How to ground yourself?

[dawndawn0]

People say plug in the PSU but have it turned off, and you can just touch an unpainted metal part of the PSU to ground yourself.

Others say don't plug in the PSU and just touch a metal part of the case. If this is how it's supposed to be, then how is the case grounded?

 

[somePcNoob]

So it's like when you touch a door handle or something and you get a static shock, that's just removing any charge that's built up on you because there is a path for the electrons to go to ground (even if the case is sitting on a wooden table or something, there will usually be a path).

Touching a plugged in PSU also works, again because there is a direct connection to ground (this is slightly better than just touching the case).

If you're prone to static shocks you might want to grab an anti static wrist strap so you're grounded 100% of the time and clip the other end to a radiator or something (they're only a few pounds).

Almost always touching the PSU/case regularly is more than enough to stop any static build up, but if you're worried it won't hurt to grab a strap.

 

[JohnHank21]

First never work on carpet and work as far away as you can. You can buy a anti static pad and strap. To ground yourself out touch the case overtime you move.

 

[Slumy__57]

Whether or not your PSU needs to be plugged in depends on if you have the on/off switch on the back of it. If you have the on off switch, then you want it plugged in, with the switch in the off position. This uses the ground wire in your power cable to ground the PC.

You don't want to plug it in if there is no on/off switch on your PSU. If you don't have the switch and your PSU is plugged in, you'll be getting power to your components while you are hooking everything up, which you don't want. In this case, you would need to find an alternate method of grounding your chassis.

As far as grounding yourself, the best way to do that would be using an ESD wrist strap, but if you don't feel like buying a strap, touching the PSU or case religiously is a fine way to keep from damaging your pc (assuming your case is grounded). When I work on my personal rig, I typically just tap the chassis routinely to keep static from building up. I do tend to use the strap when I'm working on $100k+ servers though.

 

[turkey3_scratch]

Might as well look at this thread from today http://www.tomshardware.com/answers/id-3114496/grounding-whil-building.html

@Slumy: A PSU without a switch is extremely rare.

 

[Slumy__57]

Yeah, I know, but I think that's where the whole should I plug it in or not controversy comes from, so I'm just clarifying.