DUST Search - Am building a gaming PC

The Robot Devil wrote:

Mary Lilac wrote:

The Robot Devil wrote:

Mary Lilac wrote:

The alligator clip on the end is meant to clip on to some type of grounded metal (such as galvanized steel conduit), and you can remove it to stick the plug into the ground plug hole on your wall outlet. Disregard the Voltage markings on the drawing (they are not quite accurate anyway).

This is very dangerous, you should never plug anything into a wall that isn't intended to plugged into the wall. Stray and unbalanced currents and voltages use the grounding to balance load and can be energized. All that is needed is equalizing your potential to the part by touching the part ground or by touching something that has been properly grounded, like an appliance with bare metal that is accessible. Grounding is important but shouldn't be treated as if there is no potential on the conductor, if the grounding conductor is energize it can hurt you or your stuff. I have personally tested grounding conductors with 60-70 volts on them in peoples homes. NEVER plug things into a wall outlets that weren't designed to be plugged in or UL tested.

If your house was built to code, you should be 100% safe in doing this... that is the point of that plug. That plug is connected directly to the ground (i.e. the galvanized steel conduit which is required to be true-earth ground). If this were not 100% safe, it would be a horrible idea to even touch the outside of your computer case... or any case that is metal, in any electronic component that has that third plug.

Seriously, if you have ever been in a house that had 60-70 volts on that grounding hole I hope you called the City, because it would not be long before that house will burn down. This is not up to code, and you run SERIOUS risk plugging anything into any outlet in a situation like that.

Point in fact, when you use the alligator clip to chassis method, you are supposed to plug your case into the wall (while leaving the switch off). This is effectively grounding the entire chassis and your wrist strap to that third plug in your electrical outlet.

The only time I would be concerned is if your house is much older construction (world war 2 era) and you had some 220 V outlets in your house. US electical codes were a little bit more forgiving then, and it is possible that the ground plug was used a neutral while the other two plugs were out of phase 110V lines.

Of course, if that is the case start suing everyone and anyone that was involved with your house sale.

Never place your life in the hands of anyone. Attaching yourself to a circuit is always a bad idea. Yes, up to code the circuit should be doing its job but if something is wrong then you are dead or injured. I have seen too many mistakes in new electrical construction and installations to absolutely trust ANY circuit with my health. I have a degree in electronics and I am an industrial electrician and I can tell you that things mess up, get broken or installed improperly. The code is very powerful and a great tool but too many things can go wrong and we should never trust that one conductor is going to save us. Grounding conductors are emergency equipment and should be treated as such and by attaching yourself to a device that is made for emergency, worst case situations you are asking for trouble.

The reason I have found voltage on grounding conductors is because I was there to fix the electrical problem. I have found voltage in new construction, old construction and everything in between and they are usually caused by people. You wouldn't believe some of the things I have seen in homes and in industrial plants.

1-800-345-SONY. PRESS 2 THEN 2. GET YOUR REFUND. RE-POST THIS IN YOUR SIG. Be polite, they want to refund you!


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Mary Lilac Namtar Elite Gallente Federation 473	Posted - 2014.05.16 00:23:00 - [1] - Quote Texas Killionaire wrote: Any tips would be greatly appreciated. I'm gonna drop about 1,100 on parts. Depends on a ton of things 1) what country do you reside in 2) Is this for a specific title? Is that title out yet? 3) IS it possible to wait? When do you HAVE to have it done by? 4)Do you need an OS (I know, you should buy one but I won't force you too)? Do you have a preference? 5) Do you wish to watercool it? It is ridiculously easy to watercool, and your overclocking potential shoots way way up. 6) Are you concerned with heat output/power usage? 7) What are the specific goals you have in mind? Large capacity? Lotsa Ram? Upgradability (buying an older socket that might be on it's way out soon means limited upgradability)? 8) Do you require a monitor? Mouse/KB? Chair/desk? Are you hooking up to a TV? See if you are attemping to build this PC for a game that isn't even a game yet (legion) you should wait. Actually if it is for any game in the future you should wait. The longer you can wait to build a PC the better performance you will get for your dollar. Country makes a huge difference in pricing Water cooling effects case and overall budget. But if you take care of the watercooling parts, they are highly transferable. An OS will take up 10% of your budget. The heat output of a gaming rig can be immense. If this computer is to be situated in a small room with massive ventilation capabilites, it will turn into an oven in the summer. There is a lot of stuff to consider, and as such any system someone would recommend you without all of this information would most likely not fit your needs. So please explain in detail what your goals/restraints/needs are. 1-800-345-SONY. PRESS 2 THEN 2. GET YOUR REFUND. RE-POST THIS IN YOUR SIG. Be polite, they want to refund you!
Mary Lilac Namtar Elite Gallente Federation 479	Posted - 2014.05.16 05:24:00 - [2] - Quote Texas Killionaire wrote: I live in Texas. No deadline, still saving money. Want to play ESO and DayZ very comfortably. Will prob play Legion (sorry). Thank you all for your advice Sorry it took so long for the reply. Other forum go'ers are right, tomshardware, overclock.net, anandtech, these are forums that you will want to lurk in for a little while to figure out the basics of what means what, and the type of questions to ask. Stay away from... well here, reddit, and other types of unstructured places because the conversations are less focused and there are very few people with the knowledge to call others on their B.S. (like do not trust one word out of Iron Wolf Sabre's mouth, he has a record of overreaching his knowledge base) When you can be pretty confident you really know what the differences between SSDs and HDDs are as far as performance, when you know why you might want a 6.0 GBPS Sata capable motherboard, when you understand why people choose NVIDIA or AMD cards, then you can move forward. I know this is asking a lot, but to educate yourself on why you should build it, why you should use each component, will allow you to 1) Eliminate buyers remorse and more importantly (and probably linked) 2) Know exactly what you are getting Now I am by no way saying you should go as far as to understand intel's die shrink roadmaps, or even what a die size is (this knowledge is over the top for building your own PC), just spend a few hours reading their forums. Just the fact that you use an internet forum puts you in the top 10% of people on the internet as far as being computer savy. If this is something tat you would like to pursue, I have every faith in your ability to do so. Of course if you have more questions to get up-to-speed about the lingo, the hardware, or maybe a broad overview of how a computer actually works, I am more than willing to help. One last thing, do not believe any claims unless you can verify those claims from 5-10 independant sources. There is a ton of fanboyism when it comes to computer hardware brands, so take EVERYTHING with a grain of salt. 1-800-345-SONY. PRESS 2 THEN 2. GET YOUR REFUND. RE-POST THIS IN YOUR SIG. Be polite, they want to refund you!
Mary Lilac Namtar Elite Gallente Federation 479	Posted - 2014.05.16 05:35:00 - [3] - Quote I know I already said one last thing, but this is really the last thing. Building your own PC is a lot of fun to a lot of people. When you get everything together on your first build, you think it is altogether anyway, and you power it on with that nervous/excited feeling compounded by worry (of breaking stuff).... and then it all comes together and you see that BIOS screen, man it is a good feeling. Definately, at the very least, invest in THIS OR SOMETHING LIKE THIS. It is a strap to help eliminate Electro-static-Discharge. The alligator clip on the end is meant to clip on to some type of grounded metal (such as water pipes), and you can remove it to stick it into the ground plug hole on your wall outlet. Disregard the Voltage markings on the drawing (they are not quite accurate anyway). I can not tell you how many idiots put computers together without ESD straps. Yes, idiots. You can easily discharge a VERY strong voltage into so many places without even knowing it. The fact that the discharge doesn't immediately kill the component doesn't mean that there wasn't significant damage done, and the overall life of that component may have suffered for it. All over $5. 1-800-345-SONY. PRESS 2 THEN 2. GET YOUR REFUND. RE-POST THIS IN YOUR SIG. Be polite, they want to refund you!
Mary Lilac Namtar Elite Gallente Federation 486	Posted - 2014.05.16 13:56:00 - [4] - Quote The Robot Devil wrote: Mary Lilac wrote: The alligator clip on the end is meant to clip on to some type of grounded metal (such as galvanized steel conduit), and you can remove it to stick the plug into the ground plug hole on your wall outlet. Disregard the Voltage markings on the drawing (they are not quite accurate anyway). This is very dangerous, you should never plug anything into a wall that isn't intended to plugged into the wall. Stray and unbalanced currents and voltages use the grounding to balance load and can be energized. All that is needed is equalizing your potential to the part by touching the part ground or by touching something that has been properly grounded, like an appliance with bare metal that is accessible. Grounding is important but shouldn't be treated as if there is no potential on the conductor, if the grounding conductor is energize it can hurt you or your stuff. I have personally tested grounding conductors with 60-70 volts on them in peoples homes. NEVER plug things into a wall outlets that weren't designed to be plugged in or UL tested. If your house was built to code, you should be 100% safe in doing this... that is the point of that plug. That plug is connected directly to the ground (i.e. the galvanized steel conduit which is required to be true-earth ground). If this were not 100% safe, it would be a horrible idea to even touch the outside of your computer case... or any case that is metal, in any electronic component that has that third plug. Seriously, if you have ever been in a house that had 60-70 volts on that grounding hole I hope you called the City, because it would not be long before that house will burn down. This is not up to code, and you run SERIOUS risk plugging anything into any outlet in a situation like that. Point in fact, when you use the alligator clip to chassis method, you are supposed to plug your case into the wall (while leaving the switch off). This is effectively grounding the entire chassis and your wrist strap to that third plug in your electrical outlet. The only time I would be concerned is if your house is much older construction (world war 2 era) and you had some 220 V outlets in your house. US electical codes were a little bit more forgiving then, and it is possible that the ground plug was used a neutral while the other two plugs were out of phase 110V lines. Of course, if that is the case start suing everyone and anyone that was involved with your house sale. 1-800-345-SONY. PRESS 2 THEN 2. GET YOUR REFUND. RE-POST THIS IN YOUR SIG. Be polite, they want to refund you!
Mary Lilac Namtar Elite Gallente Federation 489	Posted - 2014.05.16 15:57:00 - [5] - Quote The Robot Devil wrote: Mary Lilac wrote: The Robot Devil wrote: Mary Lilac wrote: The alligator clip on the end is meant to clip on to some type of grounded metal (such as galvanized steel conduit), and you can remove it to stick the plug into the ground plug hole on your wall outlet. Disregard the Voltage markings on the drawing (they are not quite accurate anyway). This is very dangerous, you should never plug anything into a wall that isn't intended to plugged into the wall. Stray and unbalanced currents and voltages use the grounding to balance load and can be energized. All that is needed is equalizing your potential to the part by touching the part ground or by touching something that has been properly grounded, like an appliance with bare metal that is accessible. Grounding is important but shouldn't be treated as if there is no potential on the conductor, if the grounding conductor is energize it can hurt you or your stuff. I have personally tested grounding conductors with 60-70 volts on them in peoples homes. NEVER plug things into a wall outlets that weren't designed to be plugged in or UL tested. If your house was built to code, you should be 100% safe in doing this... that is the point of that plug. That plug is connected directly to the ground (i.e. the galvanized steel conduit which is required to be true-earth ground). If this were not 100% safe, it would be a horrible idea to even touch the outside of your computer case... or any case that is metal, in any electronic component that has that third plug. Seriously, if you have ever been in a house that had 60-70 volts on that grounding hole I hope you called the City, because it would not be long before that house will burn down. This is not up to code, and you run SERIOUS risk plugging anything into any outlet in a situation like that. Point in fact, when you use the alligator clip to chassis method, you are supposed to plug your case into the wall (while leaving the switch off). This is effectively grounding the entire chassis and your wrist strap to that third plug in your electrical outlet. The only time I would be concerned is if your house is much older construction (world war 2 era) and you had some 220 V outlets in your house. US electical codes were a little bit more forgiving then, and it is possible that the ground plug was used a neutral while the other two plugs were out of phase 110V lines. Of course, if that is the case start suing everyone and anyone that was involved with your house sale. Never place your life in the hands of anyone. Attaching yourself to a circuit is always a bad idea. Yes, up to code the circuit should be doing its job but if something is wrong then you are dead or injured. I have seen too many mistakes in new electrical construction and installations to absolutely trust ANY circuit with my health. I have a degree in electronics and I am an industrial electrician and I can tell you that things mess up, get broken or installed improperly. The code is very powerful and a great tool but too many things can go wrong and we should never trust that one conductor is going to save us. Grounding conductors are emergency equipment and should be treated as such and by attaching yourself to a device that is made for emergency, worst case situations you are asking for trouble. The reason I have found voltage on grounding conductors is because I was there to fix the electrical problem. I have found voltage in new construction, old construction and everything in between and they are usually caused by people. You wouldn't believe some of the things I have seen in homes and in industrial plants. Yeah you are right. You should definately verify that you safety circuitry in your own home is up to snuff. I too have seen a ton of hap-hazard work in all sectors (automotive, construction, electronics, etc..) To OP, do you know how to use a multimeter? Actually, what you would do is spend just a little bit of that budget on a decent surge protector that will detect whether or not you have a decent ground as well, as a decent amount of surge protectors now have a ground fault light. Or you can go buy this. Also, you should replace surge protectors every 5 years. If you do not have a functional ground circuit in your house, this means that none of your surge protectors can really do their job, and as such ALL of your stuff is unprotected.. this is bad news, and something you should remedy BEFORE you spend any amount of money on electronics. Fortunately, if you can build a PC, you can fix house electrical work easily(IMHO that is, don't do what you are not comfortable with). 1-800-345-SONY. PRESS 2 THEN 2. GET YOUR REFUND. RE-POST THIS IN YOUR SIG. Be polite, they want to refund you!