How Do You Deal With Different RGB Lighting Brands?

SquirrelMadness · 26 Nov 2023 at 21:53

Corsair keyboard (so iCue always running),
NZXT Cooler,
G-Skill RAM,
Lian-Li fans.

Do you have to have all their respective software installed?

RTX card actually shows up in iCue.

What happens if no software is installed... what colour do they light up?

Hawk Tuah · 26 Nov 2023 at 23:48

SignalRGB.

Most will default to 'RGB rainbow effect'.

PaulM · 27 Nov 2023 at 10:10

I use OpenRGB but read the warnings before using it

pastymuncher · 27 Nov 2023 at 10:52

I use OpenRGB as I was fed up with multiple apps just to run some pretty lights. Never had any problems with it. Just set it once and forget about it.

SoundsGood · 27 Nov 2023 at 12:40

PaulM said:
I use OpenRGB but read the warnings before using it

What are the warnings? I couldn't find them

SquirrelMadness · 27 Nov 2023 at 12:41

Ahh OK. Do you need one of those fan controllers/connector blocks for that software to work? I haven't tinkered with PC builds for a while from what I remember I plugged fans right into the mobo.

SquirrelMadness · 27 Nov 2023 at 12:43

Also if you have an AIO with a screen on it that's definitely a use case for official software?

My Logitech mouse works without G-Hub running (actually G-Hub drains the battery real bad so should be turned off) but the Corsair K95 needs iCue because no decent RGB settings can actually be saved to hardware... only basic ones.

Glanza · 27 Nov 2023 at 12:47

Case fans and RGB strips are wired into the case to control through that, ram and mobo via mobo software.

PaulM · 27 Nov 2023 at 13:03

SoundsGood said:
What are the warnings? I couldn't find them

In the repository readme (https://gitlab.com/CalcProgrammer1/OpenRGB), it's basically just a general warning/disclaimer that there have been very rare instances where it's bricked a certain hardware combination.

This project interacts directly with hardware using reverse engineered protocols. While we do our best to make sure we're sending the right data, there is always some risk in sending data to hardware when we don't understand exactly how that hardware works.

There have been two instances of hardware damage in OpenRGB's development and we've taken precautions to prevent it from happening again.

The Mystic Light motherboard code bricked the RGB controller of some MSI motherboards. The code was disabled and reworked. We have been re-adding these motherboards to the support list as we verify that the new code works with them. Affected boards can be unbricked with a Nuvoton Nu-Link adapter.

There were reports of bricked Gigabyte Aorus Z390 motherboards caused by dumping SMBus address 0x68 in an attempt to reverse engineer the RGB. Due to this, the SMBus Tools page on OpenRGB is hidden by default now as it has no real use to non-developers.

I assume all 3rd party (paid or free) software would be susceptible to this though as they're all using undocumented protocols. I've used OpenRGB for 3 years without a problem