How to Add LED Lights to a Gaming PC Case

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Add some flair to your gaming PC with an LED light strip
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If you've always wanted to add some illumination to your killer gaming rig, we can show you how. By far, this is arguably the easiest and safest way to do so. As always, you're doing this at your own risk. We aren't held responsible for anything that may happen to your property. Practice caution and safety at all times. Scroll down to step 1 to begin.

Things You Should Know

  • Clean the inside of your case thoroughly to ensure the LED light strip sticks well.
  • Be aware of where to cut your LED strip lights—some strips can only be cut after every three LEDs.
  • Check to see if your LED light strip has a pair of wires to connect the power to; if it doesn't, you'll have to solder two wires to the positive and negative terminals.

Steps

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    • Carefully unscrew the rear screws that hold your PC's side panel on to the main case.
    • Slide it back and take it out.
    • Assess the inside of the panel and see which parts you want to stick the LED strips on.
    • Once you've chosen the part, get some tissue paper and wet it with alcohol.
    • Rub the surfaces of the inside panel to remove dust, oil, or any other substances that will prevent a great stick.
    • Measure out and cut the strips to size. Most strips allow you to cut only every after 3 LEDs, so keep that in mind.
    • Peel the back of the strips and lay them into the panel.
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    • Measure and cut the wire to connect the strips in a series. Add a little allowance, as you will have to use wire stripper to take the insulator off the ends of the wires.
    • Using the soldering gun, connect the wires to the strips. Make sure that the diodes (+/ -) are correctly connected. Most wires are color coded so you are less likely to make the mistake of connecting the positive diodes to the negatives. White or Black is positive and whatever else color should be the negative.
    • Use the hot glue to secure the wires to keep them from moving around in the case.
    • The first end of the flexible LED strips should come with a pair of wires to connect power to. If not, then solder two wires to the positive and negative terminals.
    • Grab your MOLEX connector. The Yellow wire is 12V, and the black is ground. Choose a connector you want to use as the place where you splice the connection. The connector end where the two branches meet is what you plug into the power supply.
    • Use the wire stripper to split the black and yellow wire.
    • Solder the black wire (ground) from your MOLEX connector to one wire from your strip assembly.
    • Do the same for the other wire.
    • Secure the connections by using some electrical tape.
    • Locate a vacant male connector from your power supply to connect to your strip assembly. When you power your computer on, it should light up.
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Community Q&A

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  • Question
    On the Molex female connector, what do I do with the red and relevant black ground wire?
    Community Answer
    Just leave it if you don't mind, and also if you don't want the extra cables, you can always pull them out by squeezing the metal pins. If that is too hard for you, you can always cut them off.
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    Not Helpful 3 Helpful 7
  • Question
    I have four colored wires in my LED strip: yellow, green, blue and red. Which color do I connect to which?
    Community Answer
    It sounds like you have a multicolor RGB (red green blue) led strip. In that case, connect the yellow wire to the positive voltage line. If you connect the green wire to ground, the strip will glow green: the same goes for blue and red.
    Thanks! We're glad this was helpful.
    Thank you for your feedback.
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    Not Helpful 8 Helpful 11
  • Question
    Is there any way to control the timing or movement of the lights?
    Community Answer
    You can using a micro-controller such as an Arduino or Raspberry Pi. You can use this in conjunction with an audio input from your PC and have the code configured accordingly.
    Thanks! We're glad this was helpful.
    Thank you for your feedback.
    If wikiHow has helped you, please consider a small contribution to support us in helping more readers like you. We’re committed to providing the world with free how-to resources, and even $1 helps us in our mission. Support wikiHow
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      Things You'll Need

      • Flexible LED strips
      • A 4-pin MOLEX connector
      • Wire cutter
      • Wire stripper
      • 24 gauge wire
      • Hot glue gun and sticks
      • Isopropyl alcohol
      • Soldering gun and wire
      • Electrical tape

      Expert Interview

      Thanks for reading our article! If you’d like to learn more about installing lights, check out our in-depth interview with Ricardo Mitchell .

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