aRGB help

Mike_J_Smith · 6 Dec 2020 at 13:36

I’m building a new gaming PC, first one in 15 years! Ultimately it’s going to be water cooled as I’ve always wanted to try that. I’m trying to buy components now to spread the cost over a few months.

Back when I used to build computers it would have been UV based, now there’s all this aRGB and I want to use that in my build. Maybe subtlety and maybe not!

I’ve got a lian-li case on back order and need to order some fans.

For aRGB can I mix and match components? Eg Corsair fans, lian li case lighting, ekb waterblocks and then expect them to all work together? If not, how do you know what works together?

or is it easy to use multiple software?

Basically, I’m confused about how to buy aRGB components any advice welcome.

cheers

Hakanese · 6 Dec 2020 at 13:53

argb, problem is when you get different pieces from different maufacturers and they all require a piece of propriety software to control. Or in the case of cheap fans you get the ones that come with their own connectors to a little box that you can control with remote control, like a budget dvd player.

Best way to do it is have a look and see if they explain that they are compatible with whatever ARGB control systems are out there, like Msi's Mystic Dragon, or Asus Aura Sync, Corsair has Icue, Razer has their chroma.

I can tell you that Corsair ram will not allow any other software to control the lighting unless ICue is running in the background, you turn that off, lighting goes off.

I use an Asus mobo with Asus Aura/Armoury Crate software and it controls the lighting for my mobo, gpu, cheap case fans, case led and custom WC loop and I link it to Razer Chroma. tbh I am using Razer to do the lighting as they have more options and a much nicer set of controls, with Asus Aura, the options are kinda meh.

Mike_J_Smith · 6 Dec 2020 at 14:13

Hakanese said:
argb, problem is when you get different pieces from different maufacturers and they all require a piece of propriety software to control. Or in the case of cheap fans you get the ones that come with their own connectors to a little box that you can control with remote control, like a budget dvd player.

Best way to do it is have a look and see if they explain that they are compatible with whatever ARGB control systems are out there, like Msi's Mystic Dragon, or Asus Aura Sync, Corsair has Icue, Razer has their chroma.

I can tell you that Corsair ram will not allow any other software to control the lighting unless ICue is running in the background, you turn that off, lighting goes off.

I use an Asus mobo with Asus Aura/Armoury Crate software and it controls the lighting for my mobo, gpu, cheap case fans, case led and custom WC loop and I link it to Razer Chroma. tbh I am using Razer to do the lighting as they have more options and a much nicer set of controls, with Asus Aura, the options are kinda meh.

Ok thanks for the reply. so you can mix software. Does it have any downside other than being a pain? I guess syncing and not being able to do the same effects would be the most likely?

So something like these https://www.overclockers.co.uk/alpe...ddressable-rgb-fan-triple-pack-fg-02d-al.html
Would work with a number of software options?

what do you mean by link it to the fazer chroma? Is that a control box? Does it work with different components?

Hakanese · 6 Dec 2020 at 14:26

Yep the fans will work with all those motherboard manufacturer's own rgb control software.
Razer Synapse is like a hub software for all Razer products, mice keyboards, rgb peripherals. Some guy made a program called Aura Connect that allows the Razer software to take control of everything you have "connected" with Asus Aura Sync.
And gives you more options in regards to rgb choices/selections/effects.

Mike_J_Smith · 6 Dec 2020 at 21:22

Hakanese said:
Yep the fans will work with all those motherboard manufacturer's own rgb control software.
Razer Synapse is like a hub software for all Razer products, mice keyboards, rgb peripherals. Some guy made a program called Aura Connect that allows the Razer software to take control of everything you have "connected" with Asus Aura Sync.
And gives you more options in regards to rgb choices/selections/effects.

Gotcha, thanks.

Does anyone know if the lian li aRGB components only work with their own software? It can they be used with eg MSI? Can’t see anything to make me think they are anything other than proprietary only.

Hakanese · 6 Dec 2020 at 21:35

Think Case lights are compatible with all the main motherboard manufacturers, as they are just an led strip just one piece of advice, get a spare argb splitter, your motherboard may not have enough argb headers
and don't plug the RGB into the aRGB. you will short out your lighting.

Hakanese · 7 Dec 2020 at 22:21

Update, don't use Aura Sync anymore, the pos conflicted and took me a day to uninstall completely, best run with Asus Armoury, Razer Chroma studio, and Aura Connect.
Bloody rgb, the things we do for uniform lighting

geekyadz · 7 Dec 2020 at 22:34

Hakanese said:
Update, don't use Aura Sync anymore, the pos conflicted and took me a day to uninstall completely, best run with Asus Armoury, Razer Chroma studio, and Aura Connect.

Depends on what mobo OP has; no good to them running any Asus software if they have a MSI product...

However I do agree with Asus Aura being "meh", but I'm not convinced that Asus Armoury works with my Asus board. Last time I tried it, none of the motherboard headers or LEDs wanted to work (including the GPU LEDs)

Hakanese · 7 Dec 2020 at 22:49

Yeah, was just a heads, up, they stopped supporting Aura Sync, and Armoury which I updated conflicted so hard it crashed my pc out.
There's a list of things you need to do to redo a botched install of Armoury or sync or their bugs persist even through uninstall and a fresh install.
Asus make nice gear, but man they need to work on their software

Mike_J_Smith · 8 Dec 2020 at 10:39

Cheers guys.

I don't have the motherboard yet. I did get some Corsair RAM delivered yesterday so have been playing with the iCUE app; the effects you can get are pretty cool but I can see that the whole aRGB thing is crying out for standardisation and some really thorough software that works across platforms.

SonicSW20 · 8 Dec 2020 at 10:42

Mike_J_Smith said:
I don't have the motherboard yet. I did get some Corsair RAM delivered yesterday so have been playing with the iCUE app; the effects you can get are pretty cool but I can see that the whole aRGB thing is crying out for standardisation and some really thorough software that works across platforms.

Best way is to stay in the same ecosystem, so now you've got Corsair RAM, stick to Corsair fans / other components if you want RGB stuff.

geekyadz · 8 Dec 2020 at 14:32

Hakanese said:
Yeah, was just a heads, up, they stopped supporting Aura Sync, and Armoury which I updated conflicted so hard it crashed my pc out.
There's a list of things you need to do to redo a botched install of Armoury or sync or their bugs persist even through uninstall and a fresh install.
Asus make nice gear, but man they need to work on their software

Yeah I've had issues before with Asus Aura and the exact same issue with Armoury: basically go through C:\ProgramData\Package Cache and run the multiple installers if they show anything to do with Asus otherwise it will conflict/not install when trying to reinstall Aura. It's a complete PITA (and yes that does come from experience. Come on Asus get it together!)

Mike_J_Smith said:
Cheers guys.

I don't have the motherboard yet. I did get some Corsair RAM delivered yesterday so have been playing with the iCUE app; the effects you can get are pretty cool but I can see that the whole aRGB thing is crying out for standardisation and some really thorough software that works across platforms.

I kind of agree with @SonicSW20 :

SonicSW20 said:
Best way is to stay in the same ecosystem, so now you've got Corsair RAM, stick to Corsair fans / other components if you want RGB stuff.

Yes it will be easier, but will mean that you may need a controller for Corsair fans.

ARGB seems to be proprietary. For reference I am using a ASUS motherboard, and unable to controll the ARGB header. However RGB headers and the LEDs on the mobo, along with the Asus GPU I have, Corsair iCue can control them, which is fine. The major issue I have is that I am not sure if iCue can control other motherboard manfacturers.

In your case a Corsair controller and Corsair fans would make more sense and don't worry about the ARGB/RGB headers.

Mike_J_Smith · 8 Dec 2020 at 15:05

hmm, OK then. Maybe need to up my budget for fans then! Any thoughts on the Corsair RGB fans? £100 for 3! or 3 for a bargain 90!

Mike_J_Smith · 8 Dec 2020 at 15:15

I'd planned for these https://www.overclockers.co.uk/alpe...ddressable-rgb-fan-triple-pack-fg-02d-al.html which are £55 for 3. I'll probably have 6+ fans, so not a cheap investment. It looks like the Corsair fans don't work with other software either, which is a bit frustrating.

Hakanese · 8 Dec 2020 at 15:20

Those fans say they are compatible with Msi/Asus/gigabyte rgb controllers. even if you get corsair ram, you just need to install iCue, set the ram to software control, and your motherboard software will link it, you just have to have iCue running in the background though.

SonicSW20 · 8 Dec 2020 at 16:41

geekyadz said:
ARGB seems to be proprietary. For reference I am using a ASUS motherboard, and unable to controll the ARGB header. However RGB headers and the LEDs on the mobo, along with the Asus GPU I have, Corsair iCue can control them, which is fine. The major issue I have is that I am not sure if iCue can control other motherboard manfacturers.

There are a few projects about working on creating a unified control system for all manufacturers, one of those is Jacknet - https://rgbsync.com/

Not all manufacturers have an SDK available for developers to play with unfortunately, so support is not universal.

geekyadz · 8 Dec 2020 at 17:41

Mike_J_Smith said:
hmm, OK then. Maybe need to up my budget for fans then! Any thoughts on the Corsair RGB fans? £100 for 3! or 3 for a bargain 90!

Well instead of us having to guess and give suggestions that you sound like you don't have the budget for, hopw about telling us what motherboard you are after so we can make sure you do get something that is compatible?

SonicSW20 said:
There are a few projects about working on creating a unified control system for all manufacturers, one of those is Jacknet - https://rgbsync.com/

Not all manufacturers have an SDK available for developers to play with unfortunately, so support is not universal.

Maybe and I applaud their efforts, but no one seeems to of made ARGB controllable - therefore my point still stands. Excuse the rant, but:

Whats the point of only controlling it with that kind of software when I have 7 items (6 fans and my PSU also has ARGB LEDs) that are on my ARGB header which no one can control except Asus Aura Sync (and even then only one colour, really Asus, REALLY?! The ARGB controller I receieved with my first ARGB fan is capable of doing a rainbow effect or show a couple of LEDs on a fan so why can't we controll that better with Aura, or is this why they want us to go to Amroury Crate?)

Sorry for the rant: it is not aimed at you (it's aimed at all the ARGB board manfacturers but especially Asus ie don't be so locked down)

FYI that software still looks like it needs motherboard software installed if it wants to controll everything though so again what is the point of that? Lucky for me I can control my RGB on my motherboard (headers and LEDs on IO panel) and my GPU though iCue. It is just disappointing that Asus didn't open up the ARGB for them when they have clearly worked with Corsair to allow iCue to controll the other RGB stuff (and even then you need Aura - no mention of Armoury Crate! Though Armoury Crate uses newer versions of the stuff in c:\programdata\package cache which if you don't clear out before reinstalling Aura will cause you merry hell as Aura will just say it is installed but won't work)

ttaskmaster · 8 Dec 2020 at 18:01

Mike_J_Smith said:
I'd planned for these https://www.overclockers.co.uk/alpe...ddressable-rgb-fan-triple-pack-fg-02d-al.html which are £55 for 3. I'll probably have 6+ fans, so not a cheap investment. It looks like the Corsair fans don't work with other software either, which is a bit frustrating.

The biggest problem for aRGB fans and some other kit is the proprietary connectors used by the likes of Corsair, Phanteks, etc.

Aquacomputer do fan controllers, RGB hubs and the like which can interface with Corsair, NZXT and a couple of others.
Their RGB suite is one of the best out there, and it's part of their system monitoring software that is also excellent.
They have their own RGBpx kit with proprietary connectors, but they also do adapters (male and female) that interface with standard 3-pin aRGB connectors, so you can use any other such kit freely.

The only thing they can't control is motherboard stuff though, which is down to whichever motherboard and RAM you choose.
Happily, though, Aquacomputer stuff runs off a USB header, so you don't even need a mobo with RGB headers.

Mike_J_Smith · 8 Dec 2020 at 18:59

Hakanese said:
Those fans say they are compatible with Msi/Asus/gigabyte rgb controllers. even if you get corsair ram, you just need to install iCue, set the ram to software control, and your motherboard software will link it, you just have to have iCue running in the background though.

I didn't realise you can do that! It worked but the MSI software is rubbish compared to the iCue

Hakanese · 8 Dec 2020 at 19:12

yeah, welcome to the wonderful world of controling your rgb