There are two schools in the PC
building enthusiast field regarding LED lighting – those against it
and those who are for it. If you are in the latter group then
today’s review item should pique your interest. NZXT one of the
premier PC case makers on the market have released their Sleeved LED
Kit. This kit provides an easy to manage LED setup for the inside of
your PC rig. It comes in two lengths to provide some additional LED
goodness.
NXZT includes a controller which lets
the user turn the LEDs down or totally off. LED intensity can also
be controlled from this panel with high,
medium, and low settings.
NZXT
offers red, green, white, blue, or orange kits to suit most every
type of build. This kit was especially designed for
those who like to show off their PC building handiwork via clear side
panels on their PCs.
Let’s take closer look……
Reviewed by: Tomas Ratas
Sponsor: NZXT
Tech Specs,Features or the
Basic Info:
Easy
Management: Designed to take up minimal space and fit in narrow areas
in any case, the Sleeved LED Kit provides numerous LEDs on one cable
to simplify installation.
5
Kit Colors: Set the mood or mix and match with red, green, white,
blue, or orange kits.
Sleeved
LED Kit comes in 2 lengths; 1m and 2m.
3-Step
Light Sensitivity: Allows user to turn LEDs on high, medium, and low
settings or turn off.
LED lighting The NZXT Sleeved LED
Kit re-images the way enthusiasts sets up lighting inside the
computer case. Traditionally, cold cathodes and even solid LED boards
take up large amounts of space inside the case. Using sleeved wires
paired with high density amount of LEDs, the NZXT LED kit allows
users to hide lights between side panels and under components,
creating an amazing glow effect. Lastly, the NZXT Sleeved LED Kit is
paired with a three step light sensitivity and on/off light function
via PCI keeping the LED kit stealthily hidden away while unused.
A Better Look at Things
:
The Sleeved LED Kit comes on a blister
card with all the included components seen through the clear plastic.
Inside the package we find the sleeved
LED, the LED control board, Molex power cable, bag of adhesive clips
and the installation manual.
A closer look at the sleeved LED
reveals it is covered by a black loomed mesh. This flat cable has
LEDs interspersed along its span every 10 cm or so. On one side the
LED wire ends with a rubber tip and on the other is the LED connector
plug. The cable is about a centimeter in width and measures either
one to two meters depending on which kit you purchase. For this
review we received the one meter version.
The LED control board is mounted on a
PCI slot panel. On it we see the power and brightness controls.
Power is controlled via a round push button and the brightness via a
three position switch. On the opposite side of these controls we
find a motherboard with inputs for the Sleeve cable and the Molex
power connector.
NZXT provides five adhesive clips for
securing the sleeve cable onto the inside of the case. The final
accessory is a Molex powered connector which plugs into the control
board.
Installation, Testing and
Comparison:
Recently I reviewed the Phantom case
from NZXT. Although it does have blue LED lighting for my tastes it
could use some more blue LED oomph. Since NZXT sent us both a white
LED and blue LED kits, I decided to test out the blue one with the
NZXT Phantom case.
Getting the Sleeved LED Kit ready to
use is straightforward; install the control board into a free PCI
case slot, then attach the LED power board and LED sleeve wire to the
control board.
Now comes the hard part – where to
position the LED sleeve cable within your PC case. Obviously
positioning will vary from person to person.
I decided to place the LED kit along
the periphery of the motherboard tray providing a nice blue hue
throughout the inside of the case. This gave the Phantom
significantly more glow seen through the various case vents.
I would recommend you avoid staring at
the Sleeved LED directly as these LEDs are bright. Even on the
lowest intensity they are pretty strong.
Here is the Phantom with its native
lighting and then with the Sleeve Kit turned on.
Since there is no clear side window on
the Phantom the case never became too bright with the Sleeved LED Kit
in place.
Overall the kit was simple to set up
and definitely made things brighter. My main issue with the kit is
the short Molex connector. Inside my Phantom I have attempted to
keep the wire visibility at a minimum and the short Molex connector
cable made it stick out inside the PC. If I did have a clear case
window then this would be a real annoyance.
Summary:
If you want to spice up you PC case
with some LED lighting then the NZXT Sleeved LED Kit is something you
should check out. With lengths of one or two meters, the kit should
cover even the biggest of cases. The Phantom I used for testing is a
full sized tower and the one meter kit seemed to fit well. It comes
in several colors so there should be a color for most everyone.
DragonSteelMods gives the NZXT Sleeved
LED Kit a 4.5 out of 5 score.
Pros:
+Plenty of LED power
+Three intensity settings
+Can be turned on or off easily
+Several LED color options
Cons:
-Power connector cable too short
review# 676
Disclosure: This
product was given to DragonSteelMods for review by the company for
review purposes only, and is not considered by us as payment for the
review, we do not, never have, and never will, accept payment from
companies to review their products.
To
learn more about our review policy, testing methods and ratings
please see this page.