SUMMARY: It's time again for another Gizmos, Gadgets and Goodies Guide. Instead of bringing you a monthly guide which manages to continually put us in a bind, we've decided to post regular guides which aren't governed as being posted monthly. In our latest GGG guide, Shawn "Toxic" Baker takes a look at new products from Sunbeam, Crucial, Kingmax and Antec. Looking for products to spend your extra cash on? Read on then!
Maybe the laser cut fan grills aren’t special enough for your case and you want to take it to the next step. This is where the LED fan grills come in and let you take modding to the next level – and a very cool lookin’ level at that. With a host of patterns available from Quake 3, Unreal Tournament and Counter Strike, you really do have a large range to choose from. Once you find the perfect pattern to go with your case, you can then start looking at what color you’re after which include red, green, blue and multi color grill and hence it will not be hard to find one to match your case color scheme.
We have taken a short video of the LED fan grill in action as finding words to accurately describe this product is fairly difficult. You can download the 4.9mb file here – It runs for about 20 seconds and you will need Quick Time to view it.
The LED fan grills are not as strong as the Laser Cut grills, being plastic, but some people will prefer what the LED grills offer that the laser cut grills cannot. The LED fan grills are another excellent product which is going to be an item which is looked upon as being nicer for some people, while others may simply prefer to stick with the laser cut grills as they also look fantastic and you thankfully don’t have to hide another wire within your case, adding to the many already in hiding.
- El Wire and El Tape Rounded Cable
Rounded cables are something we all use when it comes to case modding and thanks to the ease of installation and advantages (mainly increased air flow) many people who are not into case modding choose to use them as an alternative to regular, boring IDE and FDD cables. When rounded cables hit the market the choice simply seemed to be blue, blue or blue. Not long after we saw some other colors hit the market and then see through and the latest craze in Rounded Cables - El Wire and El Tape.
Sunbeam sent us their latest offering of rounded cables in the shape of a blue El Wire cable as well as a Blue El Tape cable. This gives us a chance to have a look at the differences in them and what will be better or worse for you.
Firstly looking at the El Wire cable there really is not much difference when comparing it to the unit we looked at from other companies a couple months back. While it does not emit a huge amount of light, it does give off a nice glow that would go perfect with a blue cold cathode setup. While we do not have any form of retail price on the product yet, you would be looking at something similar to the pricing of the El Wire cables we looked at in the past.
The El Tape rounded cable is new to the lab and we have not had the chance to have a look at them before now. They look very similar to El Wire cables except they use El Tape, of course. When plugging into the power you instantly notice that the tape is not as bright as the El cable. The blue on the El Tape rounded cable is a lot paler and may not be seen as well when placed inside your case. People who don’t have lighting in their case may find the EL Tape cable a better option as it doesn’t blind you but gives you that little something extra that you may be wanting.
Both cables are excellent and it will depend on what you personally prefer. It will be interesting to see what Sunbeam have for us next time around as their newest products, which finally include professional retail packaging, impressed us a lot. The challenge is on Sunbeam!
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