The Best RGB PC Components and Accessories

Best RGB keyboard: Corsair K100 RGB

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The Corsair K95 RGB Platinum is still one of the best mechanical keyboards on the market, but the new K100 is slightly better. In many ways, it’s a redesign of the K95 with extended functionality. It still includes a volume wheel, dedicated media buttons, six macro keys, and an aluminum body. Over the K95, though, the K100 has a dedicated iCue control wheel, as well as premium wrist rest.

The control wheel makes the difference here, justifying the K100’s $230 price tag. It’s an impressive feature, allowing you to switch applications, jog music tracks, and more, all from your keyboard. It even supports custom functions through Corsair’s excellent iCue software. You can also manage the per-key lighting in iCue, either swapping colors from the 16.8 million options or using one of Corsair’s wild lighting effects. Once you set your profiles, you can store them on-board the keyboard, too, with 8MB of built-in storage.

Other premium touches include cable routing channels all around the back of the keyboard, as well as USB passthrough. Switch options are limited, however. You can choose between Cherry MX Speed or Corsair’s own OPX switches. If you prefer a different switch, the K95 comes with either Cherry MX Blues or Browns.

Best RGB mouse: Corsair Nightsword RGB

Corsair’s Nightsword RGB shows how to do RGB right. The mouse has four programmable RGB zones — one for the Corsair logo on the back, one for the light leak near the mouse wheel, and two around the bottom edge of the body. Those last two make the difference. The Nightsword RGB has cutouts all around the body, providing a soft underglow to your mouse. All the lighting and effects support Corsair’s iCue software for in-depth control. There, you can also set macros, not only for the seven additional buttons on the mouse, but also for left, right, and center mouse clicks.

The features are right for an RGB roundup, but the Nightsword can stand on its own as a gaming mouse. The custom Pixart PMW3391 optical sensor powering it tops out at 18,000 DPI, and you can adjust it in 1 DPI steps. Additionally, the Nightsword expands the weight system seen on the Corsair M65. You can adjust the weight from 119 grams up to 141 grams. However, with six slots and six different weights, you can tweak the balance of weight however you like (there are 120 different combinations, according to Corsair).

Along with the competitive sensor and weight balancing, the Nightsword RGB also features Omran switches, which are rated for 50+ million clicks.

Best RGB case: NZXT H510i

NZXT’s H-series cases have always been easy to recommend. They’re relatively inexpensive, easy to build in, and, best of all, usually stocked with the latest PC case trends. The H510i is no different. It’s a clean mid-tower chassis with a tempered glass side panel. More important here, though, are the two RGB strips that come pre-installed in the case. Although NZXT is far from the only manufacturer with bundled RGB strips, having them pre-installed is nice. Plus, they’re nice and bright, illuminating most of the case inside.

At around $100, it’s hard to go wrong with the H510i. There are other options in NZXT’s case lineup, though. The H400i is a MicroATX variant, though it’s surprisingly more expensive than the H500i, and the H700i is slightly taller with a fully open side panel. If you’re willing to spend some extra money, though, we recommend the H510 Elite. It’s the same case as the H510i, just with tempered glass on the front, showing off two pre-installed RGB fans.

The NZXT H510i gets almost everything right. Almost. The included LED strips are meant to be used with NZXT’s CAM software. You can get them working with motherboard RGB headers with a little tweaking if you have an alternative solution in mind, but CAM isn’t a bad way to manage your RGB components and accessories.

Best RGB fans: Corsair QL120 RGB

Corsair’s LL120 RGB fans have remained the de facto option for RGB case fans since they launched, and the new QL120 fans only further that legacy. Each fan comes with 34 independently addressable RGB LEDs. Even better, the LEDs are split across both sides of the fan, showcasing your lighting effects all around your case. All the lighting is diffused, too, offering an even pour of light into the fan blades. Over similar designs, Corsair’s inclusion of LEDs in the center of the fan gives the blades an even glow all the way through.

QL120s are expensive, but they’re worth it. Corsair’s new design further reduces the noise of the LL120s while adding anti-vibration dampers around the edges. Like any premium PC fan, the QL120s come with PWM control, too, up to 1,500 RPM.

Best RGB mouse pad: Razer Firefly V2

The Razer Firefly V2 is slightly better than the competition in a handful of areas, and it manages those improvements while staying cheaper than most competing options. Over the Corsair MM800 and SteelSeries QCK Prism, the Firefly comes with 19 lighting zones (compared to 15 and 12, respectively). The result is a beautiful, even light pour around the mouse pad. Light even pours over into the Razer logo on the top of the mouse pad, reacting with whatever effects you have programmed.

As for the mouse pad itself, Razer uses a hard, micro-textured surface that’s 14 inches wide by 10 inches long, with a thickness around 3mm. Unfortunately, Razer doesn’t offer a cloth variant. For controlling the lighting, you’re forced to use the Razer Chroma software, which is decent, though not as fluid as NZXT CAM or Corsair iCue.

If you’re looking for a cloth pad, the Razer Goliathus Chroma line is for you. In addition to offering a slightly cheaper cloth RGB mouse pad, the range includes a few extended options.

Best RGB RAM: G. Skill Trident Z RGB

There are a lot of RGB RAM options, but G. Skill was the first to bring high-speed RGB memory to the mainstream. Its Trident Z sticks still stand out in 2020. G. Skill’s combination of brushed aluminum on the outside of the stick with tall, angular spikes poking out of the top pair beautifully with the full-view, diffused LED strip on top.

Trident Z RGB sticks have the looks down, but they’re impressive beyond that. G. Skill offers them in just about any capacity and speed you could want, with a 2 x 8GB 4600MHz kit topping the range. More than enough bandwidth for just about anyone.

G. Skill doesn’t force you to fuss around with an application you’re only going to use a few times, either. Trident Z RGB sticks support Asus Aura Sync, Gigabyte RGB Fusion, MSI Mystic Light Sync, and ASRock Polychrome Sync, so you can pair up your RAM sticks with the rest of your rig. If you don’t prefer the black brushed aluminum, check out G. Skill’s Trident Z Neo and Trident Z Royal ranges.

Best RGB LED strips: Neon RGB LED Kit

It’s tough choosing a proper RGB LED kit. NZXT’s Hue and Corsair’s iCue Commander Pro systems are both excellent, but they’re expensive, proprietary, and just decent when it comes to lighting. This Neon RGB kit, on the other hand, supports Asus Aura, ASRock Polychrome RGB, MSI Mystic Light Sync, and Gigabyte RGB Fusion through a five-volt, three-pin header on your motherboard.

Instead of exposed LEDs, these strips have a diffusion layer, providing even lighting all the way through your case. They’re also flexible, so you can fit them around tight corners, and they come with magnets and 3M adhesive, making mounting simple. The kit works well if you haven’t already settled on an RGB system. Because of its near-universal support, you can get lighting set up in your machine with the software you’re already using. That said, if you’re already using some products from Corsair or NZXT, you should probably stick with them.

Best RGB controller: NZXT Hue 2

The Hue 2 system from NZXT provides a near-perfect lighting management solution. Near-perfect because, well, it’s proprietary. NZXT Hue only works with other Hue lighting products, so you can’t just grab an RGB strip or fan off Amazon and integrate it into your Hue system. The Hue 2 RGB controller makes sticking with a single system worth it, though.

It’s a little unimpressive at first, sporting only two LED channels and three fan channels. However, each of the lighting channels can support up to 40 individually addressable LEDs, giving you a total of 80. Using NZXT’s own product line, you can attach up to six RGB LED strips or five Aer RGB fans per channel (the channels also support NZXT’s other lighting accessories). The three fan channels aren’t for lighting, but you can still plug in any PWM fan and control it using NZXT’s CAM software.

Just like LED strips, there are a lot of options when it comes to choosing an RGB controller. Unlike most competing systems, though, NZXT’s simply works. Plugging everything in is simple, and CAM doesn’t cause much of a fuss.