How to Ground Yourself While Building a PC?

To ground yourself while building a PC, touch themetal screws of your PSU. It will efficiently dissipate static charge from your body via the grounding pin. I believe this is themost feasible optionas you don’t need any extra accessories to do it.

Yet, you may alsotouch unpainted metal,use the anti-static wrist strap, or evenuse a matif you have one.

Let’s now see how to correctly ground yourself using each of these methods. By the end, you’ll also learn how toprevent static buildupon your body during aPC build.

Let’s Discuss!

Touch the Metal Screws on Your PSU

Whenever you connect the AC power adapter ofyour PSUto the wall outlet, your PC is already grounded.

But this is only possibleif the adapter has three prongsand your house has proper grounding/earthing. And I believe you do meet this criteria.

Nowto ground yourself,

People on the Internet talk about grounding themselves by touching the PSU body, but that’s not possible.

Since most PSUs come with a painted metal surface,you may not ground yourself just by touching its body. No static charge is going to dissipate this way.

To verify this, I evenperformed a continuity testonsome of the PSUs, here, at our office. I did it on myfavorite PSU, theCorsair RM850x. Also, on theEVGA SuperNova 650 G3, andCoolerMaster Thunder 500W.

I found that only the screws at the back of the PSU are continuous with the grounding pin of the PSU.

To be more precise, any excess current from your body will go to the grounding pin only via these screws. So,you must touch the screwsto ground yourself.

Periodically Touch Unpainted Metal

Metals are good conductors of electricity. So, when you touch them, the static charge from your body moves to it and balances the charge.

Interestingly, this is possible even if the metal is not in contact with the ground. Yet, it’s better if youcome in contact with a metal surfacethat is in contact with the earth/ground.

The best thing to do is lay your one hand on thecomputer casingand continue the PC building. But the casing or the surface you touchshould be an unpainted one.

If your casing is painted, which is more likely, you may place another metal object near you. And keep it in contact with the ground. A metal door handle/knob, metal furniture or metal bed frames will do the job.

you may remain in contact with the metal all the time. Or, just touch it while you are about tofit the motherboardor other sensitive components like RAM and CPU.

Use an Anti-static Wrist Strap

You may not have noticed, but if you own atech repair toolkit, there might be an anti-static wrist strap inside it.

If you are unaware of it, here’s what it looks like. I got it bundled with myiFixit Pro Tech Toolkit.

This safety equipment consists of conducting objects on both ends and helps drain the static buildup from your body.

Wrap the band on your wrist/feetand keep the alligator clip attached to a larger metal surface in your vicinity. Or, clip it to one of the screws of aPSU that is grounded, as discussed earlier. You, then, don’t have to worry about this static thing.

Use an Anti-static Mat

Additionally, you may also use an anti-static mat to ground yourself. It comes bundled with a cord that has a clip on one end and a connector on the other end.

You should attach the clip side to an unpainted metal surface and the connector side to the port on the mat.

This mat is generally designed towork together with the anti-static wrist strap. So, you should also put on the wrist strap and attach its alligator clip to the mat.

Now you might be thinking why should I use an anti-static mat if a wrist strap alone can ground me, right? It is because:

Interestingly, you may continue with the mat only if you don’t have a wristband. Keep the mat grounded and touch the mat’s surface to ground yourself.

I don’t insist on getting these anti-static gadgets. But yes, they are really amazing products if you want perfect ground and be 100% sure of component safety.

Preventing Static Buildup on Your Body

Alright! Now that you are here, I believe you have learned all the ways to ground yourself. But wait! I still have a few more things to offer.

Frankly speaking, I don’t think the methods discussed above are that burdensome to carry out. Yet, if you find it difficult, here are some extremely useful tips for you.

Doing these will help prevent further static buildup in your body during the PC-building process.