Question about PC Transport

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Grathrax

Limp Gawd
Joined
Apr 9, 2005
Messages
333
I recently read something in PC Gamer about transporting computers to LAN Parties and such, and how one should remove their GPU and CPU and package them seperately during transport. Once friggin UPS delivers some stuff to me from newegg, ill be rebuilding my PC which died shortly after I moved to college in fall 05. I'm at my parents now and will be driving 3 hours back to school here in a week or so. After reading this I have to wonder if its worth the effort to take stuff apart like that and reassemble it upon arrival. A part of the concern in the article is that the case will be knocked around etc, however everything will be snug in my car surrounded by other stuff. A Google search on lan parties and transporting computers didn't say anything about this, so I want to know what you all think. However, considering the timing of the last fail (2 weeks after road trip) I can't help but wonder.

Also, I've been through 2 motherboards in this case, sorry if this is the wrong forum, but is it possible for a case to be bad in some way? I know at least one of those mobos was connected to a faulty PSU a few months before it died, which could have been the cause. I just hope this new setup doesn't fry on me.
 
Only time I know of people doing this is when 1) they package it up and check it as luggage on a plane trip, or 2) when they ship it to the destination via UPS or FedEX. Also they mainly take off the HSFs, even more so the heavier ones...
 
Only thing I'd ever remove is a particularly heavy heatsink. Anything else and you're probably adding more likelihood of damage than you're removing.

Sounds more like they're afraid of theft than of damage. A couple top of the line videocards in SLI or Crossfire are often more money than the rest of the computer combined.
 
I had a 6600GT fall off a board once while traveling overseas. Case got knocked up a bit too, but the machine ran fine once everything else was plugged back in and setup.
 
Oompa said:
Only time I know of people doing this is when 1) they package it up and check it as luggage on a plane trip, or 2) when they ship it to the destination via UPS or FedEX. Also they mainly take off the HSFs, even more so the heavier ones...
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Exactly what they recommend, and if your hard drive is important they recommend you pull that too and take it as carry on.
 
Pish posh, most people are overdoing it.

You pack your PC in a box so it lays on its side, and you lay it down motherboard-side-down. If you have a heavy heatsink, then take it off, but there's no real reason to remove the CPU. The same goes for video cards: if they're heavy dual-slotters, or just plain heavy, remove them. A single-slot 6600 or even 7800? I don't see a reason to remove it, especially if the computer is laying motherboard-side-down so it's just resting there in the slot and not hanging sideways like it usually is. Also, HDD's non-operating shock range is, quite frankly, fucking robust. Unless you're really THAT paranoid, or it's in a position in the case where it could/would be a problem (like on a removable caddy missing the thumbscrew) I see no reason to remove it. Besides, you're supposed to pack a desktop PC tower like it's going off to WWIII anyway.
 
if you transporting it yourself, you dont have to do anything, unless you plan to go offroading with it in your trunk or something. the precautions are designed for using shipping companies, which have a habit of not being too gentle with such things.
 
Martyr said:
if you transporting it yourself, you dont have to do anything, unless you plan to go offroading with it in your trunk or something. the precautions are designed for using shipping companies, which have a habit of not being too gentle with such things.
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I work for UPS during the winter when im home from school, believe me I know lol.

One time the loaders screwed up our truck and we had to unload it and reload it in the proper order, the only package that wasn't thrown was because it said "Liquids" on it. Because that would be a mess. I once had a package moo at me when i dropped it, but it was going to a toy store so it made all sorts of barnyard noises as it was handled hahah.
 
I'm in the same situation as you, going back to school and home during breaks ( 2-3 hour drives). I haven't ran into any problems yet. What I do is I put my computer on my basket of laundry, since it provides a nice support. If not, I just plop the desktop onto the passenger seats, and put a seat belt around it (click it or tick it :)).

I don't think it's worth all that effort, as long as all your components are all screwed on, tighetened, etc. The only thing that I would even think about taking off is the HDD, but even that's not worth it.
 
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