SilverStone LS04 ARGB Light Strip Review

Each package of SilverStone LS04 you will get two LS04 light strips, two 3-pin extension cables and a set of magnetic clips for installing the strips.

The strips are ARGB and are using the standard 3-pin RGB header.  No need for an adaptor with these strips as they are ready to be installed.

I have had the LS04 in the lab for a few months now and when a new motherboard hits the test bench I would plug them in to check the default lighting pattern.  The latest systems I tested were three TRX40 Threadripper motherboards. 

• MSI Creator TRX40
• TRX40 Aorus Master
• ASUS ROG STRIX TRX40

All of these boards come with onboard ARGB controllers and while supported the LS04 strips reacted differently.  The Aorus and ASUS board were virtually identical however while the patter matched on the Aorus it would seem that ASUS has different patterns configured for the onboard lights and external strips lights

The MSI was different and while the patter was more fluid it would seem the controller had assumed a 20 light LED strip in the pattern programming because halfway through the color pattern it repeated.  I don’t have any photos of this but if you imagine the RGB “chase” sequence where a bright light runs down the strip while be chased by another light.  The pattern didn’t go to the end of the strip but stopped halfway down. 

RGB patterns are 100% software so things like this can be addressed rather quickly.

In terms of installation the LS04 LED Strips come with a set of magnetic clips.  They are clear plastic parts with a powerful magnet on one side.  What I found is that the clips work quite well and that you need to be careful about the orientation as they do not grip the flexible strips all that well and have a tendency to move around.

When it comes to LED lights there are a number of different directions you can go.  The old school way is to get a spool of LED lights and build your own strip to the custom length you need.  This requires a bit of skill but can deliver amazing results.  A quicker way is to buy pre-built LED strips and link them however you need.  These often come with adhesive and magnets to help with installation but are limited in the number of lights you can have on a single strip.

The SilverStone LS04 takes a more advanced approach and addresses many of the issues common to LED lighting.  The first is the number of LEDs assigned to a single strip where most will have 12-18 lights the LS04 nearly quadruples that number to 40.  By packing more lights into a single strip we can finally have a smooth lighting path across the entire strip that is viewable from two sides and little to no pattern breaks between the LEDs.

To accomplish this SilverStone changed the shape from a flat strip to a flexible rectangle with a primary window along the short edge and another wider view along one of the wider sides.  You can see the effect of this in the photos.  The new shape and strip design does not work well with the typical mounting methods so SilverStone has included a set of magnetic clips to aid in installation.  I found these to be effective but would like them to offer a little more grip to prevent the strips from moving once they are mounted.

Finally, the SST LS04 is using the standard 3-pin (4-1 pin) ARGB digital RGB header allowing you to plug them directly into your motherboard or external controller without an adaptor.  To capture the photos in this review I used the SilverStone LSB02 and simply used one of the adaptor cables to light them up.

Overall I really like how different the LS04 ARGB light strips are from the current designs on the market.  They feature a flexiable silicon covering and are able to bend at a very tight radius allowing them to mold around any obstacle you’ll have in a modern computer chassis.

Be sure to check out the LS04 on the SilverStone website and pick a set up for yourself.

New More Advanced RGB Strip
40 LEDs Per Strip
Uses Standard (4-1) 3-Pin ARGB Header
450mm Long

Magnetic clips could be better
Strips lay flat but the wires have a mind of their own