the "case" for an "open panel" and "colorful" discussion is "tran

[ribitch]

Originally posted by chosenfool
.
an image ive been dying to have tattooed on as yet an unspecified part of my body.

i dont think the phrase "welcome aboard" will look good on the side of your case :D

[sho.gun]

Yay another casemodder! :D

Here's the deal, I'm using 2 of these babies inside my case and it's plenty bright:
http://www.motorcyclelights.com/4bluelit.jpg

I bought mine here (http://www.motorcyclelights.com/lazerleds.htm) which was the cheapest at that time:.

They are more expensive than cold cathodes though but since my case is quite cramped with the 2 120mm fans this is the best way for me to do it. If you have room and would like a more "even" lighting, definitely go with a ccfl.

SVC sells complete cold cathode kits for as low as $11. http://www.svcompucycle.com/colcatfluorl.html

Of course you shouldn't stop there... how about a sound activated UV meter on the side of your case? Maybe one of these:
http://www.hobbytron.net/media/UK264.jpg

Those are sold in http://www.hobbytron.com and they also sell a lot of spiffy electronic components that you can integrate into a casemod.

Anyway, good luck with the window and light :)

[sho.gun]

well usually you just plug em in your power supply :P

The lazerleds I posted uses DC, which is the type your power supply puts out. If you take a look at one of your power supply's molex connectors, you'll see that there's a red wire, a black one, another black one, and a yellow wire. The yellow one and the black one next to it combined will give you 12 volts. The red one and the black one next to it will give you 5 volts.

Now, the lazerleds takes 12 volts straight out the box because they already have resistors on them to take down the voltage from the 12 given by the PSU to the level needed by the LEDs.

The ccfl's on the other hand uses AC current. That's why in the kits they include an inverter to turn your DC current given by the power supply into AC.

There are many methods on how to power on things inside your computer, be it fans or lights. The best way is to take them from your power supply because it is less cluttered and you won't have to buy a DC adapter to plug into the wall then wire it inside the comp.

The ccfl kits come with all the wiring supplies you'll need, if you look at this (http://store6.yimg.com/I/svcompucycle_1705_810983) picture you can see how it is already wired into a molex connector. The lazerleds I got were bare leads, that means I had to wire them up myself (saved like $2) and by doing so I can be more flexible with wire length and switch placement.

One thing you can do is to hook up all your lights, case fans, etc. into a baybus. A baybus is a set of switches that sits on one of your 5 1/2" bay covers that lets you turn on/off your stuff at will. You can buy these retail or opt for a homemade one.
http://www.frozencpu.com/cgi-bin/frozencpu/bus-11.html?mv_pc=1112

My baybus on my comp is a homemade.

[sho.gun]

http://www.dslextreme.com/users/lumowa//Comp/Right.JPG

those 3 red buttons are the switches, the whole panel that the buttons sit on is the baybus. They power on my blue lazerleds, a UV ccfl, and the 2 120mm fans inside. :)

[blueindian]

sho.gun,

what's that thing that looks like a car stereo?

[sho.gun]

it's a newq sound equalizer:

http://www.newq.com/

[hang10wannabe]

psssht... thats no comp... now THIS IS A COMP!!! :D


http://www.theforumisdown.com/uploadfiles/0802/mycompofun.JPG