spare SATA for another hard drive and also the spare slave IDE port that comes with the optical drive as well.

Beyond that you'll start having to look at PCI SATA expansion cards to give more hard drives - assuming that of course you can find some where to put them.

Eriamjh · Jul 22, 2003, 12:03 PM

Here's a question: Which is faster: Access to a PCI card for a SATA or PATA HD, or an external FW(800 or 400) HD?

Why?

Forget about all the "inside the case" arguments. Irrelevant to the question.

Which will benchmark better? Why?

Axo1ot1 · Jul 22, 2003, 12:36 PM

Originally posted by Eriamjh:
Hard to say how well it will work until hardware ships.

Looking in the 1.6 G5 we have at work, I'd say there is plenty of room in there to put a whole mess of hard drives in, as long as you had enough power to operate and cool them.

Eug · Jul 22, 2003, 01:33 PM

Originally posted by Axo1ot1:
Looking in the 1.6 G5 we have at work, I'd say there is plenty of room in there to put a whole mess of hard drives in, as long as you had enough power to operate and cool them.

??? Where do you work, and can you post pix of the 1.6 internals (assuming you're not joking about the 1.6)? I'd be particularly interested in how the CPU is mounted and what is done for the space for the second CPU.

Axo1ot1 · Jul 22, 2003, 01:54 PM

Originally posted by Eug:
??? Where do you work, and can you post pix of the 1.6 internals (assuming you're not joking about the 1.6)? I'd be particularly interested in how the CPU is mounted and what is done for the space for the second CPU.

I can't really post pics, but I can tell you that the CPU is mounted exactly like the upper processor in the dual processor model, leaving the space where the second would be (the area below the heat sink) wide open. It's like a shelf. It doesn't have the fans that would otherwise cool the second processor, but I imagine it would be possible to add those in to cool hard drives. The biggest issues are getting enough power, and getting the SCSI cable from the PCI compartment down into the processor area.

Eug · Jul 22, 2003, 03:04 PM

Originally posted by Axo1ot1:
I can't really post pics, but I can tell you that the CPU is mounted exactly like the upper processor in the dual processor model, leaving the space where the second would be (the area below the heat sink) wide open. It's like a shelf. It doesn't have the fans that would otherwise cool the second processor, but I imagine it would be possible to add those in to cool hard drives. The biggest issues are getting enough power, and getting the SCSI cable from the PCI compartment down into the processor area.

Is there an actual CPU socket or whatever for it though? Or would the CPU have to be soldered to the motherboard?

Axo1ot1 · Jul 22, 2003, 04:50 PM

There is a CPU header, but the second processor would have to be soldered on.

awcopus · Jul 24, 2003, 08:10 AM

Originally posted by Axo1ot1:
The biggest issues are getting enough power, and getting the SCSI cable from the PCI compartment down into the processor area.

Okay. And what do you think about this option. Looking at it, can you see a way to do it?

This is certainly an intriguing solution for any potential G5 buyers willing to forego a dual processor config to have more storage internally. Looking forward to your response. I don't count myself as among those, but it's still a cool possibility for the adventurous out there.