GiM KB-14 RGB PC Light Strip - "Magic Lamp"
​
Everytime I write about a new RGB product, part of me thinks about what more I could possibly say about RGB lighting. It's lights!!!!
More lights are good, right!? Maybe, maybe not. I'm always on the lookout for new RGB products that get my attention. It goes without saying that a standard LED light by itself is harsh and unpleasant to look at. It's the ambient light that it that we all enjoy.
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
Some fans of course diffuse this harshness with a frosted plastic cover. The same concept as a light bulb, the filaments inside (or LED's for that matter) are harsh to look at, but the bulb itself shelds the harshness and diffuses the light.
The LED strips in my PC are hidden and tucked away in hidden recesses of the frame itself to shield the viewer from the harsh and unpleasant LED. It suits the purpose and the light it produces looks great.
I've seen several products recently that take the concept of the LED strip and attach it to a diffuser. There are a couple of external Corsair products that have done this, the ls100 and lt100.
I greatly prefer the look of the diffused LED strip better.
This product, which I found on Amazon, is a strip, but it's rigid and will not bend. It has a square shape with 2 of those sides containing magnets the full length of the "Lamp" as it's called.
The other 2 sides are a rigid plastic diffuser. The product I reviewed is 40cm in length and is also available in a 30cm length.
I've never heard of GiM Products before and this was inexpensive and caught my attention, so I ordered it.
I paid 16.99 for a single LAMP, which is not necessarily cheap given the price of LED strips. The 40mm strip's construction is satisfactory, it's not the refined build we've come to expect from name brands such as corsair, nzxt and asus, but this serves the purpose.
I tested the lighting fixture on my desk with the ASUS ROG terminal and it responded well to all the commands it was given.
The light uses the standard 4 pin ARGB connector and will work with most motherboard manufacturers, Gigabyte, Asrock, asus and MSI.
I placed this in a decently sized cougar case and it fit well, the magnets were strong, but not overpowering. It's a bit on the big size, so smaller cases may have trouble fitting this and the 30cm would be the better option.
It looked good enough nestled in with all the corsair goodness of my current PC.
My biggest drawback for this is, it's not corsair and that's how i'm controlling RGB. Sure, there are ways to get aura sync lights to work with corsair, but that's just more cabling and duct taping to get it to work.
My gigabyte motherboard doesn't have a 5v ARGB connector so I can't use that and the gigabyte control leaves alot to be desired.
If you have one of the above motherboards and are using it for control, this should work perfect if you need some big light in space on your case.
I'm playing with a more flexible option from Airgoo at the moment, which is smaller and bendable....stay Tuned!
​
​