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Solarity Technology ArrRGB DAC RGB Expander

Black Haru

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The role of RGB LEDs in the PC space has vastly expanded in the last 5 years. So too has the complexity of control for all the disparate accessory designs. Addressable RGB LEDs are a huge leap towards greater user control, and with the ArrRGB DAC from Solarity Technology, you can integrate any RGB LED device into your addressable RGB control.

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What's the point of this? It's impossible to take a 12v, analog rgb strip and control each LED independently since an analog strip doesn't have the ICs necessary, so it doesn't do that.... Why would anyone pay $40 to continue using analog rgb strips when you can literally buy a 5meter roll of 60led/meter addressable rgb strips for $30 or less on aliexpress... I honestly do not see the point in this product.
 
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Personally this is exactly what I was looking for. Hi "AnarchoPrimitiv". One of the reasons that I could tell you is that I have a MSI X399 SLI Plus and the addressable header on that board is a 4 pin. There is no way to get it to work with the standard 3 pin ARGB. This unit will be perfect for me as I will have 8 ARGB fans in my setup soon. At $40 it is a nice price. TPU any word on availability?

Ok i found it too bad Newegg Canada wants $59.99 plus $13 in shipping. For that price it is a little out of my range for what it is.
 
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This is perfect for mid-level and entry level motherboards that might only have a standard 4-pin RGB 12v header, or even for older builds someone may want to bling out some. And the occasional bling'd out server-based build (gotta spotlight those quad Opterons or Xeons salvaged off ebay after all).
 
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This is perfect for mid-level and entry level motherboards that might only have a standard 4-pin RGB 12v header, or even for older builds someone may want to bling out some. And the occasional bling'd out server-based build (gotta spotlight those quad Opterons or Xeons salvaged off ebay after all).

According to the specs it needs to have a motherboard with a 12 volt or 5 volt header depending on the variant you are using.
 
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I literally just received one of these today! Haven't plugged it in yet and am excited to set it up when I have a free moment in the next couple days. I thought it was a killer under the radar find I stumbled onto on Modmymods website. I was searching for something that could convert 12v 4pin RGB devices to be plugged into a 5v 3pin header, and this little guy does that! In fact, I'd go so far to say it is the only device in the market that does such a task. I couldn't find any other units that do so. Several converters for the other way exist, 5v 3pin devices plugging into a 12v 4pin header, but not the other way around.

Watch the video the inventor made on this device. It came about due to wanting more control with Thermaltakes RGB fittings using Corsairs RGB controllers (hence their specific ports on this card). I am using some D-RGB fittings from Bykski and wanted a particular color scheme that I wasn't able to achieve based on what headers are being used and the limited functionality of Gigabytes RGB Fusion 2.0 software. This unit lets me setup the color scheme I want. For example, I have fans, cpu, gpu, pump/res, and strips on 12v 4pin and fittings on 5v 3pin. But I don't want the whole PC one color and I want the loop to be one color with the fans and strips a different color....I cannot do that on RGB Fusion 2.0 so my only solution is to either get different RGB devices that plug into 5v 3pin, or get something that converts just my cpu, gpu, and pump/res to the different header.

It was $40 on modmymods but quite a bit more on any other retailer I found it....which I think the only other place I located it was newegg and whatever seller had it going for like $60 + extra shipping, way too much! I believe the inventor is in the local Rochester NY area where modmymods is based from so likely they are the more reliable supplier of the device not having to occur much shipping to receive the item


 
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I was super excited to stumble across the review today, I really enjoyed reading the review. I would like to thank TPU and Nate for taking the time to review the device. :)

The ArrRGB DAC started as a project to unify all my RGB devices into one software. I started designing it over a year and a half ago when ARGB wasn't as popular and Corsair iCUE had no native control of Analog devices. This gives you the ability to address 4 different "analog devices" separately for each DAC and they can be daisy chained. I am just enthusiast that designed this board and had about 100 produced. This is really just a hobby and I work in IT full time. I might have to order more boards to be produced soon. For the first batch I am hand soldering the RGB headers as I wanted to allow for the creation of niche 5v Analog for Thermal Take RGB fittings and the vastly more popular 12v analog version. I also placed every SN, assembled every box, and installed every stand off. I am having modmymods.com and piratedogtech.com resell these devices as they have the logistics and time to do so. You can buy it directly from modmymods for $39 and pirate dog tech sells it bundled with some RGB cables for $50.99. Indirectly it is on Amazon and Newegg via MMM for a slightly marked up price, to offset the cost of each respective market place. MMM is a few minutes away from where I work and are a great group of guys, with a nice inventory of items. Pirate Dog Tech is another friend based out of Texas, who makes and sales custom RGB cables.

The target audience is for people who want more control of their Analog RGB devices. I personally used this to control my 12x Thermal Take 5v Analog RGB fittings and that was the main purpose for designing it. The fittings had only a manual controller and no software control, so I decided I wanted to control them. Here is a video from an early prototype:

I also did a cardboard mockup of how it would look to control analog RGB LEDs on devices like your MB and GPU:

I have a youtube channel where I do cover RGB, Electronics, Review tech: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCfN1sXzg1AfopkQp8cYpUaA

ArrRGB DAC Development Playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLuzT4gCGI6_rlhdwjAmaQmN-xBmHF--_O

If you guys have any questions, feel free to ask :)

Personally this is exactly what I was looking for. Hi "AnarchoPrimitiv". One of the reasons that I could tell you is that I have a MSI X399 SLI Plus and the addressable header on that board is a 4 pin. There is no way to get it to work with the standard 3 pin ARGB. This unit will be perfect for me as I will have 8 ARGB fans in my setup soon. At $40 it is a nice price. TPU any word on availability?

Ok i found it too bad Newegg Canada wants $59.99 plus $13 in shipping. For that price it is a little out of my range for what it is.

I found this very interesting and had to take a look into it myself as I never knew MSI had used 4pin ARGB. The 4th pin is for clock, some LEDs use a clock pin, though it looks like MSI was an early adopter of it and was the Beta Max, while the 3pin WS2812B style is VHS. Unless you can set the MSI's software to use a different type of LED, you might be out of luck. Granted for the J_Corsair header they do change the protocol (SP-120 RGB non-pro vs. every other Corsair DIY RGB). I don't have a MSI board, so I can't test, though I can't guarantee it will work.

It looks like someone already tried tested this and it didn't work out: https://forum-en.msi.com/index.php?topic=317425.0
 
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I like RGB lighting though because my bedroom doubles as my office an off-switch is an absolute must!

I was super excited to stumble across the review today, I really enjoyed reading the review. I would like to thank TPU and Nate for taking the time to review the device. :)

Great post, thanks for sharing!
 
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