This is my current desk setup - and i'm pretty happy with it. But for this video
I wanted to try something a bit different -
With tastefulness and subtly well and truly thrown out the window -
I've replaced my desk setup with a whole range of colourful peripherals.
So I got in touch with Corsair and asked if they wanted to help me kit out a cool new desk setup - and
the benefit of going for a single brand whether it's Corsair or CoolerMaster or Logitech
or whoever you like - is you can use their desktop apps to customise and sync all the lighting together.
So I played around with Corsair Utility Engine, trying out a bunch of the effects. But I settled
on a random colour shift pattern WITH the lighting link option enabled so basically
it slowly goes through the whole RGB spectrum, but all the products are synced up - from
the headphone stand to the mousemat so it actually looks really good.
So in this setup I've got the Corsair K95 Platinum RGB mechanical keyboard, the Glaive
RGB gaming mouse.. Glaive... Glaive. It makes me think of this...
the MM800C RGB Polaris Mousemat, the ST100 RGB headphone stand and finally the wireless
Corsair Void Pro RGB gaming headphones. On top of the ST100 RGB headphone stand!
All in - you're looking at about £400 or $500 - which is a lot of money - but these
are premium gaming peripherals in their own right - But to be fair yes you could probably
save a hundred quid and give the rgb mousemat and headphone stand a miss - they're definitely
luxuries rather than necessities.
I've also paired my corsair peripherals with a couple of Philips Hue smart lights,
This is the Philips Hue Go Builb (£60) - which I keep on my desk, replacing an old Aukey lamp.
This is infinitly customisable - and I can adjust using the app or with my voice using the amazon echo or google home.
If that wasn't enough - the Ultrawide monitor I'm using - the ASUS PG348Q also projects a republic of gamers
logo onto my desk, you can turn it off but it's extra lighting option if you want it.
So I may have gone a bit RGB Mad - but i'm happy with this setup and I've been using it for a couple of days now.
There are couple of things I've noticed while using these I'd like to share with you.
The mousemat - which I do really like - the soft-touch material is really comfortable.
But the problem is - when I then use the Glaive mouse
You can see the mouse's cable gets caught on the USB notch/hub at the top
which is not ideal - and I think Logitech have a slightly better solution with
the wireless G903 mouse which actually charges on their powerplay mouse mats - so you don't
get any of this cable bungie-ing.
The Glaive mouse is really comfortable to use, with smooth tracking and 5 different
DPI settings and The 3-zone RGB lighting looks good - and generally it's a really nice mouse to use.
although there isn't any weight adjustment
and with only two buttons on the left side, it's got limited customisability so it's
not for pro gamers. I have to say though I think my favourite peripheral is the Corsair K95 keyboard. The Cherry MX mechanical keys are
really responsive - and as you would expect it's really loud!
It's also got 6 programmable Macro keys
Full size numpad and media controls.
Lighting strip at the top. Fully backlit keys.
Really, really impressive keyboard.
The biggest issue though is the price at around £160 / $160
Which is a lot of money - but this is a premium mechanical gaming keyboard.
But what about the headphones - well these Corsair Void Pro Wireless RGB headphones sound great.
Audio quality is very impressive - and in the corsair utility software you can customise EQ's and even enable virtual
dolby 7.1 surround sound which is good for gaming. They're also really comfortable
to wear, but I find the headphone cups have quite a loose fit, especially at the bottom.
They're still comfortable to wear though - but a tighter fit on the cups would be good.
and... they fall of quite easily too heh! The best bit though is the price...
At around £80 / $100, they're good value for money. And they do sound great.
but when I'm finished gaming - what am I going to do with these??
I don't know how we survived without headphone stands
This is the Corsair ST100 RGB headphone stand.
Which will cost you around £50.
Quite a lot of money - but actually it's a really well made product.
Full metal body - RGB lighting strip - and USB port for charging the headphones.
Now obviously all this RGB lighting doesn't have any effect on your gaming performance
it's for aesthetics - for looks. it's essentially the equivalent of go-faster stripes
on a car. But while I personally prefer a cleaner, more minimalist setup with as few
cables as possible - I also really get the appeal - especially when it's dark and you're
in gaming mode - it looks really awesome.
and all these lights mean you can have a consistent
lighting theme across your entire setup.
The downside for me is cables - I'm sure with a few cable ties and a bit better management
would make it look a lot better - but I prefer the clean look.
and when you've got cables for the mouse, mousemat, headphone stand and the headphones for charging - it can get a bit messy.
But that's really my only issue.
So I've gone RGB mad as you can see! A big thanks to Corsair for sending all this out and I'm looking forward to
Playing with the setup some more, tweaking it, changing a few things up. I might bring back some of my old peripherals as well.
But the big question is: Can you have too much RGB? I want to hear what YOU think in the comments
and also if you enjoyed this video click the LIKE and SUBSCRIBE buttons below :)
and I'll see you next time right here on The Tech Chap. Thanks for watching!