Tips for a well-lit PC gaming zone: LEDs and neon lights to brighten up the desktop

Tips for a well-lit PC gaming zone: LEDs and neon lights to brighten up the desktop

As with all mass hobbies, the agglomeration of images, symbols, and ideas around something favors the creation of quirk around those hobbies. Some canons of what is attractive and what is rejected. In the case of the players, this image is included in what we would call “The Gamer Aesthetic” modern; one that has changed a lot over the years but is now defined by acrylic, clean, minimalist lines and dynamic lighting.

This last one was one of the first elements introduced into this aesthetic, with the first cases appearing at the beginning of the last decade; even sooner if we take care of their ancestors. While it may seem unbelievable to those who have been into this hobby for several years, dynamic RGB lighting has been with us for a long time, being refined and adapted to new tastes, giving rise to the aptly named smart lighting; a light inspired by the fluorescence of neons and the contrasts of photographic works, much less intrusive than its predecessors but more present than these.

Today we want to introduce ourselves to these aesthetic lines and give you our advice to get the most out of our hardware and its shapes, especially in the case of the PC, as well as some recommendations for buying accessories that improve the lighting of our gaming area. . We invite you to join us again on this journey.

neon lights

It must be made clear what we are going to cover in this text, as is the case with all decorations it is an accessory item and therefore dispensable in relation to the rest of the members of our play area. We are talking about elements that are not necessary to play with our systems; but it would be very risky to ignore the satisfaction of using a space that we have invested some time and effort in adding a personal touch to. It is to this sentiment that we appeal as we write these lines, and we humbly ask that you bear this in mind as you consume the content of this text.

However, it is time to talk about the accessory element that we will refer to today: lighting. Something so simple and innocuous that it seems difficult to even assign the label “decorative element”; but what can fundamentally change the environment of a space based on its use or even how it reacts to our activities, which seemed strange to us a few years ago, but now it is very easy to achieve.

When we talk about lighting in a context like this, it usually refers to the customizable RGB LED lighting and their ecosystems. These ecosystems are the key element to build and manage the lighting of our space and prevent everything from becoming a random color festival. Luckily, many of the lighting devices are compatible with several of the above ecosystems, as well as syncing options that can help us change how that lighting works to favor a particular environment or function.

It is on these ecosystems that we will focus when providing our advice and recommendations, trying to encompass the various elements chosen around one – or more – of them. As a brief summary, these are some of the most common -not the only ones- in the world of the PC and its components:

• Asus Aura Sync. Asus’ offering works with everything in its Rog series, as well as a good number of third-party devices. This is its greatest strength since Asus doesn’t make many components with built-in lights that are a normal part of PCs or other devices.
• Corsair iCUE. Because of the sheer number of devices Corsair makes, this is one of the richest ecosystems on the market today. In addition, it offers several ways to easily integrate controllable lighting devices into the ecosystem via HUD or software.
• Logitech G lighting. The Swedish brand’s proposal stands out for its enormous configuration capacity via software and for its good compatibility with other ecosystems; whether they come from the PC hardware world or not, as in the case of Logitech Harmony, from the company itself.
• Razer Chroma. The Razer alternative can easily boast excellent compatibility with systems outside the peripheral world like Philips HUE Control or similar.

The light sources of our PC

While lighting beyond the typical power LEDs isn’t common on consoles, dynamic lighting is much less so; In the PC, it is normal and common to find these types of light elements in several of the common components of these devices.

One of the most common within this group of parts is the tower of our equipment, since it is responsible for housing the rest of the parts, as well as the “platform” where the above parts will be connected. Many of the manufacturers of these towers have their own ecosystems as well as ways to coordinate the lighting of the elements associated with them. An example of this can be the NZXT towers with “i” designationwhich contain an intelligent controller for the parts that use the RGB connectors of our devices.

Brands like the aforementioned Corsair go one step further and include all lighting its towers in its ecosystems; while other companies, like Phanteks, give a little more freedom in these aspects. Following on from our Computer Towers special, some models that we particularly like for their lighting—or options for it—are the following:

• Corsair iCUE 4000X (for around 119.99 euros). The company’s entire series of iCUE towers would automatically come as recommendations from any user with products from this ecosystem; but in the area of ​​ATX towers, we have a certain fondness for this model due to its finish and its air intakes.
• Phanteks Eclipse P400A (for about 89.99 euros). The Phanteks Eclipse series has always been one of our favorites when it comes to price features. This revamped version features air cooling improvements and includes proprietary control for its RGB fans compatible with various advanced ecosystems.
• Nox Hummer TGM (for around 64.90 euros). With a much lower price than the previous two options, but not for that reason with advantages; This Nox family tower has good cooling performance and RGB fans are included. To be able to use the lighting, we must manage this lighting from the motherboard.

But also the components in these towers have become a typical light source for our devices; from fans and other cooling elements to vital parts like motherboard, RAM memory and even graphics cards have succumbed to the trend of dynamic lighting. Of all these pieces we find the most consistent support for this type of decoration and its characteristics in the cooling and its accessories. consider. Within this group, these are some of the suggestions we like the most:

• Cooler Master Masterfan MF120R ARGB (Three for about 46.41 euros). The name “ARGB” implies that the lighting of these fans is adjustable through the connector, so their compatibility is linked to that of the device on which we place them. Considering their relatively cheap price, they are one of the top rated alternatives to introduce lighting in our tower through cooling.
• Corsair LL120 RGB (Three for about 119 euros with Lighting Node). Possibly the best backlit fans on the market today that also carry the Corsair brand seal when it comes to cooling. Unfortunately controlling your lighting depends on your connection to a branded Lighting Node, this pack includes one although it makes the price much more expensive.
• EZDIY-FAB Ring Series (Three for $39.99 with ARGB controller). To wrap up these recommendations, we’re including this EZDIY model for one simple reason: its price. For the $37 a pack of three of these fans costs us, we also get the ARGB controller to sync them to our board. In addition, they fulfill their function as part of the refrigeration system in a very correct way.

These recommendations are just suggestions for decorating the room – or our gear if we need to play. Whether or not we acquire these products is a decision that, as we said above, must be made in the ecosystem in which we are putting the greatest effort. This is a maxim that we must always bear in mind.

Light sources outside of our equipment

Although elements of our gear can give us all the customization we want in terms of lighting, the number one way to truly personalize our play space will come from the accessories we use primarily.

This Accesories They come in different forms and with different uses and applications, but we will focus on those that we consider common on a desktop, namely the gaming area, which we will focus on in this text. Three are chosen: smart bulbs/lamps, LED strips and our own peripherals.

For the last one, We urge you to select those that best suit our needs regardless of something so banal – compared to use …