Do You Use An Anti-Static Mat and Wriststrap When Assembling Your Rig?

[ctal]

Originally Posted by Briton

I have no scientific facts backing my suggestion, just merely the fact that I've shocked plenty of components and had absolutely no ramifications. I've even done it on purpose a couple times with a rug and some socks to old components. As far as I know (I've read a few articles dismissing the whole static electricity thing) the only thing that static can even affect is the BIOS of a card. Otherwise the output of electricity is negligible (electricity, after all, is what powers these cards in the first place).

Interesting observations from you and the others.

One of the main things that prompted my interest in this poll were the comments I frequently see here and in the user comments at NewEgg, by people who had to rma brand new parts that proved to be defective when they built their pc's. I wondered to what extent that might have been due to the users not following good ESD (electrostatic discharge) practices. Judging by the responses above, I guess the answer is that it's not a factor in most of those rma's.

On the other hand, I can tell you from personal experience that 25 years ago anti-static practices received vastly less focus than they do today, in industries that involve handling electronic assemblies. In recent years companies that deal with electronic assemblies (not to mention those that manufacture ic's and other electronic devices) expend a whole lot of money training employees in proper procedure, and in providing facilities that conform to industry or military approved guidelines for ESD control. There are large numbers of elaborate specifications that have been prepared by the American National Standards Institute, the ESD Association, the Department of Defense (for military procurement), and other organizations that specify how companies handling electronic assemblies have to deal with ESD (at least if they want to receive certain forms of quality certification).

Also, I think that if you were to do some Googling on the subject you would find frequent references to ESD control assuming continually greater importance as integrated circuit feature size has become smaller. Which stands to reason, as I indicated in my previous post.

Finally, I would add that these specifications and training courses emphasize that improper anti-static practices can have three kinds of effects: Not only immediate damage, which is what many of the comments above addressed; but also degraded long-term reliability; as well as increased gate leakage, leading to erratic operation, crashes, etc.

My own approach will continue to be better safe than sorry.

Regards,
-- Al

[3 of 7]

I use a strap connected to the chassis and I have a cable that grounds the chassis to the house mains ground..
The concern that I have is I've seen people suggest using the anti-static mat under a motherboard when running tests on it out of the case, the reason anti-static mats work is because they conduct electricity, better to put the mobo on a piece of uncoated cardboard.

[ctal]

Originally Posted by 3 of 7

I use a strap connected to the chassis and I have a cable that grounds the chassis to the house mains ground..
The concern that I have is I've seen people suggest using the anti-static mat under a motherboard when running tests on it out of the case, the reason anti-static mats work is because they conduct electricity, better to put the mobo on a piece of uncoated cardboard.

Yes, good point -- running a mobo on an anti-static mat makes no sense at all. I'd only put it on cardboard, though, if the cardboard itself was on a mat, to bleed off its static charges. Better still would be to put the mobo on standoffs, and have the standoffs rest on a mat.

Regards,
-- Al

[Briton]

Originally Posted by ctal

Finally, I would add that these specifications and training courses emphasize that improper anti-static practices can have three kinds of effects: Not only immediate damage, which is what many of the comments above addressed; but also degraded long-term reliability; as well as increased gate leakage, leading to erratic operation, crashes, etc.

I haven't seen any problems with the cards I've shocked, most of them are still running in boxes that have been solidly on for 5+ years. I've become so lax with how I deal with things that are under warranty (I am more careful with things that are not) simply because of my experiences with when I did phase change and chilled water cooling, I was killing processors, motherboards, ram and video cards (not by static discharges) on a monthly basis and would just go through the RMA process and get a new one. lol

[RoadStar]

Originally Posted by ctal

I'm curious as to how many of us use grounded anti-static mats and wriststraps when assembling our rigs.

I've done that on all four of the pc's I've built, each of which has contained a lot of stuff, and I've never had to rma anything. The only parts I've ever had fail were some optical drives and hard drives after years of use.

For those of you who have had problems with defective components during new builds, it would be interesting if you would comment on whether static might have been a factor.

Regards,
-- Al

I learned my lesson 28 years ago when I built a Heathkit Weather Station when I buggered up some CMOS chips...................
I alway practice safe ESD.................

[k0NG0]

I never got the chance to get me a mat before poking together the new kit. When installing the heatsink on the mobo I used two mobo antistatic bags on cardboard on a wood desk. It's virtually the same thing .

Went well.

[mtek]

assemble on carpet, nylon socks and a balloon
to discharge any static for me...
actually none of the above for me, never touch critical parts
handle every thing by an edge, no probs ever

[SRTDodge05]

Ive been building and working on computers for 10years and i never used one. I touch the parts all over and put the parts right on the carpet or whatever and never had a problem.

[3 of 7]

Originally Posted by SRTDodge05

Ive been building and working on computers for 10years and i never used one. I touch the parts all over and put the parts right on the carpet or whatever and never had a problem.

Lucky boy, let's go halfers on a lottery ticket k?

Actually I used to do that to until I killed a processor buy walking across a carpet with it in my hand before I installed it.

[wallijonn]

Originally Posted by ctal

it would be interesting if you would comment on whether static might have been a factor.

How would anyone be able to know for sure since it takes a lot less voltage than what can be seen or felt to know that static has been discharged?

I use both when repairing laptops. And the mat has to be grounded.

When working on workstations I have jerry rigged a ground wire to the AC plug because I NEVER, EVER, leave the power cord connected when working inside a PC. And I always depress the power button to completely discharge capacitors. (That's why the LEDs blink for a split second when you depress the power on/off button.)

[ctal]

Originally Posted by wallijonn

How would anyone be able to know for sure since it takes a lot less voltage than what can be seen or felt to know that static has been discharged?

Yes, there certainly is no way to know for sure. But notice that I asked if static "might have been involved." What I was envisioning was the possibility that people who've had to rma new components that failed to work after they assembled their pc, on multiple occasions, might have had a correlation with those who don't follow good anti-static practices. It seems from the responses, though, that that is apparently not the case.

Regards,
-- Al

[RaVeN_1]

No mat or wriststrap, building bout 5-10 rigs a week, in last 7 years since I work, I've managed to kill only one component and not because static, but because I was pushing the cooler too hard onto CPU so the core broke

RaVeN_1

[TQ]

In the years since Mrs. TQ and I began upgrading and building our own systems we've constructed so many PC's that I've lost count.
In all that time we've never used straps or mats and never had a problem.

We take all the components into the dining room. We put a large bath towel on the dining table (to avoid scratches) and place the case and the motherboard box on the table. After installing the CPU and whatever Zalman HSF we're using for that particular build we put the motherboard into the case first and then add everything else in.

About the only thing we do that's out of the ordinary is lock the cats in the bedroom and put the dogs outside.

[ScuzziOne]

Grounding straps and mats highly recommended.

As for ground-point potential being different than earth-ground or in case you touch something you shouldn't, most ground straps incorporate a very large resistor, a mega-ohm or so, to limit dangerous current flow.

Most electro-static discharges are never felt and they occur more often than most folks think. Damage is very real though it does not always result in an immediate failure of a component.

Some pics of ESD damage can be seen here:

3M - Europe - Electronics - Photographs of Electrostatic Discharge Damage