Instapak foam and moving PC

[Gimothy]

Hi there,

When I received my PC back from an RMA recently it was returned to me without the Instapak foam inside the case, which I found odd. I will possibly be moving my PC between properties in the next couple of weeks but am concerned about protecting the internal components during transit. Thankfully, there doesn't appear to be any damage from the lack of internal protection on the last occasion; will I generally be OK just using the original box and protective foam end braces? I can't tell whether the absence of foam was a genuine oversight on their part or an implicit admission that it really doesn't make a difference.

 

[steaky360]

Did you send the original foam padding back to them when you returned the PC? If you did, I would imagine this is likely an omission as they tend to return whatever you send them in my experience.

 

[Rakk]

When I've been moving my PC around (LAN party and moving house) I haven't bothered using all the original packing - for a start even if I could manage to get the original packing in my car I wouldn't fit much else in my car , all I've done is laid it down on its side (basically so that the motherboard would be flat on the boot floor if you imagine the case wasn't there) in the boot and packed stuff round it so it wouldn't move - and then tried to avoid potholes
I'm not actually convinced the instapak stuff is really meant to be re-used anyway.

The instapak is an added bit of safety and obviously is not always needed, its just added protection, I suspect in a lot of cases it doesn't really do much, but for some PC's where the journey is a bit rough, it just protects it more, the fact that yours didn't have it and seems to be perfectly fine is nothing to worry about.

 

[Gimothy]

Did you send the original foam padding back to them when you returned the PC? If you did, I would imagine this is likely an omission as they tend to return whatever you send them in my experience.

I returned it exactly as I received it, with the foam inside and outside the PC and the box that originally contained the welcome instructions above it (which was also not returned). I guess I could try phoning them and see if they'd send me some.

 

[steaky360]

I actually agree mostly with what rakk has said above with respect to 'needing' the internal foam.

When I've moved my rig I do put it in the original packaging but I don't use the internal foam because the innards have changed since I bought it and the instapak won't fit anymore. I've not had any issues.

 

[Gimothy]

When I've been moving my PC around (LAN party and moving house) I haven't bothered using all the original packing - for a start even if I could manage to get the original packing in my car I wouldn't fit much else in my car , all I've done is laid it down on its side (basically so that the motherboard would be flat on the boot floor if you imagine the case wasn't there) in the boot and packed stuff round it so it wouldn't move - and then tried to avoid potholes
I'm not actually convinced the instapak stuff is really meant to be refused anyway.

The instapak is an added bit of safety and obviously is not always needed, its just added protection, I suspect in a lot of cases it doesn't really do much, but for some PC's where the journey is a bit rough, it just protects it more, the fact that yours didn't have it and seems to be perfectly fine is nothing to worry about.

Thanks for your input!

 

[tom_gr7]

I use newspaper to pack my pc

 

[mishra]

...all I've done is laid it down on its side (basically so that the motherboard would be flat on the boot floor if you imagine the case wasn't there) in the boot and packed stuff round it so it wouldn't move - and then tried to avoid potholes ...

That's exactly what I've been doing for ages. My PC been through 3 house moves and a few friends visits. Idea behind putting it flat is that you are limiting the risks of your graphics card or CPU cooler snapping over speed-bump or potholes. Always worked fine. You would have to be really careless to actually do any damage to it - for as long as it lays flat ofc.

It's not as fragile as it seems. I bet all delivery drivers treated your PC far worse than you will.