Sometimes I wonder what the thought process behind the gaming aesthetic was. RGB (*if tunable) itself is fine and adds a nice opportunity for personalization, but are those tacky fonts, crystal-facet enclosures, and overall showiness just tasteless or do any gamers actually prefer that look?
I appreciate the gamer aesthetic when scientists need to buy gear with the power to run scientific calculations for relatively cheap. The RGB lights under the case windows bring a bit of pizzazz to the laboratory.
I was into it in the early days but got over it quickly. Now I want the opposite and minimize attention my PC draws to itself. Its just pointless and kind of annoying. It was impressive back when it was new and challenging but now its just an element of marketing, and one that I’ve come to strongly dislike in my builds.
I was into it when I was a teenager, then got over it quickly. This was before RGB programmable lighting was even available, you had to buy your own individual LEDs that didn’t change color.
Also this was the era where CGI anime girls and/or robofrogs were plastered on the GPU and cases had giant useless hunks of plastic to make it look like constipated Transformer so… in all honesty it’s probably gotten better.
I spent extra to not have any components with RGB. The only lighting I find tolerable are white (!) LEDs.
This is the part that bothers me the most. Why does it now cost more for no RGB? I would very happily put my components in a black metal box with good airflow, but that costs extra now. Back in the early 2000s Lian Li used to make really simple brushed aluminum cases and they were beautiful and perfect. Now everything is tempered glass and RGB, sometimes at the cost of airflow/cooling. It’s insane.
Market segregation.
LED gamer builds uses to be the “premium” segment, but they figured out that all the kids who want a “Gaming PC” don’t care how loud it is or what the quality is like as long as it matches the “gamer” aesthetic.
Conversely, someone who cares about sound decibels and airflow as a primary concern is now part of a niche demographic, so they can charge you more.
My PC is RGB because it was cheaper that way. If I had the budget for what I really wanted, my PC would be made of translucent plastic; probably orange or purple.
I bought RGB crap once. It stayed on while the PC was in standby mode. Never again.
Even as a nongamer I appreciate the stylistic aspects of gaming computers, but tbh if I were going to buy one I’d probably put the money into better specs and a plain case.
I’ve been a PC gamer for 32 years now. I do enjoy having a clear side panel. I’ve had one for 22 years. That way you can show off whatever you have inside. I don’t use RGB or any kind of lighting. I just think clear electronics are cool, you can see how they are made.
Some gamers do. Like most humans they are attracted to bright, flashy patterns of colors. (most animals actually are). But most mature gamers I know, would rather put some money in better equipment, than flashy colors. So, gamers are as different as the rest of us. Some are caught by the hype, some are not. You see it in cars too. Some like bling, som focus on the actual car.
Me? I like RGB in my keyboards backlight. I don’t like it to flash, but I like to make it an orange/reddish color, because that’s easy on the eyes, when using your computer at evenings or nights. That’s about it.
I do the same but with blue lights on everything. No patterns, color-changes, or whatever - just everything on a low, static blue
so uh i built my gaming pc in an old Lenovo Think tower. no tempered glass or RGB. i just want it to work idc how it looks
I used to be against it, then my PC died in the early COVID days and the only (practical) way I could get a future-proofed replacement was to get a pre-built, and they all had RGB.
From there, though, it grew on me. Like so many other things I enjoy about working with computers, the learning process was just super enjoyable for me.
I read about different standards (RGB vs aRGB, 3 pins vs 4 pins, this module or that one, this software vs that), tried a few things, and got it looking like I wanted. Now I’m using OpenRGB to make my own patterns that match the room or the weather or whatever wallpaper I’ve got. Turning understanding into control and self-expression just feels good man.
We went from boring beige PC cases, that looked rather boring and were in dire need of some stylish upgrades, in the complete other direction and overshot the target by a mile. I find most modern PC stuff incredible ugly and impractical. Even just finding a tower that still has a 5.25" slot took effort, since most don’t even have them anymore. The whole idea of transparent windows on your case or putting your PC on the desk instead of below it, is complete nonsense, especially when you don’t even have room for swappable disk drives. The good old desktop PC at least went under your monitor, but modern PC cases don’t even do that.
I am kind of surprised, despite all those decades of PC gaming, we still don’t have gaming PCs as compact as a Playstation/Xbox. They do exist, e.g. the old Alienware Steam Machine was tiny, but they are far from common place and often either underpowered or overpriced.
I don’t really prefer it. I just buy gaming mice because they have more buttons and disable the RGB.
i want plain computers back.
They still sell Antec 🤷
#MakeBeigeGreatAgain
I dont care much for RGB in everything.
