My uncle grabbed my card - could static have damaged it?

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Le037

Limp Gawd
Joined
May 21, 2008
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Today I showed my uncle my new GTX 295. Ain't gonna be able to try it till saturday. I've always been careful with static before touching my cards but I didn't realize to tell my uncle to discharge somewhere before looking at it. So know I'm wondering if it's probable that the card's been damaged it (I haven't tried it yet, maybe it works). I've seen videos on the net where people unbox their cards and handle them with their bare hands but I have no experience with this. Maybe I'm just being paranoid?
 
I've left a motherboard on a really high pile carpet for about 8 months, it was vaccumed around, walked around picked up, etc.

Boots fine :)

There's enough conductive surface on a gpu that, unless you had sufficient static build up, and contacted the core directly, you're more than likely safe.
 
you should be fine, although i am paranoid too, always ground my self..... but once when i took out my intel motherboard(before i got a p5q pro a few months ago) i touched it with my bare hands put on carpet etc and still works! But then there is a slight chance.. but mostlikely it will work, good luck!!.. wish i could afford an gtx 295 :(
 
In my experience, components are usually only damaged if you noticed a shock when touching the part. If you or he didn't notice one, you should be fine. Either way, just plug it in and find out. It shouldn't hurt your mobo or other parts.
 
Thanks a lot! Yeah I'm most likely being paranoid but being that if it breaks I'm stuck with my Radeon 9600 I think you guys understand me ;)
 
You're fine. I work in an ESD controlled environment @ werk and have experience so I'd say unless your uncle was shuffling around on the carpet and touching the conductive surfaces on your card (most important of which are enclosed on new cards) it wouldn't damage it at all. Now tell your uncle to quit it. :D
 
hell I spilled water on my x1800xt and it still works. (not while it was turned on or anything, just laying on my desk.)
 
I think I would have kicked him in the balls if he grabbed my $500 vid card much less get within 10 feet of it.:D

It should be fine. I pretty much quit grounding myself and so far haven't damaged anything that I know of. Well, I did almost electrocute my dog with static charge.
 
I've built my computers wearing gym shorts and working on carpet (lol static) and not damaged a component. Don't worry about it.
 
lol, it will be fine.
It is possible that static damage has occured but not very likely that any has occured.
If it doesnt work, dont go out on Friday 13th!
 
I vote no. I think you are just being paranoid. I touch my cards/drives/mobos all of the time while building and reconfiguring my machine and it has never once been an issue.
 
Riles said:
I vote no. I think you are just being paranoid. I touch my cards/drives/mobos all of the time while building and reconfiguring my machine and it has never once been an issue.
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Touching them isn't the issue. Of course you touch them when you're building your PC. How the hell else would you build it, with robotic arms? The issue is static electricity built up in your body discharging onto the component. If there's no discharge, there's no chance of static electricity damaging the component. That's the whole reason people wear grounded wrist straps when working with electrical equipment or touch a grounded piece of metal first.
 
The problem is many times you can't tell if you've damaged components or not. You will most likely not immediately notice it and may never come up during normal use but the rare random crash/freeze you get down the line maybe due to ESD damage.
 
It is possible. I fried a hard drive once by zapping the hard drive cage with my fingers one winter. Plug er in and see if she runs, if so you're likely fine.
 
I should grab my buddies 4870x2, Do the running man on a carpet then touch it and watch the youtube comments fly.

As others said, it will work fine, most people over exaggerate the whole static charge thing.
 
I always make sure I work on my computers completely naked on a ceramic tile floor, also with an industrial humidifier in the room.

Just kidding, it should almost certainly be fine. I used to be paranoid, but after working on my computer non grounded so often, i'm not really worried about static anymore.
 
The real danger to static sensitive parts is when you touch the contact pins. This is why they recommend using a wrist strap when handling static sensitive parts in case your body does have a static charge. Normally if there is static damage it will show up immediately or take years to finally fail.
 
Ok I'll let you guys know tommorrow when I build my pc. It's gonna be either GTX 295 or Radeon 9600.
 
i wear a giant suit of carpet when i change my computer parts, keeps me warm. and all my parts work fine. ;p
 
Careful with your assumptions about static electricity. I recently visited my family in Alaska during one of their cold spells. Humidity was down to something ridiculous; you could literally feel the moisture being sucked off your skin by the dry air. I would get powerful static discharges through 3 layers of clothing. Taking off a sweater put out more audible crackling than a tesla ball. While lying in bed in the dark, I could make a visible lightning storm by rubbing my pajamas on the sheets! I wouldn't have dared to work on electronic components without a wrist strap.

Back home here in humid Seattle, I can't get a static charge if I try.
 
Astral Abyss said:
Touching them isn't the issue. Of course you touch them when you're building your PC. How the hell else would you build it, with robotic arms? [snip]
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I loled. :)

fyi, I think the card will be fine personally.. I have done this before by accident and cards have been fine.. FYI, I do however always touch a part of the pc chassis (effectively grounding myself) when putting any card or memory in, just to be safe.. it can be tricky, like twister for the pc (left thumb chassis, right hand video card, ?), but I feel better doing that..
 
revenant said:
I loled. :)

fyi, I think the card will be fine personally.. I have done this before by accident and cards have been fine.. FYI, I do however always touch a part of the pc chassis (effectively grounding myself) when putting any card or memory in, just to be safe.. it can be tricky, like twister for the pc (left thumb chassis, right hand video card, ?), but I feel better doing that..
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That's the proper way to do it, yes. You'll discharge any static build-up which may otherwise come into contact with the part you're handling.

Be sure not to plug the PSU into an outlet or otherwise connect the case with a ground source with a much lower potential than your body could ever reach. You're just increasing the possibility of ESD that way. Also touch an expansion card or such at a ground plane, like the I/O plate, as that will bring the potential of the part up (or down) to your potential, negating the possibility of ESD :)
 
I always build my PCs while standing on a carpet(use wooden table to build it tho), just touch the inside of the case and you should be fine.

I have dropped my QX6700 on the carpet once or twice and works like normal.:)
 
Just installed it. It works fine so far. Though I'm having trouble playing crysis it freezes on the intro vid.
 
Just installed it. It works fine so far. Though I'm having trouble playing crysis it freezes on the intro vid.
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Did you rub the game on the carpet?:p
 
If you just touch your case or anything that's metal in the vicinity before touching the card, you're completely fine.
 
Le037 said:
how do u do that?
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just go into the Crysis folder in your program files on your hard drive. there will be a Crysis.exe in your bin32 folder so just right click on it and send it to the desktop so you can start up from it everytime.
 
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