ESD precautions (Or "Is it a good idea to build in the bathroom?") ;-)

Parts such Mainboard, GPU, CPU, RAM, Soundcard, HDD, TV Tuner are sensitive with ESD.

You can touch those metal parts of the radiator, or do the second way (PSU off). Or you can use gloves (elastic gloves).

Building in the bathroom ? well, it's dangerous because of humidity and be carefull to not let your CPU flushed.

Don't get freak out on building PC, just touch the metal parts of radiator, build your PC, put the PSU and all parts will be grounded.

If the parts is new and you have problem...RMA it.

Graphics Card (and other expansion cards):
Hold the graphics card by the metal plate (the part which orients towards back of case when installed). Press down on the top edge when inserting it. You can hold the other edge for better stability (the side that orients towards front of the case when installed). Do not touch the gold-colored pins at the bottom of the card. Try to avoid touching either face of the card.

RAM:
Hold the RAM module by the edges. Do not touch the faces or gold-colored contacts. Press down on the top of the module to insert.

CPU: Hold the CPU by two corners diagonal from each other. NEVER touch the pins/contact points on the underside. Avoid touching the heatspreader on top as this will leave fingerprints/skin oils which may impede heat flow to the heatsink (touching the headspreader does not risk frying the CPU with static). If you do touch the heatspreader, clean the surface with a lint-free cloth and a bit of high-purity isopropyl alcohol.

Motherboard:
Hold the motherboard by the edges and avoid touching either face.

Hard Drive:
Avoid touching the underside of the hard drive as there is usually an exposed circuit board here. Best practice is to handle the hard drive by the edges. If you need to set the hard drive down, do it gently and flip it upside down so the circuit board is facing up.

Optical drives:
There are no exposed circuit boards, so these aren't statically sensitive.

PSU:
The circuit board is inside and there is nothing you will fry with static.

Case:
There may be a small circuit board for the power/hard drive activity lights. There is little risk of damaging these with static, but there's no reason to go touching it.

In review:
- If in doubt, hold the component by the edges.
- Never touch any pins/gold-colored contact points on the component.
- It's good practice not to touch the faces off a component (eg. graphics card, motherboard, RAM module, etc). However, doing so doesn't necessarily mean you will fry anything. The main things to avoid on the component faces are microchips. Examples:

http://www.hardwaresecrets.com/imageview.php?image=299
http://www1.istockphoto.com/file_t [...] rboard.jpg
http://www.dansdata.com/images/ocz [...] hip560.jpg

- If you need to set a component down, put it on the antistatic bag in which it came. If it doesn't have an antistatic bag, put it on top of the box with which it came, or any piece of cardboard, antistatic mat, wood surface.

Also, I think you are being overly paranoid about being grounded. The best idea is to not work on carpet and avoid walking around a whole lot. Also, if you sit down somewhere and then stand up, this will build up a static charge. You can discharge it by simply touching some nearby steel/aluminum/copper. In fact, you can touch the inside of your metal case (and it doesn't have to have the PSU plugged in) and it will sufficiently discharge any built up static (obviously avoid touching components when you do this).

In general practice, touch your the metal in your case before handling a component. Additionally, touch your case anytime you feel you've built up a static charge (examples: you sat down and stood up, you walked around the room, you came in contact with carpet, etc) and follow the tips above on handling your components. You should be fine.

Oh, and yes you can touch your radiator to discharge static as long as you are coming in direct contact with the metal.

while ure at it why not set this up....only takes a few minutes

http://www.google.com/tisp/install.html

Thank you nukemaster and zorg for a good morning laugh. While the downloads are fine, I really don't care to have any uploads from the designated receptical. Uploads can cause considerable time to be spent with cleaning up the system and removing all traces of viruses.

To the OP, I commonly work on my computers in the kitchen, which has vinyl flooring. The bathroom, or at least my bathroom, has too much moisture to make me comfortable with the idea of working there. I have even done work while on a carpeted surface, of which many will disapprove, but keep myself well grounded when doing so. Wall to wall carpeting sometimes leaves little choice when working, so I'm very cautious about it. To date, I've lost no parts due to electrostatic shock.

And honestly too, when I build, I have yet to use a wrist strap, no problems yet. I personally just keep touching an unpainted part of the case and if I'm carpet, I try not to move. However, when I installed to CPU, I did take that and the case/mobo onto my tile floor. But mainly be careful, and don't touch any pins on the cpu, or contact points of any memory etc, or anything that looks sensitive if you can help it.

ESD is not a huge problem. On the Screensavers (a.k.a. Attack of the Show) on G4, it took a tazer to make the RAM stop working. They did a bunch of static discharges on it and the stuff ran fine. So short term, it takes a massive discharge to damage that stuff. However I think minor shock will do slight damage long term. Just touch your case or PSU before you start and you will be 100% fine; even with socks whilst walking on carpet.

All modern PC components must tolerate ESD as per the FCC and UL rules: at least 2kV for human body model and 4kV for the machine model.
It's not so high, in a very dry day and with synthetic t-shirts an human body can reach up to 15kV, but normal every day discharges are at 1-2kV approx.
The painted pipes are optimal, never discharge you to ground directly, it may be dangerous: security rules in electronics industry require minimum 1Mohm resistance for the antistatic wrist bands.
Do your math: 15kV / 1Mohm is 15mA and security switches are calibrated to 30mA... discharging yourself directly to ground equals to touch the mains wires for a few milliseconds: it's a very short time, but may hurt.

Actually the human body can easily gain a charge large enough zap the microscopic traces in a microchip. The ESD damage everyone is talking about amounts to these microscopic traces being severed/blown apart, effectively creating an open circuit and/or a short (on a microscopic level).

It is possible for ESD damage to occur but not cause any immediate problems. This results from a degredation of the micro traces rather than an open circuit or short (basically, a trace is partially blow apart but there is still a weak connection despite the damage). Operating in this mode puts the chip at a high risk of failure and can result in problems down the road.

Thank you for bringing some clarity to this thread, I was about to stick a pencil in my eye having to read all the BS.

Another thing to consider, that people may or may not know is the amount of voltage released. This should help you see why traces at greatest risk.

If memory serves.. It takes around 3000 volts of static electricity for your to feel it. If you hear the static discharge, that should be around 6000 volts. If you see the actual spark, that is approx 9000 volts.

So.. understanding that in order for you to feel the discharge, it will be around 3000 volts. You may not feel the discharge at 1000 volts, so you won't know if you accidentally zapped a component that was only designed for 1.3-1.8 volts.

Some people will not agree what I mention is correct, cause some people think you'd die from that amount of voltage. Whelp... it's not the voltage that kills people.. its the amps.

Heh, I have visibly shocked a motherboard at its edge. Still worked though .

It was while I was screwing it into the case. I was big time concerned until it booted fine. I think I just got lucky

OK, here's some info on ESD for those(and quite a few actually) that only know 1/2 the story on ESD.

Before I start, remember Ground = 0v. Why is stuff grounded? Many items you have are grounded so that if a wire comes loose inside and shorts to the outside of your item(especially if it's metal) then the voltage might try to pass through your body in an effort to get to ground. The ground wire is added for come components because the resistance to ground via the wire is rated for almost no resistance. Electricity will always take the path of least resistance, and your cool mower/iron/etc shorts to ground(tripping 1 or more safety devices in the process stopping the short) instead of trying to go through your hand and body, possibly killing you along the way.

This is partly true and partly false. It is true that it's CAN be dangerous to ground yourself directly. Pretend you were working on a piece of equipment that had capacitors/high voltages. If you had a grounding strap on you and it was 0 ohms, you'd be the perfect ground for the electricity to go to. ZAP is what you'd get. (This is precisely why your household goods have a ground. THEY make the perfect ground instead of you.) You'd get the full blunt of voltage. This is bad because you could very well die. If you have a 1 Mega-ohm resistance, even at 1000v you'd feel it, but it wouldn't kill you. The whole reason for the high resistance of the grounding strap is to save your life if you are working in anything that has live voltages present. I can't vouch for the actual voltage numbers for ESD here because the number's I'm trained with are 50kV. Is it safe to be grounded with no resistance when playing with your computer. Not entirely because you could get shocked by the capacitors in the components. Is this likely? Not really. Is it high enough voltages? You'd have to consult the specs for the equipment(who the hell would even do this anyway?).

Remember that it's not the voltage that hurts/kills you, it's the current. The other part of the 'equation' for a shock to kill you is frequency. Of course, ESD frequency is 0.

Current = Voltage / Resistance

1mA = felt
10mA = involuntary muscle control(just like when you get shocked by a doorknob your arm pulls back)
100mA = if across the heart can cause death

The whole purpose of grounding yourself is because you do not want your body to be at a different voltage than the equipment you are handling. If you were in a room with a wire strapped to your waist at 100v, and you reached into a computer that had a ground of 100v, it would be just as if you were using it with a ground of 0 volts. The difference between your body and the computer is 0.

Now, to settle a few other comments people had.

@Jonesy1499

1) The paint won't do you much good since it will insulate. If you just grab the metal directly that'll provide a good ground.

2) I usually set up my new computer by installing my PSU. I make sure it's hardware switch is off and then I plug it in. I do all remaining steps for assembly using my computer case as ground. The ground is hard wired, and is not affected by the power switch. It does not increase the risk of being electrocuted. This 'impossibility' is made even more impossible by making sure the power button on your power supply is off before you plug it in the first time. Then no capacitors have a charge.

3) You'd be correct that if you were shorting yourself out to your case while running back and forth across carpet you'd kind of defeat the purpose. I wouldn't recommend you set up your computer in the bathroom either because of how damp bathrooms can be.

Now, here's some thought provoking comments.

Question: What makes an ESD bag different from a plastic bag you get from Wal-Mart when you buy an item?

Answer: ESD bags actually slightly conduct electricity. Crazy but true. Their color will actually tell you what metal is inside the plastic. It's a high resistance plastic, but it does conduct enough to HELP protect. Keyword help.

The reason that this is so is because of what is defined as 'ground'. If you are picking up a video card from an ESD bag you are probably going to pull the card out next. Pretend you are at 1kV and the bag is sitting on a table at 0v. When you pick it up the ESD bag is going to allow a very small current to pass through the bag to the card. This will effectively put the voltage of the card at the same voltage of your body. You next grab the card and all is well because you and the card are at the same voltage.

I said above that it helps to protect. Pretend that you ran around the house with your socks on rubbing them across that new carpet you bought. You grab that ESD bag and the pull the card off the table as fast as you can. The bag has resistance, and it might not have been able to equalize the voltage between the card and your body before you grabbed the card. End result: Video card got shocked.

Now take that same idea and apply it to building a computer. Except your case = ESD bag, and your video card = all the components.

You probably touch the case of your computer somewhere while you are assembling it, right? So those parts have obviously matched the voltage of your body. Is this good? Not entirely because that shock was low resistance. 1 quick shock and all of your components COULD(and probably did to an extent) receive a healthy shock. Sucky huh?

So, overall what's the best way to assemble your computer? Assemble your computer in a case that is grounded(to a real ground), where you are also grounded(to a real ground). You also do not want to be a short to ground yourself in the event you get shocked with live voltage looking for ground. What's the easiest way to do this? Use the ground of your PSU and ground yourself to the PSU with a wristband. Of course you should definitely make sure your power supply is off. If you are worried that some schmuck might turn it on, you could always turn off the PSU switch and the power strip your computer is plugged into(or even the breaker if you were that concerned).

Now, how would I tell someone to assmeble a computer that isn't all knowing on ESD?

1. Assemble your computer on a table other surface that doesn't ESD. If you have new carpet do it in a different room if possible.
2. Install your PSU to your case first, make sure the switch is off then plug it into the wall.
3. Install all of your components in your computer, touching the case(and therefore grounding yourself) first.
4. After everything is installed you can move the computer to whatever location your computer will be used in.

For those that pay attention to every single detail:

Is there a remote itty bitty teeny weeny chance of getting live voltage? Yeah. If someone turns on your PSU AND you licked or otherwise shorted out the PSU pins with your body you COULD.

Is there still a itty bitty teeny weeny chance of ESD damaging your computer? Yes.

Do I care about these extremely remote possibilities? Nope.

Well, why the heck don't you care? Because I am not a corporation where I'm handling millions of dolllars of equipment every day. What happens if I somehow forget to ground myself to my computer? Probably nothing. Worst case I destroy a part(and I get to RMA it). If I were a company it could mean millions gone due to repairs and lost productivity. Also at work where I'm doing this day in and day out it's not hard to implement some basic grounding straps. At home it's a bit more difficult. So partly it's convenience and partly it's the stakes.

If you are REALLY that concerned about ESD, sure you can spend the $10 for a grounding strap at Radio Shack. But...I think that it's really more of a phobia people have than an actual scenario you should fear. I assemble computers all the time, and I can't remember the last time I thought that I might have destroyed a component. Just try to handle the components by the edges and all will be fine.

I was just waiting for RetiredChief to focus some glare on the drones in this thread. Thanks.

Grimmy's comments about what you can and cannot feel were good too. A typical office chair with casters on it can pick up an incredible amount of static just rolling on the floor. I don't sit in one when I'm building.

I saw an electron microscope shot of a static hit on a semiconductor. It looked like cupcake icing through which a yard ape had dabbed a finger.

I'm hoping you can answer this. If you connect your PSU to the case, then touch the case wall, how is that voltage being transfered from the case to the PSU? Through the mounting screws? Wouldn't you have to ground yourself to one of the black pins on a PSU connector?

Qwertycopter.
The "ground" wire is attached to the PSU Case, The PSU case is connected to the computer case (ie through the monting screws PS don't use nylon mounting screws for the PSU). As mentioned, connect to "Bare" metal as paint is a insulator (poor), also do not connect to anodized metal. Anodized metal is an oxide, and Metal Oxides are very poor conductors. This is also the reason connector pins are often gold plated - Gee I bet some of you thought it was because it was a better conductor.

The PSU is grounded to the case anywhere metal is touching metal, as RetiredChief said. It's only the really purdy PSUs that would get the grounding through the screws only.

I work on PBXs (private branch exchanges - business telephone switches). My partner has been in the business for 30+ years, he used to be a central office (C.O.) installer for Bell. He puts his hands all over the boards, which I do give him crap for doing. I have been working with him for 15 Years and have never seen a failure. The floors are usually tile and by touching the PBX you clear any ESD, but the wrist strap requirement is a little overblown. I don't bother wearing a wrist strap, and I do own 2-3, I just periodically touch the exposed metal hinge of the refrigerator, obviously I do my builds in the kitchen, and I don't wear a wool sweater while building. The PSU plugged in with the switch off is good as long as you don't dork.

As far as doing a build in the bathroom or on the carpet, I would choose the bathroom. There is not enough moisture in the air in the bathroom to present any problem whatsoever. Your not taking a shower with the build. Just don't do a build right after someone has used the shower and wipe the place down with a towel and you will be fine.

Zorg
I have a son who is a Double E and is part owner of an Eclectronic design company (Technovare). He designed the video interface that sony uses in all the large screen displays at the London Stadum. He doesn't use a strap very often either. I quite getting on his case, He's as hard headed as myself. His home computer is a deul quad zeon with an 1800 dolar GPU. When I'm out there (He lives in LA) I'm goning to rum 3Dmarks06 just for SH__ and grins.

By the way, I went and bought an antistatic wristband yesterday and took the opportunity to talk a bit about ESD prevention with the seller. He said that touching the case with the PSU installed would only work if both the power socket and plug had ground connection (which I guess is obvious when you think about it - or know something about power, which I obviously don't). But the PSU probably won't come with a ground pin as they aren't standard in Denmark. So I guess that leaves me with either a faucet or a radiator.

I will post some more obsessive questions later.

Yes. It's passing throgh the mounting screws and the fact that the PSU is touching the case itself.

The black pins are common, not ground. Common is supposed to be at the same voltage as ground, but common is supposed to be the intended path for current flow. When I was learning about all this stuff I asked the instructor what the difference was between common and ground. The answer I got was 'it's just a different path for current flow'. I know that this ideal wouldn't matter if I was using an incandescent bulb and used ground instead of common, but if the bulb was connected to a GFCI(ground fault circuit interrupter) then the GFCI would trip.

Grounding yourself to a black pin on the PSU would actually be worthless because the power switch SHOULD be off. (You did turn off the power supply didn't you?)<-- joke.

Anyway, because you are dealing with electronics and changing voltage and frequency from 120V/60hz or 240v/50hz to DC you don't want ground and common to be the same. Then you could have current flow going backwards from common to ground. This would almost certainly destroy the PSU. I can't tell you for 100% certainty you couldn't short common and ground together, but I'm not gonna test it to find out.

This has been answered in previous posts. With the PSU attached static discharge goes to real/absolute ground. This is best practice, but I would say not necessary. Without the PSU, the discharge goes to the case. In theory, that puts your installed components at higher risk. But in practice, we see that the case effectively "absorbs" shock. Any piece of metal has resistance (to the flow of electrons). In a piece of wire, the resistance is pretty low, and therefore negligible. A case, however, has a heck of a lot more metal, so the resistance is increased. So once the discharge has occurred, it has to go through all that metal to affect a component. By that time, there little chance of frying anything.

If you're connected to absolute ground, you have 0 Volts of static buildup.

But when you discharge to the case (not connected to absolute ground), you are only equalizing your charge with that of the case.

In practice it shouldn't matter. But, also remember to handle your components with ESD in mind.

As for the table and chair you mentioned... I'm not sure. Plastics and vinyls will generate static. I probably would skip the chair. I would think the table is fine, but usually you set your components on a safe surface, such as cardboard.

Reference to cyberjock concerning Black for common and if it is connected to Ground.

Answer: YES. In a computer, the "Earth Ground" and the Black PSU lead (Common) are both tied to the case. Therefore, in this case you can connect to the black lead and be grounded with the PSU plugged in, and off. This is the reason you can connect the Black lead of a volt meter to the case and measure system voltages.

The term common denotes just that a common tie point and as such a reference. it MAY, or may NOT be connected to chassie ground (In the most it is). Some electronic systems isolate common from Chassie.

Grimmy,
Hope you don't mind me correcting a slip of the tongue. "So there's only 2 for pos/neg on the outlet"

When dealing with AC (Alternating Current) Line voltage - There is no pos/neg. There is a Hot (or Live, Which alternates between Pos and negative), a nuetral (or common) and a "earth" ground.

Reference USA: We have two hot (115 VAC) which are 180 degress out off phase (Black wire - Bad choice), a White for nuetral (or common), and Green for earth ground. The voltage between the 2 Hot wire is 240. At some point the Common and earth Ground is tied together (ie at the Fuse box).

England - Uses one Hot @ 240, a nuetral/common, and a earh ground.

Yea, I've been hit a few (too many to count) times. Worst was when adjusting the Horizon output on a color tV My pinky got to close - It was in a preachers house - all I could say was that smarted!. Got my hand to close to the A+ (35KV) on a color picute tube - that one set my on the flour. Also done some arch welding, Melted my vom probe tip once. HATE the use of black wire for "Hot"

hahah I love it

Cyberjock.
I orginally just measured the Black molex lead to computer case.

Based on your reply. I pulled out a CoolerMaster igreen 600W PSU. With a Fluke 85III DVM I measured all (Except the Sata returns - couldn't insert meter probe). I first measured the resistance between the AC Ground to the Mounting screw hole, which I zeroed out using the relative fuction. I then used this hole as the reference for all measurements ALL the black pins measured 0.0 ohms (less than 50 milliohms resoltion).

Could you please repeat your measurements. First verify AC ground to mounting screw hole and factor this out of your measurement.

Alternative - Measure one of the black molex connector to the black leads on the 24 pin connector - Mine reads 0.0 ohms

There is a method called single point return, where the "Commons" are only connected to chassie at one point, either the Source, or the subsystem - but not both. This is normally done to reduce ground loop EMI.

Bear in mind, for voltage readings to be accurate when using the chassie to connect the Black DVM lead, the common must tie to the chassie at some point. Another point is that when a subsytem uses multiple voltes (ie +5 and +12) their returns are normally connected. Example if you measure the +5 to the +12 you only get +7 if the returns are tied.

Sorry for the time delay, Slept in this morning Plus Had trouble with good old cox internet

editted
Found a 2nd PSU, an Off the wall el cheapo 300 W. Same resaults. All Black returns connected internally, and connected to PSU chassie. Did get approx 200 milliohms from Returns to PSU chassie which I atribute to connection resistance (ie pin to wire, lead and bonding - remember this is a cheap psu vs the igreen)