Best Lighting for Your Gaming Room in 2023

Gamer room lights near or on desks have evolved from RGB-enabled keyboards and mice to more vibrant LED lamps, monitor backlighting, and panels mounted on walls. Today, there are countless types of smart lighting solutions that turn previously drab gaming rooms into spaces that come alive with millions of pulsating colors and patterns. The challenge with RGB lighting configurations is syncing together the many different types of devices from dozens of manufacturers so that they work in unison. Once these lights are properly coordinated, they can enhance any gaming experience with effects that reflect the visuals in cutting-edge PC titles.

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The best gaming room lights are far more expensive than traditional bulbs and lamps. When assembling an entire space full of RGB lights, the costs can quickly become overwhelming. Also, Since LED strips and panels affixed on walls are often a chore to safely remove, it’s imperative that gamers avoid lights that work unreliably or refuse to sync with other smart devices. The following lights are from proven manufacturers, produce spectacular RGB effects, and are the easiest to integrate with existing smart devices and PC components.

Nanoleaf Shapes

Best Overall Gaming Room Lighting

Starting with Smart LED light bulbs from companies like Philips Hue, gamers had a new visually impactful way to decorate their rooms. Eventually though, sticking colorful bulbs into traditional lamps wasn’t enough and Nanoleaf stepped in with its LED wall decor. While light bulbs are still functional, smart wall decor like Nanoleaf Shapes are more about style. Also, Shapes allows gamers to express their creativity since the available triangles, mini-triangles, and hexagons are all compatible with Nanoleaf’s Connect+ technology. This connectivity makes it possible to create wall light patterns in many different configurations, so no gaming room light has to look the same as another.

Nanoleaf Shapes require a relatively pain-free installation process with some seriously strong double-sided tape on the back of each panel and mounting bracket. These LED panels do call for some planning before setting up, in order to place the linkers in the correct place to connect the panels and decide on a desired pattern. Once everything is ready to go, the setup becomes more familiar for users of other smart home lights and devices. Nanoleaf recommends using their mobile app to connect the Shapes lights to WiFi networks, but there is also a Windows program available.

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Recent Nanoleaf products like Shapes allow integration with the most popular smart home ecosystems such as Google Home, Amazon Alexa, and Apple HomeKit. PC gamers will especially enjoy the Shapes lights compatibility with Razer Chroma and the brand’s numerous mice, keyboards, and headsets. Setup with the Razer Synapse software is often a bit finicky and requires toggling a setting in the Nanoleaf PC app as well. Still, the results are stunning with the RGB effects of PC peripherals finally expanding to the walls near gaming desks.

The main drawback of the Nanoleaf Shapes is its price. There are other far more affordable wall lights on the market, but they usually pale in comparison to the solidly-constructed Nanoleaf Shapes when it comes to build quality. It also remains a bit of a headache trying to coordinate Nanoleaf lights with the other smart lighting systems a gamer may have around their room. Many lights work with Google Home or Amazon Alexa, but achieving functionality beyond turning them on and off together is another story. Still, with the modern and vibrant 16 million color light show that they provide, it’s worth the effort to integrate the Nanoleaf Shapes into any gaming rig.

LIFX Beam Smart Light Bar

Best Gaming Room Accent Lighting

The LIFX Beam Smart Light Bar is the perfect high-tech accent to add to any existing gamer room lights. Each kit contains 6 smart beams plus a connecting corner piece and the dimensions of the assembled light bar are adjustable. Not to say that the LIFX Beam Smart Light Bar fails to impress on its own, but unlike Nanoleaf panels, it serves best as trim or framing near gaming desks, rather than affixed in the middle of walls. Nevertheless, these light bars can bring an otherwise boring gaming rig to life with 16 million colors and 61 dynamic light zones. Leaving the LIFX Beam lights on a static color almost seems criminal once a gamer realizes how many different colors and patterns the bars are capable of displaying simultaneously.

The setup for the LIFX Beam Smart Light Bar kit is very similar to any other LED wall lighting product. Gamers will want to choose their layout beforehand, though it’s not as complicated as arranging panels of various shapes and sizes. Each beam locks together with magnets, and the light bar mounts to surfaces with double-sided tape, connected to a controller and power source. From there, most of the rest of the setup takes place in the LIFX mobile app, which is pleasantly simple to use. The real power of the Beam system is then on display with an almost infinite number of potential color schemes programmable using the LIFX Polychrome Technology.

The LIFX Beam Smart Light Bar benefits from some slick integration into smart home systems like Google Home and Amazon Alexa. The light bars respond promptly to voice commands and colors are changeable through most of the popular smart home ecosystems. Gamers can set up triggers with IFTTT and Nest so that the lights react accordingly to events and conditions around a home. The LIFX Beam is also compatible with Razer Chroma, making it the perfect accent near brightly lit PC cases and peripherals.

Like with other premium smart lighting solutions, the LIFX Beam is a considerable investment to make. The LIFX company also went bankrupt in 2022 before acquisition by another major lighting enterprise. Since then, some products have become difficult to find in stock, but hopefully, their newfound financial security keeps LIFX going strong in the marketplace. The LIFX Beam Smart Light Bar is an effective addition to any game room lighting setup, even if it’s more of a finishing piece than a main attraction.

Philips Hue White and Color Ambiance A19 LED Smart Bulb

Best Gaming Room LED Light Bulbs

Some game room lighting is nice to show off or enjoy for a few hours a night, while other RGB LED lights prevent gamers from tripping and falling in the dark. As a more functional type of lighting, Philips Hue remains an extremely popular choice for smart home configurations since first appearing in 2012. Hue was one of the first color-changing smart bulbs to develop a reputation for easy installation and connectivity as well as offering a simple-to-use mobile app. In recent years, Hue bulbs have become even brighter and the Philips family of products has grown to include more LED light strips and lamps. However, when designing a room, it’s the Hue White and Color Ambiance smart bulbs that many gamers will purchase first to properly illuminate a space.

Installation of Philips Hue bulbs is about as simple as any smart home product can get. A19 is the most popular type of bulb Philips sells, but other sizes are available in a range of brightness from 60 to 100 watts. After screwing a Hue bulb into a standard light socket, it’s just a matter of using the official mobile app to connect to the bulbs. More recent versions of Hue bulbs do not require a separate Bridge with a wired network connection and are controllable with just Bluetooth. There are some serious compromises with Bluetooth-only Hue control, especially the fact that the range of the signal is far less than when connected to the Zigbee-powered Bridge. For gamers who want to connect their bulbs to an existing smart home system or control them remotely when away from home, the Bridge is almost an essential purchase.

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As far as how Philips Hue White and Color Ambiance bulbs perform, there isn’t much to complain about. Having many years to accumulate, the number of different color patterns and effects available in Hue apps fully take advantage of these lights’ potential. The bulbs respond to on/off and dimming commands nearly as fast as with standard wired switches. With a 25,000-hour lifespan and the ability to serve as basic white-colored lights, they can easily take the place of traditional lighting. For gamer room lights, buyers will want to think about what floor and desk lamps they use with Hue bulbs. Lamps with clear shades that allow the colored lights to disperse the most effectively are ideal.

As with other gaming room lighting solutions, the Philips Hue White and Color Ambiance smart bulbs sync with RGB PC peripherals like Corsair iCUE-enabled keyboards and mice. There are cheaper smart bulbs for sale, but for integration with existing lights, Hue can reduce some of the frustration of getting everything to work well together.

Corsair iCUE LT100 Smart Lighting Tower

Best Gaming Desk Lighting

Many of the game room lighting products popular today are as designed to work with existing smart home ecosystems and are not explicitly marketed to gamers. On the other hand, the Corsair iCUE LT100 Smart Lighting Tower is the perfect complement to RGB keyboards, mice, and headsets. The LT100 Smart Lighting Towers are essentially another PC peripheral, and it’s Corsair’s popular iCUE PC software that controls their patterns and colors. For the most simple setup, the LT100 towers have a push-button control for 11 preset profiles, but the capabilities of the lights only really shine with Corsair’s software.

Since they are usually positioned close to where a gamer is sitting and have the potential of falling over regularly, the Corsair iCUE LT100 lighting towers thankfully have a sturdy bottom. The base of the lights also illuminates like the towers above them which each have 46 dynamic LEDs. To set up the LT100 starter kit with 2 towers, gamers use the included RGB cable to connect the towers together and then connect the main tower to a power adapter. For optional but highly recommended iCUE compatibility, a micro USB cable connects to standard USB ports on PCs. Corsair also includes a stick-on headset holder, but heavier devices like the SteelSeries Arctis Nova Pro may test the limits of this screwless accessory. The basic LT100 configuration is also expandable with up to 2 more smart lighting towers.

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The Corsair iCUE LT100 lights are more versatile than they initially look. As showpieces on a gaming desk, the towers can face forward but also work extremely well turned around or behind monitors to disperse light on walls. Measuring 16 inches tall, the LT100 towers are sizable enough for most setups but may look dwarfed by larger monitors and desktop towers. With Corsair’s iCUE software, the towers can match the colors of whatever scenes appears during gaming or movies. When combined with RGB lighting from keyboards, mice, and case fans, the overall effects are impressive. The lighting from the LT100 towers can even reflect the changing temperatures of specific PC components, provided they are also compatible with the iCUE software.

With its focus on desks, the Corsair iCUE LT100 tower lights have obvious appeal when looking to add gamer room lights. Gamers will have to turn to unofficial 3rd party apps to try to integrate these lighting towers into Google Home or Alexa. They are primarily PC peripherals and struggle to coexist with popular smart home systems. Even so, the LT100 towers are exceptionally well-made, with some intelligent design choices that allow them to excel in several different positions on a desk.

Govee DreamView G1 Pro Gaming Light

Best Gaming Monitor Lighting

Since 2017, Govee has provided a cheaper alternative to expensive premium smart lighting products. The company has also developed innovative ways to improve RGB effects, with their RGBIC technology allowing multiple colors to display on LED light strips simultaneously. The Govee DreamView G1 Pro Gaming Light isn’t exactly a budget product, but considering how many lighting devices ship in one package, its value soon becomes clearer. Govee’s RGBIC light strips are very popular among smart lighting fanatics, and the neon strip in the DreamView G1 Pro system is perfect for mounting on the back of monitors. Combined with the included 2 standing light bars, the G1 Pro is a major addition to any existing game room lighting.

The setup of the Govee DreamView G1 Pro is a bit more involved than with a typical smart light bulb. It’s also critical that the monitor is 24 to 32 inches without too much curvature on the back, or the LED strip won’t fit or lie flat. Essentially, gamers mount the neon strip to the back of a monitor, routing it through supplied stick-on mounting clips. The camera installs on the top of a monitor facing forward, in a position where it can peek down and capture what is on the screen. The light strip and side light bars are all connected to ports on the back of the camera. Then, the camera is calibrated using the Govee mobile app with foam stickers affixed to various points on a monitor.

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Once properly configured the Govee DreamView G1 Pro is relatively headache free. Still, there are numerous advantages and disadvantages to the G1 Pro system compared to other gaming-oriented lighting solutions. The DreamView G1 Pro doesn’t rely on PC software to capture images on a screen and generate lighting based on them. As a result, it works effectively with not just PC games, but also with any other source a gamer has connected to their monitor, whether it’s a console or media player. On the other hand, the camera takes up valuable real estate for some users, considering the center of a monitor is often the home for a webcam. Until TVs and monitors with built-in Ambilight LEDs take hold in the marketplace, these sorts of compromises are inevitable with bias lighting products.

Provided that the DreamView G1 Pro neon strip and light bars are relatively close to a blank wall, it’s difficult to match the width of lighting effects just above and behind a gaming desk. There are specific game modes and tons of pre-made effects that suit just about any type of content on a screen. For gamers who primarily use their PCs, there are simpler ways of screen mirroring with software, rather than adding a camera with a bunch of extra wires. But for a mix of non-gaming and gaming content, the DreamView G1 Pro excels as the heart of any game room lighting configuration.

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FAQ

Q: What’s the easiest way to add RGB lighting to a gaming room?

Colored LED light bulbs can act as a primary source of lighting in a room and install in seconds using pre-existing light sockets. There are also a variety of RGB lamps and lighting fixtures that require minimal setup to enjoy.

Q: What are the most popular types of lighting to add near gaming desks?

Many gaming keyboards, mice, and headsets are RGB enabled with color-changing effects. To enhance the lighting from these peripherals, gamers often install RGB cooling fans and LED strips in PC cases. In recent years, other types of smart LED lighting like wall panel lights are common additions near PC desks.

Q: Do all RGB lights in a gaming room need to be made by the same brand to work together?

Although it’s usually simpler if all the RGB lights in a gaming room are made by the same manufacturer, there are smart home platforms and software solutions that can integrate many different types of devices into one ecosystem.