You're best off keeping them in your possession as much as possible if you want to keep things from being damaged. If you have some sort of status with US Air you should be one of the first to board. If you don't, paying for a Choice Seat (~probably $10-15 each way) will bump you closer to the front of the line for boarding, and will make it easier to stow the 3 carryons together.

Also, I hope you don't have something like a Corsair H50 in either of those?

oh yikes good thing I read this. What are the issues with the h50? I mean I know of course it's watercooled but I didn't know there would be any issues with it since it's a closed system and probably doesnt have that much fluid?

LOL, I wanted to put an H50 in them but, knew that would cause issues.

I'm flying US airways on a direct flight so don't need to worry about regionals on this trip.

No status with US but I could change my seats, I booked the trip through Orbitz. Good discount on the Hilton when I booked a package but not sure if there would be a way to upgrade to choice seats.

Current Seats

To Dallas
Airbus Industrie A321 (321)
Seats: 11B, 11C

Return Trip
Boeing 737-400 Passenger (734)
Seats: 13D, 13E

I was told that US seats passengers from the front to the back. I could move my seats as close to the front as possible.

TSA regulation on liquids may cause some issues.... but I'm not sure they would notice the liquid cooling and if they did and knew what it was they most likely wouldn't care but, I left it out of mine just so I wouldn't have to worry about it being an issue.

I mean I know that the regular sized water cooling systems would probably cause issues since they have an actual tank, but would an h50 (self enclosed) even show up as such?

Not sure but, with the pump, tubing and radiator the capacity of the system will be several ounces. The TSA also wants you to put your liquids in a clear 1 quart bag.

http://www.tsa.gov/311/

for anyone curious, this is what we are talking about
http://www.corsair.com/cooling/hydro...pu-cooler.html

any thoughts on this.

Does anyone know if liquids show up differently in airline scanners? Like would the small amount of liquid in this actually be visible? I feel like if they do know what it is they'll let me through but if they don't I could just say it's just a "heat transfer device".

I don't know what it looks like, but I'd bet that if they know what it is, they will NOT let you through. As this is getting a bit off topic, I'd suggest posting in the Travel Safety/Security forum for some more educated responses. There are several TSA employees which frequent that particular forum.

The side padding seems thin and might be inadequate to protect your components. Also, do they move around when packed? They should be padded at the sides and fit snugly - travel should be as minimal as possible.

You might want to put some filler in your SFF cases as well. Make sure that things inside can't really move even if they are not mounted. Don't know what heatsink you use, but that's one thing that's most likely to come off, particularly if it's using plastic clips. A flying heatsink inside the SFF would likely cause a good amount of damage.

P.S. I will be sure to avoid pelican cases in the future; from your description, they seem rather ill suited to the rigors of shipping.

Yes, the side padding isn't as much as I would like but to copensate I have the monitors strapped to the thin board. The board is a very tight fit and has the foam tape on both sides to give some protection.

When the cases are closed everything is super tight. Nothing can move around at all.

Good idea to stuff them, I would have liked to have an H50 in them since they have such a solid mount and low mass but, the liquid may be a problem. Since the systems aren't overclocked I'm using the stock Intel heatsinks which is very light (it's the half height Intel) but uses plastic clips.

BTW The suit cases are made by APE Case, I think the Pelican 1510 would be a much better carry-on and is designed for the purpose. I didn't use the Pelican because its only 11" tall inside, so I would have had to get a smaller monitor.


Here is a pic of the internals minus the video card. I put a 6850 in each of them but Might change it out to a 6970.

I've heard these plastic clips come out easy, so be careful. Another alternative is to remove them while enroute. Depends on what you want.

Look out for thieves too; don't leave them unattended. Keep them in your sight at all times, even when going through security - wait till they go into the xray before you step into the screening machine. If you have to gate check them, it would be bad. The case screams expensive electronics.

Good luck!