Best way to transport a PC

Russinating

Russinating

Russinating

Soldato
Joined
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Bristol
Due to various reasons and faff, one of my employees may have to fly and take their PC with them, comprising a tower with glass side panel, two 27" monitors, 27" touch-monitor and all the usual peripherals.

What's the best way of wrapping/protecting the PC and components? They're not techn-savvy enough to replace the heatsink or GPU etc so they need to stay attached.
 
Russinating said:
Due to various reasons and faff, one of my employees may have to fly and take their PC with them, comprising a tower with glass side panel, two 27" monitors, 27" touch-monitor and all the usual peripherals.

What's the best way of wrapping/protecting the PC and components? They're not techn-savvy enough to replace the heatsink or GPU etc so they need to stay attached.
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I would never take a fully built pc on a plane or send one via plane, you seen how luggage staff deal with it. You'll end up with ripped sockets, smashed glass and god knows what else. I would dismantle as much as i can, pack into individual boxes and bubble wrap those in the case. Use the original case box with the packing foam for extra protection as well.
 
Can't they expense a sufficiently powerful laptop and take that with them instead along with a dock and their monitors if they really need them?

The only way I'd consider transporting a desktop PC by plane is in pieces, in antistatic bags, in between layers of clothes in my suitcase.

I feel like it will all end in tears otherwise.
 
I use expanding foam packets .

Sealed bags that you 'pop' in location and the chemicals react together to form a barrier within the bag . Pop it, put in the case and then get the glass panel on and attached. Will expanded and fill the inside of the case and mold around the components .

If using foam blocks or bubble wrap. Needs to be anti static etc

Or downgrade to ITX components .

Employee trying to dodge some tax via working abroad ? Hehe , though hope it's not something serious :(
 
Nope, they're Spanish and their single mum has cancer. Because of the quarantine they can't even go for a weekend without missing 2 weeks of works, so just trying to consider all conceivable options as the most likely atm is they'll have to quit. It's barely feasible to work from home - we're a video production company hence the PC spec, working on projects up to ~3TB in the cloud (we have a symmetrical gigabit line at the studio). There's no way a laptop would handle what we need it to.

RDP isn't really an option due to requirement to smoothly stream video playback etc.
 
Only thing I would really worry about is the GPU, that needs to come out and get boxed.

Given that the guy can operate a high spec machine and thousands of pounds worth of video editing software is he trainable to remove 3 screws and install a PCIe card? :D
 
Russinating said:
Nope, they're Spanish and their single mum has cancer. Because of the quarantine they can't even go for a weekend without missing 2 weeks of works, so just trying to consider all conceivable options as the most likely atm is they'll have to quit. It's barely feasible to work from home - we're a video production company hence the PC spec, working on projects up to ~3TB in the cloud (we have a symmetrical gigabit line at the studio). There's no way a laptop would handle what we need it to.

RDP isn't really an option due to requirement to smoothly stream video playback etc.
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Is it possible for them to drive to Spain instead? Obviously that means them going for a longer period of time.
 
randal said:
Only thing I would really worry about is the GPU, that needs to come out and get boxed.

Given that the guy can operate a high spec machine and thousands of pounds worth of video editing software is he trainable to remove 3 screws and install a PCIe card? :D
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This.
Gpu is the biggest risk. It has to come off.
 
Jay85 said:
I would never take a fully built pc on a plane or send one via plane, you seen how luggage staff deal with it. You'll end up with ripped sockets, smashed glass and god knows what else. I would dismantle as much as i can, pack into individual boxes and bubble wrap those in the case. Use the original case box with the packing foam for extra protection as well.
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This. I have had items literally crushed flat, like they ran out of tires and used my parcels instead.

The only really safe way is to remove the graphics card and if it is a large heat-sink remove the CPU cooler. You need to make very certain any disks are well secured. I am not sure about a water cooler and very low air pressures. I assume it would be OK but it should perhaps be wrapped separately just in case it's not.
 
Make sure to remove the GPU! The GPU is so heavy that when moving it can swing in the PCIe slot which leads to a damaged and unusable GPU. Please don't leave it in! I've made this mistake before.
 
You need to put it in it a solid box, with then something very squishy like soft foam between the solid exterior and the case, so the outside us very tough and foam takes the g forces.
 
BUDFORCE said:
You need to put it in it a solid box, with then something very squishy like soft foam between the solid exterior and the case, so the outside us very tough and foam takes the g forces.
Click to expand...
That only takes force very momentarily and wouldn't do really anything to shock from some drop stressing CPU cooler mounting and graphics card mounting.
There's literal risk of it falling from way more than one meter height with the usual luggage handling.
 
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