Steel and tempered glass aren’t the only materials that go well with PC cases. Corsair has opened pre-orders for what appears to be its first wooden PC case panels, and while they appear to only be compatible with its lineup of 5000 Series PC cases, owners can choose between three styles, including Sapele, Bamboo, and Teak. According to a landing page, Corsair’s wooden PC case panels will fit on any 5000 Series case, including the 5000XRGB, and have been rigorously tested to ensure the same high airflow provided by its 4000D AIRFLOW and 5000D AIRFLOW panels. All three options are priced at $74.99 and are estimated to ship in a week.
Discussion (10 replies)
Join Discussion →I kinda dig it
These are nice.
I think I like the Fractal Design North better though.
I am really thrilled that things are starting to come around from the glass, plastic and RGB trend.
Not bad, but I'm wondering if the 4000 series is the only one they are making this for? I'd consider it on my 7000D case.
I always thought PC+Wood enclosure = Fire hazard.
You know with a wooden panel it would be very easy to add some custom cooling options. ;)
Not sure it’s any worse than most plastics
Nah, In order for wood to catch fire, it needs to be in intimate contact with something that is very hot. For instant fire (like throwing a log on hot coals to continue a fire) you need to be in the ~700°F (~375°C) range.
If you are in the 450°F-500°F (~230°C-260°C) range the wood might catch fire after a few hours of contact.
There have been recorded cases of wood gradually catching fire after being in contact with steam pipes in the 250°F-300°F (120°C-150°C) range, but this is after years if not decades of exposure. This is very rare, and the mechanism through which it happens is not well understood, but we are talking about needing at least several years of direct contact.
Firstly, the wood in a PC case is not in direct contact with any of the hot components, and secondly the components are not going to wind up being anywhere near the required temperatures to ignite wood, even if they were.
Lets a assume a fan dies on a heatsink. It's going to start rising in temperature rather quickly. Once the core hits its throttle temperatures, in he high 90's close to 100°C though, the PC is going to throttle them back so they generate less heat. The metal of heatsink itself will probably never reach temperatures above 70-80C, and even as it toes, it won't be in direct contact with the wood.
The one risk is if you have a failed power connector. These have been known to melt or catch fire if there is damage or poor design resultin in thinner conductors than specified, through resistive heating or arcing. To be fair though, these are going to be a concern regardless of the materials you have in your case, and are probably not going to be close enough to the wood for it to catch either.
Many plastics are also prone to catching fire. ABS has an ignition temperature of 350°C, High Density Polyethylene (HDPE) about 340°C, etc. etc.
When used in consumer products many plastics are treated with flame retardant additives to reduce the likelihood of them catching fire. Flame retardant wood treatments also exist. I'm not familiar with what wood Corsair has used, but I wouldn't be surprised if in consumer products many woods also have flame retardant treatments.
Depending on your jurisdiction protecting consumer products against catching fire may even be a regulatory requirement.
Anyway, this is just the very long winded way of saying I don't think having a wood panel in your case catch fire is a big problem to worry about.
I'm having flashbacks to 1970's console TV's and stereo systems.
I admit that I'm being very facetious with this response, but it could be a big problem when combing idiot+12VHPWR connector.
Just a heads up that someone posted their pics of a powder-coated modified Fractal north build featuring Notcua parts on Reddit and I just created a thread for it in the cases section.