[Shivan Hunter]

So, since I'm constantly lugging my PC around with me, I've been thinking about getting one of these. My question is, how reliable are they? My tower is about 40 pounds, and I've heard of these cases breaking under less weight than that.

My chassis an ATX mid tower so I don't think size will be an issue.

I'm probably being paranoid, which I think is a very defensible position when it comes to good ol' Turing (my PC). Any suggestions?

[Nuke]

every time i move one of my desktops something expensive breaks. i have a laptop for when i go portable. it has a good enough gpu to play crysis fairly well.

[Klaustrophobia]

i just throw mine over my shoulder and carry it.  i don't think it's quite 40 lbs though.

[FUBAR-BDHR]

I just carry any I have to move under my arm like a stack of books.  Works for all the systems I have except file servers (weigh a lot more then 40lbs) and luckily they don't move often.  Although I've gone to rackmount cases for all my newer  stuff.  They have handles but are also heavier.  They also don't go places. 

Detest laptops.  Only time I use one is outside.

[Nuke]

if i ever build me another desktop, i think il go for the smallest case possible, like the one i built back on '03. i had some crap job so i only set aside $800 bucks. i got one of those cube style cases, with a microatx board, bout a gig of ram (that was a lot back then) and a $150 video card. good computer and hell the thing still runs. then one year, after my position improved, i drop $1500 on a computer, and have had nothing but trouble with it ever since. had to replace the mobo 3 times, the psu twice, video card, cpu and ram all once (and not all at the same time). so i will never spend more than $1000 on a computer, ever! with what ive spent fixing this thing i could have built a new computer every year for 6 years.

Detest laptops.  Only time I use one is outside.

i used to, but theyre good if you have to travel a lot. i wouldn't go with laptops exclusively, you need a desktop to keep all your primary storage at. laptops just dont have enough storage. especially with how much space current operating systems whore up. i got this 2 year old asus, it has a dual core cpu, 3 gigs of ram, a good gpu and a full keyboard. its showing its age but its still a formidable machine. like i said it plays crysis and anything based on idtech4 just fine.

[Klaustrophobia]

my laptop is my document/mobile internet computer.  did most of my school work except for the REALLY heavy data analysis on it.  my desktop is my workhorse and entertainment center.  plays crysis on high and pumps lossless encoded awsomeness through an x-fi music to my (aging) 5.1 speakers.  $600 initially and added the x-fi sound card to it for $70-ish later.  buy a generation behind (and AMD/ATi), keeps the cost WAY down, multiple revisions into the hardware that ironed out all the kinks, and still no problem for the latest stuff. 

[Nuke]

its fairly easy to find a laptop in your price range with a good gpu. just takes a little research and a strong avoidance of brand fanboism.

[Klaustrophobia]

gpu is not the only concern.  find me a laptop that does ALL of the above for $600 and then i'll consider it.  but even then, i still like having a full on workstation.

[Nuke]

aye, a good work station is good to have. just not something i want to haul around (especially since mine is around 60 pounds). id love to rip out the guts and stick them into a 10 pound micro atx carbon fiber case so i could haul it around, but with the trouble of setting it up id still perfer a laptop for when im out and about. laptops are designed to be rigid. they have awesome machined aluminum support structures, light and tough. they have more screws than they need, theres nowhere for anything to move to, so things dont get unseated and connectors dont come loose. you can throw them you can abuse them and they go on working. cant do that to my workstation (not that i ever actually use it for any work).

case design in general has gotten out of hand. my case has five bays for cd/dvd drives, of which only one has anything in it. it has a floppy bay which has a card reader in it. the case also has a rail system which can take 8 hard drives, of which only 3 are used. the motherboard takes up less than half of the interior area. they should have marketed this thing as a server case, its way too ****ing big for a desktop. my main reason for buying the case was its cooling capacity, 2x 25 cm fans. all this space is somewhat detrimental to the structural rigidity of the whole case, ive had to-re rivet some of it back together and the faceplate is held on by about 4 hot glue sticks worth of glue. it doesnt ever look like its been mutilated in shipping (which has happened twice). the massive video card has almost no lateral support in the rear. the only thing holding it in place is a small plastic clip on the end of the slot. i wish they would augment the atx standard to include better support for double width video cards. you could probably slice two inches off of the case's width and still have enough clearance for everything.

as sad as it is power supplies keep getting bigger. mother board design has gotten out of hand as well. last mother board i had die died in shipping.  apparently the epic mass of brass and copper that made up its cooling system was heavy enough to separate part of the north bridge chip, the chip literally fractured in two, half remaining cemented to the heat sink, the other still soldered to the board. video cards are no better. all the newer ones are sandwiched between two alluminum heat-sinks with a pretty plastic shell. you cant ship a machine like this and expect it not to get tore up. my next computer will be tiny, it will weigh less than 20 pounds and it will consume no more than 500 watts, its fans will not sound like a jet engine. for now im stuck with this epic beast of a machine.

[S-99]

Whenever i transported a desktop. I took everything out of the case except for motherboard and the psu. Every other component was packed in anti-static bags surrounded by lots of clothing. The mostly empty case was tossed in a suitcase with lots of clothing all around for padding (i took my chances with hoping the motherboard wouldn't suffer a static shock in transit since i couldn't find the big anti-static bag it came in...hence why i just left the motherboard in the case).

Not a single thing broke, from kentucky to alaska twice.

[Klaustrophobia]

if you are moving it yourself, all that isn't necessary.  i take mine 3 hrs back and forth between raleigh and charlotte a few times a year, and i just wedge it in on the seat somewhere it isn't going to slide around or knock into anything.  i've seatbelted it in a couple times

[S-99]

My method is recommended if you're going by plane or possibly mailing your stuff somewhere.

[Mikes]

if you are moving it yourself, all that isn't necessary.  i take mine 3 hrs back and forth between raleigh and charlotte a few times a year, and i just wedge it in on the seat somewhere it isn't going to slide around or knock into anything.  i've seatbelted it in a couple times

Same here.... took mine on a 2-3 hour ride twice this year and nothing broke (yet) /knocks on wood.
And I didn't have trouble moving older comps over the years either.

Although... every hole in the road will make you wince

I always laid mine on the side tho, so the CPU cooler's and graphic card's weight are on top of the board.

[Nuke]

My method is recommended if you're going by plane or possibly mailing your stuff somewhere.

i would never take anything but a laptop through an airport. between the tsas and the baggage gorillas, i barely trust them to move my dirty laundry without breaking it.

[S-99]

My method works through deconstruction of a desktop. For tsa and other airport security, i recommend you simply keep your hard drive in your carry on bag. Do that and go a step further with user account home directory encryption (because there's little reason to encrypt the whole hard drive unless you're dumb enough to leave files on the root of your hard drive where your OS is).

[Bob-san]

aye, a good work station is good to have. just not something i want to haul around (especially since mine is around 60 pounds). id love to rip out the guts and stick them into a 10 pound micro atx carbon fiber case so i could haul it around, but with the trouble of setting it up id still perfer a laptop for when im out and about. laptops are designed to be rigid. they have awesome machined aluminum support structures, light and tough. they have more screws than they need, theres nowhere for anything to move to, so things dont get unseated and connectors dont come loose. you can throw them you can abuse them and they go on working. cant do that to my workstation (not that i ever actually use it for any work).

case design in general has gotten out of hand. my case has five bays for cd/dvd drives, of which only one has anything in it. it has a floppy bay which has a card reader in it. the case also has a rail system which can take 8 hard drives, of which only 3 are used. the motherboard takes up less than half of the interior area. they should have marketed this thing as a server case, its way too ****ing big for a desktop. my main reason for buying the case was its cooling capacity, 2x 25 cm fans. all this space is somewhat detrimental to the structural rigidity of the whole case, ive had to-re rivet some of it back together and the faceplate is held on by about 4 hot glue sticks worth of glue. it doesnt ever look like its been mutilated in shipping (which has happened twice). the massive video card has almost no lateral support in the rear. the only thing holding it in place is a small plastic clip on the end of the slot. i wish they would augment the atx standard to include better support for double width video cards. you could probably slice two inches off of the case's width and still have enough clearance for everything.

as sad as it is power supplies keep getting bigger. mother board design has gotten out of hand as well. last mother board i had die died in shipping.  apparently the epic mass of brass and copper that made up its cooling system was heavy enough to separate part of the north bridge chip, the chip literally fractured in two, half remaining cemented to the heat sink, the other still soldered to the board. video cards are no better. all the newer ones are sandwiched between two alluminum heat-sinks with a pretty plastic shell. you cant ship a machine like this and expect it not to get tore up. my next computer will be tiny, it will weigh less than 20 pounds and it will consume no more than 500 watts, its fans will not sound like a jet engine. for now im stuck with this epic beast of a machine.

XClio Windtunnel (or the Tagan/A+ version)?

I like big cases, but there is such thing as too big.

If you're doing a lot of LAN parties and the like, perhaps a better choice would be to build a second lower-cost box. A second flex-ATX or mini-ITX box.

[Nuke]

i have an xclio too. i cant remember the model but its got two 25 cm fans and kinda looks like a computer case and a jet engine had sex and this is its mutant offspring. i consider the case i have to be in the way too ****ing big category. lan parties i usually have usually involve some old game, usually starcraft, which we run on whatever junk computers i happen to have lying around at the time. still my laptop can run games about as advanced as crysis and would probibly suffice for a lan party rig. granted my graphics might be on high instead of very high. but i can live with bad graphics if the gameplay is of. i just try not to move any computer that weighs more than 30 pounds at all.

[Bob-san]

i have an xclio too. i cant remember the model but its got two 25 cm fans and kinda looks like a computer case and a jet engine had sex and this is its mutant offspring. i consider the case i have to be in the way too ****ing big category. lan parties i usually have usually involve some old game, usually starcraft, which we run on whatever junk computers i happen to have lying around at the time. still my laptop can run games about as advanced as crysis and would probibly suffice for a lan party rig. granted my graphics might be on high instead of very high. but i can live with bad graphics if the gameplay is of. i just try not to move any computer that weighs more than 30 pounds at all.

The A380 then; I always found that one fugly.

[Tomo]

A custom case is the best bet.

The machines I support get thrown in the back of trucks, dropped, flipped upside down and slid down stairs. They go for trips in sea containers and in the holds of aircraft.
They almost always survive absolutely fine - I think I've had two support calls in the last five years for unseated components.

The reason they survive is because they are built for it!
- 4mm aluminium plate, 2mm formed steel, cast aluminium etc well-screwed together.

Most standard PC cases are simply not built for transit - thin steel, plastic parts, quick-release etc.

So, you want a physically strong case, with screw-down mounts for the graphics card(s) and CPU cooler.
- Hard disks should be shock-mounted with rubber grommets, which will also make them quieter.

Large and heavy CPU coolers should have additional mounting brackets instead of only bolting to the motherboard.
- We use low-profile coolers to reduce the bending moment on the motherboard.

Assuming you don't want to go for totally custom metalwork, many 19" rack-mount PC cases are designed to take serious abuse.
Those can then go into 19" touring cases - with wheels!

[Nuke]

i really like those micro atx cube cases. you can get a lot of stuff into one, and i was able to get my now defunct geforce 8800gtx to fit without any modifications. the clearance was exactly perfect and there was an l beam which was placed perfectly to brace the top and back side of the card, so it tended to stay in place. im not sure this was a case feature or a coincidence, but it was useful. i figured the space was tighter so i looked at the measurements of every part that i was gonna put into it to make sure everything fit. the only real downside is that theres not place to put it, you cant but it on the floor or in a cabinet, it looks somewhat awkward on a desk. i used to also like the under the monitor configuration because it kept cables shorter and lifted the monitor so it was in more direct view. all the buttons and drives were also easy to get to. unfortunately it was a style somewhat limited to proprietary computer cases. i kinda wish they would introduce forward brackets for those larger than normal video cards so you would have another hardpoint you could bolt it too, reducing vibration. case construction is somewhat lame compared to what it used to be. i kinda liked the cases back in the late 90s. mostly steel and more structure than was necessary. it made the computer a little heavier but it was certainly solid. you also had smaller heat sinks and fewer fans. the way add in cards were initially designed was never meant to handle large hear sinks at all. i kinda think video card manufacturers are pushing the bounds of sanity as far as card weight goes.