(Part 2) Best products from r/techsupportgore

Donor? why not new?

Here's a black one

Here's an orange one from a site that you will want to use a reloadable MasterCard to buy from

while it's open replace the laser (check your model number for exact laser replacement, this is just an example)

Open ps2 loader and all that.. I ended up having to order a swap magic disk to install free mcboot but there are other ways.

This is optional and expensive, but it will also be an upgrade for any internet connected device around your TV:

• Grab 2 suggested dual-band AC routers suggested here and flash one (or both DD-WRT is awesome) with DD-WRT or Tomato. If you already have a dual-band AC router, there's no reason to replace it, just get one dual band AC router and flash it.
  
  
• If you haven't already, replace your old router with one of the new ones (the one you don't have to flash with DD-WRT). Configure it as normal, you just upgraded your WiFi significantly though.
  
  
• Take the other router and follow the instructions to install the latest version of DD-WRT/Tomato, your going to need the additional functionality of these third-party firmwares.
  
  
• configure this router as a wireless bridge device, set it to connect to your other router in the 5Ghz spectrum. Make sure that you set this router's IP address as something other than the default 192.168.1.1 or you will have to start over with a 30-30-30 reset.
  
  
• Plug it in behind your TV and plug in anything that has an ethernet port to it (the PS2 with the hard drive kit obviously, but your Xbox 360/one, PS3/4, set-top boxes, smart TV, HTPC, rasberrypi, etc)
  
  
• If your PC is pugged into the router with a cat6e and has a gigabyte nic, your done. If you have your PC on a wireless network, you need to check to see what revision of WiFi your wifi nic supports. If it supports AC, you don't have to go any further. If it's a G/N card, you will also need to upgrade it as well. Laptop suggestion, Possibly needed accessory if you need a long card, Desktop suggestion
  
  What has all this done? Well, firstly your network is now upgraded to AC and that has given you a ~1Gbps link to your modem and other PCs on the network (assuming that you upgraded them all with new WNICs). have fun transferring your entire install of Fallout 4 from one PC to the other in a matter of moments, this would be a great time to look into faster internet packages because you can handle it.
  
  But the other thing, the thing that made you have to do all this scary firmware flashing on expensive networking equipment? Your devices now have a 1Gbps link to your router as well. That's far far better than the NICs in the consoles/set top boxes and since the PS2 has no wireless NIC, this was completely necessary to have it attached to your TV and be able to stream the ISOs off your PC. The router is working backwards, using WiFi as it's WAN connection and supplying connection to the ports.
  
  This is essentially the setup I have, except I'm using my old Dual-band N router as my wireless bridge. The PS2 can load a game far faster than it could off the disk through the network, but also my 360/PS3 can download content and updates far faster than they can with their internal adapters. Anything pulling network video will be more responsive, and will be able to utilise the full speed of your internet connection for things like Netflix.
  
  Is it a lot to connect your PS2 to the WLAN? oh yeah, but your also upgrading your connection for everything else you use at the same time.

if you feel like replacing it , then this is what is possible if you want a big ass hard drive in their with a shit ton of storage

i dont feel like looking up the ps4 model numbers , but i got 2 og ps4s

my son has the glossy half the og ps4 i have the all matte og ps4 the second released model

they both can have hard drives replaced INTERNAL , it was the EXTERNAL SUPPORT we had to wait for

we have 6 terrabyte internal hard drives in both , filled with games , i got like 500 gigs left i think lol its awesome to load up your shit and have games for days

• what im about to decribe here was called the sata cable mod when ps4 was without external hard drive support , this was for people like me that wanted large hard drives in the ops4 but did not want to use the nyco data bank , its basically a hard drive in a external housing with a esata to sata cable plugged into the internal sata port of the ps4
  
  one was the first edition and the other is the second edition ps4 both og ps4 two diferent model numbers the two first released models , i think the second one was released a year and a half after the first model , im just guessing here
  
  from newegg i got Toshiba x300 7200 rpm drive at 6 terabytes ( its on sale right now , this hard drive was on sale last year at this time also around same price about 170 something like that i know becouse i bought 4 of them then )
  
  then i got a esata to sata cable amazon
  
  then i got rosewill external esata external hard drive enclosure , from amazon , the one with the circle in black on top for fan and blue light in front with looks like fan exhust whole front lights up blue
  
  then i removed ps4 hard drive i forget the process but i followed the steps to put firmware on the new drive once it was hooked up to ps4
  
  putb hard drive in enclosure ,
  
  put esata cable in back of enclosure
  
  put power cable on enclosure
  
  the esata to sata cable , the sata end this is the tricky part
  
  with neddle nose pliers fish that sata cable onto the internal sata port of ps4
  
  i did mine first time
  
  i did my sons first time
  
  my son accidentally got his sata cord unplugged , he almost fucked his internal ps4 sata port ( its fine now i fixed it he dropped it or tripped over it or something after i had him all set up with large hard drive and games ) , i think he yanked the shit outta it tripped and fell because i had that shit on their tight and when i had to fix whatever he did the cable was loose ( i told him to leave it alone but he plays with shit lol ) i had to do his a second time , because he kept fuckin with it before i could redo it he corrupted his data and lost all his game saves to 6 tb of games lol , my fault i should of backed his shit up , but what this means is once the thing is put together be careful , i have zero problems , i dont be moving around my ps4 but when i do i turn everything off and unplug the hard drive enclosure and separate it from the ps4 , he had tio start every game over from the start lol
  
  my ps4 had no problems because i take care of my things i have had 6 terrabytes on my ps4 the whole tim,e runs perfect , i just let it do its thing when it needs to update
  
  until you figure out what is what with restarting , disable rest mode first of all then turn on hard drive , then turn on ps4
  
  then turn off ps4 , then turn off hard drive
  
  i do not use rest mode to prevent problems , i probably xcan but i never tried it to see , i have no need for restr mode anyway , to me it is a useless feature
  
  if you do not start up the ps4 correctly with this internal hard drive ina external case the ps4 will load up to a black screen because the hard drive is not on , turn on hard drive first
  
  if you forgot to turn off hard drive last time you played and you see hard drive on buity ps4 off and your about to play - turn off the hard drive first , THEN turn the hard drive back on , then ps4 on - i guess this resets it becouse im guessing the hardd rive is in sleep mode or something - but if you do this you will see how you must turn off hard rive , then turn the hard drive back on if the hard drive was left on last time you played and you forgiot to turn the hard drive off when you walked away m, this will confuse you the fuirst time it happens then youi relize what it going on and its never a big deal again becouse now you know - basically just make sure everytime your about to play that the hard drive was just turned on and not left on from yesterday
  
  when i did my sons the second time i noticed he fucked up his power cord and i also for some reason could not get the sata cable back on his port i think he yanked the shit outta it becouse the port looked loose , so to be sade i just cut the damn cage out with tin snips looks shitty on the inside but nobody is gonna see the inside and i electric taped the shit outta his power cord , now his ps4 runs like new with storage , it ran like new before the first time i did it but he dropped the ps4 or something and yanked the shit outta it , runs perfect now and looks better than new after i fixed it a second time for him
  
  once that sata cord is on the ps4 sata port then use electric tape to tape it to metal cage
  
  tape the sata cable out the cage in the front then on top of the cage going to the back of the console and oout the back corner vent
  
  cut out the very corner vent making two vvent holes one hole , i did it with simple heavy duty tin snips
  
  then do all your firmware update etc
  
  i might be able to use rest mode but i dont know supposedly you can use rest mode but i never have just to prevent problems
  
  i have had both ps4s like this fopr 2 years and they work flawless , both filled with digital games gameshare everything
  
  now becouse i did this i can also get more storage likle a external hard drive
  
  i did this before their was external hard drive support
  
  i sit the external enclosure on top of the ps4 sitting on the hard drive cover
  
  the blue light go good with it and it looks good
  
  
  https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B005KGNXTE/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o04_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
  
  
  https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002P6W8E8/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o08_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
  
  
  https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822149629
  
  youtube playlist of the videos i used to get the idea to do itand how to do it
  
  https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLW-2QscMs3iR4HAEXlvw1BiumYHqmaOPx

Lets look at the Dell Optiplex GX280 Full Tower. According to CNet it came out June of 2004 so lets just pretend that was ten years ago instead of eleven. My parents bought a Dell Dimensions 8300 sometime around 2003 which had two SATA ports on the motherboard (The hard drive and CD drive were IDE) but since I never got it to work, I'll skip to the all SATA model. This is what I would do to determine the reasonable upgrade cost.

• The Intel Socket is LGA775 so I would need to determine the fastest processor for that socket. That being said, just because a processor fits on the motherboard does not mean that it will work.
  
  
• This computer has 4 DIMMS for RAM so I would want to max that out. Since all of the GX280s I have used were 32-bit systems (some pentium processors around this time were 64-bit but lets just assume that isn't the case), I would assume 4GiB is the max.
  
  
• A decent 256GiB SSD would probably do the job. If they need more storage, it can be added after the fact. I assume if they have been using a 10 year old computer and the thing probably came with a 150GiB drive they should be fine with the 256.
  
  
• Windows XP is end of life now so a Windows 7 license would be needed.
  
  
• Since drivers on Windows 7 for the GX280 are a bit hard to find, you may need to get an discrete graphics card if one is not in there already. I found unsigned Windows 7 video drivers once but they really didn't work all that well. I want to say if you need the serial port too, you might be out of luck unless you come up with a different solution.
  
  So here are all the cost estimates.
  
  
• $109.99(Free Shipping)Crucial MX100. I have had a lot of luck with Crucial products so this would be the one I would buy because of that.
  
  
• $24.60(Free Shipping)A-Tech 184Pin 400MHz PC3200 RAM (We're going to need two of these so I doubled the price). According to this forum and the specs sheet the max for the full tower is 4GB. Normally I go with brands I have heard of but I wasn't seeing good buying options for those so I went with A-Tech.
  
  
• $15.99(Free Shipping)SL7Z3. According to this forum post the fastest process is the Prescott P4 clocked at 3.8GHz. According to Intel's site it is 64-Bit compatible so that is something.
  
  
• $76.98(Free Shipping) Windows 7 Home Premium 64-Bit SP1. I was reading somewhere (I can't find the link now) that drivers are a mess and just because the processor supports 64-bit does not mean the entire system would. It might be safer to get the same thing but in 32-Bit
  
  
• $33.99(Amazon prime shipping) GeForce 8400 graphics card. Just in case you needed an graphics card if the drivers don't pan out.
  
  
• $34.99(Amazon Prime shipping) Antec 450 Watt Power Supply. This also may be strenuous. The graphics card says to have at least a 350 Watt power supply. Since the full tower 280 comes with a 305 Watt I would imagine it would be a good idea to up the supply a bit.
  
  Total Cost = 296.54 with all extra costs added. Someone not as throughout as myself can cut costs on a lot of the things on this list. I would show this breakdown to the customer and explain why it might be more cost efficient to purchase a new machine (or have me build them one) and we could go from there.

It's not too terribly difficult, honestly. I enjoy it. There's a bunch of ways, but here's some tips that I have figured out.

• Label your cable ends (either use a label maker or just get one of these booklets).
  
• Two people make it go more than twice as fast. Buy pizza for a friend.
  
• Leave the cable box at the source, pull cable to the destination.
  
• Get a set of fish sticks for sending wire down/up walls. Buy a couple of rolls of electrical tape, too, for taping wire to the fish sticks.
  
• Measure to the same height as the electrical outlets in the wall for a clean look. Get the same color faceplates and keystone jacks as the electrical system already has.
  
• Make sure you use a stud finder with AC electrical alerting before you cut.
  
• When you are ready to cut a hole in the wall, take a wall box eliminator, flip it backwards, and trace the inside with pencil. Then cut with a utility knife. I find that a dremel saves time but creates a LOT of dust, and really isn't that much easier.
  
• Pull the cable (or fish stick) through until you've got a good 2-3 feet sticking out of the wall. If you think you're EVER going to need more than one jack in this room, run it now (it is easier to buy two boxes of cable than one, and run two cables simultaneously).
  
• Put the wall box eliminator in the wall, and fold the tines back / screw the holders in (they all basically have some mechanism of "grabbing" the wall, to give you a hole in the wall with the two faceplate screw holes like an electrical wall box has, but without the box - which is safe because it's low voltage (don't do this for real electrical work!!!))
  
• Cut off the first 6 inches or so of the cable with your dikes, because it might have been fucked up being taped to a fish stick and rammed through the wall, etc.
  
• Strip off the outer jacket of another 4-5 inches using your cyclops stripping tool.
  
• Terminate into the rj45 keystone jack using a punchdown tool.
  
• Even though, technically, as long as the jacks have the same wiring pattern on both ends, in America, we use EIA/TIA 568-B as our wiring standard. This will be displayed on the side of your RJ45 jack.
  
• In your wiring closet, leave a loop of 6 feet or so (for future upgrades/troubleshooting), and then terminate all the cable ends into a labeled patch panel.
  
• Pop your RJ45 jack into the keystone hole in the faceplate. (tab down, you don't want dust to settle into the wire contacts), and screw in your faceplate. Label it, if you can do so and it looks nice ("Living Room 1", etc) so it corresponds to the patch panel in the basement/closet/etc.
  
  Congrats, you've run a cable! It's female at both ends, so you can just use a patch cable to run from the wall to your PC, and from the patch panel to your switch, to your modem/router, etc. This wire is now a part of the infrastructure of your house - you won't have to cut anything out when you leave, you just unplug the wires and leave the infrastructure for the next person.
  
  Hope this helps.

>I run a dual PC streaming setup, two PC's in one case, it pulls 700w easily under full synthetic load

What setup? (parts) How did you measure the 700W? Either way, 700W is fine for 18 awg.

> CPU doesn't even need to work if you're mining.

Monero mining with CPU was popular.

Old comment before I put the 1060: https://www.reddit.com/r/NiceHash/comments/7ab8qi/all_the_things/dp9nug2/

>Thicker, more wire is MUCH better for this application, the cable is on a computer cart constantly being plugged in and out, being bent and shit. What possible reason would you have to NOT use a more durable cable?

Now you mean stress related and not because of current draw? Copper can take lots of bending forces, most of the time you see a wire breaking is like in this pic because the strain relief is too stiff or somebody tripped with the cable. Also CCA cables as well are easier to break than copper cables.

The charging cable of your smartphone is usually 22 to 28 gauge, and for the most part a broken charging cable isn't a common problem, most of the time if it breaks it happens at the strain relief as well. Are you really putting that much bending stress on the mains cable? If it were a problem how do you charging your portable devices?

>Wiring isn't that cheap for good, durable, actual copper wire, if the wire you're buying is that cheap, you're getting CCA, not copper. I'd love to see where you buy your $0.30 power cables that use true 18Ga copper wire though.

So you're admitting that the garbage isn't that the cable is 18 gauge, but rather that it is CCA.

Either way, what I was pointing out was that you said ''too much money riding on a $0.30 cable'' and well that's about the same price for the romex wiring that's used in all US households. xd

250 feet of romex 14/3 (says 14/2 because they don't count the earth wire) wire costs 43$ with free shipping on amazon.

https://www.amazon.com/Romex-Indoor-Electrical-Copper-Ground/dp/B07CN3TVL5/ref=sr_1_4?keywords=romex+wire+250&qid=1567477475&s=gateway&sr=8-4

That's 56 cents of USD per meter for a 14/3 copper wire. Of course an 18 awg would be about 60% less (33 cents per meter).

I do smoke. But never in the house, or around the computers at all.

We have two cats and a dog. The "server" also sits near floor level. So yeah, a whole lot of dust and dander do get in there. We also live in a small condo so the whole house is pretty much a high traffic area.

I really do need to clean them a bit more often. I usually wait around 3-4 months. Now it seems like I should be doing it about every month or so.

In the future I will definitely be using a case that has an Air Filter. A RAID cage as you described will also be on my list of required features.

I had built this on a tight budget a few years back. At the time I just wanted to get it up and running. I had most of the parts already laying around my house and I just needed to buy the drives to get it going.

I usually keep it pretty clean, and overall it's been very stable ever since I built it. This is actually the one and only issue I've ever had with it.

In the past this system was used as a desktop. It runs headless now though, alongside another headless box that runs pfSense and acts as the router. It has a few roles, but none of them are as a desktop. (File/Video/Media Server, Print Server, WSUS Server)

My main system is a mostly stock Dell XPS 420. (shameless battlestation photo) You can't really see it out of frame, but the XPS is on a platform under the desk.

I think I did do one thing right though at least. All three systems, one monitor, a switch, and the cable modem is all running off a 1500VA UPS.

Thank you for the suggestions! I will put them to good use in the future.

I'm pretty sure there are kits from smart called "Smart Response" that allow you to have "Quizzes" that students can respond to via smart response controllers.
Pretty neat thing I've seen at my school, even though nobody uses them anymore > kahoot :(
https://www.amazon.com/Smart-Response-PE-clickers-receiver/dp/B0192U3UZ0
That ^

>Still though, that "hyper-threaded" pentium, lol.

Oh man its fucking hilarious how people in this thread are mocking the guy for saying he has a hyper threaded pentium when they actually exist and the guy in OPs picture has one. Thats the true tech support gore here.

As long as it doesn't have a screen on it, a can of this will work quite well, it's like keyboard air but better because it's also a solvent (but doesn't dissolve plastic like Brakleen). Don't use it near backlit screens though, it dissolves the glue holding them together and you'll never quite get it looking right again.

I bought a little fan and little brass heatsinks with thermal tape for my pi3 just to make it pretty. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00NP23LTW/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_Ybu8ybX3G8HGJ

Edit: wrong item, that was for my 2b model, for my 3 I used this one Smraza Ultimate Starter Kit for Raspberry Pi 3, 2 model B with Fan, black Sliced 9 Layers Case and Micro SD Card with Installing tutorials SW4 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01J82EGNW/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_kgu8ybD7DGP62
I don't recommend it btw, the fan noise is atrocious and the case itself was a huge pita to put together.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07GR7QF63/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

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I mean I still ordered it since it had decent reviews lol.

HIGHLY recommend these iXCC ElementII Series 8pin Lightning to USB Charge and Sync Cables for iPhone 5/6/6s/Plus/iPad Mini/Air/Pro and Apple MFi Certified

They make them in different lengths and have a quality feel to them while also being as close to OEM.

Electronics cleaner. It's like a less abrasive brake-clean that's still a solvent and meant for use on electronics.

Not sure why you're questoning this