We thought we reached ‘peak RGB’ in 2017. Then in 2018. Twice, we were wrong. The PC component briga
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RGB lighting is a delight or a plague, depending on who you ask. We’ve seen RGB lighting on desktop and laptop keyboards, PC cases, PC cooling fans, and much more over the last several years. But every trade show of late, we start seeing RGB lighting showing up in more and more quirky places. CES 2019 was no exception, and the PC component brigade keeps finding new niches to RGB-ize. Here’s the CES haul.
This first entry is double-odd. Power supply unit (PSU) maker FSP introduced a world-first at CES 2019: the liquid-cooled PSU, augmented with RGB lighting in the acrylic block that the hoses attach to. It comes in two wattage flavors—1,200 watts and 850 watts—with the liquid-cooling hardware developed in conjunction with Bitspower. We’re not sure why you would want to liquid-cool your power supply in the first place—it would seem to suggest a PSU that wasn’t running efficiently to begin with—apart from bragging rights, or running your liquid loop to a further reach of your case for appearance’s sake. But FSP is a respected PSU maker, and this out-there PSU brings an element of daring to any PC build.
Can’t sync enough stuff with Asus’ Aura Sync lighting-control software? The Asus ROG Ranger RGB Backpack serves as a mobile billboard professing your allegiance to lights for the sake of lights. A strip across the back and a big ROG logo both illuminate in RGB, drawing power from an internal power bank that you supply. (Asus will also sell a version pre-equipped with a battery.) You control the show and charge devices off a module on one of the shoulder straps.
