• 7 Posts
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Joined 2 years ago
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Cake day: June 12th, 2023

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  • There tends to be a correlation between quality, longevity, and price. It’s not a perfect fit but it’s definitely a thing that exists.

    I built a brand new cutting edge PC for a family member in 2011. They wanted to change careers and get into IT and figured they needed the bestest fastest PC they could afford. Anyway, it worked great until they decided it was time for a new one in 2019. I got to keep the 2011 PC in exchange for some assistance with selecting components for the new build. I put in a shiny new SDD, ebayed 16GB of old RAM that was the fastest thing the motherboard could handle, and I’m still using it as my primary server / workstation / web browser / cloud backup automation controller / etc. It cost more upfront but the amount of time that 2 different people have not spent with fucking around building new PCs has more than offset that in my opinion.

    So this PC is on its 3rd round of HDDs and 2nd round of RAM but that was only to boost performance, not because of a hardware failure. I haven’t lost a power supply, motherboard cap, fan motor, or USB port on it yet. That’s pretty remarkable for a 14 year old machine that’s been running 24/7. The 2019 build hasn’t had a hiccup in almost 6 years now either.




  • As long as you’re careful when you’re stripping the outside protective sheath and don’t cut thru the black or white insulation on the internal wires and don’t have any stray / frayed conductors sticking out after you screw everything to the terminals it’s going to be plenty safe. I usually try to make the first cut above the ground wire because it doesn’t matter if I slice into that one on accident. Making AC cords is a lot easier than terminating coax or cat-6, you just have to bear in mind that the consequences for screwing it up can be a lot higher.


  • Usually when you need something really specific like that and you’re not selling this PC to someone else, it’s best to just make your own. Get a c13 or c14 rewireable end, cut up an existing cable, and stick it on there. As long as you do a clean job and don’t put the wrong wire on the wrong terminal and it’s all secured properly you’ll be fine.

    If you cinch a small ziptie down really tight on the black insulation right where it tries to exit the end you modified, you can give it some extra strain relief and reduce stress on the terminal screws.