Shock Mounting a Mod Case?

[jraake]

I am building a desktop computer for traveling with. I tend to travel long distances for extended periods of time. A gaming laptop is too expensive for the performance I want. I also want to be able to ship my PC if I have to travel by air, so a rugged computer is necessary. I already have the computer parts and the case. I'm just looking for ideas or advice on how to mount everything so it can be shipped to absorb shock.

I have a Pelican Storm iM2700 case to mount everything in. The monitor fits nicely into the lid area, but the depth of the case leaves little room for a full-sized PC. A HTPC case might fit with the monitor but that would create an issue with cooling. My solution is to cut apart a full-sized ATX case so I have enough support for the motherboard and video card. Everything else can be mounted easily.

The motherboard's mounting is where I'm stuck. The height of the video card means I have about 2 inches to work with. I thought about a riser for the PCI-express slot, but that would leave me with no good way to push air through the case. I should mention that I plan to put a clear piece of acrylic between the monitor and the PC, for looks, protecting the monitor from sharper edges, and for mounting a couple fans on.

I already have a couple ideas, but they aren't perfect and I would like to see what others might be able to come up with. If you can think of a way to protect a motherboard and video card from inevitable vibrations and possible drops while inside my case, please post. If your idea avoids drilling through the Pelican case, that would be even better.

 

[Brett928S2]

Hi

You are kidding right ?

Thats an enormous amount of effort to go to for what will basically be a very badly built laptop....

Buy a laptop....

All the best Brett :0

 

[Brett928S2]

Hi Again

Also Customs officers will rip it apart everytime they X-Ray it...they are not exactly fond of home built electronics...for obvious reasons....

All the best Brett

 

[WR2]

Hello jraake;

You want a standard PC case for a multitude of reasons.
And you probably want a hard shell case for both the PC case and one for the monitor.
Hand carry the a spare hard disk while traveling, just in case.

 

[buzznut]

Gotta admit, this one has me scratching my head too. You heading into a war zone?

Well, as a modder I think you have some interesting ideas. My ideas would def consist of cuttting and or drilling the Pelican case. Especially where air flow is concerned. It sounds as if you interested in gaming since you mentioned a video card.

Here's what I recommend. Visit a couple of modding websites for inspiration or tutorials on the type of modifications you're contemplating.

www.bit-tech.net
http://www.modders-inc.com/
www.mnpctech.com

Have fun and good luck!

 

[jraake]

Thanks for the links. I will check over there for ideas.

The final build will probably be quite visible when the case is opened. With my modular power supply, cables won't be blocking the view of anything, so hopefully customs won't see a need to take it apart.

 

[jraake]

Best answer selected by jraake.