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ESD Electrostatic discharge question


omarwashington

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So I asked a friend about this and he told me that I shouldn't worry about it because hardware nowadays is becoming better in handling ESD. How concerned should I be when I start to put all my hardware together? Sorry for being so noobish but I just what to hear what you people think.

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although it's true that components nowadays are less likely to fry from esd- i still ground myself to the case. it's so simple, why take the chance? you can drag your feet around a carpeted room and handle the parts- where you'll find esd is when you're actually installing the thing. as soon as you get close enough to a grounding source- zap. so do yourself a favor and just touch the case before installing anything. discharge the esd and then you're sure to keep your components safe. of course a true grounding strap is inexpensive, and safer yet.

 

just smart practice. good to know when planning a build-

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Better Safe than Sorry has always been a good rule of thumb.

 

Although, I don't wear a wrist-strap myself, I'm very methodical when it comes to handling components. I always touch the case before handling any components, and I always rest my bare arm against the case when installing anything hardware related.

 

I haven't had a component death yet due to ESD, and I don't plan on starting *knocks on wood*.

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Just don't go petting your cat while installing parts, you should be ok. ;)

 

As long as your house has properly grounded outlets, you should be fine by touching or using a strap to the PC chassis. You can buy a little tester that plugs into your outlet and lets you know if it's grounded properly. If it isn't you can rig a ground by connecting a wire to a piece of plumbing like a radiator.

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I picked up this strap for $5.49 when I built my rig. Before I installed the PSU into the case, I clipped the wrist strap to the PSU which was plugged in. Once I installed the PSU into the case, I just clipped the wrist strap to the case, and yes, with the PSU plugged in. Doesn’t have to be turned on, just plugged into a properly grounded plug.

 

Some folks here may feel this is overkill, but I had a much better piece of mind doing it, and I’m basically a lazy sob. If you need to walk away, clip the alligator clip to the wrist strap, and walk off. No need to keep taking the wrist strap on and off all the time.

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ROTFLMFAO!

 

Pros: Good conductor

 

Cons: To test conductivity I plugged the aligator clip into the wall socket. Now the wrist band is a part of me, which is fine becuase of its sleek design. That really hurt though.

 

Other Thoughts: Don't test it the way I did, you'll be ok.

 

:D :D :D

 

I used a long piece of wire tied to my wristwatch as a grounding strip. But at the time I didn't realize the case had to be plugged in to be grounded. So basically it did nothing. And it was hard to move in. But the concept worked.

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What did you do? :confused:

 

You plugged the wristband into the receptacle and electrocuted yourself?

 

Not me, that was a review on Newegg for that grounding strap wingspar linked to. I highly doubt the guy was serious though, as he would more likely have burnt his entire arm off.

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