Thoughts on PC in suitcase?

[davchun]

I'm an out of state freshman and would like to build a new PC in a case that's portable enough to be put in a suitcase. I would plan on watercooling the CPU and possibly hybrid cooling the GPU as well. I would put the suitcase in the middle surrounded by clothes and possibly packaging air bags. 

 

Since it's a 5-hour drive, I'd rather not make my dad drive me back and forth for breaks and driving at my school would be expensive and with the amount of people, inconvenient so I'd rather just walk. Thus, I must take the bus that is provided by my school. They allow one carry-on and one luggage. 

I have considered a gaming laptop, but it's just not a good option. Laptops are higher priced, less powerful due to mobile parts, and cooling on laptops is at the very best poor, so thermal throttling would be common. Plus, I hook everything to an external monitor, keyboard, and mouse and turn off the laptop display so, to me, a Micro-ATX/Mini-ITX build just makes so much more sense. 

 

I don't know the exact model of the luggage suitcase that I have, but I do believe it got discontinued as I couldn't find it when looking on Amazon and their website. However, I do believe it is very similar to this one, but it may be very slightly smaller in all L W H. 

 

Does anyone else transport their PC's in a luggage bag of some sort? 
Also, does anyone have any recommendations for a case? I'd like at least a 240 radiator on my CPU that will go in the front and a 240 or 280 radiator on my GPU. 
There are many options for a case these days, so I have a lot of options. I don't care about windows (but an easy-to-open side panel would be awesome), LED's (I'd turn them off anyway), and 5.25-inch bays (who uses DVD's these days?). Removable hard drive cages would be excellent as well since I plan on using M.2 SSD's and 1-2 HDD"s. 

I've been looking at Phanteks, Bitfenix, Fractal Design and a few others but I don't really know which one would be best. 

 

[Energycore]

I don't think watercooling a computer that'll move around a whole lot is an amazing idea, you should do air cooled instead.

 

Check out two cases: the Fractal Design Node 202, and the Silverstone RVZ02. These are two console-sized, slim cases that probably fit into your suitcase, and allow for big graphics cards.

I think they don't quite allow for 2 3.5" HDDs, but I believe they do support 2 2.5" drives alongside an expansion card.

[davchun]

7 minutes ago, Energycore said:

I don't think watercooling a computer that'll move around a whole lot is an amazing idea, you should do air cooled instead.

 

Check out two cases: the Fractal Design Node 202, and the Silverstone RVZ02. These are two console-sized, slim cases that probably fit into your suitcase, and allow for big graphics cards.

I think they don't quite allow for 2 3.5" HDDs, but I believe they do support 2 2.5" drives alongside an expansion card.

It wouldn't move around a whole lot. In the beginning and end of the school year, my dad would be able to drive since I need that space anyways, so I can safely transport it. It would just be fall, winter and spring breaks where I would need to transport it. 

 

Even with padding from clothing, it wouldn't be a good idea?

[Energycore]

Just now, davchun said:

It wouldn't move around a whole lot. In the beginning and end of the school year, my dad would be able to drive since I need that space anyways, so I can safely transport it. It would just be fall, winter and spring breaks where I would need to transport it. 

 

Even with padding from clothing, it wouldn't be a good idea?

Hmm. Well it would be fine, but it likely wouldn't take less space but more. I've been able to fit MicroATX towers into my own suitcases though, maybe you want to use a more standard but small case like a Corsair 88R. That's a case that can do watercooling with a 240mm radiator