Electrical – Avoiding ESD on a new Graphics Card

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Would it make sense to connect the GND pins of an 8-pin PCIe power connector to a common point ground (which is at earth potential) and then plug that dummy connector into my new GFX card, before installing the GFX card onto the motherboard?

The setup would look like this.
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This way the motherboard and GFX card are at the same potential, before making contact, and while installing. After installing, when the GFX card is in place, i will remove the dummy connector and attach the real power connector from the PSU.

Good plan? Bad plan?

Edit: 1 answer suggests touching the bracket/faceplate to equalize the charges.

But, if the bracket is isolated from the GPU (and the surrounding circuits on the card), then touching the bracket won't do anything to the card. Which can be a good thing. Because you won't damage anything. But then a potential difference between the graphics card and the motherboard (on which it is supposed to be installed) may remain. That can result in an ESD event at the moment the graphics card slides into the PCIe x16 slot.

So, howto avoid ESD on a new graphics card? (Besides leaving it into the box.)

Best Answer

Bad plan because:

no one does it that way because it is not needed

you could cause other problems by making extra connections

The best way to do this is like in your picture but without connecting anything to the graphics card. Personally I would also not connect anything to the PC case because if you place it on the ESD mat, it is sufficiently grounded already.

You're worrying too much about ESD like many people do who do not understand ESD.

A graphics card by itself is not even that sensitive to ESD, you'd have to do crazy things to damage it by ESD. The same is true for the PC's motherboard. With your wristwrap + ESD mat and proper grounding I don't believe you are even capable to destroy anything as no charge buildup can occur.

When you pick up the graphics card and it is charged, it will discharge via you and your ESD wriststrap. You can also place it on the ESD mat and any charge can flow away.