Trying to decide which RGB ecosystem I want to be in

[PackYourBaggins]

I'm putting together a new PC right now and I definitely want some RGB. But I know it's best to keep all your RGB things under one umbrella, and I'm torn between Corsair and Lian Li. Corsair obviously has a huge selection of fans and coolers, but I think the Lian Li UNI FAN SL/TL fans are the best looking RGB fans out there right now and have surprisingly good radiator performance. I also love the idea of those little LCD screens on them. But I read from one review that Lian Li's software used up a lot of their CPU when using the screens. Maybe it's just an isolated incident, but I'm not sure. Then Corsair on the other hand has a wide variety of fans and coolers, but I also use their iCUE software for my keyboard and it's notorious for being so awful for so long with crashes and bugs. So I'm torn.

 

Just wanted to post here and maybe get some opinions on RGB fans and coolers. I'm gonna get a 360mm AIO no matter what. A couple coolers that have stood out to me were the Lian Li Galahad II LCD SL-INF 360, and the Corsair iCUE LINK H150i LCD. I was also looking at the Lian Li HydroShift LCD 360TL RGB but that one has gotten some mixed reviews from people so it somewhat scared me off of that one, but I'm still open to it.

[MiszS]

I personally have RGB from literally 5 different brands in my PC, and it works just fine using signalRGB

[PackYourBaggins]

6 minutes ago, MiszS said:

I personally have RGB from literally 5 different brands in my PC, and it works just fine using signalRGB

Oh that's interesting. My PC is 10 years old so I've never used RBG components inside of it. Only my peripherals have ever been RGB, so I'm not totally clued in on how it all works. What are the restrictions (if any) to doing a setup like yours? I was under the impression that certain manufacturers (such as Corsair) would force you to use their software and thereby force you into staying in their own ecosystem. I know some brands don't do this, but I thought I had heard from somewhere that Corsair won't let you use anything except iCUE to configure their fans and coolers. And also wouldn't you need a ton of RGB headers on your motherboard to be able to do it the way you do? Again, I'm not totally sure how RGB software works completely.

[MiszS]

1 minute ago, PackYourBaggins said:

Oh that's interesting. My PC is 10 years old so I've never used RBG components inside of it. Only my peripherals have ever been RGB, so I'm not totally clued in on how it all works. What are the restrictions (if any) to doing a setup like yours? I was under the impression that certain manufacturers (such as Corsair) would force you to use their software and thereby force you into staying in their own ecosystem. I know some brands don't do this, but I thought I had heard from somewhere that Corsair won't let you use anything except iCUE to configure their fans and coolers. And also wouldn't you need a ton of RGB headers on your motherboard to be able to do it the way you do? Again, I'm not totally sure how RGB software works completely.

Idk cuz I don't have anything corsair, but that may be the case

[PackYourBaggins]

10 minutes ago, MiszS said:

Idk cuz I don't have anything corsair, but that may be the case

But how are you able to control them all with that software? Did you need a motherboard with a ton of RGB headers for it to work, or did you get a separate controller that allows you to control multiple different brands of fans?

[MiszS]

4 minutes ago, PackYourBaggins said:

But how are you able to control them all with that software? Did you need a motherboard with a ton of RGB headers for it to work, or did you get a separate controller that allows you to control multiple different brands of fans?

I have an ARGB controller that came with the case, that controlls the 4 case fans, the controller is plugged into 1 ARGB header. Then I have the AIO ARGB cable in header 2, which controlls all of its lightning. The rest is RAM, motherboard and GPU lightning, for which you don't need cables. I could have plugged the AIO into the controller too, but it was way harder because of the PSU cables, so I just used the second header

[PackYourBaggins]

1 minute ago, MiszS said:

I have an ARGB controller that came with the case, that controlls the 4 case fans, the controller is plugged into 1 ARGB header. Then I have the AIO ARGB cable in header 2, which controlls all of its lightning. The rest is RAM, motherboard and GPU lightning, for which you don't need cables

Ohh That is really convenient. Well that sounds like it may open up a lot more options for me. I REALLY wanted the Lian Li UNI FAN SL or TL fans cause I think they look the best, but after reading lots of reviews on multiple different sites, I'm seeing a common theme of Lian Li's software being awful, and also a handful of reviews said the fans begin to go bad and make noise after less than a year. I'll avoid them.

[MiszS]

9 minutes ago, PackYourBaggins said:

Ohh That is really convenient. Well that sounds like it may open up a lot more options for me. I REALLY wanted the Lian Li UNI FAN SL or TL fans cause I think they look the best, but after reading lots of reviews on multiple different sites, I'm seeing a common theme of Lian Li's software being awful, and also a handful of reviews said the fans begin to go bad and make noise after less than a year. I'll avoid them.

If you want rgb fans with outer led rings, then the cooler master MF120 has them, but you should look for other brands too. If not then thermalright has cheap 3 pack ARGB fans

[PackYourBaggins]

3 hours ago, MiszS said:

If you want rgb fans with outer led rings, then the cooler master MF120 has them, but you should look for other brands too. If not then thermalright has cheap 3 pack ARGB fans

The MF120s look amazing actually. Do you know if these are compatible with SignalRGB?

[MiszS]

6 hours ago, PackYourBaggins said:

The MF120s look amazing actually. Do you know if these are compatible with SignalRGB?

Basically everything that glows is compatible

[NorKris]

12 hours ago, PackYourBaggins said:

Oh that's interesting. My PC is 10 years old so I've never used RBG components inside of it. Only my peripherals have ever been RGB, so I'm not totally clued in on how it all works. What are the restrictions (if any) to doing a setup like yours? I was under the impression that certain manufacturers (such as Corsair) would force you to use their software and thereby force you into staying in their own ecosystem. I know some brands don't do this, but I thought I had heard from somewhere that Corsair won't let you use anything except iCUE to configure their fans and coolers. And also wouldn't you need a ton of RGB headers on your motherboard to be able to do it the way you do? Again, I'm not totally sure how RGB software works completely.

I run all my rgb ( in my picture) from corsair icue. 

Icue controlls my asus motherboard, my goove light strips and can controll all open argb stuff 

[PackYourBaggins]

4 hours ago, NorKris said:

I run all my rgb ( in my picture) from corsair icue. 

Icue controlls my asus motherboard, my goove light strips and can controll all open argb stuff 

Are you using Corsair fans? Hard to tell from the picture.

[NorKris]

15 minutes ago, PackYourBaggins said:

Are you using Corsair fans? Hard to tell from the picture.

none

[PackYourBaggins]

2 hours ago, NorKris said:

none

Oh wow that's really cool. Do you still have to use Corsair's RGB controller to use it in iCUE?

[NorKris]

8 minutes ago, PackYourBaggins said:

Oh wow that's really cool. Do you still have to use Corsair's RGB controller to use it in iCUE?

commder pro or node pro  yes 

[PackYourBaggins]

51 minutes ago, NorKris said:

commder pro or node pro  yes 

That's very cool. Good to know I'm not forced into just a single ecosystem. Especially considering so many of these pieces of software are notoriously bad. I have my own issues with iCUE, but I hear far more complaints about the software for Lian Li, Cooler Master, and NZXT just to name a few. I can tolerate iCUE if it offers that freedom of not having to ONLY use Corsair fans.

[NorKris]

3 minutes ago, PackYourBaggins said:

That's very cool. Good to know I'm not forced into just a single ecosystem. Especially considering so many of these pieces of software are notoriously bad. I have my own issues with iCUE, but I hear far more complaints about the software for Lian Li, Cooler Master, and NZXT just to name a few. I can tolerate iCUE if it offers that freedom of not having to ONLY use Corsair fans.

yes every RGB software is bad:  it can be slow or buggy or what ever XD

but only icue offers: fan profiles+argb in one + streamdeck support + phillips hue + govee support in one 

 

[IkeaGnome]

On 2/8/2025 at 2:59 PM, MiszS said:

Idk cuz I don't have anything corsair, but that may be the case

FWIW, as long as iCue is closed in task manager and background processes are closed you can control Corsair RGB through Signal. Both my wife and I have Corsair fans and use Signal. Signal also controls pump and waterblock rgb that I have that are Corsair.

[_E_]

Just a heads up if you do go the Lian Li LCD fans/AIO that you can't control the LCD screen with any 3rd party RGB software. You will still need to run L connect. As for L Connect software using a bunch of cpu processes I have not noticed it at all hampering anything I do on a 9800x3d and that is with 7 LCD fans and a LCD AIO going all at once with gifs/videos.

[MiszS]

3 hours ago, _E_ said:

Just a heads up if you do go the Lian Li LCD fans/AIO that you can't control the LCD screen with any 3rd party RGB software. You will still need to run L connect. As for L Connect software using a bunch of cpu processes I have not noticed it at all hampering anything I do on a 9800x3d and that is with 7 LCD fans and a LCD AIO going all at once with gifs/videos.

7 gifs and videos at once

[PackYourBaggins]

8 hours ago, _E_ said:

Just a heads up if you do go the Lian Li LCD fans/AIO that you can't control the LCD screen with any 3rd party RGB software. You will still need to run L connect. As for L Connect software using a bunch of cpu processes I have not noticed it at all hampering anything I do on a 9800x3d and that is with 7 LCD fans and a LCD AIO going all at once with gifs/videos.

That’s good to hear about the software. I’ve seen a lot of complaints about their software talking about how the LCD settings sometimes don’t save and they’ve had to restart their PC over and over. But I’m more concerned about the reviews I read about those fans and their longevity. They look amazing but they also need to actually work for a while. How long have you had those fans?

[_E_]

4 hours ago, PackYourBaggins said:

That’s good to hear about the software. I’ve seen a lot of complaints about their software talking about how the LCD settings sometimes don’t save and they’ve had to restart their PC over and over. But I’m more concerned about the reviews I read about those fans and their longevity. They look amazing but they also need to actually work for a while. How long have you had those fans?

Just Built a new setup on Christmas.

7 LCD Fans and a Galahad 2 LCD AIO.

 

I had one fan arrive DOA which was causing all my problems at the beginning with only one bank of 3 fans only partly working(LCD worked on 2 of the 3 fans and the RGB worked on all 3). I tried all the fixes they recommend by trying the fans in different orders, cleaning the connectors between the fans. Tried a different fan power cable. Even tried a different fan hub connector. Non of it fixed my problem till I just replaced the fan. Have had zero problems with the software since. I even updated my mobo's bios recently and still everything is working as intended. I know others have had troubles but I'm using the older wired build and not the wireless build if that makes a difference.

[PackYourBaggins]

1 hour ago, _E_ said:

Just Built a new setup on Christmas.

7 LCD Fans and a Galahad 2 LCD AIO.

 

I had one fan arrive DOA which was causing all my problems at the beginning with only one bank of 3 fans only partly working(LCD worked on 2 of the 3 fans and the RGB worked on all 3). I tried all the fixes they recommend by trying the fans in different orders, cleaning the connectors between the fans. Tried a different fan power cable. Even tried a different fan hub connector. Non of it fixed my problem till I just replaced the fan. Have had zero problems with the software since. I even updated my mobo's bios recently and still everything is working as intended. I know others have had troubles but I'm using the older wired build and not the wireless build if that makes a difference.

That’s definitely heartening to hear. Are these older wired models the TL fans? I know there’s newer TL fans that are wireless, but I also saw them without wireless in the name. I had my eye on the SL wireless fans personally, but I wonder if the wireless component of it is what’s causing many people’s issues. Also, can you control all the RGB with just 1 RGB controller or do you require multiple? 

[NorKris]

On 2/10/2025 at 10:26 PM, PackYourBaggins said:

can you control all the RGB with just 1 RGB controller or do you require multiple? 

this depends on how many devices ur planing to have