• Welcome to TechPowerUp Forums, Guest! Please check out our forum guidelines for info related to our community.

The Filthy, Rotten, Nasty, Helpdesk-Nightmare picture clubhouse

Joined
Jan 17, 2010
Messages
12,325 (2.27/day)
Location
Oregon
System Name Juliette // My HTPC
Processor Intel i7 9700K // AMD Ryzen 5 5600G
Motherboard ASUS Prime Z390X-A // ASRock B550 ITX-AC
Cooling Noctua NH-U12 Black // Stock
Memory Corsair DDR4 3600 32gb //G.SKILL Trident Z Royal Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) 3600
Video Card(s) ASUS RTX4070 OC// ASUS RTX 4060 OC
Storage Samsung 970 EVO NVMe 1Tb, Intel 665p Series M.2 2280 1TB // Samsung 1Tb SSD
Display(s) ASUS VP348QGL 34" Quad HD 3440 x 1440 // 55" LG 4K SK8000 Series
Case Seasonic SYNCRO Q7// Silverstone Granada GD05
Audio Device(s) Focusrite Scarlett 4i4 // HDMI to Samsung HW-R650 sound bar
Power Supply Seasonic SYNCRO 750 W // CORSAIR Vengeance 650M
Mouse G903 and a Master Mouse MM710/No mouse, MS game copntroller
Keyboard EVGA / Logitech K400
Software Windows 11 Pro // Windows 10 Pro
Question about cleaning filthy components. Can I use distilled water without worrying about any ill effects?

Just make sure it's dry afterwords, like a week or two later before you plug it in

Everything is relative, so yes, distilled water will conduct electricity--but very very little compared to city water. But there are impurities on the parts so really it doesn't have to be distilled
 
Last edited:
Joined
Jan 26, 2016
Messages
407 (0.13/day)
Location
UK
System Name it needs a name?
Processor Xeon E3-1241 v3 @3.5GHz- standard clock
Motherboard Asus Z97A 3.1
Cooling Bequiet! Dark Rock 3 CPU cooler, 2 x 140mm intake and 1 x 120mm exhaust PWM fans in the case
Memory 16 GB Crucial DDR3 1600MHz CL9 Ballistix Sport 2 x 8 GB
Video Card(s) Palit 980ti Super Jetscream
Storage Sandisk X110 256GB SSD, Sandisk Ultra II 960GB SSD, 640GB WD Blue, 12TB Ultrastar
Display(s) Acer XB270HU
Case Lian Li PC 7H
Audio Device(s) Focusrite Scarlett 6i6 USB interface
Power Supply Seasonic P660
Mouse cheapo logitech wireless
Keyboard some keyboard from the 90's
Software Win10pro 64bit
Joined
Mar 26, 2010
Messages
9,910 (1.85/day)
Location
Jakarta, Indonesia
System Name micropage7
Processor Intel Xeon X3470
Motherboard Gigabyte Technology Co. Ltd. P55A-UD3R (Socket 1156)
Cooling Enermax ETS-T40F
Memory Samsung 8.00GB Dual-Channel DDR3
Video Card(s) NVIDIA Quadro FX 1800
Storage V-GEN03AS18EU120GB, Seagate 2 x 1TB and Seagate 4TB
Display(s) Samsung 21 inch LCD Wide Screen
Case Icute Super 18
Audio Device(s) Auzentech X-Fi Forte
Power Supply Silverstone 600 Watt
Mouse Logitech G502
Keyboard Sades Excalibur + Taihao keycaps
Software Win 7 64-bit
Benchmark Scores Classified
It will be 20 years old next year and has been in use every single day. I have never cleaned the inside though i do occasionally give it a good shake and see what surprises fall out.
The last time i open and clean and shake it.. I lost a key.. it took me 2 days to find it.. Sometimes it is interesting how people couldnt clean it for years As long as it runs
 
Joined
Mar 23, 2016
Messages
4,844 (1.52/day)
Processor Core i7-13700
Motherboard MSI Z790 Gaming Plus WiFi
Cooling Cooler Master RGB something
Memory Corsair DDR5-6000 small OC to 6200
Video Card(s) XFX Speedster SWFT309 AMD Radeon RX 6700 XT CORE Gaming
Storage 970 EVO NVMe M.2 500GB,,WD850N 2TB
Display(s) Samsung 28” 4K monitor
Case Phantek Eclipse P400S
Audio Device(s) EVGA NU Audio
Power Supply EVGA 850 BQ
Mouse Logitech G502 Hero
Keyboard Logitech G G413 Silver
Software Windows 11 Professional v23H2
Sometimes it is interesting how people couldnt clean it for years As long as it runs
Reminds me of the filthy keyboards I see at work. Always makes me want to use a sanitizing wipe before I lay a finger on the keyboard, and mouse.
 
Joined
May 8, 2016
Messages
244 (0.08/day)
System Name Box
Processor Ryzen 9 5900X
Motherboard MSI Meg Ace Max 570S
Cooling Corsair h150i Elite Capellix 360 white
Memory 16 GB Teamforce DDR 4 4500 (2x8) CL18
Video Card(s) Aorus 1080ti
Storage NVMe: Samsung 980 Pro 2TB, WD_BLACK SN770 2TB, Crucial P5 Plus 2TB, spinners: 3TB, 4TB
Display(s) Samsung 1080p
Case Lian Li 011 Dynamic white - fans: 2x140mm, 7x120mm
Audio Device(s) stock
Power Supply EVGA G2 850
Mouse Razor DeathAdder 3.5G
Keyboard Corsair K68 RGB
VR HMD Valve Index
Software Win10 pro
Benchmark Scores later
It will be 20 years old next year and has been in use every single day. I have never cleaned the inside though i do occasionally give it a good shake and see what surprises fall out.

did anything that fell out wave back at you?
 

CAPSLOCKSTUCK

Spaced Out Lunar Tick
Joined
Feb 26, 2013
Messages
8,578 (1.99/day)
Location
llaregguB...WALES
System Name Party On
Processor Xeon w 3520
Motherboard DFI Lanparty
Cooling Big tower thing
Memory 6 gb Ballistix Tracer
Video Card(s) HD 7970
Case a plank of wood
Audio Device(s) seperate amp and 6 big speakers
Power Supply Corsair
Mouse cheap
Keyboard under going restoration
Joined
Oct 17, 2012
Messages
9,781 (2.21/day)
Location
Massachusetts
System Name Americas cure is the death of Social Justice & Political Correctness
Processor i7-11700K
Motherboard Asrock Z590 Extreme wifi 6E
Cooling Noctua NH-U12A
Memory 32GB Corsair RGB fancy boi 5000
Video Card(s) RTX 3090 Reference
Storage Samsung 970 Evo 1Tb + Samsung 970 Evo 500Gb
Display(s) Dell - 27" LED QHD G-SYNC x2
Case Fractal Design Meshify-C
Audio Device(s) on board
Power Supply Seasonic Focus+ Gold 1000 Watt
Mouse Logitech G502 spectrum
Keyboard AZIO MGK-1 RGB (Kaith Blue)
Software Win 10 Professional 64 bit
Benchmark Scores the MLGeesiest
i do occasionally give it a good shake and see what surprises fall out.

I did that once ,and bacon bits & nerds fell out :) ...I have no idea where they came from

I wish I was more active when I still had my old Dell keyboard, and trackball mouse. I remember after retiring that keyboard I ceremoniously parted with it by destroying it and inside was enough food to sustain a person for at least a couple days the mouse was not much better
 

CAPSLOCKSTUCK

Spaced Out Lunar Tick
Joined
Feb 26, 2013
Messages
8,578 (1.99/day)
Location
llaregguB...WALES
System Name Party On
Processor Xeon w 3520
Motherboard DFI Lanparty
Cooling Big tower thing
Memory 6 gb Ballistix Tracer
Video Card(s) HD 7970
Case a plank of wood
Audio Device(s) seperate amp and 6 big speakers
Power Supply Corsair
Mouse cheap
Keyboard under going restoration
Whoops

1505640878343-1560530633.jpg
 
Joined
Mar 23, 2016
Messages
4,844 (1.52/day)
Processor Core i7-13700
Motherboard MSI Z790 Gaming Plus WiFi
Cooling Cooler Master RGB something
Memory Corsair DDR5-6000 small OC to 6200
Video Card(s) XFX Speedster SWFT309 AMD Radeon RX 6700 XT CORE Gaming
Storage 970 EVO NVMe M.2 500GB,,WD850N 2TB
Display(s) Samsung 28” 4K monitor
Case Phantek Eclipse P400S
Audio Device(s) EVGA NU Audio
Power Supply EVGA 850 BQ
Mouse Logitech G502 Hero
Keyboard Logitech G G413 Silver
Software Windows 11 Professional v23H2
How did you manage that Caps?
 

silentbogo

Moderator
Staff member
Joined
Nov 20, 2013
Messages
5,542 (1.37/day)
Location
Kyiv, Ukraine
System Name WS#1337
Processor Ryzen 7 5700X3D
Motherboard ASUS X570-PLUS TUF Gaming
Cooling Xigmatek Scylla 240mm AIO
Memory 4x8GB Samsung DDR4 ECC UDIMM
Video Card(s) MSI RTX 3070 Gaming X Trio
Storage ADATA Legend 2TB + ADATA SX8200 Pro 1TB
Display(s) Samsung U24E590D (4K/UHD)
Case ghetto CM Cosmos RC-1000
Audio Device(s) ALC1220
Power Supply SeaSonic SSR-550FX (80+ GOLD)
Mouse Logitech G603
Keyboard Modecom Volcano Blade (Kailh choc LP)
VR HMD Google dreamview headset(aka fancy cardboard)
Software Windows 11, Ubuntu 24.04 LTS
How did you manage that Caps?
Knowing CAPS, I'd say lots of effort and dedication to the task! :respect:

But I've seen worse. Last year I was fixing a HDD, which suffered damage from an exact same crappy cable. But instead of broken clamp he had broken pins. That failed attachment mechanism held it so hard, that 2-3 contacts on the SATA connector were ripped from the PCB on the drive. Had to replace the whole connector from the donor HDD to save the day... :banghead:
Sry, but no picz...
 

CAPSLOCKSTUCK

Spaced Out Lunar Tick
Joined
Feb 26, 2013
Messages
8,578 (1.99/day)
Location
llaregguB...WALES
System Name Party On
Processor Xeon w 3520
Motherboard DFI Lanparty
Cooling Big tower thing
Memory 6 gb Ballistix Tracer
Video Card(s) HD 7970
Case a plank of wood
Audio Device(s) seperate amp and 6 big speakers
Power Supply Corsair
Mouse cheap
Keyboard under going restoration
Mainly by being stupid.

The pc is on a plank of wood with the hdd on the psu. When i picked it up the hdd slid off.


1505642990965-689121766.jpg
 
Joined
Jan 13, 2016
Messages
667 (0.21/day)
Location
127.0.0.1, London, UK
System Name Warranty Void Mk.IV
Processor AMD Ryzen 5 5600
Motherboard Asus X470-I Strix
Cooling Phanteks PH-TC12LS + 2x Be Quiet! Pure Wings 2 140mm / Silverstone 120mm Slim
Memory Crucial Ballistix Elite 3600MHz 2x8GB CL16 - Tightened Sub-timings
Video Card(s) EVGA RTX 2080 XC Ultra
Storage WD SN550 / MX300 / MX500
Display(s) AOC CU34G2 / LG 29UM69G-B - Auxilary
Case CM NR200P
Audio Device(s) Realtek ALC 1220+SupremeFX
Power Supply Silverstone SX650-G 650W
Mouse Logitech G302/G303 SE/G502/G203 / MMO: Corsair Nightsword
Keyboard CM Masterkeys Pro M / Asus Sagaris GK100
VR HMD Oculus Rift S
Software Windows 10 Pro x64 - LTSB
Knowing CAPS, I'd say lots of effort and dedication to the task! :respect:

But I've seen worse. Last year I was fixing a HDD, which suffered damage from an exact same crappy cable. But instead of broken clamp he had broken pins. That failed attachment mechanism held it so hard, that 2-3 contacts on the SATA connector were ripped from the PCB on the drive. Had to replace the whole connector from the donor HDD to save the day... :banghead:
Sry, but no picz...
I remember trying to cram a 3x Windforce mounted card in the Cooler Master HAF 912 while having the extra HDD cage in place it was completely filled and I had to take it out to fit the card first, some of the drives used angled SATA connectors (which I completely forgot about), I was lazy to remove all of the data/power cables, so I tried sliding the cage out, which didn't budge at first because one of the angled connectors was touching against a part of the case, then I pulled harder and realized something snapped off... It was one of the SATA connections off a 3TB NAS drive.

When I saw that port broken, cold sweat and fear kicked in. It was not pleasant. Luckily only the pins got bent but the plastic keying was broken. So I stuck it inside the cable, carefully bent the pins in a way they would still connect and plugged the cable back into the drive, it worked, but now every time you move the back panel you risk possibility of losing the drive in BIOS or Windows.

Every SINGLE time I try to rush something I end up dun f***ing it up. I keep telling myself I learned not to do it, but I still do it from time to time without thinking first. This is the number 1 reason why some hardware that I have gets destroyed.
 

CAPSLOCKSTUCK

Spaced Out Lunar Tick
Joined
Feb 26, 2013
Messages
8,578 (1.99/day)
Location
llaregguB...WALES
System Name Party On
Processor Xeon w 3520
Motherboard DFI Lanparty
Cooling Big tower thing
Memory 6 gb Ballistix Tracer
Video Card(s) HD 7970
Case a plank of wood
Audio Device(s) seperate amp and 6 big speakers
Power Supply Corsair
Mouse cheap
Keyboard under going restoration
I remember trying to cram a 3x Windforce mounted card in the Cooler Master HAF 912 while having the extra HDD cage in place it was completely filled and I had to take it out to fit the card first, some of the drives used angled SATA connectors (which I completely forgot about), I was lazy to remove all of the data/power cables, so I tried sliding the cage out, which didn't budge at first because one of the angled connectors was touching against a part of the case, then I pulled harder and realized something snapped off... It was one of the SATA connections off a 3TB NAS drive.

When I saw that port broken, cold sweat and fear kicked in. It was not pleasant. Luckily only the pins got bent but the plastic keying was broken. So I stuck it inside the cable, carefully bent the pins in a way they would still connect and plugged the cable back into the drive, it worked, but now every time you move the back panel you risk possibility of losing the drive in BIOS or Windows.

Every SINGLE time I try to rush something I end up dun f***ing it up. I keep telling myself I learned not to do it, but I still do it from time to time without thinking first. This is the number 1 reason why some hardware that I have gets destroyed.


The same thing hapenned to me too a while ago so i did this

1505649123861-1569193735.jpg


1505649177853742535222.jpg


The above pictures are a re enactment.
 

CAPSLOCKSTUCK

Spaced Out Lunar Tick
Joined
Feb 26, 2013
Messages
8,578 (1.99/day)
Location
llaregguB...WALES
System Name Party On
Processor Xeon w 3520
Motherboard DFI Lanparty
Cooling Big tower thing
Memory 6 gb Ballistix Tracer
Video Card(s) HD 7970
Case a plank of wood
Audio Device(s) seperate amp and 6 big speakers
Power Supply Corsair
Mouse cheap
Keyboard under going restoration
not as thick as me.......metal on metal is never a clever combo.

Shes gonna go mental when she gets home....the conservatory didnt look like this when she went out........



Edit
in this pic you can see
DFI Lanparty X58
ASUS ROG ii X 58
ASUS P6 Deluxe X 58

20170917_125740.jpg
20170917_125702.jpg
 
Last edited:
Joined
Oct 17, 2012
Messages
9,781 (2.21/day)
Location
Massachusetts
System Name Americas cure is the death of Social Justice & Political Correctness
Processor i7-11700K
Motherboard Asrock Z590 Extreme wifi 6E
Cooling Noctua NH-U12A
Memory 32GB Corsair RGB fancy boi 5000
Video Card(s) RTX 3090 Reference
Storage Samsung 970 Evo 1Tb + Samsung 970 Evo 500Gb
Display(s) Dell - 27" LED QHD G-SYNC x2
Case Fractal Design Meshify-C
Audio Device(s) on board
Power Supply Seasonic Focus+ Gold 1000 Watt
Mouse Logitech G502 spectrum
Keyboard AZIO MGK-1 RGB (Kaith Blue)
Software Win 10 Professional 64 bit
Benchmark Scores the MLGeesiest
Mainly by being stupid.

ive had that happen several times, i just removed the clip, and continued using the cable, it didnt cause a problem, unless there was a great deal of movement.

btw, it reminds me of the entrance to the cave of the "killer bunny" in MP's & the holy grail.....like something that eats PC's lives in the room in your pics ;)
 

CAPSLOCKSTUCK

Spaced Out Lunar Tick
Joined
Feb 26, 2013
Messages
8,578 (1.99/day)
Location
llaregguB...WALES
System Name Party On
Processor Xeon w 3520
Motherboard DFI Lanparty
Cooling Big tower thing
Memory 6 gb Ballistix Tracer
Video Card(s) HD 7970
Case a plank of wood
Audio Device(s) seperate amp and 6 big speakers
Power Supply Corsair
Mouse cheap
Keyboard under going restoration

silentbogo

Moderator
Staff member
Joined
Nov 20, 2013
Messages
5,542 (1.37/day)
Location
Kyiv, Ukraine
System Name WS#1337
Processor Ryzen 7 5700X3D
Motherboard ASUS X570-PLUS TUF Gaming
Cooling Xigmatek Scylla 240mm AIO
Memory 4x8GB Samsung DDR4 ECC UDIMM
Video Card(s) MSI RTX 3070 Gaming X Trio
Storage ADATA Legend 2TB + ADATA SX8200 Pro 1TB
Display(s) Samsung U24E590D (4K/UHD)
Case ghetto CM Cosmos RC-1000
Audio Device(s) ALC1220
Power Supply SeaSonic SSR-550FX (80+ GOLD)
Mouse Logitech G603
Keyboard Modecom Volcano Blade (Kailh choc LP)
VR HMD Google dreamview headset(aka fancy cardboard)
Software Windows 11, Ubuntu 24.04 LTS
@CAPSLOCKSTUCK , did Ridley Scott hire you to do decorations for the new Alien movie?
 

CAPSLOCKSTUCK

Spaced Out Lunar Tick
Joined
Feb 26, 2013
Messages
8,578 (1.99/day)
Location
llaregguB...WALES
System Name Party On
Processor Xeon w 3520
Motherboard DFI Lanparty
Cooling Big tower thing
Memory 6 gb Ballistix Tracer
Video Card(s) HD 7970
Case a plank of wood
Audio Device(s) seperate amp and 6 big speakers
Power Supply Corsair
Mouse cheap
Keyboard under going restoration
Dunno...i havent heard back yet.
 
Joined
Jul 19, 2015
Messages
1,003 (0.29/day)
Processor Ryzen 5 5600 @ 4.65GHz CO -30
Motherboard AsRock X370 Taichi
Cooling Asus ROG Strix LC 240
Memory 32GB 4x8 G.SKILL Trident Z 3200 CL14 1.35V
Video Card(s) PCWINMAX RTX 3060 6GB Laptop GPU (80W)
Storage 1TB Kingston NV2
Display(s) LG 25UM57-P @ 75Hz OC
Case Fractal Design Arc XL
Audio Device(s) ATH-M20x
Power Supply Evga SuperNova 1300 G2
Mouse Evga Torq X3
Keyboard Thermaltake Challenger
Software Win 11 Pro 64-Bit
Joined
Dec 6, 2005
Messages
10,885 (1.57/day)
Location
Manchester, NH
System Name Senile
Processor I7-4790K@4.8 GHz 24/7
Motherboard MSI Z97-G45 Gaming
Cooling Be Quiet Pure Rock Air
Memory 16GB 4x4 G.Skill CAS9 2133 Sniper
Video Card(s) GIGABYTE Vega 64
Storage Samsung EVO 500GB / 8 Different WDs / QNAP TS-253 8GB NAS with 2x10Tb WD Blue
Display(s) 34" LG 34CB88-P 21:9 Curved UltraWide QHD (3440*1440) *FREE_SYNC*
Case Rosewill
Audio Device(s) Onboard + HD HDMI
Power Supply Corsair HX750
Mouse Logitech G5
Keyboard Corsair Strafe RGB & G610 Orion Red
Software Win 10
Joined
Jul 19, 2015
Messages
1,003 (0.29/day)
Processor Ryzen 5 5600 @ 4.65GHz CO -30
Motherboard AsRock X370 Taichi
Cooling Asus ROG Strix LC 240
Memory 32GB 4x8 G.SKILL Trident Z 3200 CL14 1.35V
Video Card(s) PCWINMAX RTX 3060 6GB Laptop GPU (80W)
Storage 1TB Kingston NV2
Display(s) LG 25UM57-P @ 75Hz OC
Case Fractal Design Arc XL
Audio Device(s) ATH-M20x
Power Supply Evga SuperNova 1300 G2
Mouse Evga Torq X3
Keyboard Thermaltake Challenger
Software Win 11 Pro 64-Bit
I find that last picture the most disturbing. I think solder is supposed to be used sparingly ;P
It's not all solder, there's a piece of braided copper under the caps that was used to repair the 12V input power plane.

It works fine though, it was still working fine beforehand too.
 
Joined
Dec 14, 2013
Messages
2,725 (0.68/day)
Location
Alabama
Processor Ryzen 2600
Motherboard X470 Tachi Ultimate
Cooling AM3+ Wraith CPU cooler
Memory C.R.S.
Video Card(s) GTX 970
Software Linux Peppermint 10
Benchmark Scores Never high enough
It reminds me of the entrance to the cave of the "killer bunny" in MP's & the holy grail.....like something that eats PC's lives in the room in your pics ;)

You haven't seen inside my benchshack..... Looks like trolls have taken up residence BUT it is used for storage too so.... :D
 
Joined
Dec 6, 2005
Messages
10,885 (1.57/day)
Location
Manchester, NH
System Name Senile
Processor I7-4790K@4.8 GHz 24/7
Motherboard MSI Z97-G45 Gaming
Cooling Be Quiet Pure Rock Air
Memory 16GB 4x4 G.Skill CAS9 2133 Sniper
Video Card(s) GIGABYTE Vega 64
Storage Samsung EVO 500GB / 8 Different WDs / QNAP TS-253 8GB NAS with 2x10Tb WD Blue
Display(s) 34" LG 34CB88-P 21:9 Curved UltraWide QHD (3440*1440) *FREE_SYNC*
Case Rosewill
Audio Device(s) Onboard + HD HDMI
Power Supply Corsair HX750
Mouse Logitech G5
Keyboard Corsair Strafe RGB & G610 Orion Red
Software Win 10
It's not all solder, there's a piece of braided copper under the caps that was used to repair the 12V input power plane.

It works fine though, it was still working fine beforehand too.

upload_2017-9-17_18-46-16.png


I'm guessing all three caps shouldn't been gobbed together. Great that it works.
 

Attachments

  • upload_2017-9-17_18-45-44.png
    upload_2017-9-17_18-45-44.png
    788.5 KB · Views: 353
Top