Ideas needed.....modding for the first time...

[ahmadka]

Hi guys...

well, i have just purchased a new PC...which is on its way to me right now ....and i am thinking for adding lights n gizmos to its casing....

this is the case:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16811196019


I dont want to do entensive stuff like modding the casing itself or anything...i am just looking for adding small attractive stuff right now like LED lights, a cool looking fan controllers and stuff....

so basically i am looking for ideas on what to add to this casing....

any ideas ??

[.Maleficus.]

I don't know if other people will have this problem opening the page, but I got a message saying the page doesn't exist. Oh well.

If you want cool fan controlers, www.xoxide.com and www.frozencpu.com have lots.

LED's, www.frozencpu.com has them cheap.

Cold Cathodes are good for lighting too. Since I can't see your case, I can't really give you ideas, but I hope that helps for your shopping.

[ahmadka]

OK here are some pictures of the casing...

http://img150.imageshack.us/img150/1849/11196019028uo.jpg
http://img185.imageshack.us/img185/5894/11196019040ha.jpg
http://img185.imageshack.us/img185/8413/11196019050cl.jpg
http://img185.imageshack.us/img185/3378/11196019065dh.jpg
http://img185.imageshack.us/img185/1977/11196019080nh.jpg
http://img74.imageshack.us/img74/3796/11196019141in.jpg
http://img73.imageshack.us/img73/6274/11196019120ss.jpg

also check the pics of the BLACK case here:
http://www.aerocool.us/p-case/aeroengine2/aeroengine2.htm

i already know of the sites you mentioned....what i dont know is what to buy and what not to....basically, i need ideas about what to add to the casing....:)

[Cagedconnerman]

i'd say pick a color scheme, since u alreayd have a blue led fan in the front i'd stick with the blue, maybe add a little green OR red, not together though(tried it, thought it looked horrible) I'd use a blue ccfl and maybe an lazer LED to put in a little more color

[.alchinko.]

ok so here it goes... im thinken two 12" cold catholds on sides going vertical. then have this thing....http://xoxide.com/logisys-jumbo-led-blue.html.... shoot up your window so as it went up it would slowly fade. then have them on sound reactive stuff. and last maybe 2 green LED's by the fan on top to off set it. ive got alot of light experience between car and computer. so a few idea just ask.

[.Maleficus.]

Yeah, I would stick with blue or green lights. Maybe, you could put a cathode on the insides of your front doors... Maybe green to look good with the blue... And one cathode under the case, for an under-glow effect. And is your window UV reactive? If so, UV cold cathodes would be good.

[.alchinko.]

under glow sounds good.... but include mesh in some way that would be cool. UV reactive fans work nicely. also look good.

[ahmadka]

i was more in the favour that lights should be included inside the casing....cuz if u stick them outside, it wont probably look good for 2 reasons:

1) the length of the tubes is normally 12", whereas the depth and sides of the casing are about 17" each...so not all the side is covered.....

2) secondly, the tubes can get damaged, cuz the surface of the casing is smooth, upto the point where the tubes come, where the surface jumps outwards.........like the rear view on the sides of a car....they might get damaged when moving the casing around or something......

what are your views on this ?

[CanaBalistic]

You could put the lights under the case by the feet and have "ground effects" Length wouldnt matter and they would be less sesptable to damage

[.alchinko.]

or just plexi the bottom of the case so then you would get the ground effects but still have the security of haveing them inside the case.... or have these in side the case pointing at the ground.
http://www.xoxide.com/lazerled.html

[.Maleficus.]

Or get lighted case feet. But inside you say? Do you have anything UV reactive? If so, get some UV lights.

Direct lighting looks bad. Hide your lights.

Do you have a color scheme set up? If not, since your fan is already blue, use more blue or change the LEDs in your fan. Green would look good with the blue.

If you want lighting all over the case, 2 12 inch cold cathodes, one on top and one on bottom work.

With your first point on why they shouldn't be on the outside, the light will spread some, and probably cover the extra 2.5" on each side. You may not be able to notice it in daylight, but at night you will. Or just buy an LED for each end, that would provide enough light to fill in the gaps on the end.

The second point you said I don't really understand, but if you made like a plexi casing for your lights they would be fine. Inside the doors of the case, they probably wouldn't get damaged, and if you're still worried about it, you could get LEDs since they're little and hard to smash (unless you're actually trying to smash it).

Hope this helps!

[qoou]

why would you need any ideas if ur not going to actually mod the case?

[ahmadka]

hmm....well the motherboard is UV reactive (DFI NF4 SLI-DR)...and since there are vacant fan mounts on the window, maybe i could get so fan mounts with UV light :)....how that ??

also, i dont understand difference between all the different kinds of lights e.g. LEDs, UV, "Cold Cathode", CCFL, EL etc.. can someone please explain the difference :)

[qoou]

hmm....well the motherboard is UV reactive (DFI NF4 SLI-DR)...and since there are vacant fan mounts on the window, maybe i could get so fan mounts with UV light :)....how that ??

also, i dont understand difference between all the different kinds of lights e.g. LEDs, UV, "Cold Cathode", CCFL, EL etc.. can someone please explain the difference :)

you can go to xoxide.com and check out the different kinds of lights.

LEDS are Light emmiting diodes. Small, Bright, sometimes expensive.
UV means it glows.
Cold Cathode is in a tube like thing.

you can get the rest:rolleyes:

[.Maleficus.]

To expand on what qoou said, CCFL is just another way to say Cold Cathode. EL wire is a flexible wire with light going through it, but they aren't known for being bright. UV will make UV-reactive things glow. It looks kinda purple-ish when looking directly at it, but doesn't make the parts look purple.

And having that UV reactive board would add a nice touch. But to actually make a difference, make sure wires and such are out of the way so you can actually see the glowing parts, as they don't really emit light.

Edit: In case you were wondering, CCFL means Cold Cathode Fluorescent Lamp.

[ahmadka]

Dont understand:


Direct lighting looks bad. Hide your lights.

Secondly, this is what I have planned........

1) I am planning to add 2 of these on the fan mounts located on the window:

http://www.xpcgear.com/120ccflblue.html

The only difference is that the ones I will probably get will emit UV light, so that the motherboard lights up...and the colour will probably be green, not blue

2) Then I am planning to add 2 cannon lights, exactly at the same position as in this pic: http://img88.imageshack.us/img88/4515/cannon2zi.jpg

2) and directly underneath the cannon LEDs, I am planning to add 2 of these:

http://www.xpcgear.com/lqccflspiralbl.html


the only thing confusing me is the colour scheme.....i think green will look good with the blue, and I dont know that out of the above 3 mods, which should be blue and which should be green....:?

also, please suggest any other changes that you would like...8)

the position that i have chosen for the cannon LEDs and the tubes, is so that when I open the front door (to open the DVD drive etc..), the cannon LEDs and the tubes will move with the door, making a nice effect....

lastly, what will happen about the wiring..?? where will i wire all these mods ?? and is there any way to hide the wires, so that they are not visible??

and what is an inverter ? every mods seems to require it....

[ahmadka]

also, regarding the mods I have suggested above....i think i need some way of connecting the wires of the mods outside the casing (tubes and cannon LEDs), to the power supply inside the casing....how do i do this ??

[Airbozo]

....how do i do this ??


...With wire...:D

JK. if you don't want the wires outside the case you will have to drill a hole and maybe splice the cables together. Look at some of the other project work logs to see how others have handled this.

[.Maleficus.]

Direct lighting is when you can see the whole light. Like having the tube of the cathode visible. It's very bright and doesn't look very good... unless you want to see all of it.

[Weezer]

Should look cool if you can figure it out. Too many lights will make it look kinda bad though so be careful. In my pc I have 2 120mm fans and 1 80mm with Green LEDs, its a plenty bright.

How big is your power supply?

Hope it turns out well, good luck dude.

[CanaBalistic]

This is starting to sound exactly like my computer.
I painted the chassi flourescent green and have 10 blue led fans (only 6 are uv leds)

You have to watch out for the led's in the products you buy. If you want the UV look you NEED UV led's. Normal led's are so bright that they'll wash out the uv effect and you'll be disapointed.

I am actually thinking of re-painting my chassi flourescent blue to match the lights. I'm not entirely happy with the color combination of blue and green.

http://i66.photobucket.com/albums/h258/Cana-Balistic/100_1777.jpg
even If i put in my dual 4" UV CCFL, the UV effect is almost completly washed out.

[Killdogg5000]

You might also wana try stealthing the drives. There isn't much to it. But on the stealthed drive cover put blue LED's on the ends like in the picture.

http://img83.imageshack.us/img83/5562/untitled1rm6.gif

[EPYK]

i was gonna by the version of that case but it had a huge fan on the side where the window is....
i was gonna get the gigabyte board that had the huge cyclone fans on the board in the back of it.....