I can hear a billion ethernet cables with broken tabs all crying out at once.

Can we take a moment to praise the movement from IDE to SATA cables back in the 2000s?! The insides of computer cases never again needed to be birds nests of ribbon cables folded in on themselves.

One of my favorite moments in college was when my professor was showing us older hardware and I pointed out a SCSI interface on a drive. This was 2015, mind you, and his exact words were "now how the hell did you know that?!" He was an awesome retro tech guy who probably didn't expect anybody under 40 to identify a SCSI interface.

Man it's amazing seeing Anthony absolutely smash a Techquickie out of the park: Man's totally hit his stride as a host, I'm really impressed

molex connector: A connector that looks like it connected loosely, but you know you're gonna have a bad time disconnecting it

The fact there actually IS a standard for front audio ports yet a lot of case manufacturers don't follow it drives me insane

2 words, micro HDMI

I'm surprised the DVI-A/D/I mess didn't make the list. I would also like to give an honorable mention from the music world to using the same connectors in instrument and speaker cables.

Of all the advancements in PC technology over the years, the death of ribbon cables often gets neglected. They were awkward to route, ugly, easy to plug in incorrectly, and just generally awful, and I do not miss them one iota.

Remember when Every cell phone has a new and proprietary connector forever model and grand. Maybe it was too painful and we blocked it from our minds. 🙁

I fixed my washer recently, and recognized those molex/amp connectors. My unit dates to around 2014, so I guess they are alive and well in industrial functions. They were a PITA to get apart, so probably a good solution for something you want to put together once and never come apart except for repair.

Just this weekend I built a new PC and the front panel connectors were the only thing I had to look up in the manual and constantly refer to while connecting the cables. The pain is real.

Who thought that having 20 super fragile pins in a huge connector that is super hard to insert and take out was an okay standard for internal USB 3.0!?

I'm always fascinated with how PC building montages never include hooking up the front panel connectors.

This guy should do more videos, he less annoying and has a good energy about him. He reminds me of a lot of friends I grew up with.

Funny story about front panel connectors: When I built my second pc, the new motherboard I had purchased not only had incredibly flimsy pins for the front panel connectors, but they were also entirely unlabeled. You had to use the motherboard manual to see where each connector went in. Thanks MSI!

I'm kinda surprised Micro-USB made it in this list. I'm not going to try to defend its durability, but when it first came along it was revolutionary in providing, for the first time, a somewhat standard charging connector for (non-Apple) phones, in place of the mess of proprietary junk that came before.

Y'all should do a video on connections that can be daisy-chained (ie: FireWire, ThunderBolt, DisplayPort)

Does anyone know where Anthony went? I have not seen him in a video in quite a long time...

it's great to see big names sponsoring youtube videos, great job Techquikie

30 years of PC gaming and building, also worked in a shop. Front panel connectors are simply the absolute worst. Nothing has changed since 286 days. Still fiddly AF, Surely there must be a better way!?

USB 3.0 headers are my enemy Also those 24 pin power cables are notoriously difficult to unplug

My "favorites" were SCSI and parallel printer cable, followed by the 25-pin connector, ESPECIALLY the null-modem variant, which our company had a dedicated device to sort out the pins, swap things around, and see exactly what characters, if any, were being sent down the cables. SUCH fun 16 hours into installing a new system.

And among the mini and micro USB ports there were not only the type-B's that most people know about. There were also type-A in both mini and micro variants. (Unlike type-B, though, there were no mini/micro type-A connectors defined in the spec for USB 3, just the full-size type-A.) I have a device that has a micro-A/B port (that can accept both micro-A and micro-B cables), but cannot actually use a micro-A cable to connect things like keyboards or USB storage (though an OTG adapter for micro-B works) - the device in question is a Sony Xperia Pro.

I spend a lot of time at work looking at different types of connectors. I work in live event production and the amount of cable termination solutions for similar/same results can be staggering. Would love to see more videos about cable connectors, specifically the ways they are terminated.

Y'all could do an entire episode on printer cables through the years.

We need a channel just for anthony

I'd also mention IDE cables, like these very wide flat cables, usually light-grey, very annoying to work with, and try fit in the case. Tho when you see one, you almost feel nostalgic now lol After they were installed tho, man they had their charm, I believe this (+ small popularity of beige cases) are the main reason modern PC's look entirely different compared to the 90's

Anthony is a perfect for any content that requires a disappointed host his frustration is perfect

I have no idea why micro and mini hdmi exist, I always confuse them- I've not seen a single device where one of them would fit and the other would not.

MOLEX isn't JUST cheap, the pins can take a bit of current as well as the bullet connectors. Also, Micro USB usually failed because of cheap dollar store / poundland cables which didn't clip in properly because of a shortcut used to make those little spike things on the outside.

USB Type B, for a very simple reason: "Oh hey, this printer supports USB! I'll buy it!" [some time later] "What the hell? This isn't a USB port! I've never seen this port before!"

11 pm upload, no problem! Sleep can wait

Talking about the case front panel connectors i don't know why case manufacturers aren't doing standard layouts. Motherboard from MSI, ASUS, ASROCK and Gigabyte now all use the same 9 pin layout for the front panel switches and LED's, just look at any motherboard manual. So as to why cases are set with the 9 pin layout has to me buggered

In my rig, it used to have the front fans powered from the 12V line from a Mate-n-Lok connector. I've since replaced the fans and have a Fan Controller in place of that adapter

Little tidbit : that "Micro-DVI" port seen at the end on that Apple laptop is actually Micro-VGA. Micro-DVI actually resembled mini DP a bit more, but it was actually comprised of 2 rows of pins with a little slit on the left(?) hand side. Funny story, I went on a goose chase for a Micro-DVI adapter for my old iMac, and a Best Buy associate ended up giving me a mini DP cable.

I remembered PS/2 connectors for your keyboard and mouse. They're not hot swappable. So if for some reason you got them unplugged, you have to reset the PC to get them back.

As someone who has built over a thousand custom desktops I can say definitively that the internal USB3.0 header is the worst connector on modern PCs. Tiny pins, no retainer, and a very thick and heavy cable - the worst combination possible. We made it a point to ALWAYS secure the cable somewhere with zip ties (to the case or to the thick PSU cables nearby that were anchored themselves) because otherwise it will inevitably wobble just a tiny bit when the customers get it home and were pissed off the front ports don't work. I have had to deny RMA to many self appointed "techs" who weren't careful enough and bent the pins on the motherboard (physical damage automatically voids manufacturer warranty). The only good thing about it is that the female port can use a small passive pass-through USB2.0 cable so the front I/O can work on USB2.0 speeds even if the USB3.0 port is broken on the motherboard.

Well, I thought this was going to be a boring ramble across a billion different connectors! So glad it wasn't! Informative and well researched, thank you.

You forgot SATA Express! A connector that exist on boards but never used because no consumer drives that use such connector exist!

I lived through all of the pre-usb cables during the 80s and 90s - practically every device required its own cable/connector/board and there was a lot of competition for X-company to establish a "standard"...a real nightmare!

Molex type connections are also used in many commercial equipment including grills, fryers, drink machines, ice cream machines, and other industrial kitchen equipment

You should make a video about legacy connectors that we remember fondly. How about coaxial ethernet? Remember those crazy T pieces and terminator pieces?

I'm looking forward to the lightning port being added to this list.

When talking about micro-usb ports breaking through wear and tear, it's funny you show a stock clip of someone plugging in a lightning connector...

Any reason you guys chose micro a over mini/micro hdmi? Those were the frustrating ones. Also the old serial or parallel ports that were 10cm long would come to mind.

in the 90s I had a computer that was "never obsolete" and I had a flatbed scanner plugged into the printer ports serial connection in the back and then daisy chained to the scanner was the actual printer. That was a fun setup. That was the "newer" setup replacing are old PC which had a dot matrix printer that had paper that loaded with holes on each side with perforations to remove them after printing. That one was really good for printing banners though

All the mini-DIN type connectors (PS2, S-video, different AV combination ones) were a pain because there were many types according to number and arrangement of the pins while the outer ring-shaped shield remained the same diameter, and they were never quite strong enough with the alignment groove to give a good positive affirmation that you are inserting it in the correct rotational alignment. And I think the USB-A is also a bit of a failed design because it can be only inserted one way but the outer rectangular shield does not give a clue of the correct alignment, you have try it or look inside the shield. Well, at least it is not easy to "crush" any pins because there is the large block filling half of the connector :)

1:23 I’ve been conditioned to expect a sponsor after this type of comment. I was so confused after this 😅

I need to go watch old videos to see my favorite host

TOSLINK, just it’s on basically every motherboard I see, no one uses it, it’s proprietary and it doesn’t even run fast. It’s capped at 150 Mbps. And it’s really just a useless connector when usb works better

The best connector ever? The 1/4'' headphone jack. Fat enough to never break or get bent out of shape. Connects with ANY rotational orientation. Seats with a reassuring tactile bump. Stays connected firmly unless pulled straight out. In regular use for 100+ years. Provides audiophile quality sound reproduction with good equipment. It's my one true love.

I think I'd nominate internal SCSI cables especially Ultra-Wide 68 pin cables. Delicate easy to bend pins, crinkly weird braided cables and all the SCSI specific rules about which connectors to use combined with potentially very long cables with 7 connectors were all demerits. Then there was termination which honestly I thought was a fairly simple concept to understand at least in a practical sense but there were forever all kinds of alternative theories about termination and lots of people who didn't understand it. SCSI cabling was a nightmare.

Anthony was the best. I miss his videos!

We need you back on videos Emily! We misses you! Just come back when and if you feel good about doing so! We love ya either way!

Wi-Fi connector on desktop PCs, you either have the cheap antennas that screw in nicely but get in the way of every port around it, or the wire antenna that can easily twist the wire really bad. Not to mention if you have anything plugged in around that connector it is 10x harder to attach and you end up unplugging everything around it just to get it threaded.

Those IDE ribbon cables were so terrible. I remember the connector-bit falling apart and exposing all these needly-bits that you impale through the cable. The length was constantly a problem. They took too much force to plug in or take out and you could break the connector open.They were also dust traps. Just sucked all around. Good riddance.

Dang, Anthony is taking humor classes. Good job, friend.

Why are PS/2 connections still on motherboards? When was the last time anyone saw a mouse or keyboard with that connection? I haven't seen one in almost 14 years.

4:35 Front panel connectors definitely deserve the #1 spot instead of #2.

1:39 I've suspected this strange romance for some time now, and I've even heard that Jake has his own room in Linus's new house 🤣

How about the cursed "DMS-59" connector on some of the older Nvidia and ATI cards? Most of them were big and heavy adapters with a pair of either VGA or DVI connections on the other end (or sometimes one of each, WTF?). If you didn't insert it just right you could easily bend several of those stupidly fragile pins. Additionally, I think the mini HDMI ports on some of the Nvidia GT and GTX 600 / 700 cards deserves and honorable mention. That port was so close to the edge of the brackets that usually you couldn't even use it once it was in a computer case. They were also very easy to damage.

Having just brought an old computer back from the dead, I thought this was going to be about much older ones lol. 35 pin ribbon cables, controller ports, etc

Molex wasn't so bad. You did have to be patient with it, but once connected properly you had a secure connection that could handle a lot of current.

We really need to standardized those front panel connectors! If were doing a power revision now why not earmark that in ATX 3.0?

I'm watching this video while using a phone with a MicroUSB port.

Still got one of those micro usb cables with the clips and it is still holding on better than any of my normal micro usb cables, as well as even newer usb-c cables that most of the time just break inside the darn cable. My most hated connector gotta still be either the micro B ss which was just to wide, and well every usb connector with the word mini in it as they often just broke out of nowhere.

I feel like I am the only person who genuinely liked Micro USB and never had any issues with it.

90’s kids “Heeey that’s not a ‘Legacy connector’”

I am amazed by The fact that micro-hdmi has not been absolutely hated in this video

The front panel connector on the motherboard has been this set of loose plugs and gold-plated pins for so long that even though it lacks a standard, it has become a standard itself. You know it will look like this, when you buy a new motherboard or case you know it will be there, when you look into any computer you know that this is what you can expect. If it were suddenly different, it would be something unexpected, something contrary to what you expected to find there.

An honorable mention to DMS59. Looks like DVI to the casual observer, but it's actually used with a dual DVI adapter to split out to two monitors on low profile video cards. At least, that's the only place I've seen it used.

DMS-59. A video connector Dell liked to use as the only connector on GPUs that looked a lot like DVI. It required an adapter to use which would split out to two VGA or two DVI connectors and of course if you didn't have the adapter you'd be screwed.

I don't understand the hate for micro-USB. I've never had a single connector break. Not one in probably millions of insertions. I've had plenty wear down the lock tabs and fall out easily, but they still worked, and it was always on the cable end. No foul replacing a $3 cable after 3 years IMO.

Not a computer port, but still a STUPID connector was the SCART .. oh my, what a true disaster!!

The moment he said : You know what hasn't been lost though... .I thought he was going to tell us about a sponsor .

We could spend hours talking about SCSI chains, DB, HD, Centronics, etc. connectors.

That face Anthony made for the thumbnail sold me on watching this.

USB 3.0 Micro-B!!! In my many experiences, these NEVER seat properly. The THOUGHT of using one of these gives me anxiety, mostly because they were used for backup devices. I would pull apart 1000 molex connectors inside of a PC case in freezing cold temperatures, before I would ever rely on one of these again.

Maybe I've just had some bad ones, but the 24-pin power connector. I've never had one go in smoothly, they've always felt slightly too big for the slot and had to be stuffed in unsatisfyingly. I get they need to be secure, but egads, there must be a better way.

I'm happy IDE is not a thing anymore. Those ribbon cables were hell to work with.

surprised he didn't mention the firewire

The first pic of the micro usb is a mini usb, those are really good, i had one i bought for my psp in 2008 and still was working perfectly with my dualshock 3 controller last year and don't think i took care of not damaging it, i even stepped on the connection several times.

Motherboard front panel connectors should all come with an external block that allow you to connect them externally from the case, or just revamped entirely to make them easier to install.

I agree that molex connectors sometimes were hard to disconnect, but i have more than 20+ years messing with PCs and never saw one breaking; and in the same time i had problems with the sata power connectors going loose easy. Also, if you talk about the front panel connector, you should mention the front audio connector too.

I remember when Anthony first blessed our screens. His superior technical knowledge drew us in. His charisma made us stay. We love you Anthony, you beautiful bastard

1:24 i was expecting him to cut to a sponsor when he said "you know what hasn't been lost though"

Those weird "dual" display cables from Dell... that split into two DVI connectors for the "Regular" monitor. Those things were prone to not work randomly, were VERY heavy on the connection in the back of the PC... and thousands of office IT people cursed your name if you said "my video's out" :)

Anthony is such a good host now! He's hilarious when he's in his element!

A standard front panel connector would much be appreciated indeed!

@1:12 looks like it had an option for the port, but the port that is shown with the connector is the ADB port for keyboard/mouse/joystick,

Man growing up in the 90-2000’s was a heck of a connector transition.

I love that Anthony is really looking comfortable and seems to be having a lot of fun. I'm so glad.

The many DVI layouts that just doesn't fit each other would be good to mention in a part 2.

The port i really hated the most was the DMS-59 That was found on my Dell optiplex back then. I kept loosing the cable because I only one of them 😂

Funny thing. I've never had a micro-USB cable die because of delicate connectors. If anything, the few damaged ones I've had were because the cables would break at the point where they meet the enclosure for the connector (something that has happened to me with all kinds of cables). I still have around half a dozen lying around.

Here's another one, COAX. The middle wire always bends, the screw never wants to start. It is always too tight or too loose and kills your fingers trying to tighten.

I could build a rope bridge with all the broken micro usb cables I've had.

There only a hand full of people on the planet that could make cables this interesting.

Video Suggestion: Test various phones to see how they cope with low a carrier signal. Linus's new house would be a perfect test ground if you turn off his signal booster. Is the myth true that apple phones have more of a problem with low signal strength than android ones do?