iCue first impressions / issues

[YanivF]

This is my first PC build and decided to go Corsair with led customizations. Here are some issues I found along the way.

1) For core XT would have been nice if it was possible to connect the power and the usb to core

2) k70 can't map the fn key and using it on a mac has its own problems but in addition to fn, you won't be able to map the alt, and windows key

3) You can't apply "hardware cooling" settings. Thanks to @c-attack I learned that the trigger for core XT uses the CPU and not the h150i (if found) this causes a weird behavior where every hour or so of usage it burst for less than a second with high speed. iCue allows to customize it but it will only persist if iCue software is running. In my case iCue crashed every 30 min making it really inconvenient.

4) icue crashes - icue crashed every 30 min or so. Luckly for me, I only had 2 apps installed on it iCue and Asus Armor so it was easier to troubleshoot. At time of writing I got an update to armor and so far it seems to be working but the coordination between the two is an issue. I did find a workaround, which is if you delete the asus plugin from iCue directory (you will loose asus motherboard and heads customizations) iCue won't crash and you will be able to use Asus Armor in parallel.

5) iCue didn't see my ddr5 dimms - found a solution on the web. require switching 'SPD write' to false in the BIOS. If this is a must step, I would have expected it to be documented in the iCue installation steps

6) after one of my reboots, iCue no longer showed the option to customize the h150i LCD. When it was not running the 'hardware screen' was working fine. Eventually, by disconnecting and reconnecting the LCD wires and the USB from the core fixed the issue. Not sure, why it worked but happy he did. I don't think it has anything to do with the usb itself as it was possible to customize the fan leds

7) I was thinking of getting additional corsair led products (like the lc100) but the cost of the products vs the risk of instability makes me bit worry, thoughts?  

 

for reference here are my iCue components -

-iCue 5000x

- h150i Elite LCD

- iCue core XT (to make connections and further expansions easier)

- 2x k70 TKL keyboards (one for work, which unfortunately connects to mac notebook and that has its own issues. For example, can't swap alt/win key. firmware upgrade not possible, etc..)

- M65 RGB Ultra wireless

- ironclaw rgb wireless (for work not sure why the M65 is more expensive aside of the weights. It has less customizable buttons)

-  LL fan for the back

- 3  additional SP RGB elite fans (to match the other 3 that come with the case)

- MM700 RGB mouse pad