Rig setup outside of case

youcancallmeal

I'm going to be running a test with a rig setup outside of a case. Basically just gonna sit the m/b on an anti-static sheet on my desk and put the psu,hd and cd drive around it. Anyone ever done this before and if so any pointers?
Reason I'm doing it is just basically so I can troubleshoot different parts and be able to monitor them closely.

bungeecork

Don't anti-static sheets conduct?

youcancallmeal

bungeecork wrote:

Don't anti-static sheets conduct?

Well when I say anti-static I mean the bag that the m/b came in, which I presume is anti-static and wouldnt have any ill effect to sit it on top of and run.

HungryJoey

To be safe wether the Anti-Static Bag will conduct or not, Just place the Motherboard on a layer of cardboard, thick cardboard on that note. Thats what I do when I am running PC's outisde of a case. Works fine.

Hj

youcancallmeal

HungryJoey wrote:

To be safe wether the Anti-Static Bag will conduct or not, Just place the Motherboard on a layer of cardboard, thick cardboard on that note. Thats what I do when I am running PC's outisde of a case. Works fine.

Hj

Yea that definitely sounds like a better idea, cheers

BopNiblets

I'm assuming it won't be long term otherwise dust will be a problem...

Also, what exactly can you do by way of troubleshooting and monitoring just by looking?

I read something where a guy submerged his mobo and stuff (with the moving parts outside of course) in a non-conductive gel of some sort. Heh.

SouperComputer

you dont even need and anti static sheet TBH, but if the gear is worh a few bob, the its a good idea to rest it on the bag alright

Static bags are semi-condictors, they dissapate high voltage charges slowly. IE its fine on the static bag.

Just make sure you have the mobo raised a bit for the AGP, PCI cards, otherwise the brackets will rest on the desk and sit in the slots ar$eways

humaxf1

NO NO on the anti static mat as everyone else said. I made that mistake about a year ago until someone pointed it out to me.

Since then I have used cardboard as an insulator. Don't forget your hard drive has the controller circuitry underneath, so insulate that too!

youcancallmeal

Well I took a pic of what I did. Its fairly blurry but you get the idea. All went well anyway. I forgot that my case has a removable tray so that made it a lot easier. I was basically just testing my psu, making sure there were no voltage drops on certain cables. Thanks for everyones input.

Setup Pic

Mutant_Fruit

Just so you know for future reference, the outside of the antistatic bag is the dangerous side. The thing about static charge is that it always rests on the outside of the conductor... i.e. the outside of the bag! The only 100% safe place is inside the bag.

Never chop up an antistatic bag and try to use it, or put stuff on the outside. While you'd probably get away with it 99/100 times, that 1/100 it'll fry something.

bungeecork

Another problem is that even if a static charge doesn't fry anything there and then, it could slightly damage something and cause instability or intermittent problems or complete failure much later on.

KdjaCL

Get an old ATX case and hacksaw. Gets the same results with as what you want .


kdjac

steveland?

Why don't you just put everything in the case and leave the side of it off?

Mutant_Fruit

steveland? wrote:

Why don't you just put everything in the case and leave the side of it off?

thats what i was wondering :P I do all my "tests" with the mobo in the case. Unless of course, it isn't booting at all!

youcancallmeal

Well my case wouldnt fit on top of that desk otherwise I'd have to lie on the floor and access it from there :eek:
Also taking everything out gives you good oppurtunity to clear some of the dust build up

Gurgle

When everythings connected up and plugged in, its all got earth connections anyway. Static isnt an issue.