[AnIdiotOnTheNet]

I agree wholeheartedly. This trend might have made sense back in the 90s when LAN parties were still enough of a thing that you could want to show off how fabulous you are with RGB RAM and whatnot, but today I feel like it is just needless complexity added to things for the sake of having something to putz with.

Seriously, what value do people see in this stuff?

[TheCapn]

Its aesthetic.

There's nothing more than that to worry about. If its not your jam, then don't get twisted knickers when someone else does.

I'm actually a little appalled at people who carry your & OP's sentiment. Is it really that hard to see that people like visually pleasing things in their lives? Have you ever painted or reorganized a room and spent time picking out the colours & details? Is your wardrobe 20 copies of the same shirt? Did you ever toss up the choice between different vehicles/bikes based on the looks?

I get the part how flashy in your face components aren't appealing, but you sort of have to be intentionally daft not not see why others might like it too.

[nitrogen]

In the extreme it's the Las Vegas aesthetic. Some people do seem to like it, and to others it screams "cheap fake bling". I think the latter group are frustrated that, just like dumb TVs, it's potentially getting harder to find visually quieter components.

[fuzxi]

I don't have a problem with other people using them, but it's started this strange trend where everything has LEDs on it, and some stuff (mainly fans) makes it difficult to disable. My case came with four pre-installed fans, which was great until they turned on and blinded me with blazing blue light. And since my motherboard only has one 4-pin PWM port, I couldn't control the LEDs independent of the fans. They were either at full brightness at all times, or fluctuated based on the fan speed.

I ended up cutting the LED leads on all the fans. It wouldn't have been an issue in the first place if LED/RGB stuff was an optional add-on instead of the default.

[kartoshechka]

Painting walls and getting interior to your liking is somewhat different from setting up RGB lights on your hardware that sits inside an opaque (maybe with transparent sides) case, which itself placed usually out of sight. Same with peripherals (do you really stare at your keyboard while typing? If so, then I have bad news). Walls and interior set the tone of room, and while you may not to look at it directly, it is in your vision at all times and affects your mood and behaviour.

However RGB lights on hardware is a lame attempt to force consumers into redundant expenses. After spending solid amount of time choosing parts and building your PC, installing and setting up OS, you have to make another choice regarding color of lightning. You would be endlessly changing it, until you feel satisfied for a couple of days/weeks, or even worse, thinking that is not enough and now the entire room should glow in a color matching currently opened browser tab. I prefer not to have this choice in first place.

Somewhat related to this, friend of mine had been bothering me for a whole month to help him settle on a tattoo sketch. When he finally got it, he was sure happy with it, but fast-forward to now and he remembers it only when somebody else notice.

[OJFord]

> RGB lights on your hardware that sits inside an opaque (maybe with transparent sides) case, which itself placed usually out of sight.

No but people that want this don't have opaque cases, and are the 'unusual' ones not placing it out of sight.

FWIW it doesn't appeal to me either, I don't think I have any RGB, but I do have RAM styled like fighter jets or something, purely because it was the cheapest match for my criteria at the time (Corsair 'Vengeance' I think).

[0xffff2]

I don't see anyone's knickers getting twisted, just people sharing their opinions.

I will say that I find it (very slightly) annoying when I can find the exact part I want with LEDs but can't find it without. Lighting seems to be default on for the vast majority of components, so its existence forces me to deal with figuring out how to turn it off whereas a non-LED component just does what I want.

[AnIdiotOnTheNet]

A lot of posters here say they just set it to a single color and leave it. Why the hell do they chose components with RGB LEDs integrated and software to control them [0] instead of just buying some stand alone LED lights in the color they want?

> Have you ever painted or reorganized a room and spent time picking out the colours & details?

Not really. I spent all of 5 minutes picking out paint colors for my house when I moved in, painted once, and haven't thought about it since.

> Is your wardrobe 20 copies of the same shirt?

Sadly no, but clothing to me is pretty much purely a functional consideration anyway. I pretty much never buy clothing unless I require it for some utilitarian purpose and wear clothes until they become too worn or damaged to wear anymore. If I had to throw out everything I owned and pick a whole new wardrobe, it would have 7 of the same shirt.

> Did you ever toss up the choice between different vehicles/bikes based on the looks?

It's never come up because every vehicle I've ever bought, bikes included, was bought used. If it fits the price range and has what I'm looking for I don't really care what color it is.

I get that other people aren't like that and put what to me is far too much significance on such things, but what I don't get is the added frustration and complexity for such paltry benefit that computer controlled RGB components gets you. It's like people who buy IoT devices and go through all the setup and troubleshooting and just kind of accept that sometimes they don't work because of an issue with the cloud.

[0] Which works so well that these same people are really happy someone made an open source alternative.

[Schlaefer]

> A lot of posters here say they just set it to a single color and leave it. Why the hell do they chose components with RGB LEDs integrated and software to control them [0] instead of just buying some stand alone LED lights in the color they want?

Even if you only set it to one color (a perceived static aesthetic) it's nice to have choice for that one color: a) find exactly the color you want and b) alter it later if your taste changes.

[iamdbtoo]

Like most things sold these days, it's not enough for it to work it has to be part of your identity. It has nothing to do with the function of the machine, but how it makes you feel and what it says about you as a person.

It's really not much different than any other hobby where people show off their work. Mechanical keyboard folks sometimes have many keyboards with all kinds of differences and I can't imagine they use most of them, but the design (combo of frame, keycaps, switches, etc.) gives them something to show off to others.

[cjaybo]

> Seriously, what value do people see in this stuff?

Do you really not understand that people have different aesthetic preferences and priorities?

[dhagz]

Looks cool when you're livestreaming? Like if you're just showing your face cam and it's in the background.