Shipping desktop PC + books from U.S. to Amsterdam: recommendations/advice?

Hamurabi

I recently moved to Amsterdam, and am sorely missing my old PC. I also want to get my books over here at some point as well, but the PC and accessories (monitor, keyboard, mouse + mousepad, etc.) are much higher priority.

Should I just go with any mainstream shipping company (UPS, FedEx, DHL, etc.), or is there some smarter way to do it?

I know cargo freight is likely the cheapest option, but afaik it also takes up to a few months to get here, so it's much less attractive.

Enc

With the cost involved, it likely will be cheaper/safer to buy new.

zepherin

Hamurabi wrote: »

I recently moved to Amsterdam, and am sorely missing my old PC. I also want to get my books over here at some point as well, but the PC and accessories (monitor, keyboard, mouse + mousepad, etc.) are much higher priority.

Should I just go with any mainstream shipping company (UPS, FedEx, DHL, etc.), or is there some smarter way to do it?

I know cargo freight is likely the cheapest option, but afaik it also takes up to a few months to get here, so it's much less attractive.

My brother made people who come visit him, bring him stuff.

If that isn't an option, for my work what I do is have items packed well and USPS, expect to pay 100 bucks or more, and have the local version take forever (USPS gets it to other countries within 3 days but the local mail takes another week to get it it to the destination), but you can get reasonably priced insurance (5-6 bucks) with USPS in case it doesn't make it. It's pretty much the only way I mail internationally.

dispatch.o

The computer is probably a toss up depending on how nice it is. For the rest I suggest instead of spending all that money, have someone sell your books and buy a kindle with the money.

Unless they're collectables or something, in which case I wouldn't ship them on the cheap anyway.

Edit: I've had good experiences with DHL within the US. UPS and FedEx couldn't reasonably accommodate shipping a full size tower. FedEx actually turned me away.

Aioua

I worked at a The UPS Store for a good while and we'd always recommend people disassemble a PC before shipping. Anything you ship you should feel comfortable pushing off of the edge of a table and letting it slam onto concrete. You can pad a PC enough that this won't dent the case, but the connections of the parts inside (particularly the graphics card and aftermarket CPU coolers) can't handle that kind of deceleration.

If I was trying to save money I think I'd actually disassemble the thing, ditch the case, bubblewrap and box each individual component, then put all those boxes into one big box with peanuts, and ship that. The buy a new case at the other end and rebuild.

E: you can also bubble each component and pack them into the case (and usually this fills the whole case) then bubble the case and box it. It's just so much bigger and heavier so it's pretty pricey, but should be fairly safe for shipping.

Basar

I shipped a desktop PC from Washington DC to Istanbul. I disassembled everything, sold the case, bubble wrapped them and shipped them with DHL. I had HDDs back then so I didn't ship those but rather took them on flight with me along with the LCD monitor (21 inches). I just bought a new case here and put everything back together.

edit: just saw @Aioua 's post, which is gold. Definitely do not ship the tower with components in it.

Bloodycow

DHL is your best bet. If I was still living there I had an APO address you could have shipped that stuff too (which means regular USPS) then I could have just drove it to you I do have a buddy living in Brussels that can still do it, if you would save a ton of money

For reference shipping to an APO address only costs the shipping cost of shipping something to New York, from there it's free. We would get sets of car tires sent to us for like 40 bucks

Also, super jealous! I miss the Netherlands and the Dutch people!

BlindZenDriver

Just i case you aren't aware.
The voltage in the wall sockets is 230V in the EU(or most of it at least) and also the connectors are shaped differently. Now some electronics are made so that they can handle both US and EU voltage where some have a switch that must be flipped and others do it automatically, but there is also gear where you'll need a box that does the job.
Most desktop computers I have seen seems to either have a voltage switch by the power connector and a few does it automatically (A label near the power connector should tell what is what), as for monitors and such it depends. At the very least you'll need new power cables.

Ark Evensong

Also a frequency change (60 Hz vs. 50 Hz), which can wreak havoc on some electrical system. Generally most things that can handle both voltages can also handle both frequencies, though.

When my brother and fianceé (now wife) moved to Canada I checked his PC for cross voltage/frequency compatibility. His monitor was fine, but I ended up doing an almost literal last minute Power Supply transplant from my PC to his, because his could only handle 220-230 V @ 50Hz. .
They'd planned on just buying a power converter and running most stuff from that, but turns out those things get kinda expensive if you want any decent wattage, so their somewhat fancy pressure cooker got to stay here as well.

Probably should have taken Aioua's advice, because his PC wouldn't boot once they arrived. Turned out to just be a couple of loose connectors, but was a bit of scare anyway.

From what I can tell transatlantic shipping is pretty not-cheap, so consider having your PC stripped down to the bare essentials that make it your PC (Motherboard, Video Card HDD and/or SSD, I guess?) and buying replacement everything else here. I personally really like https://tweakers.net/pricewatch/ for finding/comparing all my computer related purchasing needs. It's all in Dutch, but I think it's Google Translate friendly enough.

SanderJK

I'd agree that books are not worth it, unless they are particularly valuable or have personal value.

For your desktop, it depends on how long you are staying, and what components are in there.

2 alternatives:
Check tweakers.net, which is the biggest Dutch technology website.
It has a second hand sales area where you can probably pick up a gaming capable system fairly cheaply.

In the short term, you could consider PlayStation Now.
You can stream Ps3 games to any PC capable of hooking up a PS controller for about 10 bucks a month. Very low entry cost gaming if this stay is temporary.

Hamurabi

Okay cool, thanks for the suggestions guys.

I took out the graphics card (GTX 980 Ti) and boxed it before leaving Boston -- same with the high-end keyboard, mouse, and mousepad (outlandish desk-width SteelSeries mat). Everything else in the case (CoolerMaster HAF XB Evo) is bolted down, so I'd feel okay shipping it -- Corsair all-in-one liquid cooling block + radiator, SSDs, PSU, etc. are all screwed in nice and tight as per usual.

I've been considering just calling it a loss and getting a higher-end gaming laptop with a GTX 1070 and an external 144hz monitor, and having my peripherals shipped here (since those should be way less than shipping an entire PC case or collection of boxed parts in a larger box).

Just feels like a huge waste to sacrifice the 980 Ti, when it's still a ~$400-500 card in terms of performance (if not in terms of product line lifespan).

Maybe have the 980 Ti + peripherals shipped here and do a new build around those parts, plus a new monitor?

For context, the quotes I'm seeing to ship basically everything (PC + boxed GPU + peripherals + monitor) are in the $400-700 range.

tinwhiskers

Hamurabi wrote: »

I've been considering just calling it a loss and getting a higher-end gaming laptop with a GTX 1070 and an external 144hz monitor, and having my peripherals shipped here (since those should be way less than shipping an entire PC case or collection of boxed parts in a larger box).

Just feels like a huge waste to sacrifice the 980 Ti, when it's still a ~$400-500 card in terms of performance (if not in terms of product line lifespan).

Maybe have the 980 Ti + peripherals shipped here and do a new build around those parts, plus a new monitor?

For context, the quotes I'm seeing to ship basically everything (PC + boxed GPU + peripherals + monitor) are in the $400-700 range.

With a lot of this kind shipping you are paying by volume as much as weight, So the peripherals especially the monitor are probably as expensive as the computer is. Also your prices seem really high I once shipped 40kg of tooling DHL to the US from Malaysia and it only cost like $350. Make sure to look for the sort of 5-10 business days style shipping option.

BlindZenDriver

One thing you may need to check also before shipping. Hopefully it won't apply, but it could be that you have to pay a import tax and VAT on your stuff. I would expect that it is only something that applies for personal items of high value like say expensive jewelry plus items that are unused but best check as it can get expensive (for new stuff it is enough that I very rarely buy things from the US).