Razer said on Thursday that it will soon serve up a Chroma-branded hardware developer kit (HDK) for adding RGB LED illumination to desktops. It’s based on the company’s Chroma technology used in its peripherals, providing up to 16.8 million colors and a variety of different lighting effects to give your desk a personal light show. The kit will be powered by a beta version of Razer Synapse 3.0 that will launch alongside the Razer Chroma HDK in the third quarter of 2017.
The Razer Chroma HDK will consist of a module sporting four lighting channels (strip connections), and two strips containing 16 LEDs each. The kit can be installed inside a desktop or externally, and requires a USB connection for data and power. The kit includes a USB-to-DC power cable for additional power and brightness for external setups, and a Molex-to-DC power adapter if the kit is installed inside a PC.
“Users can shape and bend the LED strips to fit virtually any surface to light up an entire room, home or office for total game immersion,” the company says. “The individually controllable lights are integrated into Razer Synapse 3. The HDK supports 4-channel output with a total capacity of 64 RGB LEDs.”
Razer Synapse 3 will include a new tool called Chroma Studio. Not only can users configure the kit with customized colors and lighting effects, but synchronize all lighting effects across their Razer Chroma devices. According to Razer, this tool is even capable of providing specific effects across all Chroma-enhanced peripherals based on their physical location with each other. That could indicate a wave effect may start at the left side of a keyboard, flow across the keys to the right side, and end on a connected mouse physically located to the right of the keyboard..
If you’re not familiar with Razer’s Chroma-based peripherals, it’s an illumination technology used in more than 40 Razer products spanning mechanical keyboards, gaming mice, headsets, mouse mats, and more. Using the free Razer Synapse software, PC gamers can synchronize colors and lighting affects across all connected Chroma-based peripherals to create one desktop-sized theme. Compatible products have the Chroma label in their name, such as the BlackWidow Chroma V2 keyboard, the BlackWidow X Chroma keyboard, the Naga Epic Chroma mouse, and the Tartarus Chroma.
Here are the kit’s specifications:
| Module size: | 3.9 x 2.7 x 0.6 inches |
| LED strip length: | 19.6 inches |
| Extender cable length: | 11.1 inches |
| Micro USB data cable length: | 39 inches |
| USB to DC power cable length: | 59 inches |
| Kit contents: | 1x HDK module 2x LED strips 2x extender cables 1x Micro USB data cable 1x USB to DC power cable 1x 4-pin Molex to DC cable 1x DC power adapter. |
The Razer Chrome HDK will sell for $80 when it arrives in North America in the third quarter of 2017. The company also plans to sell a Razer Lightpack Extension Kit for the Razer Chroma HDK in the third quarter for $29.
