Wooden gpu shroud

[Elerek]

So I know there have been people who've painted gpu shrouds and obviously there are some after market shroud kits such as what's included in evga's hybrid cooling kit, but has anyone ever made a custom gpu shroud out of wood?

 

I don't have a card or the tools atm to try anything like this, but in my head a 'founders edition'-esque shroud made of wood and accented with wood burning would look pretty awesome.

[DarkBlade2117]

I'm no expert, but wood and heat doesn't mix does it?

[jaffro97]

So you're going to put wood, you know the material that is fairly flammable when dry and covered in solvents, such as paint on possibly the hottest part inside your computer? It would most likely warp too due to being warmed up and cooled down excessively and I'd advise against it in any situation.

[W-L]

3 minutes ago, Elerek said:

So I know there have been people who've painted gpu shrouds and obviously there are some after market shroud kits such as what's included in evga's hybrid cooling kit, but has anyone ever made a custom gpu shroud out of wood?

I don't have a card or the tools atm to try anything like this, but in my head a 'founders edition'-esque shroud made of wood and accented with wood burning would look pretty awesome.

I guess you could try it may work as long as you had a mounting system, but it would have to be pretty thin wood. While it may dis-color/age with the extra heat it won't be a problem as a computer will not get anywhere hot enough to do harm.

[Mark77]

Wood is not used on surfaces exposed to electronics in computers for very good reason:

 

 

There outta be a FAQ on this because I've seen too many ding-dongs here suggest building cases of wood or cardboard. 

[jaffro97]

3 minutes ago, Mark77 said:

Wood is not used on surfaces exposed to electronics in computers for very good reason:

This is unlikely but still, it goes to show, a dry piece of wood covered in solvent at say 60 degrees Celsius would ignite and your case would then start pumping out flumes of smoke

 

See, this is unlikely but a piece of dry wood covered in solvent at say 60 degrees Celsius would ignite in this situation and your PC would then pump out flumes of smoke whilst the intake fans supply the fire even more oxygen for burning.

[mDox]

Check out this build log from the CaseMod Invintational. Looks like he used a veneer or laminate with wood texture. 

[Mark77]

Its always "unlikely" until it isn't.  I'm sure Cisco's engineers didn't intend for their design to have a catastrophically failing capacitor, yet there we had it.  That is why regulatory requirements (ie: CSA standards) require flame retardant materials to be used for the enclosures of such systems.

[manikyath]

6 minutes ago, DarkBlade2117 said:

I'm no expert, but wood and heat doesn't mix does it?

depends on the wood, but generally.. no...

3 minutes ago, Mark77 said:

Wood is not used on surfaces exposed to electronics in computers for very good reason:

There outta be a FAQ on this because I've seen too many ding-dongs here suggest building cases of wood or cardboard. 

to be honest, you need much, MUCH more than that to set wood on fire, especially if it's properly treated. (which you should either way if you want your wooden case to last more than one season.)

 

and in fact, most modern carboards are fire retardant for pretty much exactly this reason

[Zyndo]

You could definitely do it. 100%. There is not enough heat from a GPU to even begin to worry about harming the wooden shroud in any way, assuming its made of the right kind of wood. You would have to get an appropriate kind of wood in order for it to be thin enough, sturdy enough, and good looking enough. You would also need to design it to go over/around the in place heatsink without interfering with its operation (or design/mod your own heatsink as well). It would take a fair bit of know-how and tinkering, but its definitely doable. Also, even really thin wood is going to be much thicker than the plastics and metals that are used on modern GPU's so make sure that if you're planning on doing this mod, that you have the space for it to physically fit when its finished.