What Is Addressable RGB (ARGB)?
Control (Addressable) Individual Parts With RGB Lighting
In the gaming PC scene, lighting up PC components and accessories like keyboards has become popular, but there are actually different ways to do RGB lighting.
One standard that lets specific targets (addressable) light up in RGB is “addressable RGB (ARGB).” As the name suggests, software can be used to light up specific parts in RGB, which makes it possible to set different lighting effects by component instead of having everything in the same color.
In terms of the connector standard, it uses a 3-pin layout (5V, Data, GND), so it’s also sometimes called “3-pin RGB.” On the motherboard, it may be labeled “ARGB,” “ADD_RGB,” or “5V RGB.” Because the pin count is different, it is not compatible with the RGB LED standard described later.
Razer Chroma, one of the pioneers of gaming lighting, is also addressable RGB.
Differences From RGB LED
There is another lighting standard for PC parts called “RGB LED.” Like ARGB, it allows color selection with RGB, but because it is not addressable, all connected parts and accessories light up in sync.
Its connector standard uses 4 pins (12V, R, G, B), so it’s also sometimes called “4-pin RGB.” On the motherboard, it may be labeled “RGB LED,” “12V RGB,” or “JRGB.”
Because the pin count is different, it is not compatible with addressable RGB.
How to Identify Addressable RGB (ARGB)
Identifying addressable RGB (ARGB) is simple: the LED connector is “5V, 3-pin.” A similar standard, RGB LED, is “12V, 4-pin,” which makes the difference very easy to spot.
Also, since ARGB is typically controlled by the motherboard, the motherboard must have a header labeled “ARGB,” “ADD_RGB,” “5V RGB,” or similar.
ARGB Pros and Cons
Pros
The biggest advantage of ARGB is its stronger expressiveness for lighting effects.
Because lighting can be changed per connected device, it’s possible to do things like: make the keyboard blink blue, set the case to a green “breathing” effect, and keep the mouse lit in red—each with separate effects and colors. Of course, it’s also possible to assign multiple colors (not just a single color) using RGB.
Combining these effects makes it possible to create a coordinated lighting look across an entire desk setup, which can increase immersion.
Also, ARGB devices can often be connected in a daisy chain (linked in series) if a controller is used, which can make cable management easier for custom PC lighting. With RGB LED, using splitters is more common.
Cons
The biggest downside of ARGB is that it costs more.
As a rough guideline, even for the same part, it can feel about 30% more expensive. For example, a simple PC case fan can cost as much as 7,000 yen (about $45), and ARGB-compatible memory often costs about 30% to 50% more than standard memory.
