# Ballistix Tracers mod... help please



## Fitseries3 (Feb 24, 2008)

i LOVE my ballistix tracers BUT.... they are too damn bright! i am trying to think of a way to dim the LED's to a more manageable level. i am also trying to come p with some sort of cooling method that still allows the ram to be shown off... just not SO bright. the only thing i can come up with is window tint. i haven't figured out how to mount it quite yet. any other ideas?


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## JUDAS3 (Feb 24, 2008)

lay a small piece of smoked plastic over the lights, that should do it.


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## hat (Feb 24, 2008)

You could REMOVE the LEDs I suppose...


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## Fitseries3 (Feb 24, 2008)

@judas   any pics?

@ HAT   kinda small and i don't want to kill my $200 in ram. i had thought of that as well though!


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## Fitseries3 (Feb 24, 2008)

this will give you an idea of how bright they are....


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## JUDAS3 (Feb 24, 2008)

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/3mm-Dark-Smok...ryZ26258QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem


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## Fitseries3 (Feb 24, 2008)

great idea. how would i mount it?


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## JUDAS3 (Feb 24, 2008)

http://www.gcip.co.uk/EP/perspex_sheet.htm


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## JUDAS3 (Feb 24, 2008)

you could cut a small strip sand it and hot melt it to the cooler brackets


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## Solaris17 (Feb 24, 2008)

take some whiteout and put it over the led's?


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## Corrosion (Feb 24, 2008)

Solaris17 said:


> take some whiteout and put it over the led's?



Best idea of all of these.


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## Fitseries3 (Feb 24, 2008)

Solaris17 said:


> take some whiteout and put it over the led's?



that has to be the quickest fix i've heard of!  maybe black out to match the ramsinks.

im looking for something not so permanent.


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## MrW (Feb 24, 2008)

Tin foil.


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## sneekypeet (Feb 24, 2008)

OCZ ramcooler over the top?


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## Fitseries3 (Feb 24, 2008)

come on guys.... im not looking for a quick fix here. this is a show quality build here. more pics in my SIG.


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## Fitseries3 (Feb 24, 2008)

sneekypeet said:


> OCZ ramcooler over the top?



that would be more like it. i dont want to add more LED's though. maybe change the fans?
or i could make something similar out of the smoked plexy? how about a smoked plexy air duct. that way the fan wont be covering the ram.


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## Solaris17 (Feb 24, 2008)

fitseries3 said:


> that has to be the quickest fix i've heard of!  maybe black out to match the ramsinks.
> 
> im looking for something not so permanent.



white out is white....it will make them less bright and sionce its white they will still show blue...and if you have to reapply or get ride of it it will wipe off with a q-tip and alcohol...


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## Fitseries3 (Feb 24, 2008)

im not worried about the blue LED's. just the yellow and red ones on the top.


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## Solaris17 (Feb 24, 2008)

it wont do anything...if you have a white out pen that would prob be better and you wouldnt even see if you were carefull enough


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## department76 (Feb 24, 2008)

MrW said:


> Tin foil.



horrible idea.  so it can fall and/or shortout his ram, or hit the back of the videocard and kill it, or get sucked into the psu or cpu fan.


i'd just take a black permanent marker to the LEDs.  quick, simple, safe, removable, effective.


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## sneekypeet (Feb 24, 2008)

fitseries3 said:


> that would be more like it. i dont want to add more LED's though. maybe change the fans?
> or i could make something similar out of the smoked plexy? how about a smoked plexy air duct. that way the fan wont be covering the ram.



I do believe that even the stock fans LEDs could be disabled on the OCZ cooler.


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## Fitseries3 (Feb 24, 2008)

sneekypeet said:


> I do believe that even the stock fans LEDs could be disabled on the OCZ cooler.



yeah, but i still want the ram to be visible. i know, i know, you can't have both. but... i know there is a way to have both things accomplished here.


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## niko084 (Feb 24, 2008)

Remove one of the connections on the led and place a small resistor on it that will cut the power to it a bit.

But probably not something you want to do...


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## Skrabrug (Feb 24, 2008)

try getting that paint stuff you get get from hobby stores that you use to draw images on glasses and so on with.. get the clear one and mix a little black into it and paint over the LEDs?... dunno if it would work though.


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## sneekypeet (Feb 24, 2008)

http://img150.imageshack.us/img150/3220/6756003ur2.jpg

Looks to me like they would do the job?!?!

But it is your toy!!!!!


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## Fitseries3 (Feb 24, 2008)

im thinking of making a more elaborate version of the VRM cooler on this board...
the green duct thingy. but just make it out of the smoked black plexy.


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## DanishDevil (Feb 24, 2008)

I would at least try the black marker idea.  The PCB on those is a beautiful black anyway, and it should dim it. And it is removable.  At least try it! 

What if you took that smoked plexi and made a little ram cooler out of it like this:

|fan|
| . . |
| . . |
| . . |
| . . |
|fan|

With the memory going vertically in the middle (dots are the led's ) and two ~40mm fans on top and bottom with airflow going up?  It would cool the ram, dim the LED's, and be one of a kind


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## Fitseries3 (Feb 24, 2008)

now your getting my idea! can't put the fans on the ends though. video card wouldn't allow for it.


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## Namslas90 (Feb 24, 2008)

sneekypeet said:


> OCZ ramcooler over the top?



I'll second that!

The clear plastic fan blades ahould difuse the light without blockinig it and improve cooling.


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## sneekypeet (Feb 24, 2008)

bigger fan at the top then ...possibly slot the bottom of the "tunnel" for better air intake?


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## Cold Storm (Feb 24, 2008)

I put black electric tape where the rubbing would be. I have it on mine and the ocz cooler works right.. plus i don't have the bottom screws on the cooler it self


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## Fitseries3 (Feb 24, 2008)

i just can't figure out how to explain it to you guys


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## JrRacinFan (Feb 24, 2008)

Try out some frosted contact paper. May work wonders.


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## Cold Storm (Feb 24, 2008)

fitseries3 said:


> i just can't figure out how to explain it to you guys



your video card is right next to the memory slot and it won't allow you do put anything on the memory like the ocz cooler... is that what your saying?


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## Fitseries3 (Feb 24, 2008)

no, just saying that if i made a duct, a fan could not be placed on both ends of the ram because of the video card. the OCZ fan would be fine, but it wouldn't be accomplishing my plan.


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## Cold Storm (Feb 24, 2008)

oh ok. get it now...


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## DanishDevil (Feb 24, 2008)

I'm gonna mess with a pic of it in photoshop in a bit.  I did that with a case I was thinking of building to see where I could put some radiators.  It's on my laptop though, so give me a bit.

Just a quick brainstorm... same config as before - scratch the two fans.  put another thing of plexi between the ram slots (keep each stick's heat seperate) and put a 90 degree fan duct at the top end and put a fan facing towards the mobo on that so if you're looking at it in the case it goes a little something like this:

 _____
|........|
|..FAN.|
|_____|
-------
| . | . |
| . | . |
| . | . |
| . | . |

and from the side:



_______________FANFANFAN
......................................./
RAM STICKS HERE............./
______________________/
.........MOBO PCB HERE......


AIRFLOW TO THE LEFT. TOP OF CASE ON RIGHT.


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## Bytor (Feb 24, 2008)

Mine were to bright for my liking also..

Being a Radio Control Sailplane flyer I still had a little old Monocote laying around that it used to cover the flying surfaces and it happens to be red in color.  

I cut it to the size as which will cover those lights, and used 2 sided clear tape to attach it.
The result is the green lights are not visible at all, but the red ones are alot dimmer.


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## infrared (Feb 25, 2008)

Very cunning Bytor.

When i saw the pic i thought it was sillicone fuel tubing, with a slit on one side which would also be quite effective. You could then experiment with various colours/diameters.


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## Fitseries3 (Feb 25, 2008)

this pic will help...
take note of the fan up top that exhausts to the outside of the case.

more pics in my sig. just updated.


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## DanishDevil (Feb 25, 2008)

After seeing that, and realizing that you can't find a 90degree fan duct anywhere anymore (i swear there used to be a thermaltake cooler that used a 60degree one or something), I would suggest doing the plexi box with only a fan up top pulling air up towards the exhaust fan, but the heat from your X2 is going to get sucked into the fan duct and over the RAM... hmm...


How about...(looking into the case)

FAN
PLEX
FAN

so you still get direct fan cooling, but the middle section of the LEDs is covered by the smoked plexi.

The OCZ cooler is two 60mm's, and they have a little space vertically, so if you use two 40mm fans, and a 40mm square plexi in the middle, it might fit


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## sneekypeet (Feb 25, 2008)

DanishDevil said:


> After seeing that, and realizing that you can't find a 90degree fan duct anywhere anymore (i swear there used to be a thermaltake cooler that used a 60degree one or something), I would suggest doing the plexi box with only a fan up top pulling air up towards the exhaust fan, but the heat from your X2 is going to get sucked into the fan duct and over the RAM... hmm...
> 
> 
> How about...(looking into the case)
> ...




In that case get the Corsair dominator fan and change out the center!


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## DanishDevil (Feb 25, 2008)

sneekypeet said:


> In that case get the Corsair dominator fan and change out the center!



DUH.  Haha good point.  Yeah since all the bright LEDs are in the center, just cut a 40mm smoke plexi and replace the middle fan!  No extra LEDs either


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## Fitseries3 (Feb 25, 2008)

im thinking of more of a plexy tube that attaches to the ram and ducts to the fan at the top that will suck the hot air off of the ram. make it out of the smoked plexi and there you go. i've got it!


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## philbrown23 (Feb 25, 2008)

fitseries3 said:


> that would be more like it. i dont want to add more LED's though. maybe change the fans?
> or i could make something similar out of the smoked plexy? how about a smoked plexy air duct. that way the fan wont be covering the ram.



Now that a good idea  I would stick with that one


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## Bytor (Feb 25, 2008)

I used a 90mm Delta fan that is angled in the 3 1/2" hard drive box of my Chieftec Dragon case to blow on the memory and the rest of the heatpipe.

Yellow arrow points to the fan.


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## Fitseries3 (Feb 25, 2008)

dont laugh....


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## Bytor (Feb 25, 2008)

As long as it cools....


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## Wile E (Feb 25, 2008)

fitseries3 said:


> dont laugh....



I'd say have it blowing air in, that way it throws a little extra cooler air on your gfx card as well. Every little bit helps.


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## DanishDevil (Feb 25, 2008)

I concur.  I've got my northbridge heatsink facing the back of my X2.  Even if it doesn't help, it looks damn cool, and I guess works in principle.  Seen here with my old VT 3870.  With the standard 3870, it blows directly on the back of the GPU, and with the X2, blows on the back of the PCI-E chip between the two GPUs.  If you set your duct up to blow air down, it would cool the back half of the back of the X2, and probably keep the vregs cooler.






And yes, that Crossfire bridge is just for looks


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## DanishDevil (Feb 26, 2008)

You've inspired me.  While messing with photoshop on how I'm going to route my cables, I decided I might make a plexi tunnel as well (mine might be clear though...or UVblue) that would lay over the RAM with an opening on the bottom with an 80mm fan here IN YELLOW:


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## Fitseries3 (Feb 26, 2008)

interesting.

just realized i hit 1400 posts!

my new friend is getting his site up in the next few days. he does a lot of custom case mods and knows plexi/lexan skillz like mad.

http://mkmods.com/


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## markkleb (Feb 26, 2008)

hey I know that guy, I wish he would stop being lazy and get that site working already....


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## Fitseries3 (Feb 26, 2008)

yeah. he should post the pics he took off OCN. to go from an ehhh/ok case to a KICK ASS case like that is awesome. it just goes to show that you can make just about any case look good. just mod it!

EDIT: not everyone has the talent that markkleb has though.


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## Skrabrug (Feb 28, 2008)

ever thought about cutting up a drinking straw to the right size then splitting it into half? then roundness part of it would keep it in place over the LEDs (thinking about doing this on my own ballistix ram)


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## Fitseries3 (Feb 28, 2008)

Skrabrug said:


> ever thought about cutting up a drinking straw to the right size then splitting it into half? then roundness part of it would keep it in place over the LEDs (thinking about doing this on my own ballistix ram)



now, just find a dark tinted straw. great idea!


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## Skrabrug (Feb 28, 2008)

fitseries3 said:


> now, just find a dark tinted straw. great idea!



even the white cloudy ones would work


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## DanishDevil (Feb 28, 2008)

Hmm...a smoke-colored straw... Don't think I've seen that before.  It would work well, though.


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## Skrabrug (Feb 28, 2008)

DanishDevil said:


> Hmm...a smoke-colored straw... Don't think I've seen that before.  It would work well, though.



some of the black staws have some level of temperance which the ballistix ram might be able to still show up through.


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## DanishDevil (Feb 28, 2008)

I was thinking that too.  A smoked one would be sweet though.

How about taking a clear straw, and taping it open with the inside up onto a desk, and spraying it lightly with some black paint.  Back when I used to build models, if you wanted a headlight with a chrome bezel and you didn't have a chrome piece, you painted the inside of a clear piece with silver.  Did it with black for some windows for tint too.  I hand-painted though, so it turned out a little too dark.  I think spray would work better.


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## Skrabrug (Feb 28, 2008)

DanishDevil said:


> I was thinking that too.  A smoked one would be sweet though.
> 
> How about taking a clear straw, and taping it open with the inside up onto a desk, and spraying it lightly with some black paint.  Back when I used to build models, if you wanted a headlight with a chrome bezel and you didn't have a chrome piece, you painted the inside of a clear piece with silver.  Did it with black for some windows for tint too.  I hand-painted though, so it turned out a little too dark.  I think spray would work better.



or you could dye some of the rubber tubing you get form electronics stores


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## Fitseries3 (Feb 28, 2008)

Skrabrug said:


> ever thought about cutting up a drinking straw to the right size then splitting it into half? then roundness part of it would keep it in place over the LEDs (thinking about doing this on my own ballistix ram)



ok...until MKMODS finishes my ram duct... i tried the straw idea. it works pretty good. im gonna use a sharpee to color it black and see if it works better. at least my entire living room isnt lit up anymore.


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## DanishDevil (Feb 28, 2008)

Sweet!  I was gonna suggest sharpie actually, but my experience with sharpies leads to kind of "smudgy" looking results.  But it's a perfect temporary fix!


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## Fitseries3 (Feb 28, 2008)

IT WORKS!!! looks kind crappy but it dims the LEDs down to where you almost dont notice them at all. just take a straw, cut  it to length, color it black with a sharpie and put it on your ram. pics soon.


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## Fitseries3 (Feb 28, 2008)

it's obviously dimmer....
after V.............before V


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## DanishDevil (Feb 28, 2008)

Sweetness!


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## Whilhelm (Feb 28, 2008)

I was considering doing this myself as four Tracers are really friggen bright. But too me the LED section of the memory gets way hotter then the rest of the stick. I dont know how much heat it takes to melt a straw but they get really hot and i think that covering them up may not be the most effective solution. I planned on getting a piece of tinted plexi and cutting it to fit over the memory area. I will use the motherboard mount holes to mount the perspex on risers. Also thought that a couple of holes for either an 80mm or a couple of smaller fans would also cool the ram better. The LEDs look cool but if you look at them for more then a few seconds they hurt your eyes because they are so bright. Once I get my WC gear I will make something up for my memory and get back to this thread.

The straw trick does look like a good quick fix for now. I may have to give it a go.

In the past I have used acrylic hobby paint to tint case fan LEDs to dim them. Worked really well actually. that may be an idea as well.


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## DanishDevil (Feb 28, 2008)

sneekypeet said:


> In that case get the Corsair dominator fan and change out the center!



^^ That might be a quick and easy option for you Whilhelm.


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## Whilhelm (Mar 4, 2008)

Tried a variation of the straw trick but I used some clear plastic from packaging instead and sharpied it black. Works mint until I come up with something unnecessarily complicated. 
My eyes are no longer constantly being harassed buy blinding flashing lights. The funny thing is you can actually see each green and red led better instead of a blinding, flashing orange mess. It also makes the blue "streetglow" way more noticeable .


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## orion23 (May 11, 2008)

I just bought 4 X 1GB of these TRACER RAM and it is damn bright...


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## Fitseries3 (May 11, 2008)

straw time. ROFL.


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## blkhogan (May 11, 2008)

I had an idea.... Fingernail polish. Find your wifes or girlfreinds stash and get a light to slightly clear color and dab a little on the leds. Let it dry and fire it up. You can add layers till you get the desired affect you are looking for. And it comes off easy. A little rubbing alcohol or nail polish remover.


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## Fitseries3 (May 11, 2008)

voids warranty though.


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## orion23 (May 11, 2008)

Has this been linked before?
http://www.ocforums.com/showthread.php?t=547864


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## trt740 (May 11, 2008)

sneekypeet said:


> http://img150.imageshack.us/img150/3220/6756003ur2.jpg
> 
> Looks to me like they would do the job?!?!
> 
> But it is your toy!!!!!



thats a very good Idea


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## trt740 (May 11, 2008)

blkhogan said:


> I had an idea.... Fingernail polish. Find your wifes or girlfreinds stash and get a light to slightly clear color and dab a little on the leds. Let it dry and fire it up. You can add layers till you get the desired affect you are looking for. And it comes off easy. A little rubbing alcohol or nail polish remover.



thats gonna light his case on fire fingernail polish is flammable.


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## Wile E (May 12, 2008)

trt740 said:


> thats gonna light his case on fire fingernail polish is flammable.



Only until it dries. Once dried, it's fine. Clear Finger Nail polish is what Damulta uses to waterproof his video cards for TEC use.


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## blkhogan (May 13, 2008)

Wile E said:


> Only until it dries. Once dried, it's fine. Clear Finger Nail polish is what Damulta uses to waterproof his video cards for TEC use.



True! The alcohol and other flamable materials evaporate off before hardning.


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## Da iLLeZt TL973 (May 13, 2008)

fit your memory slots have led's on the sides of them as well??


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## Fitseries3 (May 13, 2008)

Da iLLeZt TL973 said:


> fit your memory slots have led's on the sides of them as well??



that's on the tracers. it's underglow lighting. all the tracers have them... even my red tracers.


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## Da iLLeZt TL973 (May 13, 2008)

fitseries3 said:


> that's on the tracers. it's underglow lighting. all the tracers have them... even my red tracers.



thats sick i was looking at some tracers the other day on new egg and saw the new red ones but didnt know if they lit up or not


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