Acrylic motherboard tray = static?

mrapoc

New member
After reading (Stuart's?) build log on his first custom case - he said he may have experienced static on the acrylic tray - destroying two of his boards

Could this be the case? I mean it looks great but it aint for me if its gonna kill the boards
 
I wouldn't rule it out as it can get pretty damn static. You could always take measures to fix it tho. Like using anti-static spray, or maybe applying a light layer of grease to the area underneath the mobo?
 
but thats how it is grounded - the psu then goes to a ground where the static is "removed" i think. the acrylic would just build it up and boom there goes ur mobo.

How would anti static spray work and how reliable would it be?
 
any chances of some one posting a link to Stuart's builiding guide please i would like to have a look then ill get back to you all :)
 
The link is below in my sig. I can't tell if it was static that was the culprit or I was just unlucky with two mobos (unlikely, but possible).
 
The psu doesnt connect to the case, so i dont know how that works? the psu has loads of grounding lines, so i guess it would take it away that way, not through the case
 
So.. If we went for an alluminium motherboard tray? Im a tad confused, i thought everything got grounded by the psu...
 
like teknokid mentioned most of the hardware is grounded through the wiring. If you look close the PS was removed from its case (not recommended) but there are grounding points on the PSs circuit board that I connected to the case material and the alum frame of the mobo tray.

I had a few of the P5N E SLI failures as well (metal cases) so its possible it was just delicate hardware. My main concern is using plastic for the whole case, its just not the best material for dissipating heat. For "PARTS" (mobo tray,brackets etc) of a case Im sure its fine.

PS: Teknokid good catch... just because someone says something dosent make it true, always challenge what dosent make sense.
 
Cheers, it still seems a bit of a cloudy area, so to answer the OP i should imagine that if you have got the grounding on the psu, and good airflow over the areas mounted on acrylic, i should imagine it would be fine :) but id wait for mark to back this up
 
name='markkleb' said:
The main downfall of plastic (acrylic) is it retains heat. If you look at the Red SFF comp I built you will see I used an acrylic mobo tray and had no probs with static, BUT I made sure to ground the mobo, PS, rad and all devices together (including the frame and case)

This man speaks the truth! I've had 2 acrylic cases and have never had an issue with static killing motherboards. Both cases used to sit on nylon carpet in my old house and were dragged around all over the place. If there was ever going to be an issue it would have reared its ugly head then.
 
Looks like I was just unlucky with my mobos then:(

The P5N-E was out of warranty, so I have dipped out there. The P5K was still well within warranty, so I will have to wait for the RMA from Asus. It put me off my new case but I may give it another go soon.
 
Thats true, OC3D reviewed some acrylic cases, they didnt have any problems, and certainly didnt see any grounding.
 
My understanding is that static cannot pass through acrylic as it isn't conductive. Therefore any static build-up produced by rubbing the exterior of the case on any carpet or other surface would not pose any threat to the components contained within.

However, if the inside of the case is static when you go to install components inside you might want to use an anti-static cleaner just to be certain.
 
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