haft2doit

Very nice. Clean look. Myself and painters tape don't get along. I need to find the secret to eliminating the frayed edges along a paint line after removing the tape.

The case has 3 buttons next to the power button. One for color, one for effect, and one for speed of effect. You can hit the effect button until it stays solid.

The sp120 rgb leds and controller are common cathode design. Most other rgb strips and such are common anode. The LED's in the sp120 are wired fundamentally opposite to most rgb products for pc. Basically the sp120 controller spits out three +5v pins (one for each color) and they share one ground pin. Other strips use one +12v pin and three grounds (one for each color) There is really no way to make the rgb leds in the fans work with anything without using the corsair commander. The only options out there to make these work the way you want is with something like Arduino or otherwise time consuming, complicated and/or expensive options. The best option for you is the commander or some other rgb product besides the sp120. Corsair obviously wanted to keep people in their product line. The fans work like any other fan. The rgb is separate and requires the sp120 controller to function at all even if you get the commander.

No. the controller is not compatible with the node. the node is for corsair strips. the controller for the corsair fan is for the fans only (and required to use the rgb at all). the corsair commander will link everything together with the os. so if you go corsair plan on another $70 on top of the other purchases to do what you want. I would guess the strips would need to be corsair as well with proprietary connectors. not positive on that though. I do know the fans use a completely different wiring than most rgb stuff. they make it very hard to go outside of corsair with any other companies rgb products. I don't recommend corsair rgb stuff. and I own a case with sp120s btw. nothing but roadblocks for me to do what I want....

Both the sp120 and hd120 fans require their specific controllers to operate led's at all. these fans use a common cathode design (three 5v pins, and one ground), as opposed to a common anode (one 12v pin, ands three ground) like pretty much every computer rgb product out there. this is probably to keep people from using the controller with other strips or fans. The corsair commander is required to get the sp/hd120 controllers to interface with the OS. there is no way around this short of building your own led strips, or using an Arduino and write code to handle things.

Like rackoo said not too difficult. the outcome really has to do with your prep more than anything. The scuffing up is to give the paint a good bond to the surface. Clean the surface with a solvent prior to painting. You will need to make sure you plan out what gets paint and what doesn't. If you aren't thorough you will end up with over spray where you didn't want it. Use tape and newspaper to cover up non paint areas. Many light coats will give you better results than fewer heavy ones. (give drying time specified by paint manufacturer) Hanging the object from the ceiling makes it easy to get all sides at once. (not in your living room) Dusty, hairy, otherwise dirty area will make the odds of stuff getting stuck in the paint likely. these will cause imperfections in the final product. Start spraying to the side of the object, not at it. once you have started spraying then move across the object and continue off the other side before stopping. repeat. This is all I could think of off the top of my head. don't let it discourage you. there is no secret to it, you just have to be aware that not doing these things could make for imperfections. just be careful and don't try to rush anything, you will end up with a good result. Edit: you may also want to clear coat the thing after you finish with the paint. this will help avoid damage to your paint job during normal use. just a thought.

Looks very nice.

I don't have experience streaming, but if you were using it for streaming from another machine I don't see why it wouldn't be up to the task. Assuming you can get all those upgrades working. You could document the process and make a post if all goes well.

Ok thank you much.

I have a corsair AX1200 psu from 2012. I would like to replace the cables with the likes of cable mod but it would seem it is somehow special in regards to the 24 pin. There are a bunch of in line caps or some such that make it incompatible with other cable kits. Is it possible to get it from cable mod?

It's your baby, would say do whatever you think would be cool. Depending on where the panels are, it may show nothing interesting. Could make the panels opaque to just add diffuse color to the machine instead of illuminating components. I'm guessing you would use this for streaming video? Would probably not be the best at gaming while streaming. Or would you use it as a secondary capture machine? I would say it depends on what and the quality you want to stream.

you could probably modify the connectors to run off the pcb if you wanted to avoid running wires around. Although I guess it is janky as is so you might not worry about it.

Cutting a hole isn't a difficult task. Getting a hole that looks good is a another story. I like using a router and jigs to get good straight cuts, dremel works too but will require a steady hand and some finish work. You can find rubber stripping to line your edge with in the event you have a less than perfect cut. I would practice on something you don't care about once or twice before going for it.

Yeah the best bet would be to clear out space on either side, mount as many fans as you can and hope for the best. Doing this and keeping the stock look will be tough. Also keeping quiet will be as well. In a quick search I found a mod that did this, itx MB and the psu was taken apart to fit it in there or to cool it passively and there was no dgpu. It was using an amd apu. So could be a difficult but fun thing to do. Then you will need to get the buttons on the xbox functioning somehow.