Ungrounded PC

[KleX]

I'm about to buildg my first PC ever.

I don't have any grounded sockets in my house (I live in EU and the building is almost 18 years old so nobody thought about grounding sockets back then).

There's no way other that tearing apart half of the house to have one grounded socket in my room.

Will using the PC ungrounded damage it?

Is there any other way to protect PC from "ungrounded problems"?

[NeatSquidYT]

AFAIK, no.

[samcool55]

Well it depends how bad it is.

I have seen pc's going completely nuts because of it (going as far as completely not working)

BSOD's, not waking up, i have seen it all, thanks to the lack of ground.

 

It's actually just having pure luck with it. Getting a high-quality PSU is the only thing that can help.

But it all depends how hard your pc needs it. Having a good PSU can help with the situation, but there is never a gurarantee it will be enough.

 

edit: also it can be quite dangerous, someone i know has a pc, ungrounded, that can electrocute you when it's powered. I have felt it couple of times, and it's not dangerous or anything, but it hurts like hell.

[jkraghify]

The idea of grounding is to have a zero charge difference between you and the PC. As long as you can have a "relative" ground you're fine. Use the case and plugged in (but off) power supply as your relative ground.

This is advice for building pcs, but for general use... I don't think the socket needs to be grounded at all.

[Tedster]

If you were confident (and/or skilled) enough to make your own socket and put a ground rod somewhere, then that would be a solution.

[MeepLikesToBuildPc's]

do you have Central Heating using water in your home? like, with these things?:

 

if yes, take a piece of wire, fasten it to your PC case, and then fasten the other piece of wire to the metal tubing on the radiator. radiators are always grounded so that would work fine.

[Dzzope]

If you were confident (and/or skilled) enough to make your own socket and put a ground rod somewhere, then that would be a solution.

 

Ground wire to radiator works... Though if you do it wrong you could just electrify the heating and water system in the building

[Tedster]

do you have Central Heating using water in your home? like, with these things?:

Radson-Compact.jpg

 

if yes, take a piece of wire, fasten it to your PC case, and then fasten the other piece of wire to the metal tubing on the radiator. radiators are always grounded so that would work fine.

That's a good idea.

 

If you were confident (and/or skilled) enough to make your own socket and put a ground rod somewhere, then that would be a solution.

If you were confident (and/or skilled) enough to make your own socket and ground it to the radiator, then that would be a good solution.

[KleX]

The build contains of:

 

Corsair Carbide Series SPEC-02

MSI Z97 GAMING 5

i5-4690k

Gigabyte G1 Gaming GTX 970

WD Caviar Blue 1 TB

Crucial Ballistix 8GB RAM

Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO

Corsair Builder Series CX 600 W 80+ bronze

Samsung DVD

Asus Adapter wi-fi N300 (USB-N14)

Razer Blackwidow Stealth 2014

Asus VG248QE

Windows 8

 

I have always been using everything ungrounded. My gaming laptop, console, theatre/hi-fi setup, phone charger, everything except for dishwasher isn't grounded and I haven't got any problems with it.

Also I live in an apartment on 4th floor so grounding PC to central heater can cause some problems when one of my neighbours gets electrocuted when touching it.

[Tedster]

The build contains of:

 

Corsair Carbide Series SPEC-02

MSI Z97 GAMING 5

i5-4690k

Gigabyte G1 Gaming GTX 970

WD Caviar Blue 1 TB

Crucial Ballistix 8GB RAM

Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO

Corsair Builder Series CX 600 W 80+ bronze

Samsung DVD

Asus Adapter wi-fi N300 (USB-N14)

Razer Blackwidow Stealth 2014

Asus VG248QE

Windows 8

 

I have always been using everything ungrounded. My gaming laptop, console, theatre/hi-fi setup, phone charger, everything except for dishwasher isn't grounded and I haven't got any problems with it.

Also I live in an apartment on 4th floor so grounding PC to central heater can cause some problems when one of my neighbours gets electrocuted when touching it.

Okay. I guess your best bet is just go to with a good PSU and hope that things will be okay.

And it looks like you've gone for a good enough PSU.

[CalebTheEternal]

I use one, but then the say day I'll go downstairs after walking on carpet with socks on and start touching things, like my motherboard, CPU, and all of that and have never had a problem, but I do touch something first. 

[KleX]

I use one, but then the say day I'll go downstairs after walking on carpet with socks on and start touching things, like my motherboard, CPU, and all of that and have never had a problem, but I do touch something first. 

So you are saying that I should touch components from time to time to ground them?

[Tedster]

So you are saying that I should touch components from time to time to ground them?

But ground yourself first and between touching components?

[KleX]

But ground yourself first and between touching components?

This should and could work. How often should I do that?

Also I wonder how my laptop is not grounded but still never shocked me?

[watts300]

But ground yourself first and between touching components?

That seems like a bad idea. Create a circuit with yourself from the wall to the ground?

[CalebTheEternal]

So you are saying that I should touch components from time to time to ground them?

Touch your case or something metal to make sure you just wont shock it.

[KleX]

Is there any other way to prevent damaging PC when it's not grounded?

[Uwillparish]

can i jump in here and say, dont go with a corsair PSU, for the love of god, dont go with a low end corsair, ive heard nightmare stories about them

[KleX]

can i jump in here and say, dont go with a corsair PSU, for the love of god, dont go with a low end corsair, ive heard nightmare stories about them

What do you recomend? I'm trying to keep it cheap and reliable. 600 - 650 W

Also what are the best methods to prevent damaging PC from ungrounded socket?

[Xsilent(X)]

I'm about to buildg my first PC ever.

I don't have any grounded sockets in my house (I live in EU and the building is almost 18 years old so nobody thought about grounding sockets back then).

There's no way other that tearing apart half of the house to have one grounded socket in my room.

Will using the PC ungrounded damage it?

Is there any other way to protect PC from "ungrounded problems"?

 

pc's are well build these days auto protection i live in the EU to with old electric wires no grounds nothing. just buy a modern power socket with protection like this type

 

[Uwillparish]

What do you recomend? I'm trying to keep it cheap and reliable. 600 - 650 W

Also what are the best methods to prevent damaging PC from ungrounded socket?

tbh ive never heard of a ungrounded socket, i probably have one, my houses wiring is shit

I recommend EVGA personally, 

If you want cheap, heres a 600W thats only ~50USD https://pcpartpicker.com/part/evga-power-supply-100b10600kr

if you want semi-modular, heres a 750W for only about $10 more https://pcpartpicker.com/part/evga-power-supply-110b20750vr

If you want 80+gold, heres a 650 for ~60USD https://pcpartpicker.com/part/evga-power-supply-120g10650xr

 

EDIT: woops, didnt notice your in Europe, same still applys though, i recommend EVGA

[KleX]

pc's are well build these days auto protection i live in the EU to with old electric wires no grounds nothing. just buy a modern power socket with protection like this type

 

Thanks or help

What power supply should I go with?

Corsair CX600 or some other power supply?

I need cheap, reliable PSU 550-600W.

[Xsilent(X)]

Thanks or help

What power supply should I go with?

Corsair CX600 or some other power supply?

I need cheap, reliable PSU 550-600W.

 

Corsair CX600

[KleX]

How about:

XFX Pro Series TS550W

It's 550 W but some say it's enough for i5 4690k, GTX 970 and 8 gb of ram with some room for slight OC.

It's a little bit cheaper.

Which one should I get?

[Xsilent(X)]

XFX is trash corsair, antec, or evga.