Shipping computer, have concerns...

Heya folks. I'm a college student who is about to FedEx my baby...errr, computer...across the country when I return home for the summer. Are there any special measures I should take to ensure it doesn't die somewhere along the way? Will it be okay if I just ship in the box my case came in? I have an AX7 on my processor, but it's attached to the socket by all 6 clips...do I need to take it off before I send it? Will it tear a chunk out of my mobo if I don't? I'm not sending the monitor, so don't worry about that. Thanks for any advice!

it would be best to use the box the case came in because it was designed for shipping, and if you where going to ship the monitor it would be best to use the box it came with too.

I personnaly would remove a heavy heatsink like the AX-7, you never know how much the computer will get bumped around and if it does break loose it could break more than just the socket.

the only other thing I would remove and bring with me would be the hard drive, for two reasons. 1 being the bumping around during shipping could damage it and 2 if it where to get lost during shipping (chances are slim but you never know) I wouldn't want someone else having my data.

when you finaly get your compute back look it over before plugging it in, make sure the AGP/PCI cards are still seated correctly, IDE cable haven't come loose, etc.

I would also recommend removing the HS, especially a heavy mother like that one. Also the hard drives. But make sure you remove the optical drives, it only takes a very small bump to knock the laser out of whack, and that is bad.

Some good points were made about removing various parst of the hardware.
In the event you have lost the original boxes, get boxes that allow a minimum of 2 inches of space all around the device and use lots of foam popcorn. You want to pack it snug, but not so tight that the box bulges. Re-enforce all corners and edges, preferably with strapping tape (the one with the fibers in it). DO NOT FORGET TO INSURE IT AGAINST LOSS OR DAMAGE.