Introduction
It seems hard to get the fans out in the real world, so I would like to explain
Tools
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You want to pull off the grey fan-assembly on the left (already gone in the pic), for that you have to unscrew 4 Screws in the memory-compartment on the right, slide that to the right and take out the middle cover for the processors
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The problem often is, that the slide-holder of the fan-assembly is quite stuck in the black plastic on the bottom of the case; it helps a lot to use a flat metal stick to push it up and out
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The card-retaining blade that has two hand-driven screwheads is quite ideal for this purpose
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To reassemble your device, follow these instructions in reverse order.
One comment
I just completed a task on a Mac Pro 3,1, early 2008, A1186; I installed a pair of SSDs in the optical bay. This required running a pair of SATA cables from the motherboard to the optical bay, which in turn required removing the front fan assembly.
On this model, I didn’t have to do anything with the RAM cage. I removed the screw that fastens the fan assembly to the motherboard, and I removed the CPU cover (fastened with magnets — just pull and it comes off), Removing the CPU cover reveals another screw right at the corner between the heat sink and the fan assembly. After both screws are removed, the fan assembly comes off easily (it didn’t stick after I removed the screw).
According to comments, the next model Mac Pro has the cables already run to the optical bay. The question arises: does that model still have an IDE optical drive, or would we have to sacrifice the optical if we want to use both SATA cables in the optical bay?
Need to see all the steps from start to finish. It doesn't show where all the screws are and how to remove them.
John Cordero -
What is the screw type and size on the top, lower left corner, of the grey plastic fan enclosure?
Glen Kohler -