What an RGB controller does

An RGB controller is the board that tells fans and light strips which colour to show, and many hubs also set fan speed. A motherboard with a 5 V ARGB header is enough for one to three fans; a hub such as the Corsair iCUE Commander Core XT at £34.99 on Amazon UK at the time of writing (October 2026) is for builds with more fans, mixed brands or Corsair parts.

Lighting is one part of a build; the airflow side is in How many case fans do I need.

What is the difference between ARGB 5 V and RGB 12 V?

ARGB is a 3-pin 5 V standard that lights each LED separately, and RGB is a 4-pin 12 V standard that lights a whole strip one colour. The connectors differ in pin count so that they do not fit, but adapters exist, and plugging 12 V into a 5 V ARGB header can damage LEDs.

• 5 V ARGB (3-pin): rainbows, chases and per-LED effects. Case fans, AIO pump heads and addressable strips use it.
• 12 V RGB (4-pin): one colour at a time across the strip. Older strips and the cheapest lighting kits use it.
• Proprietary ports: Corsair iCUE fans and Lian Li SL-Infinity fans use their own connectors and should be matched to their own hub.

Is a motherboard RGB header enough?

A motherboard ARGB header is enough for about 50 LEDs at full white, which is one to three fans. Motherboard makers such as ASUS rate both header types at 3 A, and the WS2812B LED used in addressable lighting draws up to 60 mA at full white, so 3 A supports 3 / 0.06 = 50 LEDs.

The 12 V header at 3 A supplies 36 W. A common 60-LED-per-metre 5050 strip draws about 14.4 W per metre, so the header runs roughly 2.5 m of strip. A single Corsair QL140 fan carries 34 LEDs (68 for the dual kit, according to Corsair), so three such fans are 102 LEDs, twice the full-white limit of one header.

A hub fed from a SATA power cable lifts the limit. The ASUS TUF Gaming ARGB PWM Fan Hub takes two SATA connectors, each rated at 9 A on 5 V, and ASUS rates its six ARGB ports at 2 A each and 9 A in total. Hubs also cut the fan-header shortage: most boards have two to six, while the Thermalright X10 offers ten ports.

Which RGB controller brand is worth buying?

The brand of the fans decides the hub. Corsair, Lian Li and Phanteks each sell a hub tied to their own connectors and software; generic ARGB hubs from ASUS and Thermalright suit 3-pin 5 V fans from any brand.

• Corsair: the Commander Core XT controls six PWM fans and 264 LEDs through iCUE, and Corsair says SP120 and SP140 RGB fans are not supported. The newer Commander Duo for iCUE LINK daisy-chains 12 fans at £29.99. The wider range is in Best Corsair products UK 2026.
• Lian Li: the UNI HUB SL INF at £31.85 runs SL-Infinity fans through L-Connect 3.
• Phanteks: the Nexlinq Controller Hub V2 at £28.98 has dual SATA power and Linq, PWM and JST ports.
• Thermaltake: the TT Sync V2 controller costs £52.51, the highest on this list.

Price per fan port runs from £1.04 on the Thermalright X10 (£10.39 for 10 ports) to £5.83 on the Commander Core XT (£34.99 for 6): £2.50 on the Commander Duo, £3.98 on the ASUS hub.

Which RGB controller should you buy?

The Corsair iCUE Commander Core XT is the pick for a Corsair build, at £34.99 on Amazon UK at the time of writing (October 2026). It runs six PWM fans and up to 264 LEDs with two temperature sensors, and Corsair lighting then sits in one app. Buyers without Corsair parts get better value from the cheaper hubs below.

Verdict

A motherboard header handles one to three ARGB fans; beyond that a hub pays for itself. The Corsair iCUE Commander Core XT at £34.99 suits iCUE builds, the Thermalright X10 at £10.39 suits everything else, and the lighting around the PC is covered in Best gaming desk UK 2026 and Gaming PC setup checklist UK.