Potentially moving to the US (from UK) - Want to bring PC

[Djinni]

Potentially looking at moving to the US for several months at a time, with a view to making it more... long term.
Naturally I want to bring my PC with me for all the lovely stuff that my work laptop can't quite handle.

Wanted to know if anyone knew if there were any big pitfalls (like needing to buy a new PSU for example) that I should be aware of?
Current PSU is a: FRACTAL DESIGN NEWTON 800W (Purchased March 2014)

Has anyone done this before, if so how did you take your gear? Package it up on the same flight as you or ship it over by courier.

(Quick look at a courier suggests I'd be looking at a £200-£300 bill to ship everything by FX Economy)

[Sedon]

I am not sure if there are any regional restrictions, it'd be the first i ever heard of any on a computer, and depending on the amount of luggage you bring, you can just pack it in a suit case and check it in at the flight counter. how much is charged depends on the airline you use and can range depending on weight of the unit. I would check in with the airline you are booking with to see what weight range, if any, they charge per pound or additional pieces of luggage. Note that the suitcase with be tossed around slightly and should be packed with this in mind. I'm not sure what the us conversion is to the uk monies, but the common price of extra luggage is 25-50 $us, though like i said, check out the airline you will be using. I personally splurged on a gaming laptop so i wouldn't have this problem. Welcome to the US.

[klogaroth]

That PSU should support US power, you'll just need a US kettle lead.

If you look closely on the side you'll see it supports 115-240V input. It will be in 240V mode for the UK, but needs to be in 115V mode for the US.

It might do this automatically, just check if you've got any documentation if it does or if you need to flip a switch.

[Fascinate]

Cant you just tear it apart and sell the case and psu locally and pack up the other parts with your luggage? Then you just gotta buy a psu and case when you get here and put it back together. And yes the PSU would have a different plug type.

[Djinni]

Cant you just tear it apart and sell the case and psu locally and pack up the other parts with your luggage? Then you just gotta buy a psu and case when you get here and put it back together. And yes the PSU would have a different plug type.

That's not a terrible idea. Might have to bear that one in mind. Although I've always sucked at managing to sell my old kit. It usually just ends up sitting in the shed waiting for me to come up with a project to re-use it.

I figured there wouldn't likely be any issues. If my laptop can manage to work with nothing other than a pin converter, not sure why a desktop would be any different. Still doesn't hurt to be sure before risking blowing anything up.

[Deleted]

Did this when I spent several months as a student intern in Atlanta. As mentioned you will need to switch your PSU to 115V and buy a fitting cord. Back then I was able to check in my PC as board luggage, it fit the weight/size limits extremely closely. Mind you - this was shortly before 9/11 and those restrictions as well as security checks will be quite different now. Purchased a monitor while in the US.

Depending on what you intend to do with the PC, a gaming laptop or an Intel NUC might be a viable alternative.

[Artorius]

I'd say that all modern PSUs are not only bivolt (work under 100~130V or 210~240V AC RMS) but also able to work under 50Hz/60Hz power networks just fine.

If I'm not mistaken the UK is 230V 50Hz while the US is 120V 60Hz, but it shouldn't really matter.

About the power cable/cord, cables need to be wider at 120/130V networks to give the same amount of power (more space means more electrons which means more power under the same potential difference, which means lower resistance. I=V/R.). But they're generally designed with it in mind so you should also be fine here.

[Remilia]

Did this when I spent several months as a student intern in Atlanta. As mentioned you will need to switch your PSU to 115V and buy a fitting cord. Back then I was able to check in my PC as board luggage, it fit the weight/size limits extremely closely. Mind you - this was shortly before 9/11 and those restrictions as well as security checks will be quite different now. Purchased a monitor while in the US.

Depending on what you intend to do with the PC, a gaming laptop or an Intel NUC might be a viable alternative.

Actually not needed to switch as it's not a passive PFC.

The PSU has an active PFC range 115-240V@50/60Hz, so it should work in most countries except Japan (100V). Main thing you need is to change the plug.

As for traveling, only thing I did was bring an R9 290 from Taiwan back. I just kind of made room in the luggage and shoved the gigantic box in there. A whole PC may be quite a bit different. Package the video card, and such separately and all that. Not entirely sure how well it'd go.

[Deleted]

Morning mate,

I've got some experience in this so figured I'd add my two penneth.

Several years ago, like 8? I had a buddy of mine over in the U.S build me a computer and ship it to me in the UK. There's no need to swap PSUs as long as you have a little switch on the back of yours that lets you chose betwenn 120v and 240v.

He shipped it with UPS IIRC, the only thing to remember is to tick the box 'Gift' as you will need to pay an import tax if you only tick the box electronics.

More recently, about 3 years ago I moved countries twice in a year and both times I pack my tower into a suitcase and took it with me on the plane. Removed any movable/heavy parts (GPU) and for the rest I stuffed the tower with packing peanuts to reduce movement on the other parts.

The latter will be by far the cheapest, adding an extra suitcase is generally not too expensive.

Feel free to reply/PM if you got any other specific questions.

[the boar]

Naturally I want to bring my PC with me for all the lovely stuff that my work laptop can't quite handle.

Wanted to know if anyone knew if there were any big pitfalls (like needing to buy a new PSU for example) that I should be aware of?
Current PSU is a: FRACTAL DESIGN NEWTON 800W (Purchased March 2014)

Has anyone done this before, if so how did you take your gear? Package it up on the same flight as you or ship it over by courier.

(Quick look at a courier suggests I'd be looking at a £200-£300 bill to ship everything by FX Economy)

as for getting your pc over there, as i said in another thread recently.. pack your parts in their original boxes and pack them securely in your checked bags. £50 or whatever for an extra checked bag is a lot cheaper than a freaking courier.. make sure your travel insurance covers checked baggage.

alternatively. holy shit have the seen the cost of components in the US vs here? look them up.. you could potentially sell some components in the UK and rebuy them new in the US for less money -.-

[mizeri]

just buy a newer one when you are here

[Djinni]

your wording of "moving to the us for months at a time" is what triggered this rambling, but if you have dual citizenship or some other valid reason that the us immigration department isn't going to wet themselves over, ignore me

Nah,

This is for work.business work visa's and all that expensive debacle.
As a business we're expanding out to the US a bit more and need a more local technical presence (aka me).

[the boar]

good to know, was scared i was breaking some 19 year olds heart or something

if you are going to be flitting between the uk and the us quite a lot, it might even be worth building another pc over in the us and getting another monitor. cheaper than couriering back and forth, easier than packing and unpacking every time.. i wouldn't really wanna take a monitor in any luggage.

£300 is like $430 and for $900 you can definitely make a good enough pc to probably do what you wanna do.. unless you have specific needs for a super computer?

[willtron]

Nah,

This is for work.business work visa's and all that expensive debacle.
As a business we're expanding out to the US a bit more and need a more local technical presence (aka me).

what do you do, i'd love to move to the US and im not far from guildford, hah!

But I'd take the more expensive parts with you and then buy some newer parts out there. GBP goes a long way in the states.

[Djinni]

what do you do, i'd love to move to the US and im not far from guildford, hah!

But I'd take the more expensive parts with you and then buy some newer parts out there. GBP goes a long way in the states.

You might think so based on the exchange rate. But so far in my experience from previous trips. Not so much.
And especially where I'm going (DC) cost of living is just wayy higher than even Guildford.
(Also from what I can tell, unlike the UK, you can't be sure that it's safe to drink the tap water wherever you go so even things like knowing where you can and can't have ice become an issue.... - yeah, I really am portraying the USA as some backwater 3rd world country right now)

[PomPyro]

They sell transformers for roughly 25 USD in host of varieties.