Shipping a PC

[Motion]

I'm having a PC that has a motherboard,cps, and stock intel cooler sent to me and was wondering what would be the best way to ship it. People said UPS or USPS and to wrap it and with bubble wrap. Would i use the small bubble wrap or large? Would i need to full the computer with it?

[Firewrath9]

I’d take out a large gpu/air cooler (anything bigger than a 120mm air cooler)/single fan gpu. If possible, and ship those in OG box seperately.

then, buy a bunch of those pillow bubble things (the big ones, like 3inchx6), or litterally a bunch of half-inflated ballons, also ship it in the original case box, with dense foam. Also wrap it (the pc) in the giant saran wrap ppl use for luggage.

[dizmo]

Just wrap the case in bubble wrap, insert into box. It'll be fine, there isn't really anything heavy.

If he has the original box for the case, that'd be best, though it's unlikely.

 

[Motion]

19 minutes ago, Firewrath9 said:

I’d take out a large gpu/air cooler (anything bigger than a 120mm air cooler)/single fan gpu. If possible, and ship those in OG box seperately.

then, buy a bunch of those pillow bubble things (the big ones, like 3inchx6), or litterally a bunch of half-inflated ballons, also ship it in the original case box, with dense foam. Also wrap it (the pc) in the giant saran wrap ppl use for luggage.

the only fan in it right now is the stock intel cooler, should that be fine?

[Firewrath9]

On 2/9/2019 at 10:11 PM, Motion said:

the only fan in it right now is the stock intel cooler, should that be fine?

 Thats fine yeah.

[Motion]

9 minutes ago, Firewrath9 said:

 Thats fine yeah.

thanks you

 

29 minutes ago, dizmo said:

Just wrap the case in bubble wrap, insert into box. It'll be fine, there isn't really anything heavy.

If he has the original box for the case, that'd be best, though it's unlikely.

 

thank you as well

[bmichaels556]

Probably not the right place to butt in, but I was just wondering...

 

You know those guys selling old full systems on Ebay? They'll sell halfway decent systems for like $100-150, and then they either don't charge for shipping, or they charge like $30. But when you actually get the quotes for the weights of these systems, you see that it costs like $100 bucks to ship over a few states!

 

How the hell do they do this stuff!?

[IAnthonyFX]

i travel with my PC a lot. I would not worry too much about your cooler (mine has a gigantic drp3)
I would only be concerned if there is any tempered glass, if there is then what I do is use some clothes between the glass and the box. If you want to be extra careful i would wrap the panel so in the case if breaks you wont have to breathe the glass when cleaning. Otherwise if should all be fine. 

[Motion]

4 hours ago, Firewrath9 said:

I’d take out a large gpu/air cooler (anything bigger than a 120mm air cooler)/single fan gpu. If possible, and ship those in OG box seperately.

then, buy a bunch of those pillow bubble things (the big ones, like 3inchx6), or litterally a bunch of half-inflated ballons, also ship it in the original case box, with dense foam. Also wrap it (the pc) in the giant saran wrap ppl use for luggage.

https://www.nzxt.com/products/phantom-530

 

woyld this side panel need to be wrapped or should it be fine?

[Firewrath9]

5 hours ago, Motion said:

https://www.nzxt.com/products/phantom-530

 

woyld this side panel need to be wrapped or should it be fine?

nah its fine.

[TetraSky]

Just make sure the box itself is a good Heavy Duty one(sides should be thick, just the case box is NOT enough, those were designed for the case itself, not the full weight of a PC inside of it). You don't want a thin cheapo box for a computer.
You should reinforce the edges of the box itself, to prevent it from caving in during shipping.


I wouldn't recommend UPS. They will trash your computer, because "fragile" means "dump from the third floor window a few times" to them. Don't put any indication of what might be in the box on the case, that's just further incentive for them to destroy it.
Don't cheap out on the packing material itself. Get some closed cell foam if you can, you don't need much of it, just two medium size piece or so on each of the four sides/corners to complement the bubble wrap(if there's a side window, don't put any hard foam on the window itself, a hit might be transmitted through and break it otherwise, just put bubble wrap on it).
This will also help prevent the box from caving in and protect its content.

[Worstcaster]

This might help.

 

 

[poochyena]

11 hours ago, bmichaels556 said:

Probably not the right place to butt in, but I was just wondering...

 

You know those guys selling old full systems on Ebay? They'll sell halfway decent systems for like $100-150, and then they either don't charge for shipping, or they charge like $30. But when you actually get the quotes for the weights of these systems, you see that it costs like $100 bucks to ship over a few states!

 

How the hell do they do this stuff!?

$100? $30 sounds right to me for usps ground shipping. Even priority shipping, it won't be more than $50 unless you are shipping from, say, new york to california. Or unless it is very very heavy.

For reference, I regularly ship 8 pound 16x16x16 boxes across the country (and world).

[bmichaels556]

12 hours ago, poochyena said:

$100? $30 sounds right to me for usps ground shipping. Even priority shipping, it won't be more than $50 unless you are shipping from, say, new york to california. Or unless it is very very heavy.

For reference, I regularly ship 8 pound 16x16x16 boxes across the country (and world).

Yeah, well I mean I just checked USPS for a quote for a package of 12 pounds, 16" x 12" x 6" and I'm seeing $45... That's pretty crazy, isn't it..? Feels like I've almost always had great luck with the flat rate boxes, but of course there's only so much you can fit, even in the larger ones. 

[GeoSquigg]

22 hours ago, TetraSky said:

Just make sure the box itself is a good Heavy Duty one(sides should be thick, just the case box is NOT enough, those were designed for the case itself, not the full weight of a PC inside of it). You don't want a thin cheapo box for a computer.
You should reinforce the edges of the box itself, to prevent it from caving in during shipping.


I wouldn't recommend UPS. They will trash your computer, because "fragile" means "dump from the third floor window a few times" to them. Don't put any indication of what might be in the box on the case, that's just further incentive for them to destroy it.
Don't cheap out on the packing material itself. Get some closed cell foam if you can, you don't need much of it, just two medium size piece or so on each of the four sides/corners to complement the bubble wrap(if there's a side window, don't put any hard foam on the window itself, a hit might be transmitted through and break it otherwise, just put bubble wrap on it).
This will also help prevent the box from caving in and protect its content.

you realize most of the lower end and mid range custom PC Builders ship a completed PC in the original box right? Most original case boxes are more than ok to handle a trip or two. Constant moving around and I'd invest in a pelican type shipping box.