I've had my PowerMac G5 sitting on a piece of wood for 4 years now scared of my computer shocking itself due to the carpeted floor. I beleive my friends keep their comps on rugs... I just want to play it safe.

I hate the look of a peice of wood on my floor, but also don't want to mess up my G5.


Thanks in advance!

 

i have a few friends who are pc techs and all of them have told me never to put my pc tower on carpet.if you dont like the wood get one of those anti static mats to lay it on..

 

well - if its a pc it prob will not matter at all. The main thing that is horrible about a rug is the heat. If you take a laptop and put it on a rug ....the rug will hold the heat and cause the computer to shutdown (or will burn out either part of the motherboard or the hard drive). I would not be worried at all about putting a tower on a rug (some might argue static is in the carpet but ive been around computers pretty much daily for the last 9years strait and know nobody that has had a problem).

 

Putting on a rug is perfectly fine, as long as there aren't any vents pointing in that direction. When placing any electronics anywhere you just have to make sure they can "breath". As for the static problem, it's just urban myth IMO.

 

its not a myth if you touch the case and it shocks. But (to the main poster of this thread) dont worry about shocking it. Keep th case closed and like cjastacio said ...make sure you dont lock it in a closet or anything ... it needs air

 

My bad, I guess I should have said that static shock is a myth with the case closed up. If you are working on the inside of the case then you have to be careful.

 

Alright. Thanks everyone. I'm going to let my G5's ___ rest a bit and sit on the rug. I hope it didn't get any splinters after all those years.

 

yea - its all good - Ive blown out my laptop hard drive due to putting it on the floor and falling a sleep on it .... but I still do it anyway. most computer guys are rougher w/ their own computer stuff because we are always around it. If my hd breaks or whatever ill just fix it. I would prob do even more crazy stuff with my car if I knew more about under the hood.

 

There's a great skateboard like thing to set the G5 on - raises it enough to keep a lot of the carpet dust and fibers out of it and puts some nice wheels under it so you can get to the back easily...

If you are at all handy, you could whip one up, even.

Tom

 

its ok to put it there just be careful of heat buildup and as long as its sitting on a rug it cant shock its self enless it rubs its feet onthe rug to build a charge which i doubt it will

 

and it builds up heat.

 

The only reason it isn't the greatest idea to put a PC on the rug is the heat issue. As far as static is concerned, the metal case is designed to protect the internal components from static discharge (there are no components connected to the case itself.) So if there was a static discharge say from dragging your feet on the ground and touching the case, the charge would be distributed through the case and not through the vital computer components inside. Of course make sure you are grounded at all times when working inside the computer.

 

Nothing wrong with the carpet. The floor has the coldest air in the room. The static build up is from friction from your shoes. There will be no static buildup from the computer just sitting there. You can shock the case with static all you want it won't hurt the components. That's why you either hold the case with one hand when handling components or use a wire attached to the case. It grounds the static you generate from moving. The heat is not an issue as the reason heat shuts down computers is the processor or hard drives not being properly cooled. (ie. crappy or no fans.)

 

wow, and i thought someone would go the dirty route with talking about a box, carpet, and heating up... oh well. :D and of course the box is trying to get off the wood... i digress. just struck me as funny.

 

hahaha. nice. Man, I'm usually the first to spot the dirty comments... I must be slackin' in my old age...

 

Uhm... wha? The motherboard is connected to the case via studs, which are usually metal. The PCI cards are connected to both the motherboard (an electical component) AND to the case. The media drives (CDROM, etc.) are screwed into their bays in the case and connected to the power supply- which is also connected to the case via screws!

In response to the OP, your G5 has the legs/handles, so it's naturally raised off of the floor. If you have a fear of static discharge, simply grab a large piece of metal (desk or something) before touching your computer.

 

Uhm... yeah. I meant there is no continuity between the case and anything electrical. The motherboard is fastened to the case via metal screws, correct, but the screws aren't connected to the traces on the motherboard. The metal bracket on a PCI card is fastened to the case, but is not connected electrically to the circuit board itself. Drives... same idea. I apologize if I wasn't clear enough for you.

 

Heat isn't an issue. The PSU is normally at the top of the case (unless you have a BTX setup, very rare) and the exhaust fan(s) are usually located in the middle of the case. Like someone else said before, the coolest air is on the ground which is better for internal temps.

 

both my pc in my room are sitting on carpet. The only thing i heard not do is assemble pc on carpet. (but i built pc's on the carpet anyway.) haven't mess up anything yet.
To get rid of static , Just rub your hand against the metal frame in the case before touching any pc componets. (