Another busy week in hardware news as we settle into the month of May. We have substantial news items from Intel, as the company continues to explore fab options in Europe. Additionally, Intel is ratcheting up its fab investments, and possibly looking to sell off its Sport Technology Group, which is home to its True View tech. Rounding-out the headline stories is IBM announcing a breakthrough in “2nm” semiconductors using nanosheet FETs. 

In slightly lesser news, TSMC is deploying AMD’s Epyc CPUs in the data centers that not only power its R&D, but its manufacturing as well -- a bragging point for AMD, to be sure. There’s also news regarding Arm, Sony, Steam, and more. 

At GN, we recently reviewed Cooler Master’s MF700 case, in addition to reviewing the Phanteks P360A case. Spoiler alert: Only one of those cases impressed us. We also dove into a decade’s worth of GPU data from AMD and Nvidia to discuss price creep, release patterns, and greed.

Corsair recently released their Lighting Node Pro RGB LED kit, because no product line in 2017 is complete without RGB LEDs. The Corsair Node Pro is a dual-channel RGB LED controller that comes with four individually addressable RGB LED strips. Corsair’s Node Pro RGB LEDs will be controllable through Corsair’s LINK software via a USB 2.0 header on the motherboard, while the Corsair’s external peripherals will still be handled through their CUE software.

The Corsair Node Pro RGB will compete with the likes of the NZXT’s HUE+, which we reviewed here. Both the Node Pro and NZXT HUE+ serve the same basic function, in that they provide control and customization of lighting effects via RGB LED strips.

CORSAIR today announced updates to their flagship K95 keyboard and their SCIMITAR gaming mouse (the CORSAIR marketing department really likes capital letters). The Scimitar Pro is out now and the K95 Platinum will be available sometime later this month, but both are at Corsair’s CES exhibit. We’ll also be covering Corsair’s RGB Vengeance memory and, albeit briefly, new “gaming” chair.

The K95 Platinum starts at $200 and has already replaced its non-platinum predecessor on the Corsair products page. For comparison, Newegg is selling the older version with Cherry MX Brown or Red switches for $170 (with some extra keycaps thrown in).

The RGB illumination of the 805 Infinity first mounted its pedestal at CES 2016, where we showed that the then-prototype case would be adorned with an ‘infinity mirror’ effect for the front panel. The case didn’t even have a name, and In Win asked us to pass along the message to our readers and viewers that they needed to see interest to make the product a reality.

There was interest – a lot of it, actually. The 805 Infinity was eventually introduced to the production line (which we toured), and is now available for a staggering $250. The enclosure is based on the normal In Win 805, a case which vacillates between $150 and $200, depending on how retailers feel that day, but exchanges the front panel for the LEDs.

The In Win 805 is available in four options: Black, for $180, or about $150 after rebates and discounts; gold, which has a gold strip on the front and is priced the same; red, again the same, but with a red strip; and Infinity, which is a name that I actually came up with at CES – to be fair, it’s also not all that unique.

Popular memory manufacturer G.SKILL has announced its answer to the RGB LED movement: the Trident Z RGB series. At this point, it may be hard to pinpoint the derivation of the RGB trend, yet its perpetuation across components and peripherals is one we predicted here at GN, along with some other fads.

The Trident Z RGB series will be—you guessed it—adorned with RGB LEDs in the form of a translucent lightbar affixed to the aluminum heat spreaders. The aforesaid lightbar will run the length of the DIMM operating by default in a “wave-style” effect, offering a range of hues. Such effects are capable of being modified with a future software launch, scheduled for February 2017. The Trident Z RGB lineup is somewhat inimitable in its implementation, chiefly that it does not require any additional power connections from the motherboard for user control; all necessary power is drawn from the DIMM slot. This offers divergence from the Geil EVO X RGB memory, which must be tethered to the motherboard for proper function of the LEDs, and from other LED memory options (Vengeance, Avexir) that are mono-color.

This year’s Black Friday, Cyber Monday, and Holiday sales continue, allowing us to compile a list of PC accessories that are aimed at giving your system a boost in aesthetics. Most our guides thus far have been focused on the performance aspect, like our “Best SSDs of 2016” guide, our guide to mechanical keyboards, to 1440p monitors, and recent two PC builds. We’ve also got some coverage of the best PSUs currently on sale, if that’s interesting.

But today, we’re here for visuals. RGB lighting products and sleeved cables are a common trend in the market in 2016 for those looking to improve their setups looks. This year, RGB has gotten big enough that only the craze for tempered glass rivals its popularity; there are RGB fans, mouse pads, controllers, and peripherals of all sorts.

Here’s the shortlist: