Because Apple has to stay ahead of Dell with the proprietary BS.

Pictures coming soon. Have a couple of unbelievable finds from the dump.

First up is a Dell Dimension 466DV with an Intel i486DX2-66, 8MB RAM, Quantum 540AT 540MB, 3.5" floppy, 2x speed proprietary "IDE" Creative Labs CD-ROM attached to a Sound Blaster 16, onboard Cirrus Logic CL-GD542x with VGA header. Has two PS/2 ports, and two VLB slots. The entire machine is in practically mint condition, with the exception of a bad CD-ROM drive and now somewhat temperamental hard drive that randomly doesn't want to spin up when powered up (but doesn't give any qualms when it's running). Latest time stamp I could find on an active copy of Windows 95 showed 2012. Someone was using it as a gaming rig. The only damage was a bent expansion slot from someone tossing the monitor while it was still attached to the VGA port (easily fixed). There's not a single scratch or dent on the case, or cracked / broken front bezel.

Second is an ASUS rig. Not sure what model it was. Inside was an ASUS Rampage II GENE mainboard, 9GB of DDR3 (3x 2GB, 3x 1GB), Core i7 920, Nvidia GeForce GTX260, Seagate Barracuda 1TB. Looks like it was used in a restaurant near the kitchen area. Brown, sticky 'dust' stuck to the VGA fan, and on the case fans. I later confirmed this by examining the hard drive. Lots recipes and pictures of the restaurant. Everything works. Weekend project will be to install the components inside a Lian-Li case I picked up off Ebay for $15+$24.

xjas wrote:

But I had my usual type of solution: http://i185.photobucket.com/albums/x308/jay200mph/Stupid/seems_legit.jpg […]
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But I had my usual type of solution:

Tha looks dangerous. I would rather open the power supply to replace the connector.

Heh it's not dangerous ... those types of spade connectors are used all over the place in professional gear. They're rated for 600V.

Trust me you do NOT wanna go trying to pull apart the PSU on one of these unless you have a very good reason. 'Pain in the butt' doesn't even begin to describe how that would go.

I contacted a few Apple shops and IT places that deal in servers and found ONE place in town that had a cord with that connector ... which they would have happily sold me for $49. NO THANKS.

RacoonRider wrote:

xjas wrote:

But I had my usual type of solution: http://i185.photobucket.com/albums/x308/jay200mph/Stupid/seems_legit.jpg […]
Show full quote

But I had my usual type of solution:

Tha looks dangerous. I would rather open the power supply to replace the connector.

That looks awesome and very satisfying! Also know as sticking it to Steve Jobs. I love those late Power Mac G5s - massively overdesigned but so gorgeous. It's nickname was the cheese grater or something wasn't it?

This goes under 'stuff I very nearly salvaged from the dumpster. So I was looking on Gumtree on the off chance there might be something going - I've had some luck in the past - and I see the attached ad.

Free...

Garage...

Computers...

I pretty much began salivating straight away. Immediately emailed the guy as it was late at night. Almost didn't sleep. Next day, no reply. Tried phoning. No answer. Tried phoning again. No answer. Tried texting and got a reply... that a bloke with a Luton van was coming the next day. You can fit a garage in a Luton. 🙁 Silver lining was that he said he would let me know if there was anything left afterwards. He didn't. I just texted him again but he's not much of a people person so far.

Tragic!

xjas wrote:

I contacted a few Apple shops and IT places that deal in servers and found ONE place in town that had a cord with that connector ... which they would have happily sold me for $49. NO THANKS.

Isn't this a standard IEC C19 connector? Equipment typically uses them when the current gets close to or above the 10 amps the normal C13 connector can handle. I guess Apple changed some component or for regulatory reasons had to use the higher current connector.

Either way if you get sick of your spade connector solution, many places sell IEC C19 mains cables. A quick eBay search shows the average price in Australia as $15 (~US$10) or $6 for a C19 to C13 adapter so your normal PC power cable will fit (although it might melt your PC cable if it does draw over 10 amps!)

Malvineous wrote:

xjas wrote:

I contacted a few Apple shops and IT places that deal in servers and found ONE place in town that had a cord with that connector ... which they would have happily sold me for $49. NO THANKS.

Isn't this a standard IEC C19 connector? Equipment typically uses them when the current gets close to or above the 10 amps the normal C13 connector can handle. I guess Apple changed some component or for regulatory reasons had to use the higher current connector.

Either way if you get sick of your spade connector solution, many places sell IEC C19 mains cables. A quick eBay search shows the average price in Australia as $15 (~US$10) or $6 for a C19 to C13 adapter so your normal PC power cable will fit (although it might melt your PC cable if it does draw over 10 amps!)

My ADCOM power amp uses the normal C13 connector, not even my EVGA SR-2 system comes close to that power amp when it comes to power usage so I doubt an old PowerMac would 😀

We are using 240V here though but 120Vx10A = 1200W which seems like more than any Mac would pull.

I have to admit, as I tinker with my desktop P200 and 486 systems that probably are lost causes, the stuff you folks manage to find for free just makes me green with envy.

Still, I get to live vicariously through your excellent finds, so... party on!

Skyscraper wrote:

Malvineous wrote:

Isn't this a standard IEC C19 connector? Equipment typically uses them when the current gets close to or above the 10 amps the normal C13 connector can handle. I guess Apple changed some component or for regulatory reasons had to use the higher current connector.

Either way if you get sick of your spade connector solution, many places sell IEC C19 mains cables. A quick eBay search shows the average price in Australia as $15 (~US$10) or $6 for a C19 to C13 adapter so your normal PC power cable will fit (although it might melt your PC cable if it does draw over 10 amps!)

My ADCOM power amp uses the normal C13 connector, not even my EVGA SR-2 system comes close to that power amp when it comes to power usage so I doubt an old PowerMac would 😀

We are using 240V here though but 120Vx10A = 1200W which seems like more than any Mac would pull.

Ya, I know it's a C19 ... still proved impossible to find. I didn't feel like ordering one & waiting for shipping when I could make my "own" immediately for free. When I want something working now, I want it working now. 😜

My two towers (heh) have 710W power supplies. I believe the G5 Quad & other models w/liquid cooling systems are something like 1100W. That's rated maximums though, not what they'd pull in normal usage.

Well the stuff didn't get collected. So this is the stuff I could save from potential dumping today. For free.

brassicGamer wrote:

Well the stuff didn't get collected. So this is the stuff I could save from potential dumping today. For free.

I hope you have a van 😀

Skyscraper wrote:

brassicGamer wrote:

Well the stuff didn't get collected. So this is the stuff I could save from potential dumping today. For free.

I hope you have a van 😀

I do not. The guy I know who does is in Morocco and it's £80 to hire one for the day. How many trips do you think I will need in my BMW 318ti?

Well I guess if you leave the obvious junk and the too large thingy we see in the image it will still be quite a few trips, you can get 15 cases at most into the BMW 318ti with some Tetris skills.

Wow what a treasure trove! I think the "too large thingy" might be a large plotter, that's almost worth it because they are hard to find and if you ever need to print a massive drawing...

Maybe your local hardware store or service station can rent you a cheap trailer for the day?

O hey I have an Matx case that looks just like that silver and black one way in the back on top of that white box 😀 if it is the same model it should have 120mm intake, 90mm side fan and a 92mm exhaust fan. Love it because you can stuff it full of hard drives and it stays cool.

ODwilly wrote:

O hey I have an Matx case that looks just like that silver and black one way in the back on top of that white box 😀 if it is the same model it should have 120mm intake, 90mm side fan and a 92mm exhaust fan. Love it because you can stuff it full of hard drives and it stays cool.

Thanks for the tip, man! Didn't get it today but I might try tomorrow. I got a bunch of stuff and I've only done 1/8th of the garage.

Another week, another P3 found at the dump...

As the big sticker on the back of the system indicates, this is a P3-667. It had no RAM or HDD when I got it, but slapping a 256MB PC133 stick in it brought it back to life. Gonna have to look through my box of HDDs to see what I can dig up for this system. I wouldn't be surprised to find out that this originally came from the local school system, since these, as well as similar models, were damn near everywhere in the local schools around 10 years ago or so. Some even lingered around right up until the year I graduated, 2013. It's kinda why I like these beige case OptiPlexes. Most of the ones I've seen have been rock solid reliable.

I have a GX110 and a GX1. Have to agree that the build quality is great on these models. The only thing that I really miss is AGP. I like how you can turn off the caches on the fly with a key combo. You probably already know that the PSU has a proprietary pinout, so don't do any swapping.

There was a GX1 in the garage - should I get it? So far the stand-out item I found was the attached board inside the yellowest case I have ever seen. And although it's a VLB board, all the cards were ISA, disappointingly. I have never possessed a UMC chip though so I'm happy even though the board currently isn't responding.