Led diffuser? Nod to lukes Geodude. Need ideas.

[SubLimation7]

UPDATE 3/27: I see I didn't make it very clear that I had led strips ran around the entire case, top, sides, and bottom.  That is all. 

 

Hello again everyone!

 

So straight to the point, I want to hide my led strip in a clean way that also diffuses the light, I like to do the majority of my builds in Phanteks p400 case which leaves the bottom led strip very visible due to hiding power supply.  I was thinking about Luke's personal build geodude where he used purple amethyst and I liked the way that looked, but I can't find a good cost effective source to get any type of amethyst, crystal, or "ice rock" in that size. If I could find large ice rocks where it would only take 4 or 5 to cover the whole strip including the area around it I would just dremel a slot for strip and that would work out well, but like I said can't find any.. Just small ones. 

 

So at this point, im up for any good ideas. Just keep in mind I will be selling these systems so it has to be cost effective and pretty clean looking. Posting a pic of "ice rocks" I've found and build. 

[SellingAcerMonitor]

8 minutes ago, SubLimation7 said:

Hello again everyone!

 

So straight to the point, I want to hide my led strip in a clean way that also diffuses the light, I like to do the majority of my builds in Phanteks p400 case which leaves the bottom led strip very visible due to hiding power supply.  I was thinking about Luke's personal build geodude where he used purple amethyst and I liked the way that looked, but I can't find a good cost effective source to get any tip of amethyst, crystal, or "ice rock" in that size. If I could find large ice rocks where it would only take 4 or 5 to cover the whole strip including the area around it I would just dremel a slot for strip and that would work out well, but like I said can't find any.. Just small ones. 

 

So at this point, im up for any good ideas. Just keep in mind I will be selling these systems so it has to be cost effective and pretty clean looking. Posting a pic of "ice rocks" I've found and build. 

What LEDs are those? Thinking about adding some to my PC

[W-L]

6 hours ago, SubLimation7 said:

Hello again everyone!

 

So straight to the point, I want to hide my led strip in a clean way that also diffuses the light, I like to do the majority of my builds in Phanteks p400 case which leaves the bottom led strip very visible due to hiding power supply.  I was thinking about Luke's personal build geodude where he used purple amethyst and I liked the way that looked, but I can't find a good cost effective source to get any tip of amethyst, crystal, or "ice rock" in that size. If I could find large ice rocks where it would only take 4 or 5 to cover the whole strip including the area around it I would just dremel a slot for strip and that would work out well, but like I said can't find any.. Just small ones. 

 

So at this point, im up for any good ideas. Just keep in mind I will be selling these systems so it has to be cost effective and pretty clean looking. Posting a pic of "ice rocks" I've found and build. 

Ideally you would want to change the placement of those LED's, it's best to have the light to cast out towards the components but not have a direct line of sight to the lights themselves. Having the strips only along the two edges and top can help with that in this situation, however in some cases where it's not possible to prevent that you can get diffusers such as theses:

 

http://www.performance-pcs.com/huake-0-5m-super-slim-recessed-aluminum-led-profile-without-flange-using-for-strip-within-12mm-black-frosted-lens.html

 

[SubLimation7]

6 hours ago, SellingAcerMonitor said:

What LEDs are those? Thinking about adding some to my PC

Phanteks, however I would suggest cablemod unless you have a phanteks case. 

[SubLimation7]

8 minutes ago, W-L said:

Ideally you would want to change the placement of those LED's, it's best to have the light to cast out towards the components but not have a direct line of sight to the lights themselves. Having the strips only along the two edges and top can help with that in this situation, however in some cases where it's not possible to prevent that you can get diffusers such as theses:

 

http://www.performance-pcs.com/huake-0-5m-super-slim-recessed-aluminum-led-profile-without-flange-using-for-strip-within-12mm-black-frosted-lens.html

 

I must have been half asleep this morning.  I went ahead and ordered some ice rocks, Im just gonna see what happens, although the more I look at this setup the more unrealistic/PITA this solution seems. But yes in the future with this case I'm definitely not running one on the bottom, unless somehow the bling rocks work out, which I doubt.  I'm pretty low volume PC sales, guess I'm just trying to find a unique look, I've already got the cost to performance down.

[W-L]

3 minutes ago, SubLimation7 said:

I must have been half asleep this morning.  I went ahead and ordered some ice rocks, Im just gonna see what happens, although the more I look at this setup the more unrealistic/PITA this solution seems. But yes in the future with this case I'm definitely not running one on the bottom, unless somehow the bling rocks work out, which I doubt.  I'm pretty low volume PC sales, guess I'm just trying to find a unique look, I've already got the cost to performance down.

If you want something similar to a crystal look check for glass shards or rocks that are unpolished it will give a lot of reflections for light but just note it can be quite sharp. 

[SubLimation7]

2 minutes ago, W-L said:

If you want something similar to a crystal look check for glass shards or rocks that are unpolished it will give a lot of reflections for light but just note it can be quite sharp. 

Lol thanks for the tip, I'll keep beating my head against a wall until I figure something out, either way I'll post my results/attempts here. 

[SubLimation7]

Small update, dumped a bag in just to see how it would look.  I like them a lot in person, and they passed my glue test.  Plan on installing them later today, but won't be able to post pictures until tomorrow of finished project due to dry time.  Wish me luck lol. 

[SubLimation7]

Wow that was time consuming. Just got them all glued down, unfortunately my phone camera hates me but it looks really nice in person. Gonna let epoxy dry for about 24 hours and update with the leds on which is kind of the whole point. 

 

As you can see I hid the led strip and epoxied down the plate that was blocking me from running down below and decided to just put the ice rocks in empty space next to mobo.

 

Update: After looking at it again and letting my head clear out all the fumes, definitely gonna fill bottom to, think I'm on to something. 

[MeDownYou]

did not expect him to do it this way thought he'd put a bar in like W-L said or glue them to each LED

[SubLimation7]

On 3/26/2017 at 2:29 AM, MeDownYou said:

did not expect him to do it this way thought he'd put a bar in like W-L said or glue them to each LED

Still lots of experimentation left to do!

 

This wasn't my initial plan lol, but I only have one concrete goal and that's to come up with a unique cost effective mod  I'll post more pics as the project evolves.

 

 One of my reasons for not doing on led strip is that those "crystals" would have stuck up higher than the rest and unless I got my hands on some large ones like Luke had I don't think it would have looked very good just to put them on led strip. 

 

Also keep in mind the strip is hidden now, I might try putting them directly over strip to see if it does anything cool with the light but in its current state it's already reflecting the light in multiple angles nicely.

 

I think I'm one of the few people that types more when sleepy... 

[SubLimation7]

I really need to figure out what to do with the d15 to not make them so ugly... Why must Noctua torture us so.. They really need to get with it.  Tired of getting upstaged by sellers slapping on cheap coolers that look cool.  It's a shame that the average consumer doesn't dig much past looks. But at any rate, I have to try and please them.

 

Any recommendations on similar performance air cooler that doesn't look like dog ?? 

 

Am I crazy for considering putting crystals on the top of heatsink and fan?  That might look tacky... 

 

On my next Ryzen build I'm going to try a wraith cooler and just optimize the crap out of thermal transfer.  But one of my signature things is silent builds... Anyone have any experience with wraith coolers? YouTube says they are quiet, but others definition of quiet and mine tend to differ a bit...

[W-L]

46 minutes ago, SubLimation7 said:

-SNIP-

Personally I would recommend to paint the top plate black or vinyl wrap it and add a logo of sorts. 

[SubLimation7]

1 hour ago, W-L said:

Personally I would recommend to paint the top plate black or vinyl wrap it and add a logo of sorts. 

Good idea. That was one of my ideas but good to hear someone else agree. Logo however I didn't even think of, and that ties in with my window film experience.  Thanks for the tip! I'd really like to continue using this cooler, unrivaled noise to performance in my experience especially with some liquid metal. 

 

Maybe I could do cooler black and fan red. Just painting the outside of fan 

[W-L]

3 minutes ago, SubLimation7 said:

Good idea. That was one of my ideas but good to hear someone else agree. Logo however I didn't even think of, and that ties in with my window film experience.  Thanks for the tip! I'd really like to continue using this cooler, unrivaled noise to performance in my experience especially with some liquid metal. 

 

Maybe I could do cooler black and fan red. Just painting the outside of fan 

Yes that would look nice, just remember that the Noctua fans do have certain design aspects that can be affected more so by painting the frame. (Inside portion where the blades are)

[Alkali A]

Have you thought of using shards of plexiglass glued in at different angles?

[SubLimation7]

5 hours ago, Alkali A said:

Have you thought of using shards of plexiglass glued in at different angles?

No, but you prompted me to look into it, saw a cool LED light made with them.  I'm actually quite happy with my crystal mod after soaking it in a bit, but definitely appreciate the idea!

[Alkali A]

Just now, SubLimation7 said:

No, but you prompted me to look into it, saw a cool LED light made with them.  I'm actually quite happy with my crystal mod after soaking it in a bit, but definitely appreciate the idea!

sure thing, I'm likely going to mod my own tower at some point in the future so plexiglass was just on the mind at the time!

[SubLimation7]

Well, I decided not to add bottom crystals, but I'm really happy with current setup.  HOWEVER, a good camera just went way up the priority list, no matter what I try, I can't get a picture that's even close to how it looks to the naked eye.  Anyone have a good suggestion on cost effective camera that would take good shots like this?

 

[SubLimation7]

4 minutes ago, Alkali A said:

sure thing, I'm likely going to mod my own tower at some point in the future so plexiglass was just on the mind at the time!

Let us know how it comes out!

[Alkali A]

Just now, SubLimation7 said:

Let us know how it comes out!

I'm sure I will, also do you have a logitech C920?

[SubLimation7]

5 minutes ago, Alkali A said:

I'm sure I will, also do you have a logitech C920?

I used to, my x roommate has it, a flood seperated us... fun stuff.

 

Just double checked Amazon order history, and yes it was the C920, wan't 100% sure but it sounded right.

 

But I'm using ZTE axon 7's camera at the moment...  planning on getting DSLR, but I need to save up a bit.

[Alkali A]

13 minutes ago, SubLimation7 said:

I used to, my x roommate has it, a flood seperated us... fun stuff.

 

Just double checked Amazon order history, and yes it was the C920, wan't 100% sure but it sounded right.

 

But I'm using ZTE axon 7's camera at the moment...  planning on getting DSLR, but I need to save up a bit.

good stuff! Though it'd probably be a good idea to make sure the camera yoiu're getting can do low light pictures, other than that I know very little about all of that stuff.