Hands On: Lian Li's Strimer Plus, an RGB Riot for Your PC's Boring Cables
Date Of Publication：2020-02-16 Click-Through Rate：139
A couple of years back, the PCMag hardware team set out to complete a live build of a $1,000 gaming desktop. We wanted to make it powerful and keep the price reasonable, though of course we still felt the need to accessorize it and pour on a bit of bling. And bling by modern desktop-PC standards? That meant lots of RGB lighting, of course.
One RGB-laden component we included was the Lian Li Strimer (pronounced "streamer"), an entirely aesthetic part that adds some pizzazz to your otherwise plain main power-supply cable. It was a mini-hit for Lian Li at the time, and demonstrated that RGB wouldn't be tapped out until vendors had RGB-ified every possible part. (In the interim, we've seen RGB invade even the humble SSD.)
Fast forward to 2020, and Lian Li is launching a new edition of the product, the Strimer Plus, now in two flavors. Like the original, you can buy a version that's a 24-pin power cable with an array of light-up strips clipped on top.
You install this version of the Strimer Plus as a simple extension cable between your motherboard and power supply, connecting one end to your existing 24-pin power cable and the other to your motherboard's 24-pin power connector. When fully installed, your previously plain (and mostly tucked-away) main power cable transforms into an in-your-face rainbow light show. The key thing with the Strimer Plus is that it's much brighter than the original Strimer, and a lot more customizable.
A second version of the Strimer Plus, which you can install alongside (or instead of) the 24-pin version, is for your graphics-card cabling. It has two eight-pin power connectors and, like the main power cable version, plugs in inline between your graphics card and its power-supply cabling. It acts the same, creating a rainbow arc of light in your chassis that you can control.
We decided we should repeat the RGB fun here in 2020 by logging and recording some hands-on time with the Strimer Plus, so check out the video below to see both versions in action. We built the Strimer Plus into a ready-built desktop we had in the office that needed a little pick-me-up...
Okay, admittedly, that's a lot of pick-me-up.
The Plus Adds a Bunch of Good Stuff
While both the original Strimer and the Plus versions are entirely visual, gratuitous additions to a PC, we like the Strimer Plus much more. The cable colors are much bolder and brighter. It's a big upgrade just on that basis alone. In addition, as you see in the video, you get many more color and mode options to work with. ("Cha-Cha Dance" mode? "Gluttonous Snake" mode? We're sold!) Whether you are adding it to an already RGB-laden build, or if this is the single big multicolor attraction in your system, it's a very eye-catching accessory.
Installation is pretty easy, though your experience will certainly vary by the PC case you install it in. If it's a short-enough distance between power supply and motherboard in your build, you might be able to fully hide the whole of the original cable that it plugs into. However, the Strimer Plus is not very long, and only partially flexible, so you want most of it to be front and center, not doubled back on itself out of sight. We suspect that an ATX chassis is the ideal home for this cable; in a more compact MicroATX or Mini-ITX one, you might have to loop it back on itself a little more tightly. A wide arc is the best installation option for the Strimer Plus, and you'll need some case space to do that within.
Our Strimer Plus sample of the 24-pin power cable came with a small plastic controller box, much like a thick business card case. You plug a supplied cable into a SATA power connector for power, and you can plug two Strimer Plus LED cables (the one for the main power cable, and for the GPU power cable) into the opposite edge to give the lights juice.
You can change the lighting color, speed, brightness, and pattern with the controller box, using four buttons on the box. The box is a little bulky, and you may have to do some creative wire-wrangling to position it outside your case for easy access; otherwise you'll need to open up your case's side to get to the box and its buttons.
Of course, you can also control the Strimers via an addressable RGB (aRGB) connection. The controller box has a final port for a bundled cable that will plug into a motherboard aRGB connection and let you manipulate and sync the lighting using motherboard software like Asus' Aura Sync or MSI's Mystic Light. You'll still need to install the box, but not necessarily use its buttons.
As I mentioned earlier, there's a second Strimer Plus you'll see in the video, which you can use with or without the main one. This is the PCI Express-power version of the same concept, skinnier and longer with a twin eight-pin connection to use on your GPU. Installed in the same way, this will double the Strimer light show in your case.
You'll want to look at your video card before you opt for the graphics-card Strimer Plus, though. To look its best, it will plug into two six-pin, two-eight-pin, or a six- and an eight-pin power connector on the video card. If your card has just one power connector, you'll have a second power connector hanging alongside unused, aesthetically a bit less pleasing.
You should also expect to do some moderate cable routing to neaten up the look of the Strimer Plus and the cables that it adds to your PC. But it's a low-lift way to add a ton of fun to your windowed or tempered-glass PC case.
Expect the 24-pin version of the Strimer Plus to retail for $60 when it debuts later this month, while the graphics-card version will go for $40. The former is the one that comes with the controller box bundled. Whether you get and install the main 24-pin version alone, or both of them, they're bundles of wholly gratuitous RGB fun.
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