static electricity question

pineappplejack

Reputable
Oct 27, 2014
20
0
4,510
I received my computer parts, was excited to check them out. I did NOT touch or open the cpu, motherboard or gpu. I did however handle the ram (i didnt take it out of the plastic box tho) i took the cpu evo 212 fan and looked at it, i looked at the hdd and ssd and optical drive all the drives were in the bubble wrap i didnt remove it however it didnt completely cover them nothing seemed to be in "anti static bags" anyways my question is can the fan be damaged by static electricity? Or is there even any risk of damaging any of these components? I know better than to needlessly touch my mptherboard cpu and gpu but it never dawned on me to not touch the other less obvious components.. Thought it was kind of strange they were all shoved in 1 box together with a bunch of bubble wrap and paperwork thats gotta generate static simply from the boxing and unboxing process right?
 
Solution
As long as the parts were encased inside of the plastic shell / wrapping there is no risk of the parts being damaged by static.

The reason is as long as the parts were in contact with the packaging there is no ability for a difference in voltage to occur to generate a static discharge.
As long as the parts were encased inside of the plastic shell / wrapping there is no risk of the parts being damaged by static.

The reason is as long as the parts were in contact with the packaging there is no ability for a difference in voltage to occur to generate a static discharge.
 
Solution
Static electricity can "Damage" any electrical part that carries current. It is usually most susceptible WHILE it is carrying current. Normally handling RAM you should have at least grounded yourself. If you are holding it from the heatsink and not the pins or the transistors you should be okay. Fans themselves no.. but the controllers that power those fans yes. To be safe anytime you are doing anything inside your computer you should be wearing a static band, if you don't have this you should ground yourself before touching them by having the powersupply plugged in (turned off). THE PSU will be grounded. If you have it in the case you can touch the PSU it self or the metal parts of the case to ground yourself.

Overall static discharge is uncommon. The main parts you really need to be careful with are the RAM, CPU and GPU if you are handling it along the board.
 
SSD's, coolers, cases, and anything without direct or metal contact with an electrical circuit (like the fans) won't be affected by static electricity. It is recommended to use an anti-static wristband or ankleband but I've never been shocked and the only precaution I take is to plug the powersupply into the outlet and touch the outside.
 
HDD, SDD and optical drive doesn't have any electronics on the outside so I don't see how a static charge can damage those.
But handle the mobo, cpu, ram and gpu with care. Ground yourself before touching. I usually just touch something of metal with both hands. Like my computer case. Can't be hassled with wrist strap.

Also, do not touch the gold-plated area that connects to the motherboard.
 
i see. So what about the cpu cooler i took out of the box? This cannot be damaged by static easily im guessing?

 
Thank you for all the quick responses for my stupid questions. I was never confident in building my own gaming pc but from how quick people are to answer my questions on toms i feel ready and confident in it, thank you it really does help to learn amd not get a bunch of smartass comments like on a lot of forums