Does foam induce static?

[Steve]

On Monday I won an eBay auction for a pair of Opteron 242s, heatsinks included. I paid right away and the package was waiting for me tonight when I got home.

Both CPUs are wrapped directly in foam, the same heavy-duty dark grey foam hard drives and the like are sometimes shipped in. I've heard you shouldn't package ESD-sensitive parts in foam because of the risk of static.

Should I worry about this and get these tested? Or should I not worry and look forward to building my first server?

 

[JEDIYoda]

OMG--rofl...heheeee

 

[Steve]

Your vapid response, combined with that ridiculously long signature (when a simple link could do like the one in mine), is par for the course as far as your posts go.

 

[Varun]

Some foam is conductive foam, which CMOS devices can be stored in to prevent static charge from building up.

If it is not conductive foam it may have built up a charge, but it's hard to say if it damaged the chips without trying them. I'm not sure what you mean by "get these tested" other than to try them and see if they work or not.

 

[Fresh Daemon]

Normally they should be in their antistatic bubble and then in foam. Definitely test them before you leave feedback! Components are tougher than people think, so you'll probably be fine.

 

[Steve]

Originally posted by: Varun
Some foam is conductive foam, which CMOS devices can be stored in to prevent static charge from building up.

If it is not conductive foam it may have built up a charge, but it's hard to say if it damaged the chips without trying them. I'm not sure what you mean by "get these tested" other than to try them and see if they work or not.

By tested, yeah I just mean run them in a board. I don't have one yet, so I'll try to find one or someone...

 

[ribbon13]

Don't have a K8WE to put them in yet or what?

If you're so worried, hurry up, put em in, and see if you get POST.

 

[Steve]

That's the idea genius :roll: read before you post so quickly.


I'm actually considering an S2885

 

[stevty2889]

The OEM cpu's I get normaly have foam to protect the pins, so I'd be more worried if they had come without the foam. Unless somebody screwed up and put in the wrong foam that could actualy build up a static charge, I wouldn't be worried.

 

[Steve]

Gotcha. Somebody at another forum suggested testing the foam with an ohm meter. If it has a resistance of 1K or more he says I should be okay. Maybe I'll try to find an ohm meter instead.

 

[ribbon13]

If you read, my post was made the same minute as yours, perhaps it wasn't on the page as I was writing that, so more reading on my part wouldn't have changed anything... So keep your sarcasm to yourself, and follow your own advice. And the S2895 is superior to the S2885. Anything that makes you believe the older board without the nForce pro is better?

 

[eXx08]

How much did you pay for these 252's?

 

[Steve]

thekillerjks, they were 242s, and I paid $225, shipped with insurance (UPS next day air), heatsinks included.

ribbon13, sorry I didn't notice the matching timestamp. I'm a bit cranky - I was rear-ended tonight and the faulty driver is uninsured. As for the 2885, well I'm just wanting to reuse an AGP card I already have.

 

[ribbon13]

You would be sacrificing awesome features, and nowadays the 2895 can be had cheaper. Review. Having used both boards and still using the K8WE, I'd definately say that trying to save the cost of a vid card while comparing current price of the motherboards and cheap pcie vid cards, is counter productive. $55 $70

 

[theMan]

foam is fine. thats what they are supposed to be shipped in.

 

[JEDIYoda]

Originally posted by: sm8000
Your vapid response, combined with that ridiculously long signature (when a simple link could do like the one in mine), is par for the course as far as your posts go.

Why would I want a simple link be preferable?

So I guess we could say your jealous of my signature???
or possibly your jealous of my 27c CPU temp??
or possibly your jealous of my PSU????

OK..you have me stumped.....

 

[bob4432]

Originally posted by: theman
foam is fine. thats what they are supposed to be shipped in.

foam directly on the cpu? i have never bought a retail or oem cpu that is wrapped directly in foam, always a antistatic bag then foam.