The Best LED Lights for Gaming Rooms

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Gaming room lighting enhances any setup, as nearly every Twitch streamer has proven. For gamers who prefer to play without an audience, adding LED lights to a room can be as simple as installing some monitor backlighting or making a bigger investment in smart wall lights.

Govee and Nanoleaf offer some of the most innovative smart lighting. Find out which manufacturer can most dramatically transform a gaming room.

From bright and energizing to warm and cozy to completely customizable, gamers can make a space their own with the right smart LED lights. The catch? There are thousands of products to sift through online – some more worthwhile than others. The best LED lights for gaming rooms give them more character at a wide range of prices. It's wise to consider what part of a room needs the most attention since some lamps can be placed anywhere, while other options are designed for gaming desks. Also, to sync new lights with existing smart gadgets, buyers should ensure all devices work on popular platforms like Google Home and Alexa.

Updated on May 22, 2024, by Adam Corsetti: As smart home technologies like Matter shake up the smart lighting landscape, brands like Govee and Nanoleaf continue to release innovative lights. The latest update to this buyer's guide added a solution to make ceiling light fixtures more intelligent. Also, a new smart lamp with a built-in Bluetooth speaker deserves a place among the top gaming room LED lights.

The Govee Light Bars are a pair of LED lights that can be used almost anywhere. Made of tough plastic and RGBICWW technology, these lights can display 16 million different colors. They also sync with music and are optionally voice-controlled through Alexa or Google. Completely customizable, these medium lights are a great fit anywhere, especially in gaming rooms.

Govee seems to have taken the gaming world by storm with its wide array of RGB lighting products. It’s no surprise that their smart LED light bars are the best LED lights for gaming rooms overall. Though some of their other offerings target specific functions, such as dynamic wall panel lighting, these light bars are unique because they can be used almost anywhere.

With these Govee smart lights, a modest budget can spice up a gaming room with stunning LED panels, strips, and bulbs.

The wide bases allow the lights to be used horizontally or vertically on a flat surface or mounted on the back of a screen. Each light is 10.5 inches tall, making them ideal for screens up to 45 inches wide – well beyond the size of most gaming monitors. As the name implies, these Govee lights work with Google, Alexa, and the Govee Home app. Though they don’t have native camera-based light mirroring like some of Govee's other light bar sets, the two-pack is available for under $50, with sales bringing the price down to as low as $40. That's also significantly cheaper than Corsair's LT100 towers, with Govee's lights syncing with the Razer Chroma RGB lighting platform rather than iCue.

The Govee Smart LED Light Bars are the top pick for LED lights in a gaming room because they offer the most versatility and wow factor for a reasonable price.

The Kasa Smart LED Light Strip is an affordable yet powerful smart light that can connect to both Amazon and Google voice controls. The lights also feature customization of up to 16 million colors with high brightness and saturation, advanced animated lighting effects, and the flexibility to bend and cut the strip to meet one's needs.The customizability is awesome, with timers and scheduled changes easy to set up. Users can even group multiple Kasa devices to suit different activities like gaming or a movie night. Plus, Smart Actions allows sequences, so users can have the lights turned on in response to motion detection.

The Kasa Smart LED Light Strip is the best set of LEDs for under $25. Extremely flexible and easy to attach, these lights are perfect for backlighting screens and casting underglow on gaming desks or shelves. Although they don't look impressive when off, the strip offers ample lighting in nearly any color imaginable. The adhesive side is affixed to smooth surfaces and gives off almost no heat at all. Also, unlike some fancier light strips from Nanoleaf and Philips Hue, Kasa's lights can be trimmed to achieve a more seamless installation.

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Compatible with Alexa and Google along with the Kasa app, users can have ultimate control of the lights with their phone or voice at any time. Each pack comes with 16.4 feet of LEDs, making it cost-effective to add lots of customizable lighting to any space. This Kasa Smart LED Light Strip is currently on sale for less than $20 at the time of writing, so it is a great value.

Govee Curtain Lights defy what was previously possible with outdoor/indoor string lights. The Curtain Lights are a generous 5 x 6.6 feet in size and include a high-density array of 520 LED bulbs. Once installed with double-sided tape, seamless nails, or hooks, the Curtain Lights feature over 107 dynamic scene modes which can display images suited for holiday gatherings or everyday mood lighting. Users can upload GIFs to display on the Curtain lights or design scenes from scratch in the Govee Home app's DIY mode.

The Govee Curtain Lights demonstrate the impact that tightly packed string lights can have on a gaming room. With a dense configuration of LED light beads hanging from a curtain rod or wall, the Curtain Lights can display detailed artwork. Consequently, they are an excellent backdrop for streaming setups or gamers looking to add some high-tech ambiance. If gamers seek some fresh air, the waterproof Curtain Lights can even be set up on patio doors or garages.

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Buyers will need five-foot wide curtains or sufficient blank wall space to accommodate the Curtain Lights. Still, while preparing these string lights for installation is a process, Govee provides gamers with hooks and adhesive strips that will work in many scenarios. The Curtain Lights must hang evenly to show designs with the most clarity. Unfortunately, even with the ideal installation, the light strands are prone to tangling or curling up at the ends.

The Curtain Lights appeal to the most creative gamers since they are essentially a giant RGB canvas. Govee offers over 100 predesigned scenes in their app, but users can also upload image files to create designs with anime characters or esports team logos. Animations are fluid, and the impact of the Curtain Lights is amplified if buyers add more kits to a wall. The Govee Home app will control multiple Curtain Lights as a single smart light, opening up the possibility for a room-wide spectacle.

One of the best aspects of Govee smart lights is the consistent feature set and smart home compatibility that buyers enjoy. The Curtain Lights are no exception, and they react to music and sync with Razer Chroma RGB keyboards and mice in a gaming room. While the most advanced lighting patterns are found in the Govee Home app, Google Home and Alexa hubs can also control the lights.

Fairy or string lights are an efficient way to illuminate a large space with dazzling smart lighting. Even though the Govee Curtain Lights are pricey, their build quality and detailed scenes transcend the capabilities of cheaper options.

Nanoleaf offers a flexible solution to RGB home decor lighting with its Shapes wall lights. Using Connect+ technology, shapes can be interconnected using triangles, mini triangles, and hexagon panels for a completely customizable design. Shapes can sync with moving images on PC monitors, using the Nanoleaf app. Host a concert at home with Shapes lights reacting to pulsating music. Nanoleaf lights are easily mounted on smooth surfaces with included double-sided mounting tape.

Nanoleaf Shapes have played a significant role in increasing the popularity of LED lighting in gaming rooms. Panel lights now hang on the walls of gamers and streamers, producing a visual impact that smart light bulbs and strips can't match. Although cheaper panel lights have appeared in recent years, the Shapes remain the gold standard with reliable performance and extensive smart home compatibility.

Nanoleaf has expanded its product line to cover every form of smart lighting. Here are the best picks to illuminate any ordinary looking gaming room.

With a series of LED bulbs housed in interchangeable triangle, mini-triangle, or hexagon-shaped thin panels, Shapes can be configured as illuminated artwork. Taking advantage of their flexibility, buyers are free to add panels to and modify designs gradually. Nanoleaf occasionally releases special edition shapes like their Ultra Black Hexagons, which appeal even more to gamers. Regardless of their layout, Shapes lights impress with fluid animation and color accuracy that budget wall panels often struggle with.

Despite their proven longevity, Shapes panels are fairly lightweight and easy to position on walls. Nanoleaf bundles adhesive pads with lights that can remain accessible enough to remove without destroying paint jobs. For buyers with rough-textured walls, it may be necessary to purchase screw mount kits to mount the panels securely.

Another area where Nanoleaf has a leg up over the competition is the ability of its lights to sync with nearly every smart home platform. Often, buyers will have to sacrifice HomeKit compatibility with smart lights, but that's not an issue with Shapes. Also, Nanoleaf was a company at the forefront of embracing the new Matter and Thread smart home protocols. Nanoleaf Shapes can function as a Thread border router on a low-latency wireless network to improve the connectivity of devices throughout a household.

Nanoleaf Shapes stubbornly refuses to drop in price and hasn't solved the issue of exposed power cords. Regardless, because of their bright and accurate colors and ability to sync with most smart lights, Shapes are among the best LED lights for gaming rooms.

The latest Govee Neon Rope Light is softer and more flexible than ever, making elaborate designs possible. Redesigned clips guide the light and allow installers to create artwork before placing any adhesive on walls. Once on a wall, the Govee app can recognize the most distinctive shapes and program lighting for various segments along the rope light. Govee's constantly learning AI Lighting Bot is capable of inventing lighting patterns based on phrases, images, and voices. Since the Neon Rope Light 2 is Matter-compatible, it can work with more smart home ecosystems outside the Govee app.

The Govee Neon Rope Light 2 is even more flexible than previous versions, enabling it to act as trim around picture frames or even existing wall panels. For more enterprising installers, you can bend the Neon Rope Light 2 into nearly any shape imaginable. Whether a buyer wants a centerpiece to impress observers or subtle accent lighting, the Neon Rope Light 2 is up to the task.

Unlike the Neon Rope Light for Desks, which has a continuous strip of tape on its backside, the Rope Light 2 affixes to surfaces with adhesive clips. Depending on the complexity of the intended shape, digital artists must carefully plan where to position the clips for any design to hold its shape. Govee suggests many possibilities in its mobile app, but executing these designs still requires patience. Once the Neon Rope Light 2 is ready, the app can also scan it to learn where the animated RGB effects should begin and end.

Explore the vibrant world of RGB gaming keyboards and find the perfect blend of style and performance for each gamer's setup.

The Neon Rope Light 2 also showcases some of Govee's most innovative features, such as its AI Lighting Bot. If gamers seek a specific lighting effect to match a mood or landscape, the software can create an original pattern based on search phrases. More practical, the Neon Rope Light 2's support of Matter allows it to overcome some common shortcomings of other Govee lights. If a buyer owns a compatible smart hub, controlling the lights in Apple Home and HomeKit is possible, and it also syncs with Razer RGB keyboards and mice. The only disappointment is that the Rope Light 2 doesn't operate on lighting-fast Thread networks.

Gamers should have few complaints about how the Neon Rope Light 2 looks and performs. Even though the lighting is diffused to avoid blinding onlookers and mask subtle color changes, the 16.4-foot strip is long enough to attract attention. A shorter, just under 10-foot version is available, but the longer option is a superior value at current discounts. Also, buyers are less likely to regret selecting the 16.4-foot kit, considering the Rope Light can't utilize extension kits.

Game Rant's review of the Govee Neon Rope Light 2 concluded that its increased elasticity and platform compatibility make it an essential addition to any gaming room.

The Logitech Litra Glow is a premium streaming light that's specifically made for creators. Built with a three-way monitor mount, this light can easily be attached to the top of a PC screen during live streams. This LED light offers soft, even light across content creators' faces, avoiding pesky shadows and other image distortion. Powered by USB-C and featuring a compact design, this streaming LED light is perfect for even the busiest gaming desktops.

Gaming streamers need a lot of gear to be successful. Showing one's face clearly during a stream is critical for growing an audience. Logitech’s Litra Glow Premium is one of the best ring lights on the market right now – and for good reason.

These perfect gaming desk accessories will make any setup stand out.

This compact light conveniently fits on top of screens and can be charged using USB-C. The matte light diffuses evenly, ensuring a high-quality stream regardless of the rest of the lighting. The Litra Glow is made specifically for content creators. As such, it's super easy to use right out of the box with the controls on the back for quick adjustments. With a mid-range price, most content creators would do well to have the Logitech Litra Glow lighting up their broadcasts.

The Floor Lamp Pro is the perfect marriage of Govee's dynamic lighting effects with an integrated smart Bluetooth speaker. This extra-tall 67-inch floor lamp features 162 LEDs on its pole to cast a bright multi-colored glow on adjacent walls. The speaker at the lamp's base is surprisingly powerful, playing music and sound effects that sync with the Floor Lamp Pro's pulsating RGB lighting. Buyers can choose from 85 preset scenes that demonstrate the full capabilities of the lamp or activate white noise sounds that create a relaxing nighttime or morning atmosphere.

A floor lamp is another practical way to add functional smart lighting to a gaming room. The tall and thin design of the Govee Floor Lamp Pro takes up minimal space yet outputs enough illumination to make darker rooms look more inviting. What's unique about Govee's latest smart lamp is it contains a Bluetooth speaker at its base instead of relying on third-party devices for music and sound syncing. The Floor Lamp Pro is ideal for gamers who prioritize both sound and visuals to enhance gaming, music listening, and movie watching.

Many standing floor lamps are unsteady and easily knocked over. While Govee's lamp still wobbles, its heavier base and just under ten-pound weight give it a more premium construction. Below the speaker is a ring of light visible at all angles, while above it, an aluminum pole fuses with a flexible LED light strip. The overall display is exceptionally bright at a maximum of 2100 lumens, and thanks to a total of 324 bulbs, there are no dead lighting zones.

Setup with the Floor Lamp Pro is fairly painless, but it doesn't come fully assembled. Buyers must connect several parts of the metal pole holding the silicone light strip before placing the component on its base. Unlike other smart lights, which usually have wired controllers, the Floor Lamp Pro ships with a handy magnetic remote control. This unit can control basic lighting and audio settings while clamping securely to the aluminum pole when not in use.

Whether it is Google Assistant, Amazon Alexa, or Siri, a smart speaker is a great addition to any household.

The Floor Lamp Pro's attached speaker won't replace a larger surround sound setup, but it's potent enough to be heard in all corners of a gaming room. This lamp has an advantage over other Govee lights because its reactive lighting responds nearly instantaneously to sounds rather than processing audio recorded by an attached mic. Gamers can also use the lamp's speaker as a conventional Bluetooth device and play music from mobile devices.

The Floor Lamp Pro's ability to act as a white noise machine with soothing lighting effects makes it appropriate for bedrooms. However, gaming rooms will benefit from its dozens of dazzling preset scenes and DreamView, which enables the lamp to sync with Govee's reactive lighting solutions for TVs and monitors. Unfortunately, it's not possible for multiple lamps to simultaneously play the same audio or act as separate audio channels surrounding TVs.

With a few disappointments, like Matter support not yet implemented, the Floor Lamp Pro still has room for improvement. Nevertheless, Govee's hybrid lamp and speaker are the best LED lights for gaming rooms that need both lighting and sound upgrades.

The Philips Hue LED Smart bulb is an awesome smart bulb with wide compatibility. Connect to Google Assistant, Amazon Alexa, the companion app, or simply utilize the provided remote to control the mood of any space. With 16 million colors to choose from and dozens of customization options, this smart light bulb is one of the best in the business.

For gamers who want to modernize their homes, there’s no better way than with the best smart LED bulbs on the market: the Philips Hue. This light bulb is much more expensive than affordable Govee light strips and bulbs, but it earns its keep through a host of great features. First and foremost, the light bulb can fit in many modern lighting fixtures. Buyers can replace most existing lights in a home with Philips Hue bulbs.

Smart lights are easy to control and add lots of fun to any living or gaming room. With so many options, which lights should you purchase first?

Once installed, it takes just a few steps to create a network of lighting on any Bluetooth device or smart home app. Users can then set up schedules, connect to motion sensors, sync the lights with consoles and other media devices, and customize the lighting however they want. However, the included bridge must be used for some features like out-of-home control. The bulb is incredibly durable and responsive, with some of the best reviews of any smart light bulb.

While the Hue bridge adds to installation costs, it's regularly updated to support new smart home ecosystems like Matter. The Zigbee-based component also responds quickly to commands, making the bulbs more reliable than traditional Wi-Fi-based lights. Gamers looking for an LED light that will last through future tech upgrades without causing hassles should pick up a pack of Philips Hue bulbs.

Ceiling lights can finally enter the smart home era with the bright and feature-packed Nanoleaf Skylight panels. A central panel connects to existing wiring and additional panels, with more lights available in expansion kits. The Skylights are installed flush against ceilings for a modern and seamless look. With RGBCW technology, the lights can display warm or cool whites and a wide range of colored patterns and animations. The Skylight supports many of the same features as other Nanoleaf smart lights, including scheduling and AI-generated scenes through questions or phrases.

Like the Philips Hue smart light bulbs, overhead lighting can provide illumination critical to completing projects or simply walking around rooms. The Nanoleaf Skylight is a modular LED light panel system that simulates natural lighting peeking through conventional skylights. Of course, these smart lights can also display a full spectrum of RGB lighting.

Unlike most smart lights, the Skylight requires some basic knowledge of electrical wiring. The sturdy panels connect to the same wiring as traditional ceiling light fixtures rather than screw into sockets or install with double-sided tape. With a bit of research, most homeowners should be up to the task, but at least having an assistant to help orient the panels evenly is beneficial. The good news is that once the central Skylight is functional, the rest of the lights connect with data cables rather than additional electrical wiring. Nanoleaf sells expansion kits to create a jaw-dropping display of up to 100 panels.

Only one color displays on the large panels at a time, but the Skylight excels at representing changing sky conditions or weather. Exceedingly bright at 1400 lumens per panel, these lights show the most subtle warm and cool white hues. Nanoleaf Shapes wall panel lights, compatible with the Skylights, offer many of the same effects, and the ceiling lights can become part of a room-wide display. Unfortunately, while the Skylights work with Google Home, Alexa, and HomeKit, they haven't yet been updated to support Matter or Thread for lower-latency performance.

The Nanoleaf Skylights may not find mainstream success without a price cut, as the cost of additional panels can quickly skyrocket. Nevertheless, they fill a gap in gaming room lighting, where existing ceiling lights often still require wired switches. Their color range and brightness are excellent, and it's easy to expand the display as discounts become more common.

Smart lighting has evolved from the most basic light bulbs and LED strips. Now, gamers have many more ways to turn a once drab office or bedroom into a trendy gaming room. Since the competition is so fierce, it's helpful to narrow down the choices with these priorities:

Smart LED lights can be more affordable than a budget processor or as expensive as a higher-end gaming CPU. For gamers without excess funds, the Kasa Smart LED Light Strip is an inexpensive way to add indirect lighting near a desk. On the other hand, Nanoleaf Shapes wall panel lights are much pricier but can become a centerpiece with highly configurable designs. It's not a universal truth, but premium LED lights are often constructed with more sturdy materials that allow them to persevere in chaotic gaming rooms.

A desk and a PC are just two critical parts of a gaming room. If buyers focus only on lighting for a desktop, it could leave rooms too dark and difficult to navigate. Gamers should prioritize light fixtures like the Govee Floor Lamp Pro to provide critical lighting. This tall, thin standing floor lamp can also save money in a smaller room since it has a Bluetooth speaker at its bottom. Along the same lines, replacing traditional light bulbs with Philips Hue Smart LED Bulbs saves on energy costs and enables voice-controlled illumination.

Modern LED smart lighting can do far more than turn off and on with voices or an app. For buyers interested in transforming a curtain or wall space into a giant work of art, Govee Curtain Lights can display custom GIF files for bright and dynamic logos. Also, many Nanoleaf and Govee smart lights, including the Neon Rope Light 2, sync with screen reactive lighting kits. The result is a compelling gaming experience that extends well beyond the bezels of a monitor.

As impactful as LED lights can be, these bright lights can quickly overwhelm gamers if they are not the right size for a gaming setup. Conversely, a light strip that is too short can fail to provide the desired effect and lead to an unfinished look in a room. Fortunately, LED lights are available in many different shapes and sizes to fit the edge of a desk perfectly or cover a blank wall space. For example, the affordable Kasa Smart LED Light Strips are sold in various lengths, allowing buyers to shorten them for a custom installation.

Out of all the possibilities, Game Rant believes that the Govee Smart LED Light Bars are the best starting point for gaming room lighting. They are compact enough to find homes in most gaming setups but sufficiently sized to be noticeable. These affordable Govee light bars also share many features, such as premium LED lights, voice control, and the ability to react to music.

Wall panel lights can instantly transform a dull space into the ultimate gaming paradise. Find out which Nanoleaf lights are worth the investment.

LED lights can immerse gamers more fully, especially when the lights can sync with their game's audio.

Blue is the best LED light for gamers. Blue lights are less harsh on the eyes and offer a nice moodiness that can help boost focus on brighter game screens.

Styling a gaming room can be tough, but most rooms can be greatly improved with bright and customizable lighting, gaming accessories that fit a player's unique aesthetic, and a few non-gaming accessories from favorite franchises, such as figures or posters.

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