Cheapest way to bring my computer to the US?

[Brassballs 47]

I concur with reply from iammrsregi

Strip out motherboard, vid cards, and drives. Wrap in anti-stat bags and ship in luggage.

Sell case, power supply, keyboard and mouse. Replace the steel after arrival in HI.

Substantially less costly than shipping charges from fedex or ups.

[Darnell 8,479]

My computer is a full tower PC with 3x SLI GTX 780ti so I don't think it'll fit in a carry one and might be too heavy for a box as well.

I will be traveling alone.

Just wondering what my options are for shipping this thing to the US for now.

I never said a box. I said luggage, with it wrapped in two pieces of cardboard.

as to weight - what does it weigh, just the box? I transit much these last 7 years, with gear in luggage.

This is your first time, and it's great you're asking questions, but since this is a one-time shot for you - why not pay the overage on the luggage, and be done?

Edited September 16, 2014 by Darnell

[Dave&Roza 748]

You could just pay for a second checked bag--$200 on most international flights. I paid for an over weight bag to bring stuff to my MIL. Unfortunately, BA could not get me to Almaty and I had to fly Aeroflot and Air Astana, both charge by the kilogram over 23 kg. It cost me the $50 BA charged and another $190, but that was still cheaper than using FedEx. A tower would fit in most of the roller bags I've seen people use for carry-on. It will be an issue to get it into the overhead bin. If it is too heavy you might get lucky and get it gate checked and it will not cost you anything--one way I've seen people scamming the checked bag fee.

Realize that at 20 kg you have 3 kgs for your other stuff, so you are going to pay. It is up to you to decide what and how you pay: 1) sell system in the PI and purchase new in the US, 2) strip it down and put it in your luggage and reassemble in the US, 3) ship it via FedEx , 4) check it and pay the additional baggage fees--i.e. extra bag fee or overweight fee, or 5) try to take it as a carry-on and maybe get it gate checked.

Good luck,

Dave

[Al422 221]

My husband just built a gaming pc recently and judging from that, your best bet is to tear it down and pad all the parts to avoid damage. Just get a new case here in the US and rebuild it here. (simply put, what Darnell said).

I imagine the shipping cost to be outrageous. Plus, I'm sure you prefer handling it personally.

A new case is only about $150 and is most of the bulk and weight Most of the money is in the motherboard/CPU/RAM and in the graphics engine. That stuff will fit in a carry on.

Unless you have a costly hard drive array with a RAID, a new hard drive will be about $75 more. Even if you bring it, back the HD up to DVDs. The HD can be easily damaged in transit. Your data is where all the value is in the HD. Paragon Diskcopy boots from the CD and makes a perfect image of your HD that can burn to the DVDs. Once here, boot it from diskcopy and copy the image back to your HD.

As for the keyboard, maybe another $50.

What I am getting at is the large inexpensive components may be cheaper to replace than carry with you or ship.