Is computer hardware safe to ship, if yes, what precautions are needed?

Question

I have seen Newegg, Amazon and other companies shipping computer hardware, including Motherboards, Graphics Cards, and CPUs, sometimes overseas as well.

I want to ask a few questions about this:

1. Does computer components' original packaging provide enough protection for safe shipment? I see a lot of comments about motherboards failing within a few days/weeks. Is this related? Since I do not expect high quality and expensive components to just fail so often. It is safe to order hardware online or it should always be picked up from a shop to be safe. I am asking specifically about CPU, Motherboard, and Graphics Card.

2. For shipping overseas, through FedEx or DHL, what extra protection is needed? Is it safe to put the items (in their original packaging) in a box, and then fill the remaining space with bubble wrap or air pillows or more layers are needed?

3. Is it safer to ship the components in their original packaging, or to assemble them in a CPU case and then ship it?

Answer 1

I will try to answer these questions based on the fact that I buy most of my PC components online and I have built and shipped computers for remote clients in the past.

Question 1: I have shipped fully-assembled PCs in the original case package before, because this is what it fit in. Whenever I did this, however, I was careful to insure the shipment for close to or more than what it was worth, because I think in general this is a "good enough" solution and not anything close to a guarantee, especially the further you have to ship the product. In my case, I shipped products across one or two states this way for the most part without incident, using various shippers, but mostly USPS.

As far as buying stuff online goes - I have faith in this. I have purchased hundreds of parts online from Newegg, Amazon, E-Bay, etc. without more than one or two incidents of damage which were cosmetic in nature. Probably the most risky thing to buy online is a computer case - especially flimsier, cheap ones. These tend to respond poorly to harsh handling. You would think Hard Drives would also suffer due to their intolerance for jarring motion, but usually they are shipped with lots of protective bubble-wrap and I have not had a single failure that way. I suspect Many people blame hardware failures on the shipping process when in fact it was user error that caused the failure/misuse.

Question 2: I would package the items in a more robust external cardboard with extra tape. On the inside, I would make sure everything was buffered from this external surface by at least 1 inch of foam or a foam substitute, such as air pillows tightly packed.

Question 3: I would say it is always safer to ship computers part-by-part instead of assembled, simply because the interior of a PC is not generally designed to sustain torque of any kind, and I would worry about that at locations like the CPU heatsink mounting bracket and/or PCI-E interfaces with hefty daughter cards installed.

In order of least risky to most risky: CPU RAM SSD Motherboard GPU PSU Fans, liquid cooling pumps, etc. HDD Case

I still generally consider it safe to buy all of this stuff online.

Answer 2

1. component shipping: anyone who knows what happens to a boxes in the mail (but only sometimes) would doubble box up things like motherboards, hard drives, graphic cards, fans and PSU.
   Less necessary are unattached heat sinks, power supplys, smaller cards like sound cards and USB plugs and other lightweight plug-in items that have already sufficient packaging including static bubble wraps.

2. It doesn't matter if you ship something overseas, or across the same city, a package can get mishandeled and mistreated anywhere at anytime at any of the locations where it is processed and distributed. (generally) Shipping companies own specs (for insurance) specify that at least 1" of proper shipping protection exists around all items, not dropping the item in the bottom of a box and tossing a few air pillows on top. (we know who does that :-)

3. Yes it is most certannly better to ship items seperated, and assemble after reaching their location. Many times people have reported that the weight of the heat sink during shipping (even driving to a lan party in their own car) caused a problem. The least would be to remove any tower or large heat sinks from the CPU prior to shipping. Mounted PCI(&E) cards could survive if properly installed, the weight of such an item would determine the need to remove it and pack seperately. Without even shipping graphic cards can sag under the weight of themselves, due to the verticle placement of motherboards in standard desktop cases, every precaution should be taken with reguards to graphics card items depending on the weight of it.

Other stuff: after getting any of these items in the mail, beyond taking pics of how it was packed (when it wasn't), it doesnt hurt to check everything fully, make sure that the screws are in the motherboard still, and metal things like heat sinks, spreaders, and even chipset heat sinks are secured and have not landed on electrical components prior to putting power on it. It has happened more than once that conductive items are discovered in locations where they could cause devistating results, and general product flakeyness :-)

Answer 3

Does computer components' original packaging provide enough protection for safe shipment?

Yes, if precautions on the packaging (e.g. fragile, temperature / humidity range) are followed.

I see a lot of comments about motherboards failing within a few days/weeks. Is this related?

Can be related to bad treat during shipment yes, but it's very difficult to investigate.

It is safe to order hardware online or it should always be picked up from a shop to be safe.

They probably reach the shop the same way as they would've reached you.

For shipping overseas, through FedEx or DHL, what extra protection is needed?

Original packaging should be fine.