In the past, technology was all about “keeping up with the Jones’”. Now, it’s not just about keeping up with those market savvy Jones’, it’s about finding ways to stand apart from them; differentiating yourself from the herd if you will. Computer modding has exploded into the market place, with products available for purchase from seemingly every local computer chain you can imagine. Sure, you’ve got your plexi window, enough CCFL lighting that could easily light up the local neighborhood, water cooling hardware that rivals the equipment found in an professional aquarium display, and an array of hardware and terminology that would all but baffle a large segment of today’s computer users.

So back to the question at hand, what do you add to the computer that has everything? Why not an LCD? No, not a monitor display; we’re talking about something that’s more along the size of your average 5.25”or 3.5” drive bay. “But how is that unique amongst what the Jones’ are buying?” you may ask. True, internal LCD displays are getting to be more popular on a daily basis amongst users, primarily for easy monitoring of pertinent system information such as temperatures, RAM usage, and such; but most of the models sold today are programmable, meaning that you are the one who can make them unique. Changing everything from the boot-up screen to what information is featured and how it’s featured; it’s all decided by you.

To that end, today we’ll be looking at the CFA-631 (CFA631-TMF-KU to be exact) USB LCD module from Crystalfontz. We’ll look into what it has to offer on both the hardware and software side of things.