Item description
NZXT 200cm Sleeved LED Kit in Orange
Manufacturer and code
NZXT
CB-LED-200R
Cost
£12.90 (inc VAT at 17.5%)
Supplier
SpecialTech
http://www.specialtech.co.uk/spshop/...at=1674&page=1
Description and overview
A 200cm long string of LEDs, The strip comes pre braided in black with a PCI bracket to enable secure mounting of the control circuitry and switches to the chassis of the PC. The strip is intended for installation inside a PC chassis. The control switch enables the LEDs to be turned on or off or set to 3 different light intensity levels.
Packaging, first impressions and quality
The LED strip from NZXT is available in 4 colours (red, blue, green and orange) and in both 100cm and 200cm lengths. The item reviewed is the 200cm long orange flavour.
The item comes packaged in a clear plastic blister pack. the sort made by welding 2 moulds of plastic together on all 4 sides. Now I'm no expert, I don't have a degree in Packagingology but in my humble opinion I think the design of packaging should be governed by 3 simple tenets.
1 Hold and protect the contents
2 Display the contents to the consumer where appropriate (have shelf presence)
3 Be easy for the customer to get into, or at the very least shouldn't wound them in the process
This packaging succeeds at numbers 1 and 2 but boy does it fail at number 3. You have to quite literally cut your way into it by snipping down the sides of the welded joints. One slip and it's not just the packaging that gets cut, you're going to go through the rest of your life known as nine fingered Bob (even if your name isn't Bob in the first place) Man I hate these blister packs.
Once the package is open (blood mopped up and fingers bandaged) the contents can be better examined. Inside we find an LED string 200cm long, a PCI bracket with associated control circuitry, for fixing to a spare PCI slot and a 10cm long braided Molex power lead. First impressions are good, the Braiding is done well, on both the LED string and the power lead, with good quality heatshrinking in evidence. The LEDs are of the 3mm variety and poke out from the braiding so are not too obtrusive when not lit. The LEDs are placed 85mm apart with 24 LEDs in total. before opening the packed I had a concern that all the LEDs would not necessarily be orientated in the same direction, however I'm delighted to report that they do, not only that, but as the braid is slightly flat in cross section allowing easier fitting in the case, the LEDs actually project from along one edge. (it looks like a bit of thought has gone into this)!
The PCI bracket is finished in a black silk effect giving the whole ensemble an air of quality. The rear of the bracket has a push button switch to turn the LEDs on or off and a 3 position slide switch to control intensity. Even the PCB used to surface mount the control circuitry is black so as not to disturb the colour scheme (quite a lot of thought gone into it maybe)? All items feel sturdy and well put together.
The final find in the pack is a small zip lock bag containing a PCI fixing screw, but more importantly 10 very nice little self adhesive cable clips. This a nice, and to be honest, unexpected touch as it made installing the LEDs a piece of cake and meant I didn't have to head out to the local hardware shop to find something else to do the job (they really have put a lot of thought in haven't they).
Instructions
The unit comes with very brief instructions in multi languages. Although brief they do give enough information both in text and diagram form to enable all but the most hapless to bask in the glory of a successful installation.
Fitting.
The strip is a piece of cake to install, but does require a bit of upfront planning with regards to where you're routing it. As the string starts at the PCI bracket, this is where your lights will start, but as the string is blind ended and doesn't have to make a circuit by returning to the PCI bracket, you can then essentially route it wherever you like. The obvious choice is to use it around the inside edge of your case just inside the door as it were, however the string is slim enough to be slipped gently under the mobo allowing the owner to give the "fast and furious" under car lighting effect to their mobo. The string is quite flexible allowing minimal radius bends to be made in the corners.
As I mentioned earlier in the review the small black mounting clips are the feather in this products cap, making installation as easy as it's possible to be.
If the clips are the feather in its cap, then the power lead is the thorn in its side, a positive pain in the Clarkson in fact (and brings into question my previous comments about how much thought had gone into this product). Why is it a problem? It's 10cm long, that's why. 10cm!!! (actually this calls for bold font and underlined) 10cm!!! What in the name of holly Molex made them think that 10cm was long enough? Who has a power supply 10cm away from their PCI slots? who has power cables conveniently running around the back end of their case? Last I checked they were all headed up front powering things like HDDs and Optical drives. OK sure if you're not that bothered about how neat the inside of your case looks it's an easy enough job to un-tuck a power cable from where you have it conveniently hidden and trail it all the way across your mobo. But if you do care about the appearance of the inside of your case, (and I'm assuming that you do care as you've just spent a few quid on illuminating the inside) then this is not going to be acceptable to you. If it is acceptable to you to have wires trailing every which way, then you probably shouldn't be spending your hard earned cash lighting up the vipers mess that is with all probability the inside of your case.
OK rant over, I've taken my medication so we can now proceed in a "calm manner". So what to do about this? Well I ended up removing the braiding, sniping the wires and adding about 60cm of my own wire to enable it to reach nicely round the edge of my mobo before linking it up with one of my Molex connectors (still tucked away). I did of course re braid the new lengthened cables in black so as not to have them seen. If you're not in the mood for snipping, extending and re braiding then there are plenty of pre braided Molex extenders on the market that will do the job for you. In fact I believe NZXT do one themselves (just a coincidence I'm sure). So job done and no big disaster but it would have been nice to have had a cable that was long enough in the first place.
Performance.
It's a beauty it really is, the 3 settings provide just the right levels of illumination. the lowest is enough for a slight glow on the inside, the middle is probably the one that will be most used and the top is the "Here I am look at me" setting. The even distribution of LEDs give a good spread of light reaching into all corners of the case. as they are directional to an extent they can be installed so as to face inwards, giving light without having them shining in your eyes. If time is taken to route and install the string properly, then in a case with black internals, when switched off the string can't even be seen.
Conclusion.
A very high quality and versatile product. It not only fills the void between more established case lighting methods such as CCFLs and single or small group LEDs, but is also able to the job of both these products. I think it very likely this type of lighting may well come to dominate the case lighting scene.
Good points.
High quality product
Easy to install
Available in a range of colours and lengths.
Good balance of illumination levels with ability to switch it off completely.
Accessible controls.
Bad points.
Blister pack packaging.
Molex power lead way too short.
How could the product be improved?
Longer power lead
Would I want to spend more to make it better?
Oh yes, a bit more cash for a longer power lead would be money well spent.
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Originally Posted by Jowy Atreides
wich i like ^^
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