Transporting a desktop PC
So, next year, I will spend two 3-month periods at a place that is 1400km away from my home. Because of my somewhat large, superfast dog, with a tendency to run away and topple people, I will have to go by car, dog in hand (don't worry, I won't be driving :P). Each roundtrip amounts to 42 hours on the road.
At the same time, I'm budgeting for a new desktop workstation for gaming and video editing (so both fun and work). I could get a much inferior gamer laptop with the money, but I wanna have a good machine for things like Adobe After Effects, and the inferior part bothers me quite a bit.
Hence the question: how can I safely transport a desktop PC plus monitor for an 84-hour car trip? Should I take it "whole"? Disassembled? Or not at all? I really don't wanna screw up my brand-new PC!
Take is whole but remove the gpu first. The PCI attachment point is probably the weakest part of the whole thing, and can break upon vibrations.
Take the hdd out as well if you have one. No need if it’s an ssd.
Agreed about the video card. That's definitely your biggest concern.
If you have a big air cooler on your CPU it might be a good idea to remove that as well. Also if you have custom loop water cooling it might be a good idea to drain it. Otherwise, AIO watercoolers are fine to ship as-is.
Thanks ;)
Funny, the other day I was just thinking to myself that since we stopped using spinning disks it means that computers are much less fragile. But you're right, these GPUs are way heavier than they should be.
I kind of wish that we took a page from older PC Bus interfaces and had a standardized size for them so we could bring back rear braces for expansion cards. I've always thought that GPU risers were a really dumb thing to need; why shouldn't our fancy new cases already have something to help support that extra weight?
I’ve always just made sure the back of my motherboard was facing the ground - no strain from gravity on the connectors. Don’t take an HDD if you can avoid it, vibrations kill those.
This is also my advice, having transported many a PC on long card rides, and once on an airplane (don't do that btw). Laying the case down MB-down prevents strain on most things that would be of concern. For extra safety you could remove the GPU as others have advised, but probably not entirely necessary.
I'm not buying prebuilt, no. And I never throw boxes away, which drives my partner crazy :P
Thanks!
Then you're good with this and the other suggestions.
Disassemble monitor, put in box.
Remove GPU, put in box.
If you have a large air cooler remove and put in box.
If you are using a non-AIO watercooling loop, you'll want to drain it and remove most of it as well. Otherwise you should be fine with how an AIO mounts.
There are some exceptions to the above, such as if you're using a GPU riser and the GPU is firmly mounted in something like a SFF build, but otherwise if it is heavy or large, just remove and reinstall when you arrive.
Also... pet the pupper.
Whatever you do, it never hurts to pack it with soft stuff around to cushion. Depending on what you're taking, carpets, towels, clothes etc. give extra padding.
I've never had trouble transporting computers and have had to bring desktops for long drives on bad roads a lot for work.
I would take the GPU out. Even sitting still, modern high end GPUs can put a lot of strain on the PCI-E slot. If you have a particularly beefy air cooler on the CPU, I might remove that as well if you anticipate a bumpy ride, though it will probably be fine if you make sure to lay the computer on its side instead of upright.
As for the monitor, if you don't have the original box; take it off it's stand, wrap it in blankets or towels, and make sure the screen side is placed up against a flat surface. LCDs are actually pretty durable as long as nothing is poking the screen.
Damn. Where were y'all 5 years ago, when I moved to EU with my home-built gaming desktop?
I just wrapped it in towels, stuffed it in its own suitcase, and went.
Great advice, all around.
I did something similar when moving to California. Didn’t even remove the GPU if I remember correctly. But it made it in one piece!
I've moved twice now since coming to the EU (so 3 moves, total), each time the same way ... desktop is still good.
Nonetheless, in future, pulling the GPU sounds like great advice.