Clear side panel?

[Lycanthrope]

Perhaps a stupid question this so don't beat me up too much...

I find the interior of the Mac Pro (and Power Mac G5) incredibly beautiful, seems a shame to hide it. I've seen over the years, perhaps in Apple stores, I can't remember, Power Macs with a clear acrylic side-panel so you can see all the guts.

Can these be bought??

 

[dpaanlka]

Those were actually part of the G5 systems, and the machines you saw had their regular aluminum side panels removed. The clear thing was actually grooved and shaped in such a way that it helped control the airflow inside the machines, very important with the hot-running G5 processors.

EDIT: Here is a picture of a G5 with the clear (in)side panel installed:

 

[Lycanthrope]

Ah, that explains it then, wasn't my memory playing tricks...

What shame we can't have that though, really the internals of the MP are stunning.

 

[mustang_dvs]

If your environment is safe enough (no kids, pets, food stuffs, etc.) you can run the Mac Pro without the side panel. There might be more dust, and you run the risk of banging into the memory risers...

Of course, if you're careful, you can probably cut a piece of Plexi to stand in place of the panel -- it may not be as clear as the acrylic, but it'll be close.