Need some advice on case lighting please

azibux1

azibux1

azibux1

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Joined
11 Oct 2011
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UK
Hi all,

I have a CM Elite 430 and want to add some lighting to it. I recently (temporarily) moved the front blue LED fan to the side window and I really like the way it lights up the inside of the case a bit...but I want my fan back at the front because now the front looks boring without it.

I don't want to add another LED fan (for noise reasons), so I was looking at these in blue.

Trying to make it look something like this (same case as mine), as I think it looks really good:


A few questions:

What do you guys think?

Anyone used those exact lights before?

I think this is a silly question but just to make sure I don't damage anything ... will these / any lights be OK with my PSU?

I am looking at a CCFL kit rather than LED as the light is more evenly spread compared to how LED's are more directional. Is that right?



Hope you can help, thanks in advance, :D
 
Ive got a set of Akasa ones somewhere in my cupboard which Ive not used for years, it's not my thing anymore.

But I found that its best to position them so that you can't actually see them. They can be quite noticeable and distracting. Instead try to position them so that all you see is the blue glow.

Id expect your PSU would be fine.
 
topgun06 said:
Ive got a set of Akasa ones somewhere in my cupboard which Ive not used for years, it's not my thing anymore.

But I found that its best to position them so that you can't actually see them. They can be quite noticeable and distracting. Instead try to position them so that all you see is the blue glow.

Id expect your PSU would be fine.
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Are they blue and are they for sale??? :p I don't have access to MM yet as I haven't been a member for 90 days, but I have the post count :(

Yeah, that's what I'm hoping to do, hide the actual light and just make the glow visible :)

I thought the PSU would be fine, just wanted to check :)
lrlcr said:
And they make cable management a nightmare!!!
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But they look niceeeee :p

HAHA, I will try to make it as neat as possible :p
 
IMO if you have a window and lighting then the cable management needs to be immaculate, hence my haf-x currently has no side panels on as I cannot be bothered to sort out the cable management after a re-shuffle of hdd! Auto fan controllers make life really really hard.
 
Imo ccfl's are ugly, hard to keep out of the way/tidy and don't give out as much light as leds, go for some nice led strips which are much easier to hide, look nicer and give off better light
 
KiiYzOo said:
Imo ccfl's are ugly, hard to keep out of the way/tidy and don't give out as much light as leds, go for some nice led strips which are much easier to hide, look nicer and give off better light
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ThePengu1n said:
Forget the cold cathodes, get LED's instead, much better lighting and far easier to mount as you don't have to hide the inverter somewhere.

Like this:

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CM-087-OK&groupid=701&catid=1428&subcat=1430
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Are these LED strips as bright as the cold cathodes? Will they give me the look I am going for (in the youtube vid)??

Thanks for your help :)
 
I have decided to go for LEDs because:

1. I have heard that cathodes fade after around a year
2. Cathodes produce more heat
3. LEDs use less power, are easier to hide and don't need an inverter

So, question is ... which ones are the best (reasonably priced) LEDs on the market at the moment, don't necessarily have to be from OcUK (feel free to trust message me any external links)

I think I only really want them around a meter long (maybe even 50/60cm), to maybe go round back/bottom/front of my CM Elite 430 or something, don't want them too long as then there will be more to hid

Hope you can help, :)
 
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I use phobya uv leds in my rig, since they are uv they don't give off a huge amount of light, but it's enough for me, but if I were you, I'd go for any led strips that use smd leds like the phobya or bitfenix led strips
 
KiiYzOo said:
I use phobya uv leds in my rig, since they are uv they don't give off a huge amount of light, but it's enough for me, but if I were you, I'd go for any led strips that use smd leds like the phobya or bitfenix led strips
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Thanks I'll check those out

If anyone else also has any suggestions please keep them coming :)
 
Well you can get SMD led strips in pretty much any colour for very cheap if you know where to look. I think people with cars use them for under lighting so are even waterproof. I've bought them for my case.

The SMD give good spread of light as they are wide view angle. They run off 12v but may need some soldering.
 
Tealc said:
Well you can get SMD led strips in pretty much any colour for very cheap if you know where to look. I think people with cars use them for under lighting so are even waterproof. I've bought them for my case.

The SMD give good spread of light as they are wide view angle. They run off 12v but may need some soldering.
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Ahh OK, when you say soldering, would that just be soldering a molex connector to the wires?

topgun06 said:
Ahhh yes, also used by chavs to mimic the Audi LED headlight look.
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hahaha :D
 
Anyone able to tell me what I would need to solder? Because that would be really good if I could just buy some smd led strips for a car (I have found these very cheap) but I'm not sure what I would need to solder and I don't want to buy them without knowing what it is I'll need to do

Also, I assume LEDs will be fine with my PSU?

If it is allowed, could someone maybe trust message me a link to some cheap SMD LED strips that would definitely work

Hope you can help, :D
 
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