Gaming Hardware Needs to Grow Up

So there was no option of fans without light?

see the RGB stuff I'm aware off can be switched off
normal LED's in fans, on RAM, cases or whatever can't

you need control of the colors in RGB
so you have control over the lights as a whole

nope if the fans were on the lights were on but the lights were outside of the fan housing, not inside of it thankfully so i just snapped the lights off. last LED ram i remember seeing was the old DDR1 crucial ballistix ram with the green and red lights. didn't think companies still made that crap.
 
lol i think he's talking more about the anime/video game drifting that hollywood made famous, not the real shit.

Ya, I tried watching Tokyo Drift, that was just chock full of ridiculous. They made money, so I guess they don't care and will continue on. At least the newer movies don't have those light covered cars anymore.

Anyways, I do have gamer gear on my PC with lights and crap. RGB keyboard, RGB mouse, and apparently my new mobo will have RGB lighting (didn't know until I ordered it). I just set it to a single color (blue for my keyboard) or turn it off (for my mouse cause it's wireless, don't need more battery drain).
 
same mine had the neon blue as well and i snapped off all the light. shit was annoying.. anything i can't remove i have electrical take covering it as well.. honestly i don't mind if RGB stuff is sold as long as there's an option to turn it off.



lol i think he's talking more about the anime/video game drifting that hollywood made famous, not the real shit.

Correct, function over form/looks...I don't want a light-show, I want performance...only 2 LED's I need are:

1) Power LED
2) SATA LED

The rest just annoys me.

I would also like buy hardware in brown boxes with no crap bundles, stickers, dics etc.

I am a geek, not a LED-lover...
 
Modern keyboards also suck balls. Even expensive mechanical keyboards. I haven't found anything that has both good build quality and good ergonomics. Which is why I'm still rocking an MS Natural Keyboard Pro from 1999 (and I have two spares in my closet). Best keyboard ever made.

You may want to check out the Microsoft Natural Ergonomic Keyboard 4000. Of course, the first thing I do is rip off the riser under the front of the keyboard.
 
nope if the fans were on the lights were on but the lights were outside of the fan housing, not inside of it thankfully so i just snapped the lights off. last LED ram i remember seeing was the old DDR1 crucial ballistix ram with the green and red lights. didn't think companies still made that crap.

I remember my case fans with white LED's had a switch each :D
manufactures should just realize an on/off option is desired

as for RAM

for instance Avexir

one kind is like old cathodes that had that lighting look
GIF-10-FPS-Optimizado.gif


or simple LED's
avexir1600C9LED.gif


or the Trident RGB
which of course have a no light option a plenty

122703nf8l9e1ldh6uhw9e.gif

I'm not trying to convert anyone

but for me it's nice having control over my lights finally
not just color, but also brightness or simply off
 
I like my custom color coded keyboard that separates the keys which helps me find them better, user aid. Since I like a dark room on the computer, a lighted keyboard I prefer. As for the RGB stuff inside the case, if it really doesn't serve a function to inform you of something useful then it becomes more of a nuisance. My two 1070 GTX becomes a neon advertisement for Gigabyte for example. On the Radeons the lights indicate a measurement of GPU usage which to me is 100% OK, as long as you can turn them off.

Just because it is lighted does not mean it is pointless or useless - there are good reasons to have lights and not to have lights.

As someone with very bad eyesight, a color adjustable keyboard is a great help to me, I love my g910 for that, I did stop using the g502 mouse, buttons are placed all wrong for me. Using a simple steelseries Sensei now, might look into that logitech pro if I need a new one.
 
I always loved the big old inetlle mouse explorer but I guess you can't find them anymore. I live way out here in the sticks and the nearest place to go try them at the store is over 100 miles away. I settled for an Anker precision laser gaming mouse, it's not bad I just wish it were a few centimeters wider.
I really don't want or need all this flashy shiney stuff, I do like my MS sidewinder keyboard with the adjustable red backlighting. I got mine before they went to over $200.
 
I do not mind the RGB lighting on keyboards. I have a Logitech G910 Orion and the fact you can program the lighting per key is pretty handy.

You can set the profiler to switch the keyboard lighting based on the game you are playing. I like being able to have all the non essential keys dark.

RGB Lighting for cases, fans etc are a natural progression of PC component lighting. All the "cool" case mods or show piece PCs always had some kind of lighting effect. If you browse through the Case Modding sub-forum, the majority have some kind of lighting, from practical highlights to over the top garish.

Apparently a lot of people want lighting but may not have the time/experience/skills to mod lighting into a pc case or component. So from a manufacturer standpoint I get the addition of RGB lit case fans, keyboards and whatnot.
 
While it is true you see a lot more out there, you do have options without, it also tends to be the lowend or midrange gaming gear that has this. It also tends to have a much higher price for $5 in LEDs over the models without. And most of the pro, or highend gear does not have LEDs at all. So long as there are options without it, I am fine. You do have to understand these lighting effects do sell A LOT of gear, because real specs are not going to rope in those who do not know better, all they see is something flashy.

For KB/mice etc, I am fine with, and actually really enjoy back lighting on a KB. My G910 works great for setting up keys of a given color to show what macro or the like was assigned to it for each/different games, though out of the box it's rainbow scrolling effect was headache inducing, whoever gave them that idea as default should be shot. Default outside of gaming is just plain white, if I am working in the dark, its red, as it seems to give less eye strain than white.
 
The highest end versions of products should have no lighting and remove all bs. Each dollar should contribute to improved performance, allowing every watt consumed and ounce of weight used to contribute to improved FPS. Save the aesthetics for lower end mainstream, realizing that it does sell.

People gut the interiors of their cars to remove weight for racing, I want the same for my enthusiast hardware. I can add a cold cathode or led strip if I want to see the hardware in the dead of night.
 
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Nice to know the Maddenly Bright Blue LED salesperson has branched out to applications other then power on equipment lights that 2nd as navigation night lights. It is only a problem if the only options for a type of equipment include the burn out the retina lights and the dazzle camo patterns.

I do find the dim setting for the key lights on my keyboard to be very useful since I prefer gaming in lower light levels.
 
I switch off the LED on my graphics card. My windowed case is not a billboard.
I'm OK with Crucial Tracer LED, but LED effects on RGB keyboard is just stupid, unless one is playing guitar hero on the keyboard.
 
The highest end versions of products should have no lighting and remove all bs. Each dollar should contribute to improved performance, allowing every watt consumed and ounce of weight used to contribute to improved FPS. Save the aesthetics for lower end mainstream, realizing that it does sell.

People guy the interiors of their cars to remove weight for racing, I want the same for my enthusiast hardware. I can add a cold cathode or led strip if I want to see the hardware in the dead of night.

Will never understand why ppl like to use car analogies to everything. Might as well just have only 2 USB ports, 1 PCIe slot, 2 memory slots, 1 sata port, etc. You only need a keyboard, mouse, 1 video card, and 2 sticks of memory for dual channel. Forget everything else. Bare essentials. Just like how a race car only has the 1 seat (or 2 for rallying), no heat, no a/c, no sound deadening, no power windows, no abs, no extras.

Of course, damn near zero PC enthusaists are going to want a mobo with such few things. They want tons of USB ports, tons of SATA, tons of memory slots, tons of whatever else. It's all about options, not taking away options.
 
yep. ef leds!

i dont know how many M.S. Inteli Mouse Explorer's i've gone through over the last 10 years. Its easily 6 to 8 mice! The buttons go on me! Perhaps i should have ripped one apart and seen if they are replacable by now. But eh. The wear on the surfaces usually makes it a bit unsightly so i just got a new one each time.

Now my 3DConnexion real 3 button mouse is the go!

I *hated* the loss of the third button and now i've finally found one... aahh the soothing place of epic comfort combined with epic functiaonlity F...T...W!! ;)
 
Okay. So.

RGB Lighting = awesome. As someone who builds PC as an artform, RGB lighting is a godsend for colour coordination.

Plastic = Bad. Any time I see a case with excess plastic I vomit in my mouth. I love functional design that looks amazing, not non functional plastic crap everywhere.
 
Will never understand why ppl like to use car analogies to everything. Might as well just have only 2 USB ports, 1 PCIe slot, 2 memory slots, 1 sata port, etc. You only need a keyboard, mouse, 1 video card, and 2 sticks of memory for dual channel. Forget everything else. Bare essentials. Just like how a race car only has the 1 seat (or 2 for rallying), no heat, no a/c, no sound deadening, no power windows, no abs, no extras.

Of course, damn near zero PC enthusaists are going to want a mobo with such few things. They want tons of USB ports, tons of SATA, tons of memory slots, tons of whatever else. It's all about options, not taking away options.
It's an enthusiast analogy, you can choose other comparisons. The point was meant to be reduction of unnecessary engineering for high end parts if the goal is to have the most headroom for max performance
 
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I like my keyboard and mouse doing a colorful wave. :)

The mouse is not a big deal, but I love that my keyboard lights up. I have not messed with it to see what it can do but I can see the keys at night if need be.
 
You guys can get fucked I can't sleep at night unless it's like a Christmas themed rave party in my bedroom.

WE GOT LEDS ON OUR CASES LEDS ON OUR MICE LEDS ON OUR FANS LEDS ON OUR MONITORS LEDS ON OUR WALLS

WE GOT NUKES WE GOT GUNS! KNIVES! SHARP STICKS!

 
Yeah, I totally needed that RGB LED in my mouse that gets covered by my hand whenever I'm using it.

Not.

I like my G502, but the lighting is stupid.
 
if it lights up like vegas I don't care how badass it is... I will instantly discount it in my mind.

I know RGB-everything is the current fad... can't wait till people get tired of it.
 
I'm still using an MX Duo I bought in 2004. I've worn the paint off the mouse, and burned though I don't know how many sets of feet, while turning my Ratpad GS from textured to smooth haha.

I paid MORE to Corsair for NON-LED SP120's.

DSC08724w.jpg
 
I don't game very much on my PC, even though I could very easily, but gaming mice were the only ones I could find where I could increase the weight substantially. I don't flick all over the screen but when doing CAD stuff I need slow steady movements but still enough zing to move all around a 43" 4K monitor. I ended up with the Corsair M65 only because I could add a shitload of weight to it and I could actually feel one in my hands at the local BB. But my case (Cooler Master Maker 5) is pretty much enclosed and I replaced all the fans with non-LED Corsair ML fans. I do like LEDs on my keyboard, but I am currently using a non-LED Unicomp IBM Model M clone. Not sure why everything has to have lights in it now. I tease my daughter telling her I am going to go full bling in my next computer and RGB everything, make them all cycle colors out of sequence.

Hey rgMekanic I just replaced a Ratpad a few months ago, bought mine when the [H] started selling them. But it developed a curve and the mouse would slide off all by itself if I left in in certain areas of the pad. Best mouse pad I have ever owned (RIP RatPad :cry:)
 
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I agree, My gaming pc from years ago had lights on it and fan controller knobs etc. But that was when you had to cut your own panels and wire leds or ccfl's into them. Now the cases you buy come with that crap already, oem made computers all have led fans (the rest of us had to hotglue leds to the fan to do that).

I think now it isnt as interesting to me because everyone has one and it just doesn't require effort anymore. Sounds kind of hipsterish now that I read what I said. My pc now has a backlit keyboard so I can see it in the dark, other than that, nothing special. I put tape over leds now lol.
 
The only reason I have the flashy color keyboard and mouse is because my son gave it to me. I would not spend the amount these stupid things cost.
 
Think back......

Remember when a computer was housed in an oblong, square beige steel box?
The keyboard and mouse were beige and the mouse used a roller ball.
The cords were beige.
The giant tube and glass monitor was beige.

Hey.....RGB is the new beige.

I use white LED fans when I need to.........I like black subtle cases........I'm a black and white kinda person.
 
ASUS board and video card. I like the utility of the RGB changing according to the temperature. I have it right on top of my desk next to the display, it has never been so bright that it has distracted me from my games.

Some of the mice out there look more like torture devices.
 
Tuan Nguyen, the Editor and Chief of Maximum PC, has an editorial up on PC Gamer in which he argues that the PC gaming hardware industry has gone overboard with excessive RGB lighting, large colorful non-functional heat sinks, and many other aesthetic touches.

I can't help but agree with him. I'm all for a variety of design styles for everyone's tastes, but when I can't find a gaming mouse that doesn't remind me of an enemy starship from Star Trek, I have to agree that things might just have gone too far. Gaming has come a long way since the days it was thought of as something strictly for children. Why then do our gaming devices all look like they are designed for the aesthetic tastes of thirteen year olds? What do you guys think?

Admittedly there are folks who light up their rigs tastefully, and they do look great. But when did insane designs and RGB equate to gaming? Are manufacturers telling us that in order to perform well in a game we have to have RGB lighting and that whatever products we buy have to have fins and jagged edges? Why can't a gaming product be simple, effective, and perform well? Does the computer case I use need to have flaps, fins and bulges to convey that the size of my "e-peen" is substantial? Does RGB lighting deliver a higher chance of a stable overclock? Give me a break.

I agree that things have generally gone too far in most cases. I like RGB lighting, but I don't want a keyboard with built in skeletonized wrist wrests, hard angled edges, huge foot prints and fucking macro keys I don't have a use for. I don't want media keys, USB ports, volume controls or any other bullshit. I just want a plain Cherry MX Blue, RGB keyboard with 104 keys on it. The Ducky Shine keyboards and Corsair offerings are largely the closest I've found that have decent quality and RGB lighting that I've seen. Plenty of keyboards exist that fit my requirements 80% of the way, but fall short in one way or another.

I prefer the feeling of the G502 over the G9/G9x & even the older gen mice. I mostly move with the progression I think, so I don't have much to complain about.

I will agree with this point on mice. My hand or wrist used to hurt after prolonged use of other designs but many of the modern mice work very well for me. I really like Corsair's Scimitar but hate the software for it. Logitech's G600 was similarly annoying. I love the G602, 502 and many other current market options. The RAT7 is virtually unmatched for its feel when you take the time to adjust it. Unfortunately, buttons break off on the more button laden MMO7 which I also liked. The software also bites ass on that one. Without onboard firmware to store settings you loose your bindings when the software crashes. This happens on occasion while gaming.

Another note about RGB lighting, we've actually had meetings with manufacturers where they drone on and on about their RGB features. In some cases, that's literally all they had to talk about this year over last year's products.
 
Yeah I really dont get where all these manufacturers get their design ideas for 'gaming' kit from.

How many of us love dragons and flashing lights that are over the age of 14?

You want performance and durability not Celtic tattoos, epilepsy and big tit super hero women.
 
Lets talk about gaming mice in particular.
You know which one i believe is the most innovative mouse of it's time yet it's barely reviewed?
Roccat Nyth which i have:
http://www.roccat.org/en-US/Products/Gaming-Mice/Nyth/
Have you heard of this mouse that you can customize buttons for it as well as have new ones 3d printed for it?
There are products out there that try to innovate. You just have to look for them.
 
oh, i've been saying this for years, as a person who gets annoyed simply by manufacturers logos, imagine how i feel about this gaymer trend designed for 10 year old kids... people has such a bad taste, ugh.
 
A big problem with the "gaming" hardware fad, is that if you want the performance offered, you can't buy it without the fancy doodads. Several people have said "if you don't like it, don't buy it." Just try finding an inexpensive mechanical keyboard for typing that doesn't light up like a Christmas tree. I want a mechanical keyboard to type on for office productivity, not to impress the co-worker with the pretty lights! Yes, I know I can turn it off, but why should I have to pay for LED lights on my keyboard, when I will never use them. Yes, I know there are "office" mechanical keyboards, but they cost more than the "gaming" keyboards, when with less features, they should cost less! :mad:

It's this way across the board for me. I don't want all that look, but every time I look for something with actual performance, the looks are garish, or they have so many unnecessary add-ons that I wonder how cheap I could get the product (MB, RAM, Case Fan, Case, Keyboard, Mouse, ETC) that "just worked" and didn't look like it was trying to attract a magpie!
 
This would be a good interview for [H] to bring in some of the 'creative minds' from these companies to justify how they think 'Wow DRAGONS AND AXES!!!!" works every single time to people with the disposable income to purchase a $80+ mouse or keyboard?

[H] - "So what research do you do exactly when creating these adolescent and childish monstrosities?"
 
It doesn't bother me too much - I'm sure there's some metric that shows these 'extreme designs' sell in hot cake amounts. As long as Corsair keep making elegant cases (hello 750D and family) I'll be happy.

And if the garish looks and RGB of components bothered me a lot, I'd cover that crap up with a solid panel (and hope there's a way to disabled said lights via hardware or software).

It's a bit ironic that game console designs (who's sole function is for entertainment consumption) doesn't employ these garrish designs, and instead focus on designs that 'hide' the console making it fit in with your media unit.
 
I remember having a conversation with some of the marketing guys from Cooler Master USA and asked why everything they built that had LEDs had to have RED LEDs? There was no good answer. Not all gamers like red, so then along comes RGB and that solves the RED LED issue, but taken to extremes.
 
It doesn't bother me too much - I'm sure there's some metric that shows these 'extreme designs' sell in hot cake amounts. As long as Corsair keep making elegant cases (hello 750D and family) I'll be happy.

And if the garish looks and RGB of components bothered me a lot, I'd cover that crap up with a solid panel (and hope there's a way to disabled said lights via hardware or software).

It's a bit ironic that game console designs (who's sole function is for entertainment consumption) doesn't employ these garrish designs, and instead focus on designs that 'hide' the console making it fit in with your media unit.


Yeah...must be a 'Korean thing'...
 
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