components in my check-in luggage

batfastard13

I'm in the U.S. atm and the prices of computer parts over here are much cheaper than at home.

I want to get a few parts for building my first pc and bring them home with me in my check-in luggage.

The only problem is I'm not sure whether a) I'm gonna get charged import tax and b) the parts (not fully sure but probably just a cpu and gpu) will get damaged by x-rays etc. when put on the plane.

Anyone know whether or not its worth it or is there a high chance the stuff will get damaged or in the end I'll be paying the same amount if I get hit with import tax??? Also will there be hassle with the airline/security due to having electronics i.e. suspicious looking device in my bag?

Thanks!!

ED E

1. They go through the same scanners in the postal system(larger amounts of EMI when scanning shipping containers

2. Keep them in the original boxes, shoudnt be a problem

3. There are rarely checks in "DUB" but not declaring would be tax evasion which under the boars TOS I cant condone.

challengemaster

There'd be more chance of damage from airport workers mauling baggage. If you make sure it's well padded you should be fine.

I brought a motherboard back from china without issues a few years ago

batfastard13

Just found out that you can bring:

Other goods (e.g. gifts, souvenirs, perfume, clothing, etc.) to the value of €430 per adult

without getting hit with the import tax..... which I got from http://www.citizensinformation.ie/en/travel_and_recreation/travel_to_ireland/customs_regulations_for_travellers.html
I assume that would include the parts?! So no tax fraud .

Also The parts I'm thinking of are an Intel i5 2500K @ 156.58 euro:
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=7073161&sku=I69-2500K
and
an ASUS P8Z68 LX Intel Z68 MoBo @ 90.65 euro:
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=1124769&sku=A455-3505

With shipping @ around 2.50. With me bringing them back in my suitcase then!

Would these be suitable for gaming, specifically for diablo 3/ starcraft 2 @ pretty high settings?

I'm currently playing off my laptop on the lowest settings with <20 fps for starcraft. Looking at youtube videos of the ultra settings is heart-wrenching!

I want to eventually get the rest of the stuff together (3+ months) to build my 1st gaming PC from scratch but the prices seem pretty good for the more expensive stuff over here so I wanna get some now while I can.

Any ideas for an efficient build with these parts or are there better available for what I want?

Thanks for the help!!!

challengemaster

Personally I'd buy the graphics card and the CPU if there was a decent saving. They're the lightest and most expensive parts. You can get a newer motherboard cheaper than that when you're back. Ram is dirt cheap. PSU's are cheap and heavy. Cases - huge and heavy

That site doesn't look the best - as in it's missing a lot of the current range processors and graphics cards, which means you probably aren't getting the best price possible either. I believe newegg.com is meant to be quite good.

I'd be looking for a i5 3570k and depending on how much you have to spend, something like this

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814121560

Which will probably save you over €100 - that is one of the best GPU's on the market so you can always scale down from that as it may well be overkill - think of it as the max

http://www.anandtech.com/bench/GPU12/

Handy comparison of all current graphics cards

batfastard13

The i5 3570k looks great! Think I'll get that one. I wish I could get that graphics card but its a bit over budget.

Is there a good card in the $200-300 region? I'm sort've low enough on money and still have to pay my parents back for some of my trip so I don't want to spend too much :rolleyes:

What about:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102987?

Maybe I should try to get another job :P. That'd solve all my problems

challengemaster

http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/510?vs=508

There's how it compares to the 7970, which obviously you'd expect as it's not as good, but you're able to see it's well able to hold its own and achieves pretty good FPS in most games maxed out.

Skyrim @ 2560*1600 in Ultra quality is getting 50FPS, 1920*1200 BF3 Ultra is getting 49FPS....

Monotype

SSDs are light and small.

challengemaster

Monotype wrote: »

SSDs are light and small.

Forgot about those

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820147163&Tpk=20-147-163

N64

what happens if the OP has to RMA? Would the motherboard manufacturer accept the RMA in europe?

batfastard13

I compared prices from Hardwareversand and Newegg in the tables and as expected Newegg was cheaper for the ssd and cpu. The gpu however seems to be more expensive at newegg?? Is this the same gpu or is the newegg part I've listed slightly better than the hardwareversand??

Because that would mean I could leave the gpu until I got back!


Hardwareversand

Item|Price
XFX RADEON HD 6950 830M 2GB DDR5 DUAL DP HDMI DUAL DVI|€189.04
Intel Core i5-3570K Box, LGA1155|€215.78
Samsung SSD 830 128GB SATA 6GB's PC Upgrade Kit|€132.29
Shipping|€18.99
Total|€556.10Newegg (using current conversion rates)

Item|Price
XFX Double D HD-695X-CDFC Radeon HD 6950 2GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.1 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Video Card with ...|€205.61
AMD Gift - Dirt3 Game Coupon - OEM|€0.00
Intel Core i5-3570K Ivy Bridge 3.4GHz (3.8GHz Turbo) LGA 1155 77W Quad-Core Desktop Processor Intel HD Graphics 4000 BX80637I53570K|€189.17
SAMSUNG 830 Series MZ-7PC128B/WW 2.5" 128GB SATA III MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD)|€118.43
|
Shipping|- ? -
Total|€513.21

Thanks Again!!

CarefulNow

You can save money by buying the ssd from dabs.ie. I paid €100 for the 830 128gb. It was even cheaper last week!

Serephucus

I brought back the innards of a full build from Canada, going through the US, once. No problems at all.

Monotype

Yeah, that's kind of expensive for the 830 from hardwareversand.

The Crucials got a better slash than Samsung in the US, so I'd be looking at those instead.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820148442

That's about €98 for the M4. However, with the Samsung 830 so close in price at dabs, you'd really be as well off with that.

batfastard13

So would the Samsung be considered a better ssd?

Anyone know if there's a difference between these two??

http://www2.hardwareversand.de/articledetail.jsp?aid=37514&agid=1165

and

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150549

Monotype

You'd want to be looking at the 7850 instead of the 6950s, in my opinion. Slightly dearer although I see a cheap one from Visiontek - not a big brand so you'd want to check out local warranty before going with them.

The Samsung is a very slight bit better on average. Both are excellent SSDs but if they are closely priced, I'd lean towards the Samsung.

batfastard13

Yeah the 7850s do look better for that little bit extra. The asus version is only $250 on amazon so I'll probably go for that!!

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B007JLFV7U/ref=ox_sc_act_title_1?ie=UTF8&smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER

Thanks for that!

batfastard13

I probably should have said at the start but I won't be going back to Ireland until the third of september, and I think I saw in another thread that nVidia are getting ready to release some new graphics cards, which should drive the prices of current cards down?

So I should probably wait for a bit before ordering my gpu online right? And maybe wait to see if the cpu drops down too?

Monotype

Yeah, you might as well wait.

CPUs are unlikely to drop, but you might as well order with the GPU which hopefully will see some movement.

batfastard13

Cool Thanks