How to sync RGB lighting for your PC

A desktop that looks like a rave isn’t a look everyone loves, but for those who do, getting all your case, keyboard, and mouse lighting in sync can be a bit of a hassle. -head. It’s not that hard to match them all to a single color or activate a cheesy “breathing” effect, but that could be the extent of your magic. Most of these light control apps range from “helpful” to “awful,” especially if you’re trying to get different gear from different manufacturers to sync up and look awesome.

Enter SignalRGB, a third-party Windows app that does a great job of recognizing the most common devices in your case — your CPU cooler, light strips, and even the LEDs on your case itself — and syncing their appearance with your keyboard, mouse, and other lighted gaming equipment. SignalRGB isn’t perfect, and its more sophisticated features cost a reasonable subscription fee of $3/month, but the free version of this app lets you do a lot. You won’t go back to your Asus or Logitech utility after that, trust us.

Configuring your system for SignalRGB

To start using SignalRGB, you need to make sure that you have uninstalled any other applications on your system that could potentially affect the lighting on your devices. This could include the very software you use to control or configure the device. If you’re lucky, you’ll have an option in those apps to just turn off the light controls.

Otherwise, you’ll have to ditch the apps you’d use to customize your keyboard’s hotkeys, adjust your mouse’s DPI, or change some motherboard settings. You can always reinstall them later to make small changes, but you’ll need to uninstall them so they don’t interfere with SignalRGB.

After installing SignalRGB, a prompt with a “quick start” guide will appear. You can check it out to familiarize yourself with the application, but SignalRGB is quite easy to understand if you fancy getting started.

Click on Devices below my platform in the left sidebar, and you’ll be able to see everything you own that’s compatible with SignalRGB. If some LEDs aren’t showing up, make sure you’ve checked the SignalRGB compatibility list to make sure the app can even see them.

You’ll want to make sure you’ve updated your devices’ firmware to their latest versions, which might require you to temporarily reinstall their “controller” app which you probably had to uninstall for SignalRGB. And, if applicable, make sure you’ve connected any light strips, controllers, or fans inside your case to your motherboard’s ARGB headers.

The app should ask you if you have any ARGB connected devices to configure. To do this, simply click on the giant plus icon that corresponds to the ARGB header you are using on your motherboard, and choose your light strip, fan, or controller from the list provided.

You can also create a custom entry; just enter the number of LEDs you control under Number of LEDs and click Create. If you don’t know, just do a little trial and error until all of the controllable LEDs show a color in your case. If you have everything set up correctly, all the LEDs and controllable peripherals on your entire computer should already be working in a rainbow pattern of colors.

Before moving on to the next screen in SignalRGB, however, there’s one other special tip in this Devices screen worth remembering: if a device never follows your color configuration, such as when your computer turns back on after you slept, you will want to return here, click on the affected devices and activate and deactivate them using the Asset switch at the bottom of the app. This almost always solves the problems you are having.

Map your device locations

Then click on Layouts, below My Rig. This screen can be a little confusing at first, but this is where you’ll attempt to map out the placement of your lighted fixtures so that transitions can occur seamlessly from one to the next. Yes, you’ll need to find a good way to handle the distance and height of the 3D world in a 2D plane, so this is definitely an area where you’ll want to do a bit of trial and error.

Remember that you can set a device’s specific size and position by clicking on it and using the sliders on the rightmost sidebar. Click the icon of an arrow moving in a circle if you need to undo your changes and start over from the device default.

Finding and Installing Free SignalRGB Themes

Finally, and most importantly, you’ll want to click Free below Library to browse the different themes that the SignalRGB community has created for you. There’s no way to preview any of them, but they’re lightning-fast downloads that you can install, apply, and remove right from this screen. You must first register for a free SignalRGB account; otherwise, this free content is not closed at all. (And if you try to download a theme that only subscribers can use, you’ll know it; your lights will all be flashing white.)

You can have as many themes installed as you want, and you can customize anything you’ve downloaded by clicking Personalize below My belongings. What you can do depends on the creator of each effect, but you can usually adjust featured colors, movement speed, built-in responsiveness to key presses, and more. You can save your customizations as presets in case you have some cool ideas for your lighting setup. And returning to an effect’s defaults is as easy as long-clicking the icon that looks like a back key.

If you’re having trouble with SignalRGB, want to ask the creators of the app to officially support one of your devices, or need help customizing the perfect RGB layout, we highly encourage you to check out the Discord. ‘application. And if you need a little creative boost, you’ll find plenty of examples of amazing RGB setups from SignalRGB’s active community. Borrow a few ideas and you’ll have a stunning synchronized RGB gaming lair in no time.

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