Checking out iCUE Software

iCUE is Corsair central hub software, designed to connect and control everything Corsair branded in one place. Any Corsair peripherals, Corsair Commander hubs, Corsair power supplies or certain AIOs will need iCUE 4 software installed (product dependent). iCUE is also the only manufacturer program that works with Corsair Vengeance RGB memory to set the RGB lighting ~ ASUS Aura Sync, GIGABYTE RGB Fusion, MSI Mystic Light Sync, and ASRock Polychrome Sync RGB software are all unsupported at the time of publication.

The Corsair Vengeance RGB has ten LED zones that can be independently controlled and set. However, navigation and setting up the lighting schemes is a daunting task without the aid of some video tutorials. For example, if you want to set a single LEDs color, the keyboard's Alt key must be held in order to do so. Otherwise, each additional click erases the previous action. This is one of the many idiosyncrasies that isn't always easy to figure out.

iCUE Performance Test

Next we will take a quick look at Corsair iCUEs performance impact on the system while it's running. These tests are conducted on a fresh install of Windows 11. The application uses 341 MB while open and seemly has no impact in Forza Horizon 5 on either medium or maximum graphical settings. However, CPU scores do decrease which indicates a minor strain on the CPU overall when iCUE software is running in the background.

BIOS Intervention

While reviewing another Corsair memory kit previously, it was discovered not all motherboards support the ability to communicate with the Corsair memory and subsequently control the RGB lighting. The Corsair Dominator Platinum RGB previously reviewed covers this information in more detail. Simply put, be prepared to poke around in the BIOS if the memory isn't showing up in the software. After looking further into why motherboards have this real-time SPD write related function disabled by default. The ASUS description of the function in the BIOS also states it should be disabled for security reasons. This lends some sense as to why not all motherboards have problems communicating with the Corsair iCUE software. Some vendors choose to have this BIOS setting enabled by default, and others do not.

For this review, the ASUS Z690 ROG Hero was updated to the current BIOS (1720) and the iCUE software was current as well, in the hopes this issue has been resolved since the previous review. The bad news is that the outcome ended up being the same. Not having control over RGB lighting becomes an even bigger issue considering that the Corsair memory does not support any motherboard vendors RGB software either, leaving Corsair iCUE as the only manufacturer option for RGB lighting control.

Editor Note: OpenRGB does support some Corsair products, but the implementation is not official.

Corsair Link Reference:
Video: How To Set Up CORSAIR DDR5 Memory in iCUE 4
FAQ: How to: Enable SPD Write on your ASUS Z690 motherboard