Introduction
I’ve been doing a lot of moving in the last few months. At some point, I’ll know that I’m going to need to eventually move to the east coast and take my stuff with me (my future job after college will most likely be there). With that in mind, shipping my gaming PC will be the most expensive item I will have to worry about. Besides my bed, it’s one of the bulkiest and most fragile things I own.
I’m sure that if you’re reading this article, it’s likely because you’re also considering the feasibility of shipping your gaming PC to a new location. There are some important factors that will inevitably affect how expensive the transport will be. In this article, I’ll go over all the relevant information you need to know so you’re not only understanding how much it’ll cost to ship it, but also how to do it correctly. As always, if you have any questions or comments, feel free to reach out at entertainmentden.ns@gmail.com and I’ll do my best to respond!
So how much does it cost to ship a gaming PC?
It costs approximately $60-120 to ship a mid-tower gaming PC to most states in the United States. Mid-tower PCs are the most common type of case, so you can round the price up or down depending on how big and heavy your gaming PC is.
Note: This number has nothing to do with the cost of “same-day shipping.” Choosing the fastest possible transport option will easily double this price.
Another Note: You can’t get an exact shipping price unless you take your gaming pc into the FedEx or UPS store.
There are a couple of important factors that affect the cost of shipping one. Distance, weight, and size are going to be the main deciding factors. Most PCs don’t vary that much in size, so your price won’t go up and down just based on that. Keep in mind that this price can be even higher if you have an extremely large build or if it’s the height of your desk!
What FedEx and UPS Said About My Gaming PC Shipment
Shipping a gaming PC has the same costs associated with it as shipping any normal computer. I definitely will be categorizing it as extremely fragile even though they know they’re transporting a computer. I had a brief conversation with the customer service at FedEx and they told me the total costs depends on the following categories: dimension size, weight, shipping speed. Contrary to what I thought, distance isn’t so much of factors as I originally thought. It has more to do with shipping speed and weight than anything else.
My Gaming PC Price Quote
I want to ship mine from San Jose to Tampa, Florida. I have a mid-tower case, which means the dimensions of my computer would be 500 x 223 x 475mm. I know my computer weighs roughly 30lbs as well and counts as “fragile.” FedEx and UPS both don’t do price quotes over the phone. You actually have to take in what you want to be shipped for them to determine the final cost of it.
FedEx does have a useful tool to calculate rough estimates on your shipping price as well as transit time. This is what I used to get my cost range and talking to them on the phone to at least confirm it would be around $100 for no-rush shipping. I just want to reiterate, they can’t give you a concrete price until you take your pc into the store. I don’t expect that anyone’s price range will vary from the 50-75 unless they have a massive build or one that weighs a ton.
Tips Before You Ship Your Gaming PC
- Make sure your drive cages are secure! If you don’t know what I’m talking about, your drive cages are the metallic frame that you unscrewed to route HDMI cords into your motherboard and graphics plug. Most people also have a cage that also used to route their power supply cord. These can get loose while on a long journey. Make sure they are screwed in as tight as possible so this doesn’t happen.
- Use UPS or FedEx. After doing a lot of research myself, I learned that local post offices are not the way to go. They go through more stops and loading/unloading processes- more opportunity for your PC to get moved around and potentially beat up along the way. UPS and FedEx are better at streamlining the whole process and you can get live updates more easily through them.
- Consider removing your graphics card and motherboards. I would also consider removing your RAM even though it’s not as expensive as the other two. My friend had a friend who shipped his build overseas and it got rattled around so much on the plane that the graphics card and motherboard broke off the stubs they were attached to. He basically had to buy a new PC altogether.
- Use your old PC box if you still have it. Any postal business you go in to will be able to safely package your computer. But you’ll be able to save $10-15 if you still have your old case and don’t need them to package it for you. Mine came with form-fitted styrofoam pieces that I’ll be able to use when I decide to ship it.
I didn’t come across any additional costs that you should know about. After you pay for the shipping at the UPS or FedEx store, they pretty much have it totally handled from there.
Should You Buy Insurance?
You can buy additional insurance if needed. The first $100 of damage is covered by no additional cost for both UPS and FedEx. But a damaged gaming PC is likely to have more than just $100 in expenses. Because the price of what you’re shipping well exceeds that number, it might make sense to buy additional insurance.
Typically with FedEx and UPS, it’s $1 per $100 of declared value over $300. Overall, that’s not super expensive! Ultimately, you should still do what you can to remove the most valuable parts of your PC just in case.
Should I Go With UPS or FedEx?
As mentioned before, UPS and FedEx are, regardless of the one you choose, better options than the standard post office. I’m a little biased towards choosing FedEx just because I’ve had good experiences with their shipping. According to this site, FedEx also has a lower damage percentage rate compared to UPS (7% as opposed to 11% damaged rate by UPS). Note that their insurance prices are the same, and they handle that aspect of the shipment almost identically.
Conclusion
Shipping your gaming pc should not be a stressful endeavor. As you can see, the process is quite simple and there is a lot you can do to ensure it arrives at its next destination safely. Before I end up moving a bunch of my stuff to my family’s home in Florida, this will be one of the biggest things I have to ship there. I did a lot of this research mainly for my own benefit, but I figure it’s also worth sharing with all of you. If you have any other useful tips that would help make this article better feel free to reach out to me.
If you’re curious about the complete set up that I have, be sure to check out this article on my first gaming pc set up.
It’s pretty much a comprehensive guide on how I went about choosing the parts that I did as well as what I learned along the way. As always, thank you all for reading and be sure to check back for the next article!