liquidctl/docs/gigabyte-rgb-fusion2-guide.md

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Gigabyte RGB Fusion 2.0 lighting controllers

Driver API and source code available in liquidctl.driver.rgb_fusion2.

RGB Fusion 2.0 is a lighting system that supports 12V non-addressable RGB and 5V addressable ARGB lighting accessories, alongside RGB/ARGB memory modules and other elements on the motherboard itself. It is built into motherboards that contain the RGB Fusion 2.0 logo, typically from Gigabyte.

These motherboards use one of many possible ITE Tech controller chips, which are connected to the host via SMBus or USB, depending on the motherboard/chip model.

A couple of USB controllers are currently supported:

  • ITE 5702: found in Gigabyte Z490 Vision D
  • ITE 8297: found in Gigabyte X570 Aorus Elite

Initialization

RGB Fusion 2.0 controllers must be initialized after the system boots or resumes from a suspended state.

# liquidctl initialize
Gigabyte RGB Fusion 2.0 5702 Controller
├── Hardware name       IT5702-GIGABYTE V1.0.10.0
└── Firmware version                     1.0.10.0

Lighting

The controllers have built-in support for six color modes: off, fixed, pulse, flash, double-flash and color-cycle. The color-cycle mode fades between all color hues, but the extra extra/contrib/fusion_rgb_cycle.py script can be used to fade between specific colors.

As much as we prefer to use descriptive channel names, currently it is not practical to do so, since the correspondence between the hardware channels and the corresponding features on the motherboard is not stable. Hence, lighting channels are given generic names: led1, led2, etc.; at this time, eight are defined.

In addition to these, it is also possible to use the sync pseudo-channel to apply a setting to all lighting channels.

# liquidctl set sync color off
# liquidctl set led1 color fixed 350017
# liquidctl set led2 color pulse ff2608
# liquidctl set led3 color flash 350017
# liquidctl set led4 color double-flash 350017
# liquidctl set led5 color color-cycle --speed slower

For color modes pulse, flash, double-flash and color-cycle, the animation speed is governed by the optional --speed parameter, with one of six possible values: slowest, slower, normal (the default), faster, fastest or ludicrous.

Some more elaborate color/animation schemes supported by the motherboard on the addressable headers are not currently supported.

Correspondence between lighting channels and physical locations

Each user may need to create a table that associates generic channel names to specific areas or headers on their motherboard. For example, a map for the Gigabyte Z490 Vision D might look like:

  • led1: the LED next to the IO panel;
  • led2: one of two 12V RGB headers;
  • led3: the LED on the PCH chip ("Designare" on Vision D);
  • led4: an array of LEDs behind the PCI slots on back side of motherboard;
  • led5: second 12V RGB header;
  • led6: one of two 5V addressable RGB headers;
  • led7: second 5V addressable RGB header;
  • led8: not in use.

More on resuming from sleep states

On wake-from-sleep, the ITE controller will be reset and all color modes will revert to fixed blue.

To work around this, the methods used to automate the configuration at boot time should be adapted to also handle resuming from sleep states.

On macOS it is also possible to use the sleepwatcher utility, installed via Homebrew, along with a script to run on wake that issues the necessary liquidctl commands and restores desired lighting effects.

Fading between colors

The extra/contrib/fusion_rgb_cycle.py script can be used to have one of these controllers cycle through a list of colors of the user's choice. It uses the fixed mode but updates the controller continuously. It can be started with:

# extra/contrib/fusion_rgb_cycle.py 350017 ff2608

If more than two colors are specified, they will be cycled in turn. The color space for cycling can be specified with --space <space>, channels can be specified with --channel <channel> and the time in seconds for each color transition can be set with, eg --speed <seconds>.