Professionals Annoyed By Entertainment

[factotum]

Aren't they gold plated?

Gold plated contacts on a console game? Absolutely not, that would be hugely expensive, and the gold would get worn off quite quickly by the action of inserting and removing the cartridge anyway--gold-plated contacts make (some) sense for a HDMI or audio connection that's likely to be plugged in once and left be, but not for something you're *anticipating* will be inserted and removed a lot. AFAIK all consoles that took cartridges used regular copper connectors.

[gomipile]

Quite a few of the cartridges for my C-64 had gold plated contacts, and most of those were cheaper than NES games.

Though, you do have a point. Even if they are gold plated, if it wears off then you'd have to worry about corrosion.

I usually used a cotton swab and isopropyl alcohol if card edge connectors were causing problems.

[Ortho]

I though that blowing on the cartridge doesn't actually do anything - it's just the act of taking it out and putting it back in that fixes the problem.

[Peelee]

I usually used a cotton swab and isopropyl alcohol if card edge connectors were causing problems.

That and a screwdriver were the secret to sticky buttons on a Guitar Hero controller back in the day, too.

[Gnoman]

Unless it's specifically designed for that, of course.

For a significant premium price you can buy radiation hardened processors, memory, etc. that are designed for use in outer space. They tend to use larger transistors and slightly updated 1990s era designs so that they are less sensitive to radiation flipping bits, etc. Also, they sometimes use more radiation resistant semiconductors.

Also, 1980s and early 1990s hardware is quite durable for the same reason, with the exception of storage technology. If you want a simple, half-####d solution for a low-spec computer that will last a long time, get an early 90s PC, and replace the hard drive with a Compact Flash card and adapter. Oh, might want to install a modern power supply that's a bit over-specced for the system, too.

Anything after 2010 or so will probably prove pretty durable. Most of the hardware failures in the 2010s were caused by bad capacitors that were manufactured between 99 and 07 and were extremely popular due to low cost (which was attributed to the new tech used, which works quite well when they aren't defective). A large percentage of power supplies, motherboards, and video cards manufactured in that date range are doomed to fail catastrophically (not only are the effects of not having the capacitor usually not good, the failing cap leaks acid) because of this. A notable example that's likely to still be in use is the original Xbox console - all but the last hardware revision uses such a capacitor to store the date/time, so anyone with an OG console needs to open it up and pop the thing out.

[factotum]

Capacitors leaking acidic gunk when they fail isn't something that started in 1999--electrolytic capacitors have always had that issue, you can still find it in old 1980s computers.

[Gnoman]

Capacitors outside of that window have vastly longer lifespans. Most caps will last for thousands of hours or more - these failed after hundreds, even dozens.