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#4326720 - 01/07/17 09:07 PM RGB lighting --- why??!?  
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- Ice Offline
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About 10+ years ago, I had a PC case that had LED lighting along the front, just two strips that light up blue. I never plugged them in as I just thought of them as wasting electricity and also lighting up my room unnecessarily. Around that time, cases with clear sides were starting to come out as well, showing watercooling setups and whatnot.

Fast forward to today. RGB lighting on keyboards, headphones, PC cases, GPUs, and even RAM kits. I just watched a video about RGB lighting on watercooling fixings. I have just one question: WHY??

Do people build PCs just to look at the case? Do people even care what the lighting is on their headphones? Who can appreciate a lighted-up keyboard when they're playing their favorite game?

I can see the point if you're building a PC to show off to your friends, a "I got more money than you do!" statement, but I'd rather blow their minds away by my ultra graphics settings and high framerates and smooth gameplay than ogling at the hardware that makes that possible.

As a smaller issue -- what's with the fad of those cherry switches? I remember the keyboards of old... when I had to type softly so as not to wake my parents up biggrin but when membrane keyboards were developed and I could type in peace and quiet, that was it! Why are we going back to the old-and-noisy keys?


- Ice
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#4326734 - 01/07/17 09:58 PM Re: RGB lighting --- why??!? [Re: - Ice]  
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I have both an illuminated and cherry switched keyboard.You'll have to pry it from my cold dead hands before I give it up.

It's illuminated so I can play in the dark or low light conditions. The key action,to me is far far superior to any membrane keyboard I've ever owned.

My PC has a window,and some sort of light in it but it's wasted as I have it in a section of my PC desk that is enclosed both sides. My lights aren't for show wink


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#4326743 - 01/07/17 10:24 PM Re: RGB lighting --- why??!? [Re: - Ice]  
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Originally Posted By: - Ice
About 10+ years ago, I had a PC case that had LED lighting along the front, just two strips that light up blue. I never plugged them in as I just thought of them as wasting electricity and also lighting up my room unnecessarily. Around that time, cases with clear sides were starting to come out as well, showing watercooling setups and whatnot.

Fast forward to today. RGB lighting on keyboards, headphones, PC cases, GPUs, and even RAM kits. I just watched a video about RGB lighting on watercooling fixings. I have just one question: WHY?? because it looks cool.

Do people build PCs just to look at the case? Do people even care what the lighting is on their headphones? Who can appreciate a lighted-up keyboard when they're playing their favorite game? no not just too look at the case.. I don't care to much for light up headphones.. I appreciate a lit up keyboard in the dark scenes plus it looks cool

I can see the point if you're building a PC to show off to your friends, a "I got more money than you do!" statement, but I'd rather blow their minds away by my ultra graphics settings and high framerates and smooth gameplay than ogling at the hardware that makes that possible. well I definitely am the poor guy on the block I can almost gurarantee it I just think the light up keyboard and cases look cool.. I still don't know the keyboard that well and when I need to find a key fast the lights help see it better..

As a smaller issue -- what's with the fad of those cherry switches? I remember the keyboards of old... when I had to type softly so as not to wake my parents up biggrin but when membrane keyboards were developed and I could type in peace and quiet, that was it! Why are we going back to the old-and-noisy keys? well it is about choice I prefer the mechanical keyboard now makes it feel like I hit the key. with the membrane ones I was not too sure if the key typed or not cause when I type I look at the keyboard not the screen.. It helps knowing I actuially pressed the button and if it ticks I know unlike a membrane keyboard well for me anyhow..

Last edited by The Nephilim; 01/07/17 10:25 PM.

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#4326745 - 01/07/17 10:30 PM Re: RGB lighting --- why??!? [Re: - Ice]  
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I find the RGB lighting on my keyboard quite handy. Apart from gaming in low-light the keys can be configured into groups under particular colours and associated with gaming profiles. Same with the mouse......I associate a certain colour with a gaming profile so just need to cycle through colours for instant recognition of how the mouse and buttons are configured for a particular game.

Once you've used a mechanical keyboard, going back to a membrane feels like touching a sponge. You can also get little rubber bumpers to negate the 'clicking' noise but still have the feedback from the likes of a cherry 'red' switch.


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#4326759 - 01/08/17 12:01 AM Re: RGB lighting --- why??!? [Re: - Ice]  
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I have a Logitech Wave keyboard, which is certainly not a gaming keyboard, and I have no problems typing with it (at least as long as the batteries are good!!), but I also touch-type so I know when I pressed the wrong button as the wrong character appears on the screen. I think typing "pressure" is dependent on the keyboard and the user can adjust his style, personally, I find typing on a Mac laptop to be a differet experience... then there's the computers at work that I need to mash down on the keys like an old, mechanical typewriter frown

I see the point of being able to see in the dark and profile indication... but my G700S mouse has three small LEDs on the side which tells me which profile it's on. No need for RGB lighting there. If a keyboard can highlight different keys with different colors, maybe WASD is one color, P is another color, 12345 is another color, then it'll be cool AND functional. As for playing in the dark, well, I guess most of my gaming occurs with a manual on my lap so no go there, but then again, I don't necessarily find the need to game in the dark when playing other games.

I've had a few "test types" on the gaming keyboards at the local Curry's store but aside from the noise, I don't see much difference between those £80 keyboards and my 6-year-old Logitech Wave.

So I've been presented with the functionality of RGB lighting on keyboards and mice... so what's the deal with case lights and the myriad of lighting options therein? My current motherboard even has lighting options for the I/O panel at the back and the audio panel inside the case. My GPU has options for lighting as well. Are these all to "look cool"? But even when that reasoning is used, then that means you're got your tower case ON the table beside you rather than UNDER the table out of the way.


- Ice
#4326791 - 01/08/17 02:52 AM Re: RGB lighting --- why??!? [Re: - Ice]  
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I like backlighting on my keyboard. As for headphones, they're on my Logitech 933 wireless headphones and a total waste of time. It's not like you can see it anyway. Maybe some kind of use for LAN parties/tournaments or something, each teach having either red or blue etc, look up remember who might be on the team? I have no idea. Fortunately the controls let me just light up the "G" so I know if it's still powered on when I hang the up.

For the case...it's like anything else, you like it when it looks good. The clear side makes it easy to check for dust and I'm proud of the pc I built and like to look at it. Lighting...why not? It's fun. Hardly about money, people buy pre-built systems for a hell of a lot more. I built my system myself over time. No one really sees it anyway, it's just for my own satisfaction and finding it aesthetically pleasing.
Not a bad excuse to show it though. wink






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#4326793 - 01/08/17 03:02 AM Re: RGB lighting --- why??!? [Re: - Ice]  
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Different strokes....

My keyboard uses simple white LED's and it works just fine, I don't need all the crazy colors and presets. I do have 2 fans with red LED's that came with the case, but luckily I can turn them off. Too many lights is just distracting, and since my PC is in my bedroom it makes it impossible to sleep when it's lit up like a Christmas tree lol

#4326797 - 01/08/17 03:12 AM Re: RGB lighting --- why??!? [Re: - Ice]  
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Sweet case and setup, RK!! But yeah, you're exactly the guy I'm talking about!! biggrin I like my case and it looks good. I don't need to look inside it. But better yet, the components inside RUN GOOD and perform very well! As for the dust, I clean my PC out once a year but this is a serious clean, like wiping the fans, blowing dust out of the heatsinks, etc. I used to check more often but found out I don't really need to clean more than that.

I'm in the same boat as Joey... one of my external HDDs has a white light that blinks every now and again and it annoys me so I placed it "strategically" so as not to be visible smile
Although my PC is not in my bedroom...


- Ice
#4326808 - 01/08/17 05:20 AM Re: RGB lighting --- why??!? [Re: - Ice]  
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I'm in the same boat ... couldn’t care less about lighting in my computer case ... unless I have to pay extra for it ... then it just pisses me off. I bought an ASUS Strix video card with RGB recently ... totally unnecessary lighting that I hope I didn’t have to pay a lot extra for.

I still love my G510 keyboard though ... it's got a little screen for various information displays. I can’t even remember when I bought it ... the thing is a TANK and the lit keys are mandatory in my darkened command center! biggrin

I'll always be a "function over form" guy.

#4326813 - 01/08/17 06:10 AM Re: RGB lighting --- why??!? [Re: - Ice]  
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These days function over form isn't really a choice you have to make. You just get both. To go water cooling, you'd have to go custom to AVOID lighting being a part of it. I think it's gotten so cheap to include that manufacturers figure "why not". I didn't install any lighting, that's all built into fans, water cooling, sound card, graphics card. The fans were a choice, but since lighting was already part of it with other components, I figure why not? I'm proud of what I built, a little bling doesn't hurt. wink
My rig is in my office area and the clear side pointing away, so it's not a distraction. Coolest lamp in the house with mood lighting.
biggrin

Some prefer the old school heavy beige 1998 IBM tower PC cases too. Pure function. Not me, but everyone has their own taste. That's the nice thing about building yourself.


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#4326815 - 01/08/17 06:45 AM Re: RGB lighting --- why??!? [Re: - Ice]  
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Yup, it's all good ... I just wish "matte black" was always the cheapest option. smile

#4327010 - 01/08/17 11:12 PM Re: RGB lighting --- why??!? [Re: - Ice]  
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Well, it's a good thing you can turn off most if not all of these lighting options!

I'm just sick and tired of looking at specs for stuff and they all boast "16M lighting options!!" Yeah, like the guy with 3 million colors is going to miss the other 13 million colors...


- Ice
#4327208 - 01/09/17 03:42 PM Re: RGB lighting --- why??!? [Re: - Ice]  
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I have two bright blue LEDs on the front of my case, but it's not in my bedroom and it's off to the side so I don't see them. It's one of those Antec Sonatas with the "piano gloss black" finish and I've had it like 10 years now. Replaced the PSU and all the insides several times over by now.

My mouse has an LED representing the sensitivity level...that I haven't changed since the first month I got the thing.

My keyboard is a Logi G15 with the little display and backlighting. It's always red-orange. Purely utilitarian and useful in low-lighting. The display used to be really worthwhile with profiles for all these games and a few games natively supported it with info that made it a tiny 2nd monitor.
About all I can do with nowadays is have TS3's plugin there (lets me see who's talking, channel info, mute, change channels, etc) or the simple performance app that shows me CPU and RAM usage while I'm playing. Back when I had 4GB of RAM it was good as I could tell when I was going to crash. smile Using 90%? Any minute now...
Now I mostly use it to know if a game froze up or not. If the CPU usage drops to 0% and stays there while in game...it's stuck. Or if the CPU percentage itself freezes in place, same thing.

The rest is just fluff and distracting.



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#4327311 - 01/09/17 07:38 PM Re: RGB lighting --- why??!? [Re: - Ice]  
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To sell new hardware, and to markup the price.

A few years ago mechanical keyboards were in demand, and obviously back lighting was taking off. Problem is mechanical keyboards last longer, or are supposed to. So how do they sell more? Make more gimmicks of course. smile


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