Help with PCmaking

Originally Posted by Rob C

Dunno exactly what SLI stands for but it's to do with graphics cards that use the Nvidia chips. It's a means of having two cards in one PC linked together for enhanced performance.

Scalable Link Interface

[mr0161]

Can someone tell me what the "antistatic wrist band" does, in dummie language .

Hehe, thanks, i just don't really get it, how can not having power in the computer, do anything, or even make static, not like i am rubbing against it with a balloon.

stops you sending static electricity through the chips causing irrepairable and sometimes unseen damage to electrical componants.Basically it earths you

[Gareth]

Rubbing a balloon against your head for a few minutes causes a massive amount of static, but you collect smaller amounts just doing normal everyday stuff, without rubbing your head against balloons all day.

Have you ever noticed how if you wear certain types of shoes or slippers, you walk around your house - especially rooms with carpets - and then you touch someone and you can both get a small shock? It's kinda the same thing except that you're passing that electricity to your PC components, and even the smallest of 'shocks' can permanently damage certain components such as memory chips, CPUs, etc...

Problem can be that you're not even aware that you've caused any damage, and there's no visible sign of anything being wrong. Also, any problems may not appear immediately, and they can be very difficult to diagnose.

It's all about minimising risk, and for the price of a wristband, it's not really worth the gamble, imho.

[basa]

Don't forget that static electricity can run to anything between 1000 and 10,000V ! So it's not surprising it can destroy the tiny components and circuitry in modern computers which are designed for 12V and under.

[mr0161]

yeah, but what i ain't really getting is, how can a band around your wrist make your body/hands, not make static, doesn't even look like it does anything like that

Originally Posted by mr0161

yeah, but what i ain't really getting is, how can a band around your wrist make your body/hands, not make static, doesn't even look like it does anything like that

the strap is connected to earth and conducts the static away, so a damaging charge cannot build up.

[Halcyon]

Make sure that the other end of the anti static strap is earthed.
Some radiators are now plastic so be careful to find something that really is earthed.
If you plug your Power supply into the mains electricity and keep the power switch on off, you can earth yourself on the computer case.

A lot of power supplies will also have an earth wire and its worth just screwing that to the case as well.


Anti static strap.

[nffc]

Originally Posted by mr0161

yeah, but what i ain't really getting is, how can a band around your wrist make your body/hands, not make static, doesn't even look like it does anything like that

It equalises your body's charge with that of the PC case / earth meaning that when you touch it you can't "shock" the components because there's no charge difference.

It doesn't kill static it just equalises it so it can't "flow".

[mr0161]

thanks for that, now i get it =]

---------- Post added at 12:26 ---------- Previous post was at 12:24 ----------

ah i just wanted to ask something, whats the difference to windows XP home edition and the XP PRO, as i am a first time maker, should i go with the home edition?

[Halcyon]

You can find out all the differences compared HERE

Your spending a lot of cash £30 extra on the os should be swallowed up buy an oem pro copy

[mr0161]

"Your spending a lot of cash £30 extra on the OS"

What do you mean by os? couldn't make it out

operating system.

[mr0161]

thanks