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Comment by danShumway | Hacker News Reader

It kind of straddles the worst line between easy and hard.

It's pretty straightforward and easy to do, so you don't get any bragging rights when you finish, but there also aren't a ton of safety nets in case you do something stupid to keep you from ruining an expensive component.

When I put together my computer, I dropped a CPU at an angle and bent one of the pins on the motherboard, then spent 3 hours flicking it with a needle to get it to realign.

It's like doing taxes - not really an accomplishment, so big whoop if you do it right, but just dangerous enough to mean you have to pay attention and take it seriously.

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When working with electronics, I use the CS vs EE analogy.

CS person: grabs part by hand, shuffles across the floor in socks, brushes dust off a pin, presses part into place

EE person: stares in horror, a grounding strap dangling from their hand

CS: "What?"

EE: "You know you're supposed to ground yourself to prevent static discharge from frying parts?"

CS: "Bah, it worked fine the last time I did it this way."

Point being there's a difference between something that works 99/100 times, and something that works 60/100 times. And when failure means a dead part, probably best to go the extra mile.

You only ground yourself if you paid for the components.

If it's your bud's money... it will probably be fine. Just hold the beer when you are installing the CPU :)

...and then the CS-assembled computer works perfectly while the EE-assembled computer has gremlins. That's how it usually works. :/

Being one of those "EE persons" specialized in semiconductors seeing lack of ESD protection drives me insane. I used to work on an electronics factory production floor where it was required of me to take a certification course of proper handling procedures and in the use of ESD arresting equipment.

Your PC build didn't boot? Probably shocked it. It's blue screening or kernel panicking? Probably shocked it.

As someone who rebuilt a couple dozens PCs for a charity from dumpster parts, boards in plastic bags while wearing mostly synthetic clothes, I'd say you underestimate the ruggedness of those things.

Drivers and OS are much more likely to be the cause of quirks and weird behaviour.

Hah, I am definitely aware of the danger of ESD. I just don't have a place near my desk to mount my anti-ESD wristband.

What I did instead was touching a radiator every once in a while. Is this sufficient?

Whether you're likely to experience ESD problems depends very much on the environment; if the ambient humidity is high enough and you're not wearing rubber soled shoes on a synthetic floor, it can be very low.

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