Gadgetory

so the RGB craze doesn't seem to be letting up anytime soon I mean if anything it keeps expanding and manufacturers like NZXT seem to be riding shotgun in this bandwagon especially when we see them launch brand new product lines like their q2 lighting system building on the hugely successful hue plus q2 essentially serves the same purpose of blinging out your system but adds support for second gen devices and extends the invitation to the RGB party to your monitor you hear that you're finally invited it's gonna be lit just remember BYO RGB tough crowd speed up your rig with the Toshiba OC ZTR 200 SSD experience ultra fast performance packaged in a slim two-and-a-half inch form factor using sixty-four layer 3d NAND flash memory now available in 240 480 and 960 gig capacities click on the link below for more info now while Q 2 is controlled by n ZX T's cam software and functions in much the same way as the hue plus there's quite a few new products and accessories here so it can get kind of tricky figuring out which devices are sold separately and how they all come together so let's break it down there's the hue to RGB lighting kit with an MSRP of $74.99 US this replaces the hue plus and like its predecessor includes a lighting controller hub and for 300 millimeter addressable RGB LED strips each strip has magnets and 3m adhesive for flexible mounting options and the controller features four separate channels that support up to 6 accessories and 40 LEDs each since cam can auto detect you 2 accessories you can also mix and match them on any channel to suit your needs and while first gen a or RGB fans and hue plus LED strips are supported they do require their own channel and cannot be mixed with you 2 accessories such as the kits included LED strips it's worth noting that these two are 2nd gen products and are not compatible with the original hue plus controller the hub retains its 2 and a half inch form factor but sports a thinner profile than the hue plus making it much easier to stick behind your motherboard via an SSD tray the included velcro strips or my favorite the built-in magnets it kind of bummed me out to see that the new hue still gets its power through that stubborn molex connector instead Ceyda hardly anything I use requires molex these days so it sucks having to bust out an extra PSU cable rather than being able to piggyback off an existing SATA cable with a free plug next to the hub's power connector is a micro USB port for connecting itself to the motherboards USB 2.0 header which allows it to communicate with cam on the same side you'll find the first two channel ports and the second two on the left one advantage that the hue plus had of only having one pair of Channel ports was being able to fit all of its connections on one side of the unit which made for much cleaner cable management comparatively users who plan on mounting the hue to on the glamour side of their rig may have to try harder to route the cables as tidally when using all four channel ports the hue 2 strips are super bright and rich in color just like the first gen strips making it really hard to tell them apart this kit alone provides more than enough bling to an otherwise dull system but there are still three new accessories for users who demand even more illumination for their PC if the lighting kits for included LED strips just aren't enough you can pick up the hue 2 LED strip accessory which is sold separately for an MSRP of $24.99 this simple kit includes two of the same 300 millimetre addressable RGB LED strips and the proper cables for getting them connected the second accessory is much more interesting and the first of its kind for the hue line for $29.99 the hue to cable comb accessory is a set of addressable RGB cable combs which really shouldn't surprise us at this point in the box you get to 24 pin and 5/8 pin cones that are all daisy chained by a single cable which terminates to a 4 pin 5 volt RGB plug this connects to one of the 4 channels on the hue plus lighting hub and is therefore controlled by cam like everything else the combs are made of a hard semi opaque plastic so light can shine through them and it's important to note that they will only fit well with 3 millimeter cable sets which was pretty limiting in my experience trying to use the combs with cable mods Pro Series up here cables and thermal takes tt Mod extensions proved could be a royal struggle those with enough patience and finger strength might be able to brute force fatter wires into these combs but they may end up bending their cables out of shape in the process I was also kind of surprised by the lack of any six pin trainers maybe NZXT teased logic here is that a builder who's spending $30 on cable combs probably has a top-shelf video card with higher power requirements anyway still it just seems kind of odd to have no six pin support at all I'm sure you could use an eight pin comb with your six pin cable if you're okay with your rig looking like hot garbage I'm sad to report that the engineering sample I received had some weak connections keeping the LEDs from turning on so I wasn't able to see them in action we'll just have to take NZXT at their word that they do in fact light up the third new accessory for showboating your rig and style is the under glow kits priced at 3499 for ATX cases and five bucks less for smaller cases this is an external add-on for creating an under glow effect included are a pair of 300 millimeter rigid addressable RGB LED strips that mount to the underside of your chassis with the provided 3m adhesive the strip's had a hard time sticking to the bottom of my s340 elite though because the only area you can reasonably mount them to have a few rivets in the way that the adhesive just isn't strong enough to grip having magnets built into the strip's could have been a huge help here the strips are linked together by a short cable and can be plugged in either directly to the hew 2 controller or externally to the included PCI expansion bracket installation is quick and easy if you have a fully smooth surface to work with of course and the two adhesive cable tie downs keep the wiring orderly like the internal strips you get the same bright LEDs with smooth transitions and radiant color beaming down onto your desk now the last youtube part in this family is not an accessory but rather a full functioning product in fact imagine it to be almost exactly like the hue to lighting kit but instead of serving your PC it serves the back of your monitor the hue to ambient RGB lighting kit cost the most coin of the bunch at $100 and comes in two models one suited for panels 21 to 26 inches and another for larger displays up to 35 inches the larger kit you see here features a familiar lighting hub with just two channels and eight LED strips four of which span 300 millimeters while the other four runs slightly shorter at 250 millimeters once again users have the choice of magnetic or adhesive backing for the strips but are limited to using the included velcro pieces when mounting the hub behind the monitor now while I was able to get everything mounted to my curved 2 PG 3 4 8 Q ultra wide display you'll want to make sure there aren't any buttons or other obstacles behind your panel that might prevent you from running strips in the proper locations just a few hours after installation the 3m adhesive on the strip's was already losing its grip so I had to secure them with painters tape which is kind of cringe for the price you're paying here also provided as an AC adapter with a quadruplet of regional plugs cable ties and cables for connecting the strips and wiring them to the hub and a microUSB to type a cable for connecting the hub to your PC preferably to your rear i/o through can the ambient lighting kit can dance to all the same lighting effects as the internal hue lighting kit with an extra trick up its sleeve ambient mode dynamically matches the LEDs to the colors on your screen creating a more unique and immersive gaming experience it's a cool little cherry on top that works very well in practice it's also worth noting that multi monitor users can connect additional ambient lighting kits NZXT recommends their extended mode when using more than one display this requires one kit per monitor and when ambient mode is enabled colors will only be pulled from the primary monitor as you would expect users can also sync up lighting effects between their PC and display to achieve luminous RGB harmony some of the things up here the hue tube could definitely have better mounting solutions in several areas it's got its own set of quirks and oddities that you just have to deal with and the privilege of ownership does not come cheap but it is by a landslide the most advanced and customizable lighting ecosystem for your setup currently on the market and I would recommend it to anyone looking for a serious boost in the bling department you guys let me 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