Shipping gaming desktop long distance?

theborg42

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Jun 20, 2015
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4,510
I am leaving in a couple weeks long term and would really like to take my desktop PC with me. I just wanted to come here and ask advice from you guys about shipping as I have a couple of questions...

First of all, I am planning on shipping the PC in the box the case came in. Mine came with big styrofoam inserts and has about 3 inches of clearance on each side - I'll fill whatever gaps I have with lots of bubble wrap, no issues there. Heck, if needed, I could probably get a bigger box to send this one in.

My main issues are with the inside components. I have a Hyper 212 Evo cooler which is pretty darn heavy. I am really not sure how to secure this thing - I'm afraid that any bumps or jostles are going to lead it to snapping off and ruining my motherboard. I'm not sure if I should try to zip tie it in place or just take it off and send some TIM with me.

Same issue for the graphics card - my R9 280x is pretty heavy as well, I should probably take this out and ship it separately, right?

I'm planning on unplugging most of the SATA connections on the motherboard just in case something comes loose - both my CD drive and my hard drives are screwed in though so I don't think they'll be too much off an issue.

Another thing I'm not sure about is putting padding inside of the case? It seems stupid to just let everything hang in there without support, but I don't want to destroy my components with ESD. Any advice on how to pad the inside would be really helpful!

Thanks!
 

theborg42

Reputable
Jun 20, 2015
5
0
4,510
For the people looking at this in the future - I ended up packing it in a larger box and using clothes as padding. Took off my CPU cooler and fan and stashed them inside the case - graphics card will be shipped separately.