Talk:Computer case screws

References using "Dan's Data"

I'm not sure that this website could be considered, in Wikipedia terms, to be a reliable source. It just appears to be a questions and answers page and not much more than a blog of sorts. Googleing Daniel Rutter just says he is a journalist, it doesn't demonstrate that he or his site is a reliable source. There is nothing I can find on his website that attests to his technical qualifications or anything that demonstrates the site's validity under WP:RS. ---- WebHamster 11:36, 29 September 2007 (UTC)

This page is a very valuable reference. Yes, Wikipedia is supposed to source everything, and have no original research... but I think everything said here is correct, and I needed to know what the small screws were called (the M3 ones) and this page gave me the answer. What citations would be appropriate? If Wikipedia had a page that said "the sky is blue", would it require a citation?

That guy also happens to have a blog - the reference is not to the blog. Incidentally, when the claim is merely what gauge of screw is holding your computer together, the bar isn't quite as high as you make it out to be. The guy holds himself to be an "independent reviewer of PC hardware and gadgets" and given the circumstances, that's plenty. Reswobslc 14:21, 29 September 2007 (UTC)

I said itnot much more than a blog, I didn't say it was the blog on the website. And just because you think it's a reliable source doesn't mean that it meets WP:RS, he just states his opinions they aren't backed up by anything, it's certainly not peer reviewed. In the circumstances when it's borderline it's customary to supply secondary sources. As regards its importance vis-s-vis "just a screw". Statements of fact such as you've made require citations. You've impressed on me enough times how important they are, it's not one rule for me and one rule for you. ---- WebHamster 19:27, 29 September 2007 (UTC)

There is a rule about making statements about living people that's much stricter, that's what WP:BLP is about. When an article speaks to no more than monkeying a PC case together, then even a trained monkey nearly suffices as a reliable source for an otherwise non-controversial easily independently verified fact. This is just common sense, not favoritism. When I write about living people the burden is just as high (see my past edits to Dell Schanze for example). Reswobslc 02:13, 30 September 2007 (UTC)

Fair enough, I agree that BLP sources should be more rigid, but that doesn't detract from the fact that WP:RS still applies to any claims in any article. I'm suggesting that good ol' Dan does not meet the requirements of WP:RS, regardless of the fact that it's just a screw. If I was sticking to the letter of the law I would have deleted it, I didn't. The citation tagging was valid as is my concern over the reliability of the source. For example Dan makes no reference to the country he is referring to, neither do you. How do you or he know what is standard in other countries? There is a world beyond the US and you (and he) don't seem to be addressing that. At the very least I would suggest a better/reliable source but if one can't be found then a secondary source should also be used. Failing that I'd suggest leaving the citation tags in place until someone else can come up with a reliable source. Alternatively you can reword it appropriately. Your choice. ---- WebHamster 02:25, 30 September 2007 (UTC)

This is not a US centric thing. Incidentally I didn't grow up in the US either, so I am not the "typical American" and I got the "vis-à-vis" pun (vis being French for screw in case it was a genuine coincidence). The vast majority of this stuff is made in China and Taiwan and exported all over the world. They make these non-metric screws for PCs despite preferring metric for anything they invent themselves. The inclusion of the UTS measurements probably became part of the de facto standard as people cloned the original IBM PCs, a US made product that used them. Reswobslc 05:00, 30 September 2007 (UTC)

Motherboard grounding

Sift through every available industry specification and design guide for standardized motherboards, chassis, and power supplies going back to the original ATX in 1995. The only reference you will find to any kind of "ground" between the chassis and motherboard is limited exclusively to EMC and ESD purposes.

'Grounding' for EMC and ESD is not the same as the electrical ground used for universal reference and explicit return path for current (e.g. PCB ground plane). Power and signal current flows back to its source through the PCB ground plane -> cable assembly -> PSU.

However, the mounting points do provide system designers with several 'ready-made' chassis ground points to use at their discretion - IF the system designer has determined that something should be grounded to the chassis at these points.

For example, the system designer may decide to 'ground' the CPU heatsink to the chassis using a strap to reduce EMI from the cooling fan and/or processor. I've seen this on a few OEM machines. Tagan provides a ground cable on some of their power supplies, which can be attached at the motherboard mounting screw for EMI 'noise' reduction.

But in all such instances, any connection to these points will be for EMC and ESD purposes, never an electrical ground.--Brewster1971 (talk) 16:10, 2 February 2008 (UTC)

In my CompTIA A+ Certification All-in-One Desktop Reference (ISBN978-0-471-74811-3, it says HP and Compaq have a standard for that they use 2 type of screw only a hex for optical and the other for HDD, all other products they use the same as HDD, does anyone where the document is. --70.79.65.227 (talk) 01:57, 7 July 2008 (UTC)

Screw thread

I believe that the article has the near-compatibility of screw threads backwards. 4-40 and M3 screws are nearly indistinguishable by eye are are sometimes misused. 6-32 screws are far too large to fit into an M3 (or 4-40) hole.

I have never seen an 8-32 screw used on a computer case.

Loebotomy (talk) 21:28, 28 March 2008 (UTC)Loeb

I have, but they're very old - Pentium II era at the latest. Jeh (talk) 00:18, 13 December 2008 (UTC)

I have too, both on old computers, as well as on rackmount servers. The old computers would use one 8-32 right in the middle. On servers I've seen them as part of holding the rackmount rail assembly together. Reswobslc (talk) 23:45, 5 February 2010 (UTC)

Laptop hard drive screws

I've been trying to find out the size of laptop hard drive screws... not really case screws but computer screws nonetheless. I believe they are 5-40 or 5-44, 1.8" in length, but I'm not sure. ~MDD4696 17:32, 14 December 2008 (UTC)

Dunno the exact length (and I have some of various lengths) but they're M3 like all the other "small" PC screws. Try an M3 screw in your laptop hard drive, you'll find it fits perfectly, except that it's too long for the hole. Jeh (talk) 22:19, 14 December 2008 (UTC)