[silkshadow]

I was wondering if I could get some advice on interior case lighting. Wasn't sure if I should post this here or over in the cases forums. Sorry if I made a mistake! I've been building my own computers for awhile and never really considered modding till I discovered this board. Looking at all these phat systems has put me in the mood . I don't want to mess with my case (I don't think I have the dremel skills for that) but adding lighting sounds like a good place for a noob to start. So I am looking for some basic advice. The box I am working on is a Lianli PC-60 and I'm ordering the windowed side pannel today.

First, I was thinking of replacing 3 fans with some blue (please feel free to suggest other colors that go well with aluminum) LED fans. I want the led fans because I would like the front and back of my case to glow. Are these coolermaster led fans ok (http://www.coolermaster.com/index.ph...82Neon%20LED)? This box is overclocked and running panaflo fans right now. I am looking for the middle ground between noise and cooling (aren't we all ).

Second, I am wondering about UV and the LED fans. I'm thinking of replacing all my wiring/cover my wireing with some UV sleeveing and throw in a UV light source. However, I am not sure if the UV and led fans will work together. Will the LED fans overpower the UV light?

If UV doesn't work, is there a way to make things glow in my case with cathode/neon lighting?

How does one go about mounting the lighting to the inside of a case? Is it difficult, will I need power tools?

Lastly, do I need a lightbus if I want to add lighting to my case? If so, can anyone suggest one that also can control at least 4 fans and do temp monitoring? A card reader would be nice as well. I don't want to break the bank on this project but I have no problem spending some Benji's on it.

Thanks!

[subtotal]

questions on lighting are fine here. the colour of the lighting your using is a personal descision, a few people around here think blue is to common but i like blue and whatever works for you goes.
just a sugestion though, you say you are considering UV and LED fans, you can get uvled fans some models produce a reasonable amount of visible light in addition to uv.

personally i dont think you NEED a lightbus, but they are quite useful all the same.
personally i would have a look around sites like directron.com or xoxide and see if they have anything that intersts you

[SolidxSnake]

well, to put a light in a case, isn't really that hard... get some 3m adhesive pads, and then stick them between the CCFL and the case... then plug in the CCFL and you're set..

[silkshadow]

Thanks guys! I was surfing case mod galleries here and all over the place and it seems UV is really only good with water cooling or really low light conditions. Also, it seems that UV is really weak so any other light source in the case will kill UV effects. Is this true? If so, I think I will just go for colored lighting and skip the UV stuff. Thanks for the lightus recomendations. I will definately get one, it seems the Vantec is the only real player in this game to control both fans and light.

[Tay]

Also, try to not put the cathodes in plain sight across the window. It doesn't look very good.

[silkshadow]

Thanks for the tip! Boy, being a noob kinda is bad but getting to learn all new stuff is alot of fun! Is it possible to use a 10w per channel fan controller to control a cathode tube light? I am ordering one of these: http://www.vlsys.co.kr/English/product_lis2pre.php becaus its just so cool . It'd be nice if I could use it on my new cathodes as well. Thanks!

[firebat45]

i think you could use a fan controller on the cathode if the fan controller works on 4 pin molex, but why would you want to? I just popped the toggle switch out of its PCI slot, cut a hole in a spare bay cover, and popped it in there, now i have a toggle on the front for free.

[silkshadow]

Darn, the LIS2 uses the 3-pin connector but can't I just use a 3-pin to 4-pin converter? Is there any danger of killing the LIS2 by plugging in a cathode to it? Thats a good idea. Yeah, my problem was I don't have any PCI slots avaible. Seems everything take up a PCI slot now. However, I gotta say I am a bit leery of my inexperienced hands cutting up the shinny lainli case.