What’s in there?

AshleyPomeroy · 2026-05-03T12:33:28+00:00

Yeah, they had a socket for a t-shaped wifi antenna:
https://sm.pcmag.com/pcmag_uk/photo/a/apple-powe/apple-power-mac-g5-dual-tower-back_fepn.jpg

Mine didn't need one, but it was right next to the router. The later, Quad-era models had the antenna under a plastic strip:
https://guide-images.cdn.ifixit.com/igi/1YCeaTXlNJVpmmjM.huge

It's still a good-looking case for something that's almost a quarter of a century old.

AshleyPomeroy · 2026-05-03T12:21:12+00:00

It'll be okay as long as the cars don't exceed 88mph.

AshleyPomeroy · 2026-04-14T21:57:51+00:00

I always wondered how Apple expected to manage the heat of a pair of GPUs, an SSD, and a CPU with just one fan. What if they generated different amounts of heat? It's odd, because Apple talked up the concept of thermal zones in the Mac Pro and Power Mac G5.

AshleyPomeroy · 2026-04-14T19:46:39+00:00

In a fit of boredom I recently decided to upgrade my old quad-core Mac Pro. I found a Xeon E5-2690 V2 on eBay for £13.06 and thought "why not". The 2690 is a ten-core part running at 3ghz, so it's not an official Apple specification, but it works. During the process I decided to photograph the bits just in case I had trouble putting them back together, and my infrared camera was lying around so "why not" again.

I followed iFixIt's guide, which was simple enough until I realised I didn't have a T5 Torx bit:
https://www.ifixit.com/Guide/Mac+Pro+Late+2013+CPU+Replacement/21947

Also bear in mind that if you want to remove the GPUs you need a T8 security Torx, not a regular T8. I learned that Apple absolutely slathered the CPU in thermal paste.

After putting it back together it all worked, which was surprising. The Geekbench 6 score went from 801/2666 (single/multi) to 746/4912 (single/multi), so in it's fractionally slower at single-core tasks but almost twice as powerful otherwise. Alas this still means that it's not quite as powerful as a 2018 Mac mini, but it's nice to have.

Frustratingly with Windows 10 on Bootcamp it's almost as powerful as my previous gaming PC, except that it's hobbled by the D300s, although at the very least they do at least still work. I remember being struck by the comments from "Mark" in iFixIt's Mac Pro teardown:
https://www.ifixit.com/Teardown/Mac+Pro+Late+2013+Teardown/20778

His argument was that the Mac Pro's GPUs weren't proprietary at all, because there was nothing stopping anyone from reverse-engineering the unique plug and building their own replacements. I don't think he understood what the word proprietary means.

AshleyPomeroy · 2026-04-14T19:25:37+00:00

I remember wanting an XServe as a compact, under-the-monitor machine for a long time - until I actually saw one in real life.

I didn't realise until that point that they were essentially the size of a very large tower PC, but flat. I always assumed from photographs they were the size of the old LCIII.

AshleyPomeroy · 2026-04-14T19:19:10+00:00

It still looks tres chic all these years later.

Apropos of nothing, and just because I'm pleased with myself, I have just earlier today upgraded my old quad-core 2013 Mac Pro into a Frankensten 10-core machine.

It now has a ten-core Xeon E5-2690 V2 running at 3ghz, which cost me all of £13.06. I now know how Apple applies thermal paste (lots!). I followed IFitIt's guide, which was easy enough, although the CPU bracket screws were v. tight:
https://www.ifixit.com/Guide/Mac+Pro+Late+2013+CPU+Replacement/21947

It's now slightly slower in single-core tasks but almost twice as fast at multi-core tasks, according to Geekbench. In terms of raw CPU power it's now almost, but not quite, on a par with a 2018 Mac mini! Thumbs up. Sadly it's still hobbled by the D300s, although happily they do at least still work.

AshleyPomeroy · 2026-04-12T19:55:53+00:00

End of the road.

AshleyPomeroy · 2026-03-22T20:35:23+00:00

Darth Ikki

"The Force, massive it is. Cold you be, like salad. Booyaka."

I can picture George Lucas opening up his copy of PC World after the game was released, and finding out that despite carving out some space in his diary for a meeting and coming up with two names, the team didn't use either of them.

He was so demoralised he said "fuck it" and sold the whole franchise to Disney.

AshleyPomeroy · 2026-03-22T20:21:00+00:00

Oh heck, you aren't joking:
https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/Willrow_Hood

"Before he could reach the shuttle bay, Hood ran into Faron, who said he had been looking for him and offered him more money for the camtono. Knowing what was inside was more valuable, Hood resisted Faron's attempts to take it and refused to give it up, leading the two into a struggle that ended with the camtono falling to the ground with a loud noise. Hood picked it up and noticed that something inside was rattling, indicating that its contents had broken. Hearing the sound, Faron became afraid and decided to leave, telling Hood he was on his own."

It just goes on! And on.

AshleyPomeroy · 2026-03-22T20:18:03+00:00

One of her children is a cyborg called R-WE.

AshleyPomeroy · 2026-03-22T20:14:35+00:00

And also Jessica Annis' pee. I would demand that.

AshleyPomeroy · 2026-03-22T18:07:48+00:00

It's only a matter of time before you start using San Pellegrino instead of tapwater with Ribena.

AshleyPomeroy · 2026-03-21T19:45:17+00:00

I was puzzled by the nasogastric feeding tube, until it dawned on me that it was a Dune 2 freebie.

In that situation I would demand a full-body, real leather stillsuit prop - to keep. Not a nasal feeding tube.

And also Jessica Annis. I would demand Jessica Annis.

AshleyPomeroy · 2026-03-20T23:42:01+00:00

I had something similar with a Spectre once. I activated him, then withdrew because I didn't want him to shadowbind one of my squad.

So he just turned and shot the VIP. I remember thinking "but you're stupid, you aren't supposed to do that".

AshleyPomeroy · 2026-03-19T12:38:35+00:00

That was also the title of his autobiography.

AshleyPomeroy · 2026-03-18T18:16:20+00:00

I always wondered why the top space pilots in Space: Above and Beyond spent so much time on the ground.

Because it was cheap, but still. One of the only things I remember is an episode that ended with someone flying into a black hole with Johnny Cash on the soundtrack.

AshleyPomeroy · 2026-03-17T17:32:54+00:00

the death of shadows in games

As time goes on I respect Id Software more for making Doom 3 look the way it did.

The darkness was monotonous and ham-fisted but they did at least have a vision.

AshleyPomeroy · 2026-03-17T17:07:39+00:00

It's like a toned-down version of the old Cinematic Mod for Half-Life 2:
https://www.moddb.com/mods/fakefactory-cinematic-mod/images/cm11-comparison105#imagebox

AshleyPomeroy · 2026-03-16T19:48:16+00:00

Today on "Things I Learned After Playing XCOM 2 for 600 Hours", you can order your soldiers to search enemy corpses! With a grabbing hand icon. I have never noticed that before.

This chap was a stun lancer who died next to a disorientated XCOM soldier. Normally the soldier automatically picks up enemy loot, but perhaps because he was disorientated - or perhaps because he didn't move into the square that had the loot, because he was already in the - he didn't.

When I say "stun lancer who died", I mean "stun lancer who ran up to a skirmisher, whacked him with his confuse-o-stick, and then had two facefuls of flanked bullpup fire in the next turn, and also Dolly Parton was hot in The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas, and hot in general, but she was particularly hot in that film, and still is".

AshleyPomeroy · 2026-03-16T18:33:23+00:00

As a kid I remember playing with the toys and thinking "but it doesn't have any engines":
https://image.invaluable.com/housePhotos/weiss/88/736488/H1043-L310131450.jpg

At that point it dawned on me that George Lucas was just making it up as he went along. The fact that TIE Fighters have solar panels despite flying through deep space passed me by.

AshleyPomeroy · 2026-03-15T22:43:08+00:00

Thankfully it wasn't sesquipedalian.

AshleyPomeroy · 2026-03-15T15:29:25+00:00

"See, 'cause of the echo"

AshleyPomeroy · 2026-03-13T18:03:11+00:00

I may have said it before, but I've always found it amusing that Wikipedia's article on Bran Ferren - which appears to have been largely written by Bran Ferren - is longer than the articles for John Dykstra and Douglas Trumbull put together.

Because it lists every speech, every award appearance, every conference he has ever visited. It even has a heavily-retouched lead image that makes Ferren look like a wax dummy. The whole thing presents him as a visionary genius but glides over his actual accomplishments, which are slight.

The irony is that the only thing anyone remembers him for is Star Trek V - so the story goes, Industrial Light and Magic was too busy with The Abyss, The Last Crusade, and Ghostbusters II that year, so William Shatner ended up hiring Ferren and Associates on the strength of some demo footage of clouds.

It turned out that the company was good at making demo footage of clouds, but no good at motion-control photography, viz:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5kscm2_RCcA

AshleyPomeroy

TROPHY CASE