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Static electricity and building a PC is dangerous to hardware?

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  • Hardware
  • PCS
  • Cases
  • Systems
Last response: in Systems
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July 2, 2014 5:24:10 PM

So, is it true that static electricity when building a PC can actually affect the hardware?

A user here posted a guide to building PCs and suggested always touching the steel case of the PC when building to "ground" yourself.... But I'm afraid now, is this a big issue and is there another way to protect your system from this phenomena?

More about : static electricity building dangerous hardware

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July 2, 2014 5:27:49 PM

Yes. It can destroy motherboards. But it is not that big of an issue you can buy discharge bands and it does the same thing that touching the case does. Just try and stay away from building it on carpet while wearing socks and you should be fine i will link a discharge band in a sec :) 
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July 2, 2014 5:29:19 PM

Just wear that when your building a PC and clip the end to your case and you will basically always be touching your case :) 
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July 2, 2014 5:38:56 PM

Mustangrock12 said:
Just wear that when your building a PC and clip the end to your case and you will basically always be touching your case :) 


So it is an issue then, good to know. Thank you for that link, I impressed at how cheap they are, I'm going to throw one into my case to be on the safe side. Is it hard to build a PC properly for the first time?
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July 2, 2014 5:43:41 PM

IMO buying a static wristband isn't worth it, when you can have the same grounding effect by just touching your case from time to time while building. If you're building on a smooth surface there's nothing to worry about.

If you follow a guide on youtube properly then it should be relatively easy, but there might be various issues that pop up along the way like a cable not plugged in, ram/gpu seated loosely, etc.
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July 3, 2014 6:19:53 AM

It is not that hard to build a PC for the first time. Your cable management will probably be very messy but other than that you should do fine :) 
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July 3, 2014 5:44:40 PM

RazerZ said:
IMO buying a static wristband isn't worth it, when you can have the same grounding effect by just touching your case from time to time while building. If you're building on a smooth surface there's nothing to worry about.

If you follow a guide on youtube properly then it should be relatively easy, but there might be various issues that pop up along the way like a cable not plugged in, ram/gpu seated loosely, etc.


I'll be building on a wooden floor. So, something not plugged in properly is not really a huge deal, simply plug it in properly?
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July 3, 2014 5:45:35 PM

Mustangrock12 said:
It is not that hard to build a PC for the first time. Your cable management will probably be very messy but other than that you should do fine :) 


I'm looking forward to it, it looks fun, but with all these expensive parts, I'm afraid to break something. Can messy wires create airflow problems or any other problems?
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July 3, 2014 5:50:11 PM

MrCanEHdian said:
RazerZ said:
IMO buying a static wristband isn't worth it, when you can have the same grounding effect by just touching your case from time to time while building. If you're building on a smooth surface there's nothing to worry about.

If you follow a guide on youtube properly then it should be relatively easy, but there might be various issues that pop up along the way like a cable not plugged in, ram/gpu seated loosely, etc.


I'll be building on a wooden floor. So, something not plugged in properly is not really a huge deal, simply plug it in properly?


Yep, just plug it in.

Here's the TH trouble shooting guide:

http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/261145-31-perform-ste...

Here's the TH tutorial for how to build a pc ( lots of youtube tutorials out there as well):

http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/274745-31-step-step-g...
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July 3, 2014 6:24:22 PM

RazerZ said:
MrCanEHdian said:
RazerZ said:
IMO buying a static wristband isn't worth it, when you can have the same grounding effect by just touching your case from time to time while building. If you're building on a smooth surface there's nothing to worry about.

If you follow a guide on youtube properly then it should be relatively easy, but there might be various issues that pop up along the way like a cable not plugged in, ram/gpu seated loosely, etc.


I'll be building on a wooden floor. So, something not plugged in properly is not really a huge deal, simply plug it in properly?


Yep, just plug it in.

Here's the TH trouble shooting guide:

http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/261145-31-perform-ste...

Here's the TH tutorial for how to build a pc ( lots of youtube tutorials out there as well):

http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/274745-31-step-step-g...


Great! Thank you for those links, I have seen the second one and read it pretty thoroughly. It's great to have all of this support and makes it so much less daunting and intimidating :) .
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