diy Compartment wood case

[Movoza]

Some background:
I've started creating my own furniture out of wood some months ago and found it surprisingly easy to make some basic stuff. I'm ramping up the difficulty with moving parts and other special things inside each of my designs to see where my limits are and what's possible with these builds. A lot of ideas are thought of in advanced and fledged out over time, taking care not to make some earlier mistakes and accidentally saw things too short/heavy/otherwise erroneous. I'm thinking in advance about a computer build that I might do.

 

The build:
The (current) idea is to create a wooden frame high on the wall with separated compartments bolted inside it, possibly with some distance between each compartment. These compartments are all created from a combination of wood and glass, possibly including some metalworking. Each compartment would hold one important component if possible, like a separate one for the graphics card and one for the hard drive(s). I'm thinking of water cooling it, so you can see the pipes going from one compartment to the other. The compartments would be put in a "3D" configuration, so it would create depth in the build.

 

The concerns:

Now I'm fairly certain I can put several components in different compartments, as LTT has shown extension cables for PCI-express slots for example and I've checked on cablemod for some more ideas. But there are lots of other things to be concerned about.

 

- I wonder if the wood won't hold too much heat, somehow worsening the cooling solutions or possibly catch fire (then the cooling solution would already have failed obviously). Now my wood choice can already prevent flammability, but I'm still concerned how the heat would spread.

- More cooling would be needed, as each compartment has to be cooled separately instead of one case, so I'm wondering if that's possible as well.

- Would a pump get really loud and/or be able to pump the cooling fluid if the pipes are too long?

- I don't know if static electricity or something similar would become a factor when using wood.

- What kind of extension cables are there, or which components can all be put into a different compartment?

- When will signal degradation/lag start one some extension cables? I would guess it's fine over short distances, but I've been surprised before.

 

I'm sure there's more, but I can't think of anything right now.

 

Extra ideas for the build:

- Some TVs nowadays have this solution to have all cables go into one box, so less cables are needed. Is there anything like that for the PC, so that the I/O can be placed on the desk for example? It would save great effort if a box with all these connections could be placed on the desk for example. This way I only need to pull new cables towards this I/O on the desk instead of up the wall towards the PC. Currently I'm somehow at least once every 2 months crawling under the desk to change some cables and it's a real hassle. Even extension cords for each I/O format would be welcome, as I could fix that into a box myself and sleeve it towards the PC. I don't know if there would be any signal degradation on some of the lines, so if people would know anything about that as well it would be welcome information.

- I'm in doubt for some of the cord configurations. I don't know if I leave them visible in between the compartments, if I have a small "bridge" connecting each to hide the lines or have the frame of the build hollow to put some cables in there.

 

Now it's not certain if I will ever build this and when, as I first need to have the skills, tools and knowing if it can be done at all. Even so, I do like to think about the concept regardless, even if it's a dead end.

[TVwazhere]

20 hours ago, Movoza said:

 

The concerns:

Now I'm fairly certain I can put several components in different compartments, as LTT has shown extension cables for PCI-express slots for example and I've checked on cablemod for some more ideas. But there are lots of other things to be concerned about.

 

1.  I wonder if the wood won't hold too much heat, somehow worsening the cooling solutions or possibly catch fire (then the cooling solution would already have failed obviously). Now my wood choice can already prevent flammability, but I'm still concerned how the heat would spread.
2. More cooling would be needed, as each compartment has to be cooled separately instead of one case, so I'm wondering if that's possible as well.
3.  Would a pump get really loud and/or be able to pump the cooling fluid if the pipes are too long?
4.  I don't know if static electricity or something similar would become a factor when using wood.
5. What kind of extension cables are there, or which components can all be put into a different compartment?
6. When will signal degradation/lag start one some extension cables? I would guess it's fine over short distances, but I've been surprised before.

Welcome to the forums!

 

1. Wood has been used before in PC builds previously, and doesn't hold heat in any better or worse than steel, aluminium or plastic (in terms of PC's). Moreover, Unless there is an open flame, wood has a "Flash point" (the point where it will just catch fire on its own) of well over 150ºC, usually closer to 200 or 300. Since your system will shut itself down well before any component gets that hot, you shouldn't have to worry about your PC going up in flames (unless you buy a crappy PSU, then it might pop and release some smoke. It's not the same as your whole system catching fire, but many people say their system "caught fire" because of it. It's a bad pun. I'm sorry)
2. Anything is possible in a custom case.However if you're already watercooling everything, you probably dont need a dedicated fan in every compartment you have a water cooled component.
3. That depends on how many components you have in your system causing resistance, and has less to do with the length of the whole loop. I would refer to the Exotic Liquid cooling subforum for better information, they have some good enthusiasts there who would know more.
4. Static electricity is basically non existent with wood  
5. For PSU cables there are extension cables for every type of connector, or just longer versions of those cables for Fully Modular PSU's. Many "custom cable makers" including Cablemod can often make cables to a specified length. I'm not sure what the max length is but you cant go on forever, as the wires themselves would start to naturally provide too much resistance.
6. I'm assuming this is mostly referring to the PCI-E extensions. Linus did a video on that actually:

[Movoza]

On 23-7-2018 at 2:52 PM, TVwazhere said:

Welcome to the forums!

<...>

Thank you for your reply! This helps me a lot already. The only comment I have is on the last one. I did see that video and I have concerns for other cables and such. I remember hearing urban legends on the lines of plugging usb in the back is better, as it's closer to the motherboard and that certain cables degrade quickly with length (like hdmi for example, although that takes much longer distances than suggested I understand).

 

Anyway you've given me a lot of information! I'll see if I can already prototype something beforehand.

 

If I build something half a year/a year from now, is it accepted to post on the same thread?

 

Thanks again!

[TVwazhere]

5 hours ago, Movoza said:

If I build something half a year/a year from now, is it accepted to post on the same thread?

 

Thanks again!

The moderators wont ban you (and probably wont lock the thread) but they might give you a disappointing look  since it's case related though you'll probably be fine.

We actually have a sub forum for Complete builds where you can show it off. (Two of mine in my signature link to that sub forum)