Correction on September 26, 2024:
The wiring in the schematic drawing was incorrect in one place, so I corrected it. The 24 pin of the ATX was colored "orange (+3.3V)", but it should be "Black (GND)". I'm very sorry for this.
This kit has been designed exclusively for the PowerMac 9600 (8600), using an ATX PSU. It eliminates the power output limitations of the stock power supply when using the accelerator card. When choosing an ATX PSU, you can use brands like Seasonic and AcBel which have a vertical power inlet in the center.
The ATX PSU can be installed into the PM9600(8600) chassis without modification by way of a custom bracket included in the kit. This allows you to buy a new PSU and get the full benefit of the PSU warranty. No more need to chop up your Mac! Simply buy this kit and then separately purchase your favorite ATX PSU.
Kit will be available soon
If you would like to place an order for the kit right away, please click "Notify when available" on our store page.
The kit will soon be available for sale on BlueSCSI.CA
Tools
The following tools are required for assembly:
-Screw Driver
-Soldering iron
-Molex pin extractor
-Wire cutter
-Tweezers
-Shrink tube
-Crimping pliers for Molex pin size
Make sure your ATX PSU works
・Even a used ATX PSU is compatible with the kit. And there is no need to restrict your PSU to the 80PLUS-GOLD model. Feel free to choose even less common ATX PSUs. Seasonic and AcBel branded PSUs tend to use Japanese electrolytic capacitors, and they last much longer than the stock Mac PSUs. Please connect the Green wire and Black wire before modding, and confirm the voltage on the Red, Yellow, Orange, Blue, Gray and Brown wires is correct. Purple is standby power, so +5V is output regardless of whether the power is ON or OFF.
・"ATX" is a unified standard PSU size, but some are long in the back. A depth of 150mm (5.9") or less is best.
・If possible, please choose an ATX PSU with a 500W or higher output. The Mac's stock PSU is 390W, but an accelerator card requires a lot of power. A lack of amperage tends to result in PCI slot failure. The PCI slots have different controls for the top three and the bottom three. Most of the time, the lower 3 slots have problems due to insufficient amperage.
・Choose an ATX PSU which has an AC inlet that is centered at the bottom so it doesn't hit the caseback housing. Use the diagram below as a guide:
AcBel installed
Problems and Solutions
The PM9600 has both an exhaust fan and a PSU fan. The newest ATX PSU's have a 120mm fan placed next to the PSU case which is temperature controlled. Since the fan is located on the side of the case, I recommend separating it from the temperature controller so that it can exhaust as little air as possible. Connect +12V and GND directly to the fan. If it becomes too noisy for you, replace the fan with an efficient, ultra-quiet version.
ATX PSU's feature many +12V plugs, which are often used for supplying +12V to the CPU supply that plugs directly into the graphics card or motherboard. The PM9600 does not need these, so if you like, you can remove them from the base of the ATX-PSU main board. There is no particular problem to leave them as-is, but please wire-tie the unused wires so they do not touch the chassis.
There is a limit to the amount of current that can flow through a power distribution cable. Most ATX PSU and Mac power cables are around 0.3 to 0.5sq (AWG 22 to 20). These allow about 5 amps of current per wire, or 20 amps through 4 wires. The main connector of PM9600 is 24-pin with 8 wires each. +5V, +3.3V, and GND are calculated to handle 40 amperes each; but this is a little over-spec, so 4 wires are actually enough. *The stock PSU claims to output +3.3V/+5V at 45 amps, but I don't think it actually has that capability.
If you are concerned, we recommend rewiring 8 wires at a time from the main board of ATX PSU.
Contrary to what you may have heard, +12V is considered to be somewhat insufficient. Since there is only one +12V input, two outputs are output for one input to suppress the heat generation of the wiring. *See Schematics.
Use the four #6-32 (9/64") screws that come with your ATX PSU. The remaining one place is fixed from the outside together with the PM9600 chassis. *Most screws are #6-32 (9/64") in size, but please note that there are also millimeter size screws.
The 3D-printed mounting bracket and PM9600 chassis use the genuine screws that came with the PM9600, but the one screw (circled in red) that was left out is the one that came with the kit. If your ATX PSU is a millimeter screw, please prepare a screw of about 11 mm separately.
Schematics
Rewire to the 24-pin and 10-pin female connectors as shown below.
-Don't forget to bridge the 1K ohm resistor across pin 9 and pin 16. If it is 1K ohms, you think that too much current will be wasted, but if the resistance here is large, the stability will be poor. If you are concerned about wasted current, you choose another resistor value so long as it is 6.8K ohms or less.
-A 1N5818 Zener diode increases shutdown stability. Bridge from MacPFW to ACT pin.
Note: The color of the square hole in the 10-pin connector indicates the original color, and the color of the cable indicates the color of the AT-X cable. Please refer to the pic below as the wiring is correct:
Modification method
It's that simple. Only the work of rewiring is troublesome. If you have a tool to pull out the Molex cable, you can do it. The 24-pin connector uses the original and adds a 10-pin connector. This 10-pin connector is included in the kit.
A 30 cm extension cable is bundled with the kit. Simply unhook the terminals and rewire them using the tool shown in the picture.
Genuine Molex tools are quite expensive, so this cheap ring-handled tool is just fine. You can probably buy one for around $10-16. I think you can buy it on Amazon.
You can push the hook all the way in by filing it into a knife edge as shown in the pic above.
Soldering work consists of the following two processes.
-Solder 1K ohm resistors to pins 9 (purple) and pin 15 (green). In this case, remove the terminal from the connector with a pin extractor and solder it.
-Solder the Green wire (ON/OFF) from the ATX PSU to the PWR of the Beezul-Bulb PFW. Solder ground to G. GND is taken from pin 17 as some ATX PSUs may only respond to the switch to GND next to Green. Solder the 1N5818 between Mac PFW and Beezul's ACT. *Make sure the diode line is on the Beezul side.
Insulate Beezul with tube or kapton tape and you're done!
**Making a cable from scratch is quite troublesome, so you don't have to do it like this pic😅
The most beautiful method is to recreate the cable from the ATX PSU mainboard, but it takes time and the manufacturer's warranty will be voided in the case of a new power supply. I tried to make two types.
We recommend using an extension cable versions . I think this will be the pillar of the kit.
Kits will be on sale in mid-August, stay tuned!