Transporting my PC from hotel to hotel long-term. Advice? Ideas?

TheAncientLegend · April 2, 2020

I'm going on an extended road trip and will be bringing my PC. Transporting the monitor and peripherals is no problem. My concern is the case. I'm not going to disassemble it (remove the graphics card & CPU heat sink) each time I move it.

The case (Sliger Cerberus X) is pretty small, dimensions are 14.97"H x 6.78"W x 14.09"D. It has a handle on top, so it's also quite easy to pick up and move.

Pic related, it's the inside of my PC. Except the Radeon VII is now an RTX 2080 Ti.

My idea is to use a latching tote like this (pic is not exact, but you get the idea):

and use polyethylene foam (2 or 4 pounds per cubic ft - any input on density would be appreciated), cut it to specific sizes to pad the inside of the tote (maybe even glue it to the sides and bottom), and also cut some pieces to put inside of the case to stabilize the graphics card and heat sink. My thinking is that it will be relatively convenient to be able to remove and replace the foam between transports, and it should adequately protect it from shock/vibration.

Am I crazy? Is this a bad idea? Please enlighten me, I know nothing about moving PCs and this is simply my best guess at how.

Also, what about orientation during transport? My guess is that laying it flat so that the graphics card is vertical and motherboard is horizontal would put the least stress on the components.

Dedayog · April 2, 2020

Moving the PC is fine, however you want to do it. They're not uber fragile, just either remove the GPU or lay it on it's side so the GPU is vertical (it has the potential to torque that PCIe slot if jostled too hard).

The road trip and staying at hotels and interacting with people amid a pandemic... that's something that's boggling me really, the PC moving is not an issue tho.

LogicalDrm · April 2, 2020

Well, this went to poop very quickly. For the record, stay on topic and help. If you don't want to do that, don't post. This is basic guideline of the forum and applies, even at these times.

On topic. Best way to do this is to get big roller suitcase. You could even run PC while its in the suitcase if you keep side open. Unless you will be carrying it over stairs etc. there's no need to take any components off. In fact, you can tip the standing case over and nothing will happen (from experience of going to LANs). The biggest scare is to drop it from 1m or higher. Or have it shake a lot while in transit.