How to control RGB / LED lighting in your PC

Depending on what components you have, there's many different approaches that could get you the solution you want – and we'll cover them all here.

Not all lights can be controlled

Firstly, it would be important for us to note that not all RGB / LED lighting is able to be controlled. In some instances, a component such as a fan may only have a single colour LED, or even random/static RGB but it is not able to be switched off unless the fan is not receiving power.

This type of LED component was extremely commonplace years ago, but is becoming less common as manufacturers realise that customers prefer to have control. However, there are still some components, such as CPU coolers or graphics cards, that may have an element of lighting that cannot be altered and will be on when the PC is on.

Control via Buttons

Some lighting is able to be controlled via physical buttons, such as a dedicated LED case button (usually at the top/front of the case near the power/reset buttons, and USB ports, etc) or with a remote control.

Some recent examples of cases that Evatech uses and might have an LED/RGB button are Montech and MSI branded cases, both of which function fairly similarly:

• By pressing the button, any RGB components that are routed through the case's controller (often the case fans + built-in RGB strips/logos [if present]) should change their lighting effect/colour instantly, and pressing the button again and again would cycle through the various modes available. There's sometimes quite a lot!
• Holding the button often has a special feature or two available:
  • A 2-3 second hold can put the lighting controller into what we call passthrough mode, in which if the controller is able to be connected to the motherboard via an RGB header, the controller will allow the motherboard to control the lighting, meaning you can use software (detailed below).
  • A longer 3-5 second holding down of the button may turn the lights off. You can then turn them on again by short-pressing the button.
• Not all cases function the same depending on the controller that's behind it (and if it can be connected to the motherboard), so our general instructions may not line up with the functionality you experience.
• In some rare instances, our technicians may choose to bypass the use of the case's RGB controller (rendering the LED button pointless) in favour of a superior method of control via software such as with Corsair iCUE, or NZXT CAM, etc (detailed below).

An older solution we have used in hundreds of PCs over the years was using a small remote control to be able to change the RGB settings – you'd likely know about this already as you should have seen the remote provided with your PC, and the buttons are fairly self-explanatory as long as the remote battery is working and you're pointing it at the infrared receiver!

Control via Software

Software controlled RGB is amongst the best and we assume more expensive ways to go about it, but depending on what brand of components you have there are different avenues to go about it.

Non-proprietary RGB components should be able to be controlled with your motherboard's RGB software:

• MSI – Open the Microsoft Store and search for MSI Center. Download and run it, then from the Features tab install Mystic Light. Once it finishes downloading & installing, Open Mystic Light, then manage your RGB settings.
  MSI Center in our experience does not need to be running for the RGB settings to work, so you can set MSI Center to not run at startup. However, the RGB settings won't apply until Windows is loaded.
  MSI's instructions on how to use Mystic Light
• Asus – Download and install Armoury Crate, then from the left side menu look for the triangle symbol labelled Aura Sync to manage your RGB settings.
  Asus' instructions on how to use Aura Sync
• Gigabyte – Download and install Gigabyte Control Center, then navigate to RGB Fusion to manage your RGB settings.
  Gigabyte's instructions on how to use RGB Fusion

Proprietary RGB components (and sometimes graphics cards that have RGB lights) are run via their own software solution, some of the common ones we and our customers will use:

• Corsair – Corsair iCUE / Corsair Web Hub (Beta)
• Razer – Razer Synapse / Chroma Connect
• NZXT – NZXT CAM
• Zotac – Firestorm
• Palit – Thundermaster

The above motherboard and/or proprietary software is typically installed onto Evatech PCs (only if you also purchased Windows from us, otherwise there would have been no software on your PC), but the RGB managing software may not have been installed if your PC build didn't have any RGB components at the time we built it.

In some PC builds, there may be the ability for multiple RGB software to be installed/configured, for instance if the PC has an Asus motherboard + Corsair RGB RAM + an MSI RGB graphics card. Of course, you don't have to control them and it may be possible to set them to a single setting and forget the software (and not have it run) but this isn't always the case.

It's a little bit of a mess when it comes to the software, and although some software solutions claim to be able to work together and control each other, such as MSI + Corsair, we've found it to be a bit hit and miss as the software updates, and it almost never works upon rebooting the system. We assume they have some bugs to work through with each other, but it doesn't seem to be a priority.

Microsoft also claims to be trying to simplify RGB control, but if previous attempts such as SignalRGB are anything to go by, it might not be a great solution for all, if anyone. Of course, you're welcome to try; you may have better luck with your set of hardware/peripherals.

If you want to be sure about how to control some of your Evatech PC's lighting, you can always reach out to us with the order details (and perhaps photos!) and we'll let you know if it's possible, and if so; how to go about it.