this post was submitted on 05 Jul 2025
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Sometimes I wonder what the thought process behind the gaming aesthetic was. RGB (*if tunable) itself is fine and adds a nice opportunity for personalization, but are those tacky fonts, crystal-facet enclosures, and overall showiness just tasteless or do any gamers actually prefer that look?

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[–] [email protected] 3 points 4 days ago

On a personal level, I don't like the see through towers or really basically any RGB. I have a keyboard that has RGB and if I could turn it off while also being able to see the keys properly, I would turn it off. It's currently at the lowest setting I can do it and still see the keys.

Also not a fan of the super fancy schmancy gaming mice because I'm a firm believer trackball mice are superior.

No opinion on gaming headsets other than the ones with the attached mic are stupid looking. Design of headphones and such are slightly less important to me than the sound quality, so I can let some dumb designs slide if the quality is fantastic.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 4 days ago

I was riding the first RGB bling bling wave back in the early 2ks and after a while I got sooooooooooooo annoyed by every light my PC emitted.

Same today.

I give a frog about RGB and when I bought my actual PCs back in early 2024 I used an old Chieftec case I had standing around for the first and bought a cheap case of Amazon that has no glass.

Both stand in a way that air can circulate and the PC stays cool, but light is blocked.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 4 days ago
[–] [email protected] 5 points 4 days ago (3 children)

My gaming pc lives in a soundproof cupboard 5m away without a case because quietness is more important to me than any visual element, so any RGB thing gets avoided, or turned off.

I can appreciate a very colour coordinated and well put together "gaming" computer in a purely aesthetic sense. Some are genuinely pretty and I get that some folk take a lot of pleasure out of making something that looks beautiful and best of luck to them. But I'm not one of them.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 4 days ago (3 children)

How do you handle cooling?

Super quietness sounds great but having a CPU running at 1.000Β°C doesn't

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[–] [email protected] 4 points 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago)

My take, I was a gamer when I was young, when a 386 was gaming for me and till today when a 4090 is gaming for me, but I prefer normal looking shit without RGB. My 4090 colours allow me to set it to one shade of blue that I like, but I’ll be happy with a closed unit without any colour as well. What I would prefer, over colours, is free time to actually game :/

[–] [email protected] 5 points 4 days ago

My gaming computer is in an old 4 unit rack mount server case. I think there is some sort of RGB nonsense on the motherboard, but you can't see it once the computer is racked.

Fuck RGB shit.

[–] [email protected] 16 points 4 days ago

I would like it if it was subtle, maybe a few thin rgb lines around the main board like traces, and something similar on other components.

I hate the everything blaring random lights look, its like a kids attempt to draw attention, it works but when you look you wish you hadn't.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 4 days ago

Apparently lemmy attracted all the boring bastards i guess. You all must have gray walls, a black desk, and a plain black box for a pc tower and think its peak.

I like splashes of color in various ways in my home, my pc is simply an extension of that. Theres ways do to it tastefully. Grab a Fractal case, set your fans to a solid color.

[–] [email protected] 12 points 4 days ago (2 children)

The wonders of marketing making people believe that RGB vomit is desirable.

The only LED i care about is white.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 4 days ago (1 children)

In shocking news, not all people have the same tastes.

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[–] [email protected] 8 points 4 days ago

White... supremacy?

[–] [email protected] 2 points 4 days ago

I think a lot of people like the customization that rainbow RGB more than anything else.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 4 days ago

The only RGB I run is for my keyboard and only because I sit in a dark room and everything is black, so it can be difficult to see where the keyboard is. Back when I ran a regular mouse I also had an RGB mouse for the same reason, but carpal tunnel forced a trackball so now the mouse never moves and it no longer needs RGB.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 4 days ago

I got fractal design r6 because it’s dampens noise quite well. There was an option for a glass panel, but I got the solid one instead because it insulates sound better.

[–] [email protected] 12 points 4 days ago (1 children)

I'm over 30, but even when i was in my early 20s I couldn't stand the blaring lights. A HS friend built up a rig with full flashy RGB shit and I was like "why?" - He thought it was cool, possibly still does.

I mean, I'm supposed to look at the monitor, not the fan or the mouse. Keyboard blacklight is good, tho, so long as it's not red nor a dancing rainbow. Yellow or white are the best kb backlight imo

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[–] [email protected] 8 points 4 days ago

Yep. I'm the (apparently minority) weirdo that LOVES the rainbow vomit lights. I have lights everywhere on my computer and desk and it brings me so much joy. It just feels happy to me to have the bright rainbow colors slowly shifting. I find it delightful and will pay extra to ensure devices are not only rainbow capable, but are the right type of rainbow (slow shifting) that I love. My side of our gaming office drives my husband nuts. I regret nothing!

[–] [email protected] 1 points 4 days ago

I'm fairly photosensitive so I disable a ton of extra LEDs and cover up some necessary lights (monitor power buttons, caps/num lock indicators) with dimming stickers to make them easier on the eyes.

The only exception is the computer itself. I enable very dim lights on the case, mobo, and GPU which switch between Green/Blue/Red depending on CPU temps - it's nice way to quickly see how much stress my PC is under.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago)

I hate those lights so much. I only want one light on my entire computer it should be right next to the on button to let me know it's on. That's it. I had that. It was wonderful. Then when I upgraded my graphics card it came with a light and now the thing glows green and I hate it. And don't get me started on the stupid Mouse.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago)

I bought a RGB mouse a few months ago, tried it out for a few hours, got annoyed by the bright lights at night and turned off the lights.

For some reason, the Roccat software messed up and now it flashes green when clicking the middle mouse button (I couldn't even find an option in the software to make it do that), but that's kinda cool, so I kept it.

My computer is a sleeper build in an old server steel case. No RGB anywhere, and as a bonus, I can even sit on it, if I want. :D

[–] [email protected] 15 points 4 days ago

I hate it. I resent that I have to get an app to turn off the horrible lights in the computer and peripherals.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 4 days ago

No. I turn off the flashy LED shit.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 4 days ago (1 children)

im for whatever is cheap and effective, only performance to cost ratio matters to me.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 4 days ago

I buy whatever’s cheapest (and has the specs I want), but unfortunately that’s almost always the β€œEP1C K1LLERZ XTREAM PRO ULTRA X” brand... Somehow adding LEDs makes it cheaper.

I just want a plain cardboard box with the specs and SKU printed on the side like I have at work.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 4 days ago

I couldn't care less about the looks. I wanna game not attract gaming-mates 😁

[–] [email protected] 9 points 4 days ago

I was looking for something with a nicge natural wood finish. LED is dine but no blinking fading, just a solid line without any distraction.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 4 days ago

I like my stuff hidden anyway so I don't care all to much. I disable leds usually because they are distracting but keep one solid led to indicate whether the system is on or not.

[–] [email protected] 15 points 5 days ago (1 children)

The eye grabbing lights and glass covers are fucking idiotic. My best builds are black towers, great airflow, minimal lights, and barely any noise. I'm focused on the game, not the machine.

The thing needs to be forgotten. It's not the center of attention. The monitor is.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 4 days ago (1 children)

CEO of Monitors Inc: Got it, put eye grabbing RGB all over the monitors!

[–] [email protected] 19 points 5 days ago (1 children)

I think the industry still thinks their target audience is 12 year olds. It's evident also in the aesthetic of the games they make. That being said I am seeing a slow change for the better. If only I could say the same about the prices...

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[–] [email protected] 6 points 5 days ago

back in my day those were case mods. i disable that shit immediately

[–] [email protected] 4 points 5 days ago

I got a plain black case without a window. I used to have Razer KB+Mouse but after a deathadder and viper died I'm trying a logitech mouse, the matched RGB was nice at first but I lost interest in it.

[–] [email protected] 11 points 5 days ago* (last edited 5 days ago)

I have a keyboard that lights up because I like to type in the dark and my dexterity isn't what it used to be but that's about it. I would've preferred a solid color but RGB was all I found. Not a bad for $20, it's a solid steel frame

Oh, right. No the "gamer ascetic" is garish as fuck. I just want something that works.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 5 days ago (1 children)

Why is almost everyone in this thread just talking about rgb? The OP directly says that this isn't about rgb

I hate the gamer aesthetic, and I won't buy a product that adheres to it (unless its an internal component for my PC because i have an opaque case anyway). Rgb lighting can be nice in moderation, as long as it is truly customisable.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 4 days ago (1 children)

I haven't bought anything pre-built besides an Alienware laptop a decade or so ago, so, I have absolutely no idea what OP is talking about with:

  • crystal-facet enclosures
  • overall showiness

My cases are clean and I guess you could see the font on the video card if you looked into the case, but, the RGB just shines out and you don't really have a reason to look in. The other two gaming systems I have in the house, I disabled the RGB and again, I'm not looking into the case frequently, so I don't know that tacky fonts even register on my radar.

Keyboards/mice - again, RGB is all that's really noticeable and that can almost always be turned off.

So, my guess is people don't care for OPs prompt, but it kicked off their desire to talk about the only bit that is actually noticeable and that's the RGB, if they didn't disable it.

ETA: And that's assuming people actually read the whole two sentences that OP wrote and didn't just stop at the title.

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[–] [email protected] 5 points 5 days ago

I like minimalist setup, I avoid RGB.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 5 days ago

Yes, though not to the extreme.

[–] [email protected] 12 points 5 days ago

yeah i like the gamer aesthetic atari 2600

[–] [email protected] 2 points 5 days ago

Gamer here, I do like my setup RGB matching the same color (Red)

But only because something has RGB does not mean I'll buy it. RGB β‰  Quality

[–] [email protected] 1 points 5 days ago

I fucking love it, how I get to have a subtle moving pride flag on the side of me. Have trans colours on my kb.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 5 days ago* (last edited 5 days ago)

I think there's a fine line to be walked

Personally the only lights on my PC itself are the Ethernet ports on the back, and one little blue power indicator on the front

And since I built it in an HTPC case and stuffed it into my entertainment center, you kind of need to be looking at it from just the right angle to even see those. The case itself is a pretty unassuming black rectangle that looks pretty much like any other piece of AV equipment you might expect to see under a TV. About the size of a normal AV receiver, with a disc drive, a power and reset button, 2 USB ports, and a headphone and microphone jack.

My keyboard is a Keychron Q6 max with side-printed shine-through key caps, and my mouse is a Gameball Thumb (I like trackballs, and it's nice since I'm gaming on the couch so not much convenient flat space to move a mouse around) which has single ring of LEDs around the trackball and a small indicator LED to show the DPI settings on the mouse. Both of those turn off when they're idle, and when they're in use I have them set to a pretty simple spinning color mode.

My setup is in a finished basement and the lights are usually down so it's nice having them light up for the ease of seeing what I'm doing, and the simple color animations aren't too distracting.

Where my lighting excess does come in though is with the Philips hue lights I have synced up to my TV the overhead lights, a light strip behind my tv, and a light tube underneath it. Between that and the surround sound I think it's really immersive for movies and gaming. I think I've hit a good balance of it having some wow factor without being too distracting but opinions will of course vary on that.

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