Questions about Case Lighting

H

hoofhearted4

New member
i really had no clue where to post something like this. there is no thread for Case Lighting or anything haha (not that i saw anyways. feel free to move this to a better suited place if there is one)

so i just built a case a few months ago (of which ill eventually post pictures of) no theme or anything in mind, just a PC. when i was done i was looking for a nice desktop wallpaper to put up and i found this:

metal-gear-solid-1920x1080_zps18a0ceac.jpg


im a big fan of MGS. i love the desktop. but i got to thinking how much i like the colors of the wallpaper and how i would like to do something with the colors with my rig. my Corsair K90 keyboard already lights up blue and fits so perfectly with the desktop background...i have a Fractal Arc Midi case which now has a nice side panel window to see everything.

basically i post here to ask for advice and opinions. obviously no one can know exactly what i prefer. but then again, i dont either. this is my first case, i have no experience or taste preferences when it comes to lighting. so ill take anything you guys throw at me with consideration.


so these are all the angles im coming from. after watching a few of Toms videos (including the one on the Bitfenix Alchemy lighting):

first off do i want white or blue. for obvious reason im pretty sure i want blue. the picture is varying shades of white and blue, my keyboard is blue i plan on upgrading to blue ram (giving my current ram to my parents PC when i build them one) so blue seems to be the right choice in that dispute. the only reason it was a dispute is that i do think White LEDs look nice and clean. so it crossed my mind as a potential option.

next would be how i would apply the light. i think ive come across 3 possible options. LED Fans. LED strips (Bitfenix Alchemy) or Braided LED lights. now again, i havent seen any of these options in person, so its hard for me to really get a Pros and Cons of each.....an LED fan i think would be nice. looking at Toms Bitfenix Alchemy video, a Blue LED fan provided a nice source of light without being super bright. however, that light comes from only one place (the back) and as i dont plan on having LED fans (im going with Corsair Air Series fans) that light source would be only from that angle. which might be enough. on top of the fact i think some of the light from the fan would be blocked by my H100i

this brings me to the two LED strips. again going from Toms review, Bitfenix LED strips are very bright? how bright idk, or is it even bright to me idk. which i know none of you can answer. the one thing i was curious about was even if they are bright, would that be remedied by having a side panel window on? in Toms review you saw the LEDs light up the case directly, no hardware, no side panel. im thinking that with a Side Panel Window on and hardware in, the LEDs wouldnt be so overly bright...but on the otherside there are braided cables. the only thing i see about these is they provide Spots of light instead of a more even light like the Bitfenix lights. but other then that idk anything. what are the major Pros and Cons between the LED strips, and the Sleeved Braided LEDs (from say NZXT)?

i know this was a wall of text, and if you made it through i appreciate it and i hope you can reply with some lighting insight to help me out. and maybe some opinions or suggestions or even some creative thoughts or anything. im all ears!

thanks all for your time and help :D
 
and then there are cold cathodes....ugh. too many choices and no way to really know which i would like best.

maybe i should just wing it and buy some Bit Fenix Alchemy Strips and hope that it all works out.
 
I would go with white lights, blue ones tend to bleach all the colours. It depends what you want though. I originally had blue led strips but i didnt like them so i got white led strips and got a blue led fan which evened the colours.
 
yea, maybe a balance of both might be an option too. luckily, lighting isnt too expensive. so if i dont like Blue LEDs, its not much of a loss to buy white ones after...

i know no one can tell me what i like, even i dont know, but i do like hearing other peoples experiences and opinions on the subject, to help me figure out and learn what i may like, so i appreciate your response :)
 
hoofhearted4 said:
yea, maybe a balance of both might be an option too. luckily, lighting isnt too expensive. so if i dont like Blue LEDs, its not much of a loss to buy white ones after...

i know no one can tell me what i like, even i dont know, but i do like hearing other peoples experiences and opinions on the subject, to help me figure out and learn what i may like, so i appreciate your response :)
Click to expand...

if you have a maplins near you and you know how to solder you could do what i did on my case previous check pick below
I bought the car leds that are ment to go in the foot wells, they have a dimmer switch, and are a stunning blue,
all i had to do was cut the cigar lighter adapter off and put a molex adapter on and set it up to run off 12v
 

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I know nothing about case lights or LED's , but I am kind of looking for some.
I was reading reviews on newegg & Amazon and alot of people were complaining that most of the blue LED's tend to be more purple than blue. So I'm thinking on white for my case. I thing if you have alot of blue in your case already , blue LED's won't look to good. But it is more of a personal preference thing.
 
well those leds were very blue. thats why i put a pick up there for comparison i tend to only like blue lighting but im coming over to other colours, it all depends on where your having the rig and how much you realy really want the lighting lol
 
One thing you could do is to go for NZXT's HUE RGB Lighting system, then you could choose any colour you want, and change from Blue to White depending on what you want.
 
i have the corsair version and after a mass or problems i have that working :)
the colour is great but the led support is terrible !
 
Not saying it is bad or good...blue light is a higher frequency light (shorter wavelength) and focuses just before the receptors in the backs of our eyes and for some people it looks a little weird. Gives off a different glow, a shimmering effect to some, to some it seems fuzzy and other colors don't do it since our eyes can focus on it better.

Sometimes that influences greatly if a person likes it or not. Some people hate that effect, others like it.
 
so i was looking at the NZXT HUE. its really cool to be able to switch between LEDs and whatnot. but i dont really want a front panel controller.

does anyone know of any LED RGB System that does the same thing, but with internal software? because I think that would be what I would love to get!
 
hoofhearted4 said:
so i was looking at the NZXT HUE. its really cool to be able to switch between LEDs and whatnot. but i dont really want a front panel controller.

does anyone know of any LED RGB System that does the same thing, but with internal software? because I think that would be what I would love to get!
Click to expand...

What about modding the case and mounting the controls in the back? The actual control panel looks to only about 30 mm thick. It could be removed from the 5.25" bay mount and modded into someplace out of site.

If I ever get back into having any money to spend on such things, I'd like to try the next thing.

Another thing somebody could try is stealth it into the top bay. I have looked at pictures and that is how I have guesstimated the panel is about 30 mm thick and see much of the bay mount is not needed. The distance between the bay mounting screws is 80 mm and the back ones are not really needed. The bay mount could be cut off just behind the front mounting threaded holes which would shorten it about 80 mm. That way it would not encroach as much into the case. You'd just need brackets to mount the shorty mount. Some cases have shorty brackets. Mount it back some and fashion a stealth panel. I think it could be stealth and not stick back into the case more than 60 mm.
 
hoofhearted4 said:
so i was looking at the NZXT HUE. its really cool to be able to switch between LEDs and whatnot. but i dont really want a front panel controller.

does anyone know of any LED RGB System that does the same thing, but with internal software? because I think that would be what I would love to get!
Click to expand...

I have the commander link and that does it all via software. Just still issues with it atn
 
FredEx said:
What about modding the case and mounting the controls in the back? The actual control panel looks to only about 30 mm thick. It could be removed from the 5.25" bay mount and modded into someplace out of site.

If I ever get back into having any money to spend on such things, I'd like to try the next thing.

Another thing somebody could try is stealth it into the top bay. I have looked at pictures and that is how I have guesstimated the panel is about 30 mm thick and see much of the bay mount is not needed. The distance between the bay mounting screws is 80 mm and the back ones are not really needed. The bay mount could be cut off just behind the front mounting threaded holes which would shorten it about 80 mm. That way it would not encroach as much into the case. You'd just need brackets to mount the shorty mount. Some cases have shorty brackets. Mount it back some and fashion a stealth panel. I think it could be stealth and not stick back into the case more than 60 mm.
Click to expand...
its not just about having a front panel bay, i just would rather be able to change my LEDs without having to use a physical machine. putting in the back would be even worse for this.

i just got an H100i, and being able to change the RGB via software is very cool. if i could do this with my entire case lighting (when i get some) that would be awesome.
 
Hey, take a look at Phobiya RGB system with remote control. in my opinion these are better & cheaper than NZXT's system
 
can you get it in the US? a quick look on Newegg shows they dont have anything by that name.

i understand this is a UK based forum, so i just wanted to mention that i am from the US. :)
 
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