I am looking for a replacement case that will accept a G4 PowerMac mobo, which could be both quieter and also have more external accessible CD/DVD & Zip/Floppy drive bays. I would like it to have 1, or 2 - 5.25" and 2 - 3.5" externally accessible drive bays, as I want to have both a Floppy drive connected to my Catweasel card, and the Zip optical floppy drive that I currently have, as it is a great quick way to transfer files that are too large for regular floppy disks to and from my Classic Amiga computers that have internal or external Zip drives, but no Ethernet connection. An extra external drive bay for a 7-in-1, or 9-in-1 card reader would be cool too, if I could find one that works with MorphOS2.x.

I do like the ease of access and the space for 4 hard drives (I just bought a second hard drive cage that fits under the DVD & Zip drive cage and accepts 1, or 2 half height hdd's) in the original PowerMac case, but I am not crazy about the way they look and it currently makes too much noise for my liking. Considering the size of the G4 PowerMac case with its 3 IDE controllers and room for up to 2 CD/DVD drives and up to 4 hard drives, it is more expandable than the G5 PowerMac case that only has room for 1 CD/DVD drive, zero external 3.5" drive bays, only 2 internal hard drive bays, and has less AGP/PCI slots, in a case that is much larger.

Sorry for such a long post. If any of you have found any good replacement cases for the G4 PowerMac that meet the needs I have outlined above, let me know, or post some pictures & links to where the case can be bought. I don't want to spend a ton of money on a new case, but if it meets all my needs and is a high quality, good looking case, I won't mind spending a bit to get what I need and want. Customizing it to be a MorphOS case would be a bonus too.

[ Edited by amigadave on 2010/12/8 18:44 ]

From your description, you're using an MDD Powermac. I've never seen this board installed cleanly in another case.
Yes, its noisier than earlier Powermacs, but overall it seems to be a pretty good design (heavy though).
I don't see any real alternatives to either the G$ or G%'s standard cases.

such a case doesn't exist, but i've seen some powermac mods n the web, so if you're brave enough you can make one yourself.

Quote:

That surprises me, as I have read about a conversion from a PowerMac to another case, but it might have been an earlier G4 PowerMac and not the MDD model.

Hmmm .... I guess I might have to rethink this, or get creative and "Hack" some kind of custom case to get what I want. There are tons of crazy custom mod cases out there that people have created out of all kinds of objects, including other computer cases.

Oh well, no hurry on that project. I have plenty of other things to occupy my free time and the original case will work as is.

Edit: @Jim, Yes, the G4 PowerMac MDD case is a great design, IMO, but not the most attractive to look at. If it had an additional 3.5" external accessible drive bay I would not bother even thinking about putting it into something else. I just want to have both a Floppy drive w/Catweasel and my Zip drive at the same time.

[ Edited by amigadave on 2010/12/9 8:25 ]

Everyone says the PowerMac is very loud... Couldn't fans be replaced by quieter ones?

Only the MDD is excessively loud.