The History of Electronics Encased in Wood: A Look at the Volta V Computer System

While practically every modern electronic doodad comes encased in a chassis of plastic and sheet metal, there's a long history of electronics built to be encapsulated in wood. And I'm not just talking about old radios and televisions. Computers were once housed in wooden cases as well, and personally, I think they looked amazing.

As soon as I saw the Volta V computer system from Computer Direct outlet in Greenville, South Carolina, I just had to get my hands on it. Thanks to the company hooking me up with this review unit, I've had a couple of weeks to enjoy its companionship on my desktop. And my goodness... have I enjoyed it! The Volta V comes in two styles at the moment: Bamboo and Walnut, of which this is the latter. Yes, it's pronounced V, not five, as they were clear to me, that is not meant to be a roman numeral.

While CDO sells other Volta machines under their gaming and pro lines, the V really stands on its own among their other offerings or just about anyone's come to think about it. On the outside, you get a distinctive hardwood case. And underneath the magnetic lid, you get the latest computer-y goodness that will please both PC gamers and workstation users alike.

They offer a variety of configurations, but this one happens to come with a liquid-cooled Intel 7700K CPU, 16 gigs of DDR 2400 Ram, an ASRock Z270M motherboard, a 512 gig Samsung M.2 SSD, and an 8 gigabyte Nvidia GTX 1080 graphics card. And while the case is certainly big enough to fit everything, it's not what I'd call huge. At about the width of 14 and a half miniature Nintendo DSes or in layman's terms, about 20 and a half by 12 and a quarter by five and a half inches.

While it's all laid out quite pleasingly, one thing that surprised me is that the motherboard set several inches away from the back of the case. Meaning that reaching the I/O panel is a real pain unless you remove the lid. They do provide a hub on the right-hand side with some ports to alleviate this a bit, but yeah, I'm sure there's a logical reason why they went this route.

But another small gripe I have are these metal legs on the bottom, which have a really sharp edge to them. They look pretty sweet, but it needs some felt underneath or something, because I didn't want to place this on my wooden desktop for fear of scratching it up. Even with those irritating aspects, I'd say this is a skillfully planned custom computer system design.

It's apparent that this is meant to be upgradable and designed for a class of consumer that's beyond my understanding. You know, like I wouldn't go out and buy a custom pocket watch either, but I can kind of understand why some people would go all out and get one. Along these lines, they even include a personalized manual with maintenance logs, like you would expect with a new car.

So while I can't see myself buying a V because it's just more than what I'm going for, I'm still sad to see it go. I think it looks fantastic, and at the very least, I hope that it inspires more system builders to embrace the wood grain in the future.

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enWhile practically every modern electronic doodadcomes encased in a chassis of plastic and sheet metal,there's a long history of electronics built to be encapsulated in wood.And I'm not just talking about old radios and televisions.Computers were once housed in wooden cases as well and personally I think they looked amazing.So, as soon as I saw the Volta V computer system from Computer Direct outlet in Greenville, South Carolina,I just had to get my hands on it.And thanks to the company hooking me up with this review unit,I've had a couple weeks to enjoy its companionship on my desktop.And my goodness... have I enjoyed it!I know the hardwood aesthetic isn't for everyone, but in terms of what I appreciate this is positively stunning!The Volta V comes in two styles at the moment:Bamboo and Walnut, of which this is the latter here.And yes it's pronounced V, not five, as they were clear to me, that is not meant to be a roman numeral.While CDO sells other Volta machines under their gaming and pro lines,the V really stands on its own among their other offerings.Or among just about anyone's come to think about it.On the outside you get a distinctive hardwood case and underneath the magnetic lidyou get the latest computer-y goodness that will please both PC gamers and workstation users alike.They offer a variety of configurations, but this one happens to come with a liquid-cooled Intel 7700K CPU,16 gigs of DDR 2400 Ram and ASRock Z270M motherboard,a 512 gig Samsung M.2 SSD and an 8 gigabyte Nvidia GTX 1080 graphics cardand while the case is certainly big enough to fit everything, it's not what I'd call huge.At about the width of 14 and 1/2 miniature Nintendo DSes orLayman's terms about 20 and a half by 12 and a quarter by five and a half inches.While it's all laid out quite pleasingly,one thing that surprised me is that the motherboard set several inches away from the back of the case.Meaning that reaching the I/O panel is a real pain unless you remove the lid.They do provide a hub on the right-hand side with some ports to alleviate this a bit,but yeah, I'm sure there's a logical reason why they went this route.But I still wish there was a proper back panel to more easily access everything,without having to remove whatever is on top of the PC.Another small gripe I have are these metal legs on the bottom,which have a really sharp edge to them,they look pretty sweet, but it needs some felt underneath or something,because I didn't want to place this on my wooden desktop for fear of scratching it up.Even with those irritating aspects, I'd say this is a skillfully planned custom computer system design.It's apparent that this is meant to be upgradable and last a very long time.It's not just a slapdash hack job.And let me be clear, I have nothing against slapdash hack jobs, they're some of my favorites, man!And they're a lot of fun in their own right.But the Volta V goes a step beyond and ends up looking like a nice piece of furniture made from solid wood.Because it is!The machined Walnut here is precisely cut, sanded and finished in such a waythat you'll want to show it off to everyone that you can.Or at least I wanted to, that's why I'm making this video!As someone who's sick of the current gamer aesthetic, with ugly fontsand skulls and RGB lighting everywhere, the V is a breath of fresh air.Or actually a breath of fresh walnut.This thing smells amazing when it heats up a bit.Have you ever been inside an old country house in the summertime?It's good stuff, man.Thankfully it doesn't get too hot, though.That would be bad, it has intakes and exhaust fans nestled throughout the chassis.it also has these magnetic filters underneath and ample cooling systems throughout the caseand although it gets a bit loud for my preferences, I never ran into any throttling.This model is outfitted with Windows 10 Pro 64-bit and, combined with the hardware inside,it was more than capable of running any games I could throw at it.Infact it's pretty similar to what I've run in my main PC,except I have a 6700K CPU and an 11 gig GTX 1080Ti, instead.Benchmarking them side-by-side and ... it's all good to me.I find it hard to be picky when we're talking about hardware that's capable.And besides you can put whatever you want in there.Which is a primary selling point to ordering from a bespoke system builder like CDO.Speaking of selling points. Let's talk about the pricing and are you ready for this?As tested the system I've shown here goes for 3,193 US dollars before tax.With a high respect gaming version straddling the $4,000 range. Ouch!It is worth noting that a base model Volta V starts at two grand,but that still strikes me as a bit high for what you get inside.But they do include things like a lifetime service warranty, with free repairs and tech supportand you also have to take into consideration the cost and expertise with the wooden case,and the fact that anything sold is sustainable these days tends to be more expensive anyway.But still 2 to 4 grand goes beyond what I personally would be willing to pay. Regardless of how unique it is.And that's mostly because I always build and repair my own machinesand have internal hardware expansion requirements that the V just doesn't meet.At the same time, though, I can appreciate what they're doing here.The Volta V is more akin to a luxury item made to show off,designed for a class of consumer that's beyond my understanding.You know, like I wouldn't go out and buy a custom pocket watch either,but I can kind of understand why some people would go all out and get one.Along these lines, I mean, they even include a personalized manual with maintenance logs,like you would expect with a new car.You see what I mean?So while I can't see myself buying a V because it's just more than what I'm going for,I'm still sad to see it go. I think it looks fantastic.And at the very least, I hope that it inspires more system builders to embrace the wood grain in the future.And if you enjoyed this episode of LGR, then perhaps you'd like to check out some of my others.There's new videos every Monday and Friday on stuff new and old.And as always, thank you very much for watching.\n"