[SOLVED] Please, can you help me understand RGB-compatibility?

[Bar Weinig]

Hi all,

I'm making a parts-list for my first self build PC and it is going to be RGB-less (except some on the back of my MSI motherboard, that I will probably keep turned off). I am considering adding some Phanteks Helos ARGB fan-frames and Neon ARGB LED-strips to it, to light the components up some. Because I still would like to play around with ARGB, I'd like to buy a full RGB keyboard (Corsair / Razor / Logitech G) to go along with the ARGB from Phanteks. Finding good information about RGB manufacturer compatibility, has proven to be a nightmare and I hope somebody can help me out.

In short:

• I'd have an MSI motherboard (which RGB I won't use) which works with MSI Mystic Lights.
• I'd have a Corsair (Corsair iCue RGB-software), Razor (Razor Chroma RGB-software) or Logitech G (Logitech Lightsync RGB-software) keyboard.
• I'd have Phanteks RGB-parts which reportedly only work with Asus Aura, MSI Mystic Lights and Razor Chroma.

I have tree things I really would like to accomplish:

• Use just one program to control all the lighting.
• LED's on keyboard and/or LED-strips, to display CPU / GPU temperature.
• LED's on keyboard and/or LED-strips, to display audio-signal.

Questions:

1. Can software read all the component-temperatures and audio data, meaning I'm not forced to work with the motherboards manufacturer's RGB software?
2. Assuming the Phanteks RGB needs to be connected to the RGB-headers on the MSI motherboard, could I still do without MSI Mystic Lights?
3. Assuming the Phanteks compatibility is my bottleneck: could I use Razor Chroma software with a Corsair keyboard? (so, no Razor components at all)
4. Does Logitech work with any of these programs, because I can't find anything about it...?
5. I read some negative stuff about Corsair iCue being resource heavy, that's why I lean more toward Razor Chroma. Is there anything to this?
6. MSI Mystic Light has a "compatible components list", which seems illogical and incomplete, making me doubt I should rely on it... Justifiably so?

I'm open to any insight. If you have links to help me out, those are more than welcome too.

Thanks in advance,
Bar.

 

[hang-the-9]

The best solution for RGB is to keep with the same brand and one software if that is what you want, not going with different brands.

1. If the components are not attached to anything, how will the software read the data? Software is not magic, it has to have some information coming in to do anything with it, either USB or to the motherboard.

2. The Phanteks case will need a supported motherboard connector and software to run it, which one does not matter as long is it's supported.

3. https://press.razer.com/company-new...ow-supported-by-25-brands-across-500-devices/ Don't see Corsiar there

4. See 3, same thing, different software and brands.

5. Yes iCue uses quite a bit of resources but not enough to bother worrying about, most of the issues are not really issues but people saying "why does it run like this".

6. They probably did not test every single RGB device so yes it's very likely the list is incomplete.

 

[Bar Weinig]

Thank you Hang-the-9,
That helps me understand the mess a lot more! Reading your response, I realized how poorly I formulated the first question... I am still trying to figure out how all the components work together and that noobness is showing.

I think I can guess the answer I was looking for from your other answers, but I would like to re-formulate:
If I have a MSI motherboard, do I have to work with MSI Mystic Lights? Or could I use some other brand's software?
I guess the answer is: if that other brand's software has support for MSI components, it should work.

Thanks again!

PS.: I should have considered that MSI's compatible components list would work the same as any QVL. It is just strange they don't just list brands... But, I can understand that choice.

 

[hang-the-9]

Thank you Hang-the-9,
That helps me understand the mess a lot more! Reading your response, I realized how poorly I formulated the first question... I am still trying to figure out how all the components work together and that noobness is showing.

I think I can guess the answer I was looking for from your other answers, but I would like to re-formulate:
If I have a MSI motherboard, do I have to work with MSI Mystic Lights? Or could I use some other brand's software?
I guess the answer is: if that other brand's software has support for MSI components, it should work.

Thanks again!

PS.: I should have considered that MSI's compatible components list would work the same as any QVL. It is just strange they don't just list brands... But, I can understand that choice.

Since you are starting the build clean, I suggest don't worry too much about matching every RGB thing you will have. I generally divide things into two, inside case, outside case. Fans, case light strips, RAM, maybe video card it if has RGB good idea to make sure they work together and through motherboard headers if possible. Not fully needed, but will make it easier. Mouse and keyboard run off another software. Two separate configurations are easier to get working than making sure everything works with only one solution.

 

[Paperdoc]

I'll add a few points.

You appear aware that plain RGB is quite different from Addressable RGB (aka ADDR RGB, ARGB, or Digital RGB) and you cannot mix them on one circuit. Your focus above in on ARGB systems.

The NAME of the software utility does NOT tell you all you need. Many mobo makers sell some mobos with NO RGB headers, some with only plain RGB, some with only ADDR RGB, and some with both types of headers. Each maker has their trademarked name for the software utility they supply to work with their mobos (e.g., MSI Mystic Light, ASUS Aura Sync, Gigabyte RGB Fusion, etc.) Each of these works with BOTH types of headers on the mobo, so the software name does NOT tell you which type of header is on which board. When you look for a mobo with ARGB headers (MSI calls then JRAINBOWn headers in their manuals), look at the board specs carefully or in their manuals for the detail of exactly what header hardware is on the board. The exact details of what displays can be generated by each maker's software differs from one maker to another.

There is one very common ARGB connector widely used on mobos - looks like it had four pins in a row, but one pin is missing. There is a second used by some. But several of the third-party lighting and fan accessory makers got into this field early and used their own connectors which others did not adopt, so theirs is now kind of "non-standard", for this often you can get an adapter cable to connect to a mobo header, but sometimes not.

Phanteks makes several RGB and Digital RGB lighting accessories, and you want the digital ones. They use Phanteks connectors that are not the common ones. Their Digital RGB Neon LED Kit combo contains two light strips, two cables and mounting holders. One cable appears to be simply an extension cord to reach between strips, but the other appears to be an adapter cord to allow you to plug into a common mobo 3-pin ARGB header. The light strips themselves have female Phanteks connectors on one end and males on the other so you can daisy-chain them. Their Haolos Digital RGB Fan Frame appears to come with a Phanteks daisy-chain type of connector system on it also. Their other frame, the Halos Lux Digital RGB Fan Frame, has a similar cable and a metal frame, but appears to include also one of their adapter cables. If you want NOT to use a mobo header with the PHanteks units, they sell their own Digital Controller Hub which includes a manual control button box, plus cables to connect to a mobo header if you choose. that MIGHT be useful for several digital RGB Phanteks units, or you might use a 3-pin RGB Splitter cable and adapters.

If you make use of an ARGB header on the MSI mobo for power and control of these items using the Mystic Light utility, those adapter cables will be needed. Mystic Light can manage only those headers, of course. So for external components like keyboard etc., I really like the idea from hang-the-9 above that you use a separate supplier with their own software utility for those external devices. Of course, that would mean you could not synchronize the displays from the two different groups of lighting devices, if that is a factor for you, but it would simplify things.

 

[Bar Weinig]

I'll add a few points.

Great information Paperdoc. Thanks for those "few points"! You get the picture.

I first looked at the MSI X570 Unify Mobo, later on I found that the cheaper MSI X570 Tomahawk got as good test-results as the Unify. Now I'm pretty set on the Tomahawk. I've spent the last two weeks looking for the best parts in my price-range and it ends up all the main parts have no LED's on them (except for the Tomahawk itself).
I've seen my brother use his RGB to display CPU and GPU temperature and that is just fantastic, but of course I can do without. Having completed the parts-list, I found out buying a mechanical keyboard without LEDs is kinda hard and that some people use programming their keyboard lighting as sort of a hobby. I can totally see myself doing that, just like I would play a game. This changed my perspective a little.
Having a fully lit up keyboard, but a darked-out case (gonna buy the Phanteks P600S) is kind of a shame. Then I found an image of someone just draping a Phanteks Neon in his case and loved that idea. Next to that, I do like the view of 3 lit fans in the front, through the mesh. So, that's where I landed. No RGB-components, just some D-RGB-parts to use with my keyboard. The whole point is then, to program the D-RGB with the keyboard.

Then I found out that bringing those parts together is not as straight forward as I'd assumed... But, by now, I think it can be done. I'm building a list of programs that support the possible keyboards (looking at Corsair, Razor or Steelseries) and the Phanteks D-RGB. What you said: "The exact details of what displays can be generated by each maker's software differs from one maker to another." is what was the secondary reason I posted my initial questions. But chances are that I can choose out of 2 or 3 RGB-programs to program my setup (or would you advice me to stick to MSI Mystic Lights in my situation?). If all this wasn't possible, I probably would opt not to add any RGB at all 😉

Thank you for looking up the Phanteks connections. I am going to consider buying their digital controller, just to have options. Assuming I can still control the LEDs via the Mobo's JRAINBOW headers. I did do my research on the Mobo-connections...

Thank you both again, this helps a lot.
Eelco.

 

[Paperdoc]

MSI Mystic Lights is surely the easy way to control lights from an MSI mobo. However, my understanding is that that utility does not have any features for lighting devices in mice or keyboards. I really doubt you could custom-modify it to add or change features. My suspicion - no proof I can offer - is that using the ARGB utility supplied by a different mobo maker would not work, because each maker writes code for their particular board designs and components.

I have absolutely no knowledge of other programming tools you might use to create your own utilities for such purposes. Doing that would certaintly require programming expertise which you may have. But it also would require quite detailed knowledge of the mobo components and how they are connected and addressed. I don't know how you get that info, but maybe there are tools like that. I don't try to do that, so I don't know what is available.

 

[Bar Weinig]

MSI Mystic Lights is surely the easy way to control lights from an MSI mobo. However, my understanding is that that utility does not have any features for lighting devices in mice or keyboards. I really doubt you could custom-modify it to add or change features. My suspicion - no proof I can offer - is that using the ARGB utility supplied by a different mobo maker would not work, because each maker writes code for their particular board designs and components.

I have absolutely no knowledge of other programming tools you might use to create your own utilities for such purposes. Doing that would certaintly require programming expertise which you may have. But it also would require quite detailed knowledge of the mobo components and how they are connected and addressed. I don't know how you get that info, but maybe there are tools like that. I don't try to do that, so I don't know what is available.

Clear. Thanks for that. I'll assume I will be working with two programs. That's the save bet. I might restrict myself to buying a Razor keyboard, just because I know Razor Chroma should be able to control the Phanteks LEDs.

 

[Paperdoc]

Thanks for Best Answer, and enjoy your build!