While the overclocking and tuning continues, I did manage to finish the case lights over the weekend. I choose to use white lights so the colors of everything (which have been all nicely coordinated, after all) wouldn’t be washed in any particular color. I got a couple 12″ Logisys LED sticks. They are just like the more common cold cathode tubes, except inside the tube is a very slim circuit board with LEDs mounted to it. It tends to be a little cooler than the CCFL route and more importantly takes 12 volts directory without the need of an inverter module.
The only trouble with these lights is that with 18 white LEDs each(!) they are crazy bright, especially in a darkened room. So I decided I’d create a little screen over each one to tone them down. I found this decorative mesh at Home Depot which had the open to closed ratio I was looking for. I cut off a couple chunks with tin snips and folded it into a U-shape, then painted it red to match the case.
Then I slipped each LED tube into its screen and mounted them to either side of the top of the case with zip ties. I also soldered everything up to the switch and mounted it to the front panel. I’m pleased with the final effect. The light is white so you can see the red and black theme inside nicely, but you don’t feel the need for sunglasses.
Tags: Comp hardware / mods
