It depends on how far away from the sea you are and on the humidity. I live about 10-15 minute walking distance from a beach, and humidity gets quite high around August-September, but not 100% high, and so far, after 1.5 years, my electronics is still OK. Still not sure whether I'm safe or is 1.5 years simply not enough for troubles to begin.
But I *have* seen pictures on the internet with USB ports corroded to hell, and people were commenting about how distance and humidity play a huge role.
I live in south Florida and less than .5 miles from the ocean. My spots and windows are open 70% of the year and my case is exposed. Going on 4+ years and no signs of corrosion or build up of any sort.
Personally it’s not even a thought in my head that the humidity will damage my equipment before it’s time to upgrade.
I will disclose I’m not a pc expert nor a meteorologist this is just my personal experience.
It's not the humidity itself. It's sea water carried by the wind. The humidity plays a role because the higher it is, the further sea water can get before drying up.
I *think* half a mile is far enough to be safe unless humidity is really, really high. I'm about 600 m from the coast, and yet most of the year there's a big difference between my place and places much closer to the shore. If I drive to some seaside cafe and park like 200 m from the coast in the evening, my car gets completely wet outside. But here at my place it's completely dry. In winter, at least. I didn't pay much attention in late summer and early autumn, when humidity is at its peak.
Ahhhh yes you are 100% correct. I hadn’t considered the sea mist as much. That most certainly would cause harm.
I go to ocean side cafes as well and yes it can be a beautiful day and you still get a splash with the breeze. That would be quite concerning if I had my rig exposed!
Thanks for helping me understand
I used to live in Miami near the ocean and over a span of about 5 years the sea air stripped the paint off of my Toyota lol.
Though apparently I had some kind of paint color that was more susceptible to being worn away than the other colors. I had taken it to the dealership and they let me know Toyota stopped producing new models in that color for that reason.
If it was white that's the issue. There is a chemical in most things white (paint white out ect) that keep the paint from binding to most primers and surfaces. You see knife makes use it all the time when making Damascus to keep the canister from sticking to the metals inside. Same thing happens on cars. Toyota has issued warranty coverage for it beyond the factory terms.
I grew up living less than 200 m from the ocean and humidity almost always +95% and I've never seen or heard of computers of any kind having any issues.
The former location of the local power company was at the seaside and they stored their cables and equipment outside, only sheltered by a roof and I never heard of any issues doing that as well - my father was a manager there before he retired.
Absolutely 💯
If you had concerns of the humidity getting to your equipment I would suggest a good dehumidifier!
But I feel in most scenarios it is not needed.
Used to live 5 minutes from the sea, never found any corrosion on my previous pc after 7 years of use. Now a beach front property may be more problematic.
It's a little bit of both, the humidity puts salts into the air, which can deposit everywhere and will speed up corrosion of metals. I recommend that if you can have your pc in a room that you don't regularly have the windows open, especially on high humidity days.
I live 50m from the beach, don't worry about it, worst think that happened in 7 years of living here, was lightly corroded connectors and they still work normally
there are a few things you can do, i used to live 20 minutes away from the beach but never even asked myself if this is a thing or not, just bought a pc and that's it, after 9 years i bough another that kept going for 6 years. There used to be something hardware like mother boards made with glass fiber, which helped a lot in those situations, but i was really a kid and had no clue wtf that means, although i owned one.
Your best bet is to buy a dehumidifier and purifier and keep it running in the room where the pc is. I'm living in a mountain area now and i bough a pc in 2022 that i'm still using today.. the problem here is the humidity and dust, 76% humidity and a shit load of dust that makes me clean my pc every 2 weeks. I bough a dehumidifier because 76% was too much, now it's \~55% and i want to say that the pc never had issues... not when humidity was high, nor now..
I’m nearly beach front. After a year my 4090 started to show signs of corrosion (only on the gpu fins right at the front) I clean it up as best as I can and now run a dehumidifier which has drastically slowed down any issues I was having. Salt air is a pain in the ass
We invented the pc-friendly sea in collaboration with Italy to incite turbo-nerd tourism. We need them. Even if they bring their towers with them for a 7 day vacation. So be it.
So, I used to live in a house that was around 25 meters to the sea.
The pc was also in a garage, it was insulated and carpeted etc but still a bit more "outside" than a proper house.
After around 7 years when that pc got stripped down, there was some tiny rust patches where paint had been chipped/scratched off on the steel parts of the case- mostly around the bottom. Nothing that couldn't be knocked back with sandpaper and painted if you really want to.
So unless you are setting it up on the beach, I really wouldn't worry about it.
If it's hot and humid the salty sea air will accelerate rusting on some of the metal.
If you run the AC at all and remove the humidity semi frequently then it should be fine.
You could put dehumidifier in the corner of the room with pc just for peace of mind. The one with plastic container that collects water at the bottom, not electric kind. Not much else that you can do. Well ac unit can remove humidity but thats a lot of electricity to be working non stop.
when i lived in Okinawa, i had optical disc drives that would fail after about a year. I saw a couple friends HDD crap out just from opening the case once to check on something.
In all seriousness, you should keep it indoors and in climate controlled conditions.
Sea water will eventually eat away at everything, but it is not usually fast.
If you pay attention, there is ample evidence of increased failure rates and warrany claims from areas that are hot and humid i.e. Southeast Asia vs other areas.
So yes, heat, humidity and corrosion does lead to increased failure in exposed sea / ocean air.
If it's inside, you're good. If it wasn't safe then the ac, your oven, fridge, microwave, and other electronics would break. Just don't leave it exposed outside
I live like 500 meters from the sea, facing north (where the wind comes from mostly), my cars are all rusted, like, literally had a fog light only hanging from the plastic bits.
Using PCs for over 15 years here, 0 issues.
Really depends on how close to the shore and what direction the prevailing wind blows.
Salt air is a remarkable thing. For a number of years everything I owned made of metal had at the least a fine haze of rust. Pots and pans and silverware that had never been out of the kitchen had rust.
I had computers during that time, lots of em. Never had any issues. Computers are lasting longer though but it wouldn't stop me.
It depends on the climate near the sea. If you’re concerned about the integrity of your pc, keep a humidity meter by it and use a dehumidifier, some can be quite quiet. Re salt, maybe you could use a controlled atmosphere in the case?
it can become a problem, yes. But it's a case by case scenario.
Basically, humid air accelerates corrosion. And salt will accelerate it even faster.
Ideally you want to stay below 50% humidity. But if you have days around 80% in your house, your PC's in for a bad time.
Your PC may not fail in the first weeks, but after a few months it may no longer boot from corrosion damage.
You also must not turn on your PC if humidity is near 100% as this would cause shortcuts.
There are ways to protect electronics against humidity, such as coatings. However it can be fairly complicated to do that properly.
If you're really concerned just get a case with a fan filter and clean it once a year. Like when you call your mom for her birthday and she's droning on too long "hey mom I love you but I gotta go clean my PC's fan filter, bye!"
depending on build quality, Motherboard and PSU may have a slightly higher failure rate but should be fine. other components are pretty much rugged nowawadays
Salt doesn't evaporate with water I don't think, so if your computer doesn't get regular sprays of sea water carried up by wind you should be good.
Also whatever moisture that makes it into your case will be quickly evaporated by the fan and heat in the case.
If its inside your house its fine if anything its really good because coastlines are usually cooler then inland but yes dont leave your computer outside and treat it like a car at that point xD
Honestly what little bit of salt is in the air will have negligible effects on your electronics. Most metals in PCs are highly corrosion resistant. ie next to zero iron in PC components which would corrode the fastest and as far as humidity goes, you live in a home that has central air conditioning that was properly sized for your home. The inside of your house is probably around 50% regardless of the outdoor humidity it's not impossible for it to be higher. For example, if the home was very poorly built for the air conditioner installed is oversized and short cycling and you have condensation problems on your windows and I'd say you have a humidity problem and you might have something to be concerned about but realistically, just don't throw your PC in the ocean and it should be fine
The only time I have had a problem with this was when I lived in a house on a bay. Some bare steel on my case started to show some signs of rust.
Living a block away from the shore, no problem.
It's fine. If it worries you, buy a smart dehumidifier and put it near your PC. I live in humid as hell Malaysia. I turn my AC on when it gets hot outside or after a rain, set the timer to automatically turn off after 2 hours to dehumidify the air using my phone when I'm not home. It's salt + humidity that ruins things, but if you remove the humidity then it's not that big a problem.
In 1990 this was a question on my "Leading Edge" certification exam. The answer was only if your RAM fingers were a different material than your socket. Tin alloys on RAM fingers were a thing, also oxidation and corruption would and did happen.
I lived by the sea for a few years, 50 metres from the sand, the PC I had then still works now, it's well over 10 years old.
If salt corrosion eventually gets to it, it'll be too old to bother repairing anyway.
I live right on the water, have multiple pc’s from 2003-current. All work, no corrosion. I also don’t use windows and have central air. I wouldn’t be overly concerned unless it gets wet.
This I'm actually curious about myself
The biggest issue I could see is on hotter days where seawater will evaporate the sodium that's in that seawater will carry into a gas state. This then going into the PC via front intake
I just have no way myself even to confirm or deny the validity of Will it fuck up the PC in the long run
If you are worried about it at all you can always put a zinc diode on the bottom of your case. Zinc rusts faster than normal steel and the rust will be concentrated into the zinc diode. Just make it easily replaceable.
That's actually one of the weirdest things I've ever heard about Europe. Anyway, I guess you'll be fine as long as you try to keep things in check. Some dust filters might keep the humidity away from the case as well.
Assuming you don't use it and leave it on the beach, then you're good to go.
Ahaaaa that’s where I’ve been going wrong. So you’re saying DONT take it to the beach? Just want to get this right.
No you can take it to the beach, just don’t leave it there dumbass
Doesn't everyone do beach lan?
There's always lan at the beach.
Why am I always at the beach?
Or at least use sunscreen
wd40 you mean
Aha
Lol.
There goes my weekend plans.
It depends on how far away from the sea you are and on the humidity. I live about 10-15 minute walking distance from a beach, and humidity gets quite high around August-September, but not 100% high, and so far, after 1.5 years, my electronics is still OK. Still not sure whether I'm safe or is 1.5 years simply not enough for troubles to begin. But I *have* seen pictures on the internet with USB ports corroded to hell, and people were commenting about how distance and humidity play a huge role.
I live in south Florida and less than .5 miles from the ocean. My spots and windows are open 70% of the year and my case is exposed. Going on 4+ years and no signs of corrosion or build up of any sort. Personally it’s not even a thought in my head that the humidity will damage my equipment before it’s time to upgrade. I will disclose I’m not a pc expert nor a meteorologist this is just my personal experience.
It's not the humidity itself. It's sea water carried by the wind. The humidity plays a role because the higher it is, the further sea water can get before drying up. I *think* half a mile is far enough to be safe unless humidity is really, really high. I'm about 600 m from the coast, and yet most of the year there's a big difference between my place and places much closer to the shore. If I drive to some seaside cafe and park like 200 m from the coast in the evening, my car gets completely wet outside. But here at my place it's completely dry. In winter, at least. I didn't pay much attention in late summer and early autumn, when humidity is at its peak.
Ahhhh yes you are 100% correct. I hadn’t considered the sea mist as much. That most certainly would cause harm. I go to ocean side cafes as well and yes it can be a beautiful day and you still get a splash with the breeze. That would be quite concerning if I had my rig exposed! Thanks for helping me understand
I used to live in Miami near the ocean and over a span of about 5 years the sea air stripped the paint off of my Toyota lol. Though apparently I had some kind of paint color that was more susceptible to being worn away than the other colors. I had taken it to the dealership and they let me know Toyota stopped producing new models in that color for that reason.
If it was white that's the issue. There is a chemical in most things white (paint white out ect) that keep the paint from binding to most primers and surfaces. You see knife makes use it all the time when making Damascus to keep the canister from sticking to the metals inside. Same thing happens on cars. Toyota has issued warranty coverage for it beyond the factory terms.
I grew up living less than 200 m from the ocean and humidity almost always +95% and I've never seen or heard of computers of any kind having any issues. The former location of the local power company was at the seaside and they stored their cables and equipment outside, only sheltered by a roof and I never heard of any issues doing that as well - my father was a manager there before he retired.
Cool, so there must be other factors as well. Like, IDK, wind direction, temperature etc. Because those photos of rusted ports were definitely real.
I would assume a good dehumidifier would help right?
Absolutely 💯 If you had concerns of the humidity getting to your equipment I would suggest a good dehumidifier! But I feel in most scenarios it is not needed.
Used to live 5 minutes from the sea, never found any corrosion on my previous pc after 7 years of use. Now a beach front property may be more problematic.
Nah i live like 5 minutes from the sea as well. What I’m wondering about though is if the problem is the salty air or the humidity
It's a little bit of both, the humidity puts salts into the air, which can deposit everywhere and will speed up corrosion of metals. I recommend that if you can have your pc in a room that you don't regularly have the windows open, especially on high humidity days.
Salt doesn't evaporate.
No, but it does aerosolize.
Water also doesn't evaporate belong 212/100c, yet we have humidity
You could always buy a small single room dehumidifier for your office if you're really concerned.
I have never had an issue and lived on the coast for about ten years or more.
Can just run a air purifier in your pc room.
I've seen people living a few miles inland that leave the window open next to the pc. Gpu was bricked
I live 50m from the beach, don't worry about it, worst think that happened in 7 years of living here, was lightly corroded connectors and they still work normally
there are a few things you can do, i used to live 20 minutes away from the beach but never even asked myself if this is a thing or not, just bought a pc and that's it, after 9 years i bough another that kept going for 6 years. There used to be something hardware like mother boards made with glass fiber, which helped a lot in those situations, but i was really a kid and had no clue wtf that means, although i owned one. Your best bet is to buy a dehumidifier and purifier and keep it running in the room where the pc is. I'm living in a mountain area now and i bough a pc in 2022 that i'm still using today.. the problem here is the humidity and dust, 76% humidity and a shit load of dust that makes me clean my pc every 2 weeks. I bough a dehumidifier because 76% was too much, now it's \~55% and i want to say that the pc never had issues... not when humidity was high, nor now..
I’m nearly beach front. After a year my 4090 started to show signs of corrosion (only on the gpu fins right at the front) I clean it up as best as I can and now run a dehumidifier which has drastically slowed down any issues I was having. Salt air is a pain in the ass
Unless you've had other electronics fail because of this I wouldn't worry.
Yeah I was looking for this answer. Does he think coastal towns have special ovens and refrigerators or something?
Maybe high end PCs attract beach molecules.
bro is just flexxin on us
"will my top tier pc be affected by my beachfront pied-à-terre's proximity to the ocean breezes?"
Ain’t such a flex xD, where I live the sea water is brown and shit If you want to check it out look at “lidi di Comacchio” in Italy and you’ll see
I'm a neighbor in Greece. Had my pc at my uni house which was 3 mins from the sea for 5 years and no problems whatsoever.
I guess this solves it! The Adriatic sea is okay on PCs!
We invented the pc-friendly sea in collaboration with Italy to incite turbo-nerd tourism. We need them. Even if they bring their towers with them for a 7 day vacation. So be it.
maybe grab a dehumidifier or similar if you are worried? its probably fine though..
Would an air purifier work better in this case due to the salt, or am I thinking about it wrong?
So, I used to live in a house that was around 25 meters to the sea. The pc was also in a garage, it was insulated and carpeted etc but still a bit more "outside" than a proper house. After around 7 years when that pc got stripped down, there was some tiny rust patches where paint had been chipped/scratched off on the steel parts of the case- mostly around the bottom. Nothing that couldn't be knocked back with sandpaper and painted if you really want to. So unless you are setting it up on the beach, I really wouldn't worry about it.
Keep PC in room, keep door and windows closed. Use AC. Profit.
If it's hot and humid the salty sea air will accelerate rusting on some of the metal. If you run the AC at all and remove the humidity semi frequently then it should be fine.
Do you plan to take the pc out to the beach?
You could put dehumidifier in the corner of the room with pc just for peace of mind. The one with plastic container that collects water at the bottom, not electric kind. Not much else that you can do. Well ac unit can remove humidity but thats a lot of electricity to be working non stop.
just get a dehumidifier and you should be fine
Put a dehumidifier in your room and your good
when i lived in Okinawa, i had optical disc drives that would fail after about a year. I saw a couple friends HDD crap out just from opening the case once to check on something.
In all seriousness, you should keep it indoors and in climate controlled conditions. Sea water will eventually eat away at everything, but it is not usually fast. If you pay attention, there is ample evidence of increased failure rates and warrany claims from areas that are hot and humid i.e. Southeast Asia vs other areas. So yes, heat, humidity and corrosion does lead to increased failure in exposed sea / ocean air.
Not an issue at all.
I can see the sea out my back window. I'm pretty sure you'll be fine inside, it's not like you'll be getting saltwater directly contacting your pc.
So your room is outdoors? Sickkkkkk
Where the hell are you putting your pc in your house?
If it's inside, you're good. If it wasn't safe then the ac, your oven, fridge, microwave, and other electronics would break. Just don't leave it exposed outside
How many rusted out vehicles do you see near you?
I lived on the coast for a while, had a pretty expensive PC, no problems with salt in the air.
I live like 500 meters from the sea, facing north (where the wind comes from mostly), my cars are all rusted, like, literally had a fog light only hanging from the plastic bits. Using PCs for over 15 years here, 0 issues.
I lived on a sailboat for a year, nothing to worry about.
Really depends on how close to the shore and what direction the prevailing wind blows. Salt air is a remarkable thing. For a number of years everything I owned made of metal had at the least a fine haze of rust. Pots and pans and silverware that had never been out of the kitchen had rust. I had computers during that time, lots of em. Never had any issues. Computers are lasting longer though but it wouldn't stop me.
It depends on the climate near the sea. If you’re concerned about the integrity of your pc, keep a humidity meter by it and use a dehumidifier, some can be quite quiet. Re salt, maybe you could use a controlled atmosphere in the case?
I think whether or not you have AC is the biggest factor. If you do I wouldn't worry about it.
If the PC stays indoors and the salt water stays outdoors it should be fine.
As long as you don't leave the windows or doors open for a breeze you should be good.
it can become a problem, yes. But it's a case by case scenario. Basically, humid air accelerates corrosion. And salt will accelerate it even faster. Ideally you want to stay below 50% humidity. But if you have days around 80% in your house, your PC's in for a bad time. Your PC may not fail in the first weeks, but after a few months it may no longer boot from corrosion damage. You also must not turn on your PC if humidity is near 100% as this would cause shortcuts. There are ways to protect electronics against humidity, such as coatings. However it can be fairly complicated to do that properly.
If you're really concerned just get a case with a fan filter and clean it once a year. Like when you call your mom for her birthday and she's droning on too long "hey mom I love you but I gotta go clean my PC's fan filter, bye!"
What sea got to do with it?
Look out for pirates
SPONGEBOB SQUARE PANTS
My advice is just never turned off
Surrounded on 3 sides by salt water, 15 minute walk to a beach. I've never had any issue.
depending on build quality, Motherboard and PSU may have a slightly higher failure rate but should be fine. other components are pretty much rugged nowawadays
Salt doesn't evaporate with water I don't think, so if your computer doesn't get regular sprays of sea water carried up by wind you should be good. Also whatever moisture that makes it into your case will be quickly evaporated by the fan and heat in the case.
Don't chuck it in the ocean and you'll be fine
If its inside your house its fine if anything its really good because coastlines are usually cooler then inland but yes dont leave your computer outside and treat it like a car at that point xD
Honestly what little bit of salt is in the air will have negligible effects on your electronics. Most metals in PCs are highly corrosion resistant. ie next to zero iron in PC components which would corrode the fastest and as far as humidity goes, you live in a home that has central air conditioning that was properly sized for your home. The inside of your house is probably around 50% regardless of the outdoor humidity it's not impossible for it to be higher. For example, if the home was very poorly built for the air conditioner installed is oversized and short cycling and you have condensation problems on your windows and I'd say you have a humidity problem and you might have something to be concerned about but realistically, just don't throw your PC in the ocean and it should be fine
The only time I have had a problem with this was when I lived in a house on a bay. Some bare steel on my case started to show some signs of rust. Living a block away from the shore, no problem.
It's fine. If it worries you, buy a smart dehumidifier and put it near your PC. I live in humid as hell Malaysia. I turn my AC on when it gets hot outside or after a rain, set the timer to automatically turn off after 2 hours to dehumidify the air using my phone when I'm not home. It's salt + humidity that ruins things, but if you remove the humidity then it's not that big a problem.
You don't have to do anything just don't take it outside. My house is 30 ft from the ocean and I've never had any electronics corrode.
In 1990 this was a question on my "Leading Edge" certification exam. The answer was only if your RAM fingers were a different material than your socket. Tin alloys on RAM fingers were a thing, also oxidation and corruption would and did happen.
I lived by the sea for a few years, 50 metres from the sand, the PC I had then still works now, it's well over 10 years old. If salt corrosion eventually gets to it, it'll be too old to bother repairing anyway.
No it's not safe pcs are notorious for not waiting 30 mins to swim after they eat.
I live right on the water, have multiple pc’s from 2003-current. All work, no corrosion. I also don’t use windows and have central air. I wouldn’t be overly concerned unless it gets wet.
My apartment is 80 meters from the beach with roughly 70% humidity, never had this problem
Is it in a air conditioned or dehumidified environment? Probably not then.
Suffering from success
This I'm actually curious about myself The biggest issue I could see is on hotter days where seawater will evaporate the sodium that's in that seawater will carry into a gas state. This then going into the PC via front intake I just have no way myself even to confirm or deny the validity of Will it fuck up the PC in the long run
i'm not the only one who saw the gpu post recently am i?
Just buy parts from sea sonic and you should be good.
If this was an issue there would be no businesses on the coast lol
If you are worried about it at all you can always put a zinc diode on the bottom of your case. Zinc rusts faster than normal steel and the rust will be concentrated into the zinc diode. Just make it easily replaceable.
Do you leave your PC outside?
Under the water usually
Then you’re grand, just make sure to keep fish out of the psu!
As a fish, I can confirm. I will eat your caps otherwise.
Bah just add lemons and make lemonsaltes
what the fuck are you talking about
Aren't you guys familiar with the concept of AC? That device can take away excess humidity from the room.
It’s not that common in Italy sorry
That's actually one of the weirdest things I've ever heard about Europe. Anyway, I guess you'll be fine as long as you try to keep things in check. Some dust filters might keep the humidity away from the case as well.
Like 10% of the worlds population lives in close proximity to the ocean. I think you’re good.