PSU without ground/earth outlet?

[Noctia]

I have a gaming rig with Corsair TX650M 650W PSU and i recently relocated to a house that has only 2-prong outlets missing a ground/earth wiring.

 

Before piecing my PC back together i have question of how will the mainboard and PSU cope with electric current that may need to be grounded/earthed? Are there users in this forum running high wattage PSU gaming rig fine with 2-prong outlets?

 

I've googled this question but did not find definite answer

[W-L]

1 minute ago, Noctia said:

I have a gaming rig with Corsair TX650M 650W PSU and i recently relocated to a house that has only 2-prong outlets missing a ground/earth wiring.

Before piecing my PC back together i have question of how will the mainboard and PSU cope with electric current that may need to be grounded/earthed? Are there users in this forum running high wattage PSU gaming rig fine with 2-prong outlets?

I've googled this question but did not find definite answer

You will want to located a plug in the home that has a 3 prong plug and use that since it needs to be grounded for safety reasons. If there isn't a ground then you will most likely want to look into installing a new grounded plug or get an electrician to look into that for you if your not comfortable with wiring. 

[Moonzy]

its recommended you ground your computer by any means

or have someone make a 3 pin grounded socket in your house for you

[I am an SSD]

15 minutes ago, Noctia said:

I have a gaming rig with Corsair TX650M 650W PSU and i recently relocated to a house that has only 2-prong outlets missing a ground/earth wiring.

 

Before piecing my PC back together i have question of how will the mainboard and PSU cope with electric current that may need to be grounded/earthed? Are there users in this forum running high wattage PSU gaming rig fine with 2-prong outlets?

 

I've googled this question but did not find definite answer

Trust me get a grounded outlet. I have an old PC without one and I have regretted even touching it one too many times..

[Noctia]

1 minute ago, W-L said:

You will want to located a plug in the home that has a 3 prong plug and use that since it needs to be grounded for safety reasons. If there isn't a ground then you will most likely want to look into installing a new grounded plug or get an electrician to look into that for you if your not comfortable with wiring. 

Thanks for the tips, but getting the house rewire is not possible at this and for a long time. Most threads i read mention electric shock from the PC metal case for not grounding but i'll be running the PC bare, hook the mobo to a plastic frame for wall hanging and no one can touch it. Is it still viable? I just need to know if my PC would get fried for not grounding, rest of the user safety hazard i can do my best to avoid it.

[W-L]

1 minute ago, Noctia said:

Thanks for the tips, but getting the house rewire is not possible at this and for a long time. Most threads i read mention electric shock from the PC metal case for not grounding but i'll be running the PC bare, hook the mobo to a plastic frame for wall hanging and no one can touch it. Is it still viable? I just need to know if my PC would get fried for not grounding, rest of the user safety hazard i can do my best to avoid it.

The issue is it can potentially build up a large electrical charge, while small ones make it uncomfortable to touch it can be large enough to give you a really nasty shock. Not to mention if something were to go wrong say with the PSU like short to the metal casing, it would be at mains voltage if one were to touch it. Your best bet is to look for a plug in the home that is grounded, test using an outlet tester to make sure it's properly wired, and use an appropriate extension cord for it.

 

If your comfortable working with electrical you can take off the outlet to see if the wiring is grounding wires in the outlet box, if there is it's a simple matter of changing out for a 3 prong outlet, if not then it can get more complicated.

[Noctia]

8 minutes ago, W-L said:

The issue is it can potentially build up a large electrical charge, while small ones make it uncomfortable to touch it can be large enough to give you a really nasty shock. Not to mention if something were to go wrong say with the PSU like short to the metal casing, it would be at mains voltage if one were to touch it. Your best bet is to look for a plug in the home that is grounded, test using an outlet tester to make sure it's properly wired, and use an appropriate extension cord for it.

 

If your comfortable working with electrical you can take off the outlet to see if the wiring is grounding wires in the outlet box, if there is it's a simple matter of changing out for a 3 prong outlet, if not then it can get more complicated.

Kay i'll try my best to find a 'thing' to ground the PSU because for sure the house doesn't have any ground wiring in all the rooms except heavy duty wires for laundry and kitchen appliances. As for loose cables in the PSU concern, i can guarantee the safety on that

 

So far no one mention about frying the mainboard/PSU so i guess is all green for that end? I also will be using 3-to-2 prong adapter. Any more comments with your experience with this still welcomed as i still have few days before start rebuild my PC.

[W-L]

1 minute ago, Noctia said:

Kay i'll try my best to find a 'thing' to ground the PSU because for sure the house doesn't have any ground wiring in all the rooms except heavy duty wires for laundry and kitchen appliances. As for loose cables in the PSU concern, i can guarantee the safety on that

So far no one mention about frying the mainboard/PSU so i guess is all green for that end? I also will be using 3-to-2 prong adapter. Any more comments with your experience with this still welcomed as i still have few days before start rebuild my PC.

Two to three prong adapters are a good option as long as you can ground that lead that comes off of it properly, it shouldn't fry anything per say as it's not directly shorting something out. In terms of the PSU thing it wasn't the case of loose wires but just a possibility of it failing catastrophically and shorting to the casing. 

[flowalex]

I'm guessing it is an older house and the ground wire is not always present in the wiring, for example half the room that I am in has outlets that even though it has the ground plug on the socket the wire is not present and the house has outlets like that and while I am comfortable changing sockets I am not trying to add a ground wire to the house.

[Noctia]

8 minutes ago, flowalex said:

I'm guessing it is an older house and the ground wire is not always present in the wiring, for example half the room that I am in has outlets that even though it has the ground plug on the socket the wire is not present and the house has outlets like that and while I am comfortable changing sockets I am not trying to add a ground wire to the house.

Yup, the house looks pretty historic and those outlets in the rooms has absolute no ground wire as i inspected, as an major hardcore PC gamer and first timer to see 2 prong outlets, that traumatized me easily. 

 

Without much spare money laying around i'll just have to be as ghetto as possible to ground this PSU..

[flowalex]

 

47 minutes ago, Noctia said:

Yup, the house looks pretty historic and those outlets in the rooms has absolute no ground wire as i inspected, as an major hardcore PC gamer and first timer to see 2 prong outlets, that traumatized me easily. 

 

Without much spare money laying around i'll just have to be as ghetto as possible to ground this PSU..

Yeah I walked around with a surge protector that detected line faults and before I moved my desk I used a heavy duty extension cord with that surge protector to use the one outlet that didn't have issues with the wiring (I have 4 outlets in my room and only one was good) 

[CPL666K9]

I live in an older home without grounding.  What I did was run a ground wire to the cold water pipe.  Is this to code no.  How far are you from a outside wall?  Drive a grounding rod into the ground and wire your ground to that.  My computer would not boot without a ground.  As others have stated, I would have a ground.  Keep in mind my knowledge of electricity does not extend beyond the fact it will shock the shit out of you.