It's been a few years since I did this.

1. How did you do it, what parts did you use?

Just decided that I wanted to give it a try. Since I might of bought about 4 G5 machines, I wanted to see if and how the other non LCS heatsinks would work/mount. So for parts, I just bought some used 2.0ghz CPUs off ebay and used the heatsinks off them.


2. How well does the fan cooling work, compared to the liquid cooling system?

I did replace all 4 fans straight into the PSU, but of course it was a bit noisy for my taste. I did leave it as is before I did the fan switch and it seemed to run a bit cooler since the previous LCS was already showing signs of failure.

3. Do any of the users who have completed the conversion to fan cooling also dual or triple boot their G5 systems into MacOSX and/or Linux PPC, as well as MorphOS, and how well does the fan cooling work when the G5 is running demanding MacOSX, or Linux PPC software on both G5 CPU's, or both cores of a dual core G5 system?

I did not triple boot or dual boot. I did install OS X and things seemed to be fine. From what I was told, MorphOS has the CPU running at full bore on the G5. OS X would actually run cooler since it can control the CPU a bit better. I may be blowing smoke out my own ass, but thats how I understood things. :)

Only thing that I could think of doing is getting a hold of an Apple Diagnostics Service disc so the G5 can recalibrate itself. But beware, my 2.7s failed to recalibrate and wouldnt ever successfully do it. I did manage to put in a set of 2.5ghz CPUs in a 2.0GHz G5 mac and then the CPUs did successfully calibrate. But what I found out is that if its a newer firmware 2.0ghz G5 then it can accommodate faster CPUs.

Good luck! I would chance changing out to some active cooling heatsinks but only if its the older Delphi LCS. So far the Panasonics ive seen have been ok.

Thanks for the detailed reply Doffo.

I will look for some used 2.0GHz heat sinks, or CPU's with heat sinks included on eBay, or local computer recycling center.

Yea, best bet is to just pick up a set on the cheap. I forget how much mine was, but I think it was under $20 shipped.

I did bring back the 2.5ghz CPUs alive. They were dead on arrival and of course experienced the LCS leakage and it was all over the CPU cards. After a good scrape with a toothbrush and rubbing alcohol they actually booted up and recalibrated. :)

Hard to say though. Make the change and see if you can succesfully run the Diagnostics CD then give good ol OS X a shot.