Lighting
In a world of super flashy lighting on every computer part, you can think of Corsair has chosen to go for a more understated route but they managed to pull it off well. While the cooler doesn’t let you do much with the lighting without using software Corsair did make the cooler customizable without needing a motherboard that has RGB headers. Using that USB cable from earlier Corsair lets you customize the lighting using their iCue software.
If you just want some quick pre-made lighting Corsair gives you a fair amount of options and animations, most of them involve cycling through either the entire rainbow or some pre-chosen colors.
You can also choose the cooler to display custom colors depending on the temperature of your CPU.
There’s also a dedicated instant light option if all you want is a static color to be shown at all times.
But if you do want to spend some time customizing the lighting Corsair gives you that option using the gradient option. This option gives you a box similar to MSI afterburner’s custom fan curve option in order to customize the lighting. This tool is actually quite powerful giving you the choice of what colors are in the rotation, how long the entire effect take, how long each individual color last, the brightness of each color and how long each color last.
Just for testing, I made an effect that has multiple colors with different brightnesses spaced apart at different intervals, so let’s check out the finished effect below!
Overall the lighting looks really good considering the more understated look Corsair was going for, the iCue software gives you a decent amount of customizability over the lighting. I do wish they included their RGB ML120 fans in the box since some other coolers at the same price includes them though.
I rate the lighting 4/5. If you’re into the brightest flashiest RGB lighting around then this cooler may not be for you but if you’re into the more understated tasteful lighting you’ll be happy with the way this cooler looks.
Now onto performance!
