Safe to transport PC using large tower cooler?

[WaitingForNehalem]

I have to move back and forth every semester between home and school. Would it be safe to transport my PC on its side in a car with a Corsair A70 attached to the motherboard? I emailed Corsair tech support and they said yes, but when I called tech support the guy said no. Otherwise, I'll just stick with the stock cooler. The main reasons I want another HSF is because when I transcode using x264 or run Prime95, the CPU gets in the 70s (which I know is not that hot). I also might overclock.

 

[T_Yamamoto]

Well we had a thread earlier about this
and the answer was "its okay but take it off if you dont want to risk it"

 

[WaitingForNehalem]

Okay, well since taking it off every time isn't feasible I guess I'll be sticking with the stock cooler.

 

[sandorski]

If you're doing it in your car, it should be ok if you do it carefully and it doesn't fall down. If UPS/Fedex does it, take off the heatsink.

 

[lsv]

It's probably OK man, the clips are designed to hold up a 1 kg block of metal to the board. Put it on it's side and dampen the sides with a towel so it doesn't move around too much, use a seatbelt if you can hack it. Just don't crash

 

[IGemini]

My computer has gone through at least a couple years transporting with a mounted Scythe Mugen, which is effectively a kilo of metal, and never had any problems. Not to mention it's on the crappier plastic-pin mounting system than the A70. You shouldn't have problems. If you're really in doubt, transport the tower so the cooler is oriented up.

 

[aigomorla]

ok when moving a case think physics people.

If you can move it without jerking the system around too much, its safe.
If its going to be inside your trunk and slide all over the place its not safe.

The main point is pivits in your case.
What do you have which has a lot of mass and can potentially snap if pressure is applied.

(tower heat sinks) + (gpu cards)

These are the first things i see break when a case falls.
The tower sinks if given enough pressure will crack the board when it apply a strong jerk to it.

The GPU cards ive seen pci brakets break off completely... or the the pci slot itself get ripped off, if your cards arent secured to the rail.

The key thing is hard drops and rolling it around...


Personally when i move a tower, i will put it in the back seat, and then seat belt it in possition so it cant roll around.

I have yet to break a system by doing it that way.

 

[WaitingForNehalem]

My computer has gone through at least a couple years transporting with a mounted Scythe Mugen, which is effectively a kilo of metal, and never had any problems. Not to mention it's on the crappier plastic-pin mounting system than the A70. You shouldn't have problems. If you're really in doubt, transport the tower so the cooler is oriented up.

Yes, that is what I would be doing. I would just lay the tower sideways (the motherboard side) on the back seat. Now, I am not sure what to do :hmm:.

 

[Zap]

People transport their rigs to LAN parties all the time with tower coolers. It isn't a problem unless they drop it or get into a car accident.

OTOH I wouldn't ship it that way, unless it is a bolt-through design.

 

[WaitingForNehalem]

The Corsair A70 uses a bolt-through kit.

 

[Herald85]

It's perfectly safe if you apply some common sense. I just put my pc with the mobo-side down in the backseat and buckle up. I have some of those airbags that I stuff in the case around my Mugen but I'm quite certain that's overkill. Just don't hit speed humps at 50!

 

[OVerLoRDI]

I transport my water cooled machine around without draining it. Key is to put it in your car where it wont slide, and also transport it on its side so heavy things like tower coolers, or in my case GPU blocks aren't having to deal with as much force.