Sometimes I wonder with generic PC parts if the whole ESD thing is really all that necessary or not.
I have had old PC parts, Raspberry Pi's, and even microcontroller that have been lying around under desks gathering dust for years. I've never taken any antistatic precautions with any of them, and I'm never had anything fail after me touching it.
Maybe my house just just isn't dry enough, but the risk of killing electronics with static seems to be really, really low.
Of course, nobody wants to be the guy that feels a zap and then finds that the $1000 card/chip doesn't work.
the risk of killing electronics with static seems to be really, really low.
For high-volume electronics like consumer PC parts or things like microcontroller dev boards that are designed to be abused yes. Most of the issues I've seen are with :
Bottom of the barrel Chinese shit where they just take a reference design and populate it with the cheapest components they can find
Extremely expensive, niche, low volume components built by small companies.
nobody wants to be the guy that feels a zap and then finds that the $1000 card/chip doesn't work
It is kinda satisfying when you know you aren't going to lose your job over it. POP! "Well there goes $1000" into the trash it goes
I have had old PC parts, Raspberry Pi's, and even microcontroller that have been lying around under desks gathering dust for years. I've never taken any antistatic precautions with any of them, and I'm never had anything fail after me touching it.
Maybe my house just just isn't dry enough, but the risk of killing electronics with static seems to be really, really low.
Of course, nobody wants to be the guy that feels a zap and then finds that the $1000 card/chip doesn't work.
For high-volume electronics like consumer PC parts or things like microcontroller dev boards that are designed to be abused yes. Most of the issues I've seen are with :
It is kinda satisfying when you know you aren't going to lose your job over it. POP! "Well there goes $1000" into the trash it goes