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Which Type Of Lighting Do You Prefer?

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LED/Cold Cathode User Club

5K views 40 replies 16 participants last post by  Masta Squidge 
#1 ·
LED/Cold Cathode User Club



This thread is dedicated to all of you who use any form of custom lighting in your system
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https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/pub?key=0AuVG42hCugphdEhDZWVjUEFGNVlya2l2RjZGV2NxOUE&output=html&widget=true

LEDs and cold cathodes are a great way to display your system no matter where you are.

As everyone knows, they are the main contributor to speed, they are MUCH more important than any other components in your system
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(not really)
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How to choose between the two

1) What form factor are you putting lights in?

A - If you are putting it in a very small or very large system you are most likely better off with LED strips due to the availability in lengths otherwise, you would be fine with either

2) Do you want cheap, or 'best'?

A - If you just want the cheapest, go with a couple cold cathodes, otherwise if possible you would want to go with LEDs due to better 'performance' especially over time

If you have any questions ask and they will be added to the list

Cold Cathodes

Cold cathodes are basically fluorescent tubes, they are charged and a color is emitted in all directions.

Pros:

- Cheap

- Does the job

- Lights whole tube evenly

- Little heat output

Cons:

- Requires bulky inverter

- Not all tubes light up exactly the same

- Die over time

- Rigid

LEDs

LEDs come in a variety of styles from strips to to lasers to even waterproof ones!

Pro:

- Flexable (good for corners)

- Can buy indavidually for specific components such as waterblocks with LED holes

- Last forever

- No inverter

Cons:

- Bit more expensive

- LED strips arent good put right next to visible area due to seeing light spread of each serperate LED

When you take all of these things into consideration, then you can choose which way you go
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Requirements To Join

To join you must take a picture of your system with a slip of paper stating your OCN name. Then you must say how many cathodes/LED's you have. After that you must say what your main color(s) is.

Example:

2 LED Strips

1 Cold Cathode

Blue/Red

Hope I see you soon
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#5 ·
If you do, I recommend getting them from Xoxide.com. They are coated in a gel-rubber so they cannot short out the back of the board
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Plus they sit just below a standard brass standoff post, so they are shining directly onto the back of the board. What you see is just the reflected light. These suckers are BRIGHT.
http://www.xoxide.com/24led-striplight-green.html
These are what I used. They screwed up my order so I got a whole roll of them for the price of 1 strip. :-D
 
#6 ·
Very nice idea there with the lights behind the mobo. You uploading it to their site is like free marketing for them, so glad to see customer's appreciate good satisfaction to make everything right by helping the store back.

I get my LED strip from NZXT soon. Blue LED strip, going to go in a Corsair 650D. So scheme is Black/Blue, with a little hints of green-- That's right, my Titan is coming this same week! I may have to take you up on that green LED behind mobo tray, and if so, I'll definitely hit up that link!

Any tips for first timer? How to make it even, how to get them around corners, etc? Also, could OP get comparison shots in actual builds? Of course, with us members helping him, but would really like to see them side by side compared.
 
#8 ·
Quote:
Originally Posted by Kiracubed View Post

Very nice idea there with the lights behind the mobo. You uploading it to their site is like free marketing for them, so glad to see customer's appreciate good satisfaction to make everything right by helping the store back.

I get my LED strip from NZXT soon. Blue LED strip, going to go in a Corsair 650D. So scheme is Black/Blue, with a little hints of green-- That's right, my Titan is coming this same week! I may have to take you up on that green LED behind mobo tray, and if so, I'll definitely hit up that link!

Any tips for first timer? How to make it even, how to get them around corners, etc? Also, could OP get comparison shots in actual builds? Of course, with us members helping him, but would really like to see them side by side compared.
If you need to do a really sharp bend, it is easier to cut the strip and solder a bit of wire to make the bend.
That way you dont break the strip. The one behind my mobo is cut into 6" lengths and soldered back together to make the 90* bends.
I wish I could find my pictures of my old case with the single green strip. It lights up the entire case.

BTW that is also my XboX with the green LED under it. Like I said, they gave me a lot of these strips.. Lol.
 
#9 ·
Looking to join this club down the road (used to be a cold cathode nut back in the p4 / a64 days) as I only have led fans right now. 4x 120mm white led rosewills that are subtle but fitting. My case, the thermaltake v3 doesn't have much for a window so I didn't bother with anything more then fans.

But quick question if you don't mind since I do have a spare windowed case an old overclocked p4 @ 3.8ghz is in, with those led strips, what type of connector are they, just a molex at the end, or?

Also, I've got two spare uv/purple 12" cathode strips laying about but a broken inverter, is there a good place to buy inverters on the cheap? Want to use them in my file server pc since I've already got two 120mm purple xigmatek fans in (and just for the record, they are definitely not as quiet as advertised
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but they sure are bright atleast
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)
 
#10 ·
Quote:
Originally Posted by SoloCamo View Post

Looking to join this club down the road (used to be a cold cathode nut back in the p4 / a64 days) as I only have led fans right now. 4x 120mm white led rosewills that are subtle but fitting. My case, the thermaltake v3 doesn't have much for a window so I didn't bother with anything more then fans.

But quick question if you don't mind since I do have a spare windowed case an old overclocked p4 @ 3.8ghz is in, with those led strips, what type of connector are they, just a molex at the end, or?

Also, I've got two spare uv/purple 12" cathode strips laying about but a broken inverter, is there a good place to buy inverters on the cheap? Want to use them in my file server pc since I've already got two 120mm purple xigmatek fans in (and just for the record, they are definitely not as quiet as advertised
rolleyes.gif
but they sure are bright atleast
thumb.gif
)
you can join with led fans, its any custom lighting
 
#11 ·
Quote:
Originally Posted by SoloCamo View Post

Looking to join this club down the road (used to be a cold cathode nut back in the p4 / a64 days) as I only have led fans right now. 4x 120mm white led rosewills that are subtle but fitting. My case, the thermaltake v3 doesn't have much for a window so I didn't bother with anything more then fans.

But quick question if you don't mind since I do have a spare windowed case an old overclocked p4 @ 3.8ghz is in, with those led strips, what type of connector are they, just a molex at the end, or?

Also, I've got two spare uv/purple 12" cathode strips laying about but a broken inverter, is there a good place to buy inverters on the cheap? Want to use them in my file server pc since I've already got two 120mm purple xigmatek fans in (and just for the record, they are definitely not as quiet as advertised
rolleyes.gif
but they sure are bright atleast
thumb.gif
)
With the ones I am using they are just a bare lead at the end. You will need to add a connector. I hacked up an old PSU for the molex which I used for them.
 
#15 ·
ok, here are a couple pics that show where you would want to go with one or the other



The pic above is a good example of what leds look like where you mount them. you wouldn't want a very large window going to the edge, otherwise you will see where each led light would 'spread out' and blend together



The pic above is a good example for cold cathodes. you can see along the edges it is even, but it just fills the whole rig with light, it doesn't give it as much as a 'sophisticated' look like what leds do if you know what i mean. they don't emphasize, just fill
 
#17 ·
Quote:
Originally Posted by darkapollo View Post

If you need to do a really sharp bend, it is easier to cut the strip and solder a bit of wire to make the bend.
That way you dont break the strip. The one behind my mobo is cut into 6" lengths and soldered back together to make the 90* bends.
I wish I could find my pictures of my old case with the single green strip. It lights up the entire case.

BTW that is also my XboX with the green LED under it. Like I said, they gave me a lot of these strips.. Lol.
I was going to ask, do you have strips on all the edges behind the board, how far in are they? I was going to put two strips one across the top and bottom but might be nicer to go all the way around.
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Also thought I'd share my PC before I moved it over from my Cosmos S.
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#22 ·
Quote:
Originally Posted by MCCSolutions View Post

Im not done with all my builds yet but here are some pics, my "Scorch" Build has mostly cold cathodes, but my "Fatal Build has a ton of RGB LEDS and four UV Cathodes!


























impressive, just say when your done
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#26 ·
Quote:
Originally Posted by Radmanhs View Post

impressive, just say when your done
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No offence but to me that looks an utter mess. Each to their own.
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