After 10 years, we're past peak RGB — but don't celebrate yet, stealth PC purists

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My last two personal builds have been with little or no added ARGB. Funny enough (as mentioned in the article) in an o11D "fishbowl" case as well. I specifically searched on one of the systems NOT to have any built in RGB on the motherboard, no lighted fans, just some very modest choices with an ARGB RAM I like and the AIO pump. In the latest iteration I have the ARGB on that same RAM off and use a non-lighted air cooler. The motherboard in the latest build has a couple of lights I haven't figured out (or cared enough) to turn off.

Written to say that ARGB choices abound, but there are still good hardware choices that don't shove that down your throat.

On the flip of that coin building a system with proper lighting integration and control has only gotten easier. Making a build that has that "professional" flair of proper matched lighting and control over everything isn't nearly the hassle it used to be. Right about the time I got rid of my personal single color RGB build the SO got wind of unicorn puke of which the supply house made that happen readily, easily, and with (as also mentioned in article) LOADS of hardware choices.
 
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I've owned a PC of one type or another almost literally since there have existed. My first was a Texas Instruments Ti-994A (that last 4 stood for 4 kilobytes of RAM!)

I can also see the future. When I first started seeing PC cases with windows in them I just shook my head and thought, "No one will buy those, who the hell wants to sit there and watch fans spin?"

OK, maybe the whole seeing the future thing wasn't so great. 🤣
 
EzzyB said:
I can also see the future. When I first started seeing PC cases with windows in them I just shook my head and thought, "No one will buy those, who the hell wants to sit there and watch fans spin?"
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I thought that too. Then I started water cooling. Being able to see if anything was leaking suddenly became a lot more important.
 
Or chassis designed with full length cards in mind, with an intake at the front and a straight shot to the back through the heatsink. Already have darn near 4 slot thick cards, almost 80mm. A thick 120mm with a little reduction to force air right through would be pretty neat. Fan at the rear as well and the GPU could be all heatsink.

I get wanting to sell a functional unit that is standalone, but the extremes Nvidia went to with the founder's edition cards is a bit much.
 
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rluker5 said:
I don't really care that much either way anymore, I just want a panel with a side fan for my GPU and I will cut a hole if I have to to get it.
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THIS is highly under-rated! I used an older Lian Li case (I believe it's a 1000B) for over 15 years. Literally 5 different computers built in it. I call it the "battlewagon." (It literally has wheels.) It was big, square, black and boring, but, it had:

1. A stunningly opaque side panel which saved me lifetimes of RGB whatnot and meticulous cable routing 😁
2. A mesh cutout for a 120mm fan and a bracket inside that brought fresh air directly onto the GPU.

I finally replaced it with a North XL last month with the mesh side that has two 140mm fans blowing directly on the GPU. I figure more is better, right?
 
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Eximo said:
I thought that too. Then I started water cooling. Being able to see if anything was leaking suddenly became a lot more important.
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Did I mention I was old?

So don't hate, but I still feel that the introduction of a conductive liquid inside of a box full of expensive electronics is, well, terrifying! 😜
 
I had a TI-99 as well, floor model with all the goodies, didn't get too much practical use out of it before my first IBM compatible really kicked things off. I watercooled my 4th gen system, poorly, with multiple AIO, and moved on to more custom cooling from that point on. That first AIO card actually did leak, but very slowly.

Luckily the traces are still far more conductive, so you really have to get water going between some specific points to cause damage, usually just results in a shutdown or reboot from what I have seen. Never really experienced an issue in my years of doing it, that leak was actually when a card was on loan and it was the AIO itself with a failed o-ring.

Now if we were talking the early days of water cooling, when voltages were a lot higher and ESD and other protections were not as robust, yeah, not so wise.
 
As a relatively newcomer in the PC building space, I managed to skip the entire rise and fall cycle of RGB. Not because I don't like it, but it seems I'm cursed with RGB enabled parts not working properly.

I've only ever got my RGB components (RAM and CPU cooler) work once, in which I set them all to purple, and they stayed that way for years. RGB software seemed to hate me, with NZXT Cam having compatibility issues with Microsoft Excel of all things, and I happened to pick up a motherboard with no RGB headers so I ended up... never bothering with it.

I have to say that I still like a well-made RGB PCs, by well-made I mean all the LED being set to the same colour.
 
Been building PC's since the mid-late '90's for my own and some friends/family use, but never made the plunge into lighting up my appliances, which to my mind is all a computer is. I don't hate it, if done in a tasteful way, but that seems to be the exception to the rule. My last personal build had a limited amount (GPU and Mobo) but it really only presented as a glow from inside rather than a neon sign screaming at you constantly, so this did not bother me. My current build is sans all RGB, not one bit. It is a clean and unobtrusive build and that is just how I like it, insuring that all its performances relate to 1's and 0's and not of the theatrical lighting variety.
 
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I'm new to the PC building space, but have used Linux for almost half a decade, and it's astonishing how much simpler OpenRGB is than the Windows alternatives. I download a single software and can control all my lights through the ARGB headers.

Dunno about the motherboard, though, my board has no lights. (and if i ever buy one with lights, i've been replaced 😛)
 
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