. Fan Lights

bearcat

Member
Thank you for taking a look.

I have a new computer, and tech support is pretty bad to nonexistent.

I live in a tiny one room apartment, and typically I leave the computer running all the time.

#1. Is it better for the hard drives to leave the machine running all the time, or to shut it off when not in use?

#2. How can I turn off the fan lights but still keep the fan running?

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07PRBWMHP/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Shinobee SSD Ultra 8-Core Gaming PC/Multimedia Desktop Computer - FX 8300 8 x 4.20 GHz - AMD Radeon RX 460 2GB DDR5 Graphics - 8GB DDR3-240GB SSD - 500GB HDD - Win10 Pro - CD/DVD±RW - WiFi #6006
 

johnb35

Administrator
Staff member
Shut it off overnight. If they are led fans probably won't be able to turn them off.
 

bearcat

Member
Thank you. At some point somewhere someone told me that the SSD drive has a short life compared to an HDD drive. True or false?

In paranoia that this may be true, I bought a flash drive and created a rescue USB for Windows 10, since I was also told that is where the OS resides.

Long ago I was told that the physical process of spinning up and spinning down an HDD wears it out, so you should just leave it on all the time. True or false?

Surprised that there is no third party software I could install to turn on and off the fan lights.
 

johnb35

Administrator
Staff member
At some point somewhere someone told me that the SSD drive has a short life compared to an HDD drive. True or false?
False. Mechanical HDD's are more common to fail then SSD's. However, I still must point out that any device can fail at any time.

Long ago I was told that the physical process of spinning up and spinning down an HDD wears it out, so you should just leave it on all the time. True or false?
Debatable. The constant spin of an HDD will make it wear out faster I believe. Also, its economical to actually power off the system at night to save electricity.
Surprised that there is no third party software I could install to turn on and off the fan lights.
Are they RGB? If the motherboard has rgb software, it may be possible to turn them off. Mine has rgb but not sure if I can actually turn them off totally.
 

bearcat

Member
Electricity is not a major concern. It is included in my rent, and I despise my landlords.
I am not sure what RGB means. They are the color red, all of the time. How would I know if the compter has RGB software?
At any rate, shut off machine overnight last night. It was a relief that it did not take forever to start up again this morning.
Thank you again, by the way, for your answers, greatly appreciated.
 

spit

New Member
RGB are the primary colors (red , green and blue) and from these 3 colors , any color is possible.
The lighting normally comes in 2 formats...ARGB (addressable) and RGB .
Addressable use 5 volts and RGB uses 12 volts .
Addressable give you far better colors than RGB.
You would normally have outputs for both these formats on your MOBO and reading your Motherboard manual will help.
Addressable are 3 pin and RGB are 4 pin connectors.
RGB and ARGB software ( eg , ICUE , AURA etc. allows you to switch off the lights or at least put them to dark which is basically the same thing)
 

bearcat

Member
RGB are the primary colors (red , green and blue) and from these 3 colors , any color is possible.
The lighting normally comes in 2 formats...ARGB (addressable) and RGB .
Addressable use 5 volts and RGB uses 12 volts .
Addressable give you far better colors than RGB.
You would normally have outputs for both these formats on your MOBO and reading your Motherboard manual will help.
Addressable are 3 pin and RGB are 4 pin connectors.
RGB and ARGB software ( eg , ICUE , AURA etc. allows you to switch off the lights or at least put them to dark which is basically the same thing)


Your reply is gibberish to me. Speak as if I knew nothing about computers.
 

_Kyle_

Well-Known Member
Your reply is gibberish to me. Speak as if I knew nothing about computers.

I'll elaborate on the RGB thing. You are probably familiar with the 3 Primary Colors in art: red, blue, and yellow. You can mix these colors in specific quantities to create nearly any color feasible.

RGB is the electronic version of this, and it uses red, green, and blue light in specific quantites to create nearly any color of light possible.

On the motherboard(MOBO) of your PC there are pins, which are just connection points for the computers components, for the fans. If you are unsure what a motherboard is, it's essentially a big circuit board that connects all the PC's components together.

This is about as much as I can answer about on RGB for PCs though because I've personally never set it up or used it.
 

spit

New Member
Another thing, as well as all the shiny things on the circuit board thingy (MOTHERBOARD) there are also small connectors on the motherboard (big square thing) with small pointy things sticking out and this is where you plug your LED lights into.

There are connectors with 3 pointy things and connectors with 4 pointy things.....it's hard to mix them up , but if you do , bye bye expensive ARGB lights.

Anyway, you should have a something that looks like a pamphlet that will have the name of your circuit board thingy (motherboard) on the cover and it is advisable to read this or at least get an adult to look over it before doing anything more complicated than pressing the button on top of the big box (computer).
 
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spit

New Member
I'll elaborate on the RGB thing. You are probably familiar with the 3 Primary Colors in art: red, blue, and yellow. You can mix these colors in specific quantities to create nearly any color feasible.

.
I want what your smoking or at least get some RBY lights ;)
Haven't had this much fun in ages .
 
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_Kyle_

Well-Known Member
I want what your smoking or at least get some RBY lights ;)
Haven't had this much fun in ages .
Hmm? The primary colors in art are different than the ones used in RGB. Paint and the such doesn't mix quite the same way as light does.
 

spit

New Member
The primary colors are the primary colors (red , green , blue ) .
Yellow is not a primary color.
Red, green, and blue are the primary colors of light—they can be combined in different proportions to make all other colors.
 

Shlouski

VIP Member
One needs to understand the differences between additive and subtractive colour, this is copy pasted from another source:

  • Additive color: Combine light sources, starting with darkness (black). The additive primary colors are red (R), green (G), and blue (B). Adding R and G light makes yellow (Y). Similarly, G + B = cyan (C) and R + B = magenta (M). Combining all three additive primaries makes white.
  • Subtractive color: Illuminate objects that contain dyes or pigments that remove portions of the visible spectrum. The objects may either transmit light (transparencies) or reflect light (paper, for example). The subtractive primaries are C, M and Y. Cyan absorbs red; hence C is sometimes called "minus red" (-R). Similarly, M is -G and Y is -B. The two approaches are illustrated on the right and described in the table below.
Unfortunately, ideal C, Y and M inks don't exist; the subtractive primaries don't entirely remove their compliments (R, B and G). This isn't a problem for film, where light is transmitted through three separate dye layers, but it has important consequences for prints made with ink on reflective media (i.e., paper). Combining C, Y and M usually produces a muddy brown. Black ink (K) must added to the mix to obtain deep black tones. CMYK color is highly device dependent-- there are many algorithms for converting RGB to CMYK. Photographic editing should be done in RGB (or related) color spaces. Conversion to CMYK (usually with colors added to extend the printer color gamut) should be left to the printer driver software.
 

spit

New Member
Very good explanation but it doesn't change facts regarding the primary colors , which was discussed in this stupid thread .
 

_Kyle_

Well-Known Member
The primary colors are the primary colors (red , green , blue ) .
Yellow is not a primary color.
Red, green, and blue are the primary colors of light—they can be combined in different proportions to make all other colors.

Actually, yes, yellow is a primary color. The three "traditional" primary colors that most people are familiar with are red, blue, and yellow. This is taught in art class in elementary. Red and blue makes purple, yellow and red makes orange, and so on.

The original poster does not understand RGB very well, so I referenced the traditional primary colors to help them understand RGB.

If you had read my message all the way through, you would see that I had said that RGB uses red, blue, and green (the primary colors of light) light to create any color, similar to how the primary colors work in art.

So before you go on to correct someone, at least read their post 100% through.

it is advisable to read this or at least get an adult to look over it before doing anything more complicated than pressing the button on top of the big box (computer).

Don't use my age to devalidate me. I know what I am talking about, and when I do get things wrong on this forum I own up to it. However this time I know I am not incorrect.
 
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beers

Moderator
Staff member
#1. Is it better for the hard drives to leave the machine running all the time, or to shut it off when not in use?

#2. How can I turn off the fan lights but still keep the fan running?
1) Turning it off is fine.
2) Usually both components are connected to the same power source so LED off = fan off. You can turn off the lights of RGB controlled fans using a controller or software, however.

Thank you. At some point somewhere someone told me that the SSD drive has a short life compared to an HDD drive. True or false?
They're referring to write durability, SSDs have a more finite life for writing data, but it's usually rated in hundreds of terabytes. From a MTBF perspective SSDs are generally longer lasting than their mechanical counterparts due to not having any moving parts.
 

spit

New Member
Actually, yes, yellow is a primary color. The three "traditional" primary colors that most people are familiar with are red, blue, and yellow. This is taught in art class in elementary. Red and blue makes purple, yellow and red makes orange, and so on.

The original poster does not understand RGB very well, so I referenced the traditional primary colors to help them understand RGB.

If you had read my message all the way through, you would see that I had said that RGB uses red, blue, and green (the primary colors of light) light to create any color, similar to how the primary colors work in art.

So before you go on to correct someone, at least read their post 100% through.



Don't use my age to devalidate me. I know what I am talking about, and when I do get things wrong on this forum I own up to it. However this time I know I am not incorrect.
I wasted my time and gave you , what I thought was a good initial answer to you question and your reply was "Your reply is gibberish to me"

 

johnb35

Administrator
Staff member
I wasted my time and gave you , what I thought was a good initial answer to you question and your reply was "Your reply is gibberish to me"


Kyle was not the one that said, "your reply was gibberish to me". The OP Bearcat said that.
 

spit

New Member
Don't use my age to devalidate me. I know what I am talking about, and when I do get things wrong on this forum I own up to it. However this time I know I am not incorrect.

My reply was to the OP.
My sarcastic reply anyway.
 
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