• Some users have recently had their accounts hijacked. It seems that the now defunct EVGA forums might have compromised your password there and seems many are using the same PW here. We would suggest you UPDATE YOUR PASSWORD and TURN ON 2FA for your account here to further secure it. None of the compromised accounts had 2FA turned on.
    Once you have enabled 2FA, your account will be updated soon to show a badge, letting other members know that you use 2FA to protect your account. This should be beneficial for everyone that uses FSFT.

Shipping computer

U

Uncle Humjaba

Limp Gawd
Joined
May 6, 2006
Messages
440
Not sure if this is the place to put this, but here goes


I am trying to ship my computer home from college (taking a semester off to work). The computer is packed in the box the case came in, which has maybe an inch of styrofoam around the top and bottom. I shipped the computer to college like this with no problem, but when we took it to fedex today they said they would only insure it for $99 because they said it wasn't packaged enough. They didnt have the ability to package it properly at that store.

What would you guys recommend? Take the hard drives out, package those separately and ship it anyway? Go without my computer for 8 months?

-Tyler
 
I would take the hard drives out and bring those with you separately if you can. Also UPS might be able to insure it.
 
I may be shipping a machine to my son who is active duty in the USMC so I put some thought into this very issue.

Drives are typically held in with screws or other secure methods. They don't scare me nearly as much as the CPU's heat-sink-fan. I saw the results of a machine shipped cross country where the HSF came loose and basically destroyed everything in the case - a complete and total loss. No question - pull the heat-sink-fan unit.

Second thing I'd be concerned about is some of the bigger new video cards. Typically their EMI bracked is screwed into the case in back but the edge connector is going to go through some pretty nasty shear forces as the thing gets banged around. I'll pull it and ship it separately.

I'd planned on pulling the HSF and video card and running with that.
 
Why not pull everything? Opticals, HDs, CPU & HSF, Memory, and GPU. That way the only thing inside is the motherboard and some fans, and you're guaranteed to have no damage.
 
We have had UPS beat up a machine we had to ship out of country for a demo at a conference. We ended up getting an insurance payment but they tried every way they could to avoid paying even though the box had several punctures and this was thick cardboard.

Inside the machine the heatsink fell off the cpu and gpu causing a the GPU and motherboard to be a total loss. I believe the CPU was also dead but the hard drive worked.

So definitely pull off the heatsinks and pack them separately.
 
BlindedByScience said:
I may be shipping a machine to my son who is active duty in the USMC so I put some thought into this very issue.

Drives are typically held in with screws or other secure methods. They don't scare me nearly as much as the CPU's heat-sink-fan. I saw the results of a machine shipped cross country where the HSF came loose and basically destroyed everything in the case - a complete and total loss. No question - pull the heat-sink-fan unit.

Second thing I'd be concerned about is some of the bigger new video cards. Typically their EMI bracked is screwed into the case in back but the edge connector is going to go through some pretty nasty shear forces as the thing gets banged around. I'll pull it and ship it separately.

I'd planned on pulling the HSF and video card and running with that.
Click to expand...

I would recommend shipping the hard drives separately. If there's more than a single hard drive, then even better as it will reduce the overall weight of the case. Additionally I wholeheartedly agree with the HSF comment, a heatsink that's come loose will destroy all the internals.

Overall:
-Remove hard drives, ship them separately in proper cases; I used a pelican case with a hard drive foam cutout in it. PCS'd a few times and it's nice having to not worry about the data
-Remove HSF
-Zip tie any loose cables
-Make sure all screws are tight, even a loose screw bouncing around can cause issues.

You may also want to bring the case in the box to a packing company and have them box it up for a double box solution.
 
Bleh... This is a huge PITA x.x Doesnt help that I have already flown to california, and it is a friend of mine trying to ship the thing (the shipping place was closed and I, like an idiot, waited for the last minute to try and ship it myself)

My cooler is mounted with an aftermarket bracket to the back of the motherboard, so the only way it's coming off is if the motherboard breaks into a bunch of pieces. As I have a 260gtx, I was kind of worried about how well it would stay put... do they make antistatic bubblewrap I can just stuff inside the case?
 
I agree with BlindedByScience. The biggest issue I would have is the heatsink, which I would most certainly remove prior to shipment.
 
Uncle Humjaba said:
Bleh... This is a huge PITA x.x Doesnt help that I have already flown to california, and it is a friend of mine trying to ship the thing (the shipping place was closed and I, like an idiot, waited for the last minute to try and ship it myself)

My cooler is mounted with an aftermarket bracket to the back of the motherboard, so the only way it's coming off is if the motherboard breaks into a bunch of pieces. As I have a 260gtx, I was kind of worried about how well it would stay put... do they make antistatic bubblewrap I can just stuff inside the case?
Click to expand...

I've done this 3x already. This is what works:
1) Even though there's styrfoam between box and case, stuff bubble wrap on all sides, so it's completley surrounded.
2) open the case cover, stuff in bubble wrap around the hsf, the harddrive, pretty much anywhere there's free space, so nothing can move. put case cover back on
3) pray to your local deity

I've done it every time like this, and it's still chugging away.
 
Last edited:
Uncle Humjaba said:
... do they make antistatic bubblewrap I can just stuff inside the case?
Click to expand...

Yes, they do; and I'd recommend doing just that... stuff antistatic bubblewrap in all void spaces inside the case, as well as outside, in the box. If done properly, you won't need to remove the HSF nor the Vidcard. There also places that will do custom molded foam for you. ;)
 
Uncle Humjaba said:
....My cooler is mounted with an aftermarket bracket to the back of the motherboard, so the only way it's coming off is if the motherboard breaks into a bunch of pieces.....
Click to expand...
Unfortunately, that is a very real possibility.

Here's the HSF I'm going to use for my son's build. Great ratings and it attaches from the top of the MoBo.....:cool:
 
well I called my friend and he's gonna pick up some of that antistatic bubble wrap from staples and stuff it full in there. Here goes nothin...
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top