Razer Chroma Hardware Development Kit

Well I need this and the head phone stand with the usb ports

Basically thanks to others investing their money to help the community understand the limitations of this "beta" product.

I was going to rush to buy, but reading here I'm going to wait until the product is properly supported:

Here is my the list of features I will want to confirm before purchasing:
1.) Not using beta software - Meaning Synapse 3.0 is no longer in beta (More on this later 1a. - below)

2.) Support for Chroma Apps (Diablo 3, Overwatch, etc.) (More on this later 2a. - below)

3.) Would like to buy two sets total of 6 strips
3a.) First Set to replace the NZXT - H440 green lights with two of these strips at the bottom, plus two strips inside my case
3b.) Second Set to put behind my monitor on my desk, 2 strips wide screen 34in monitor

These will need to be sorted out before I buy the product for sure, which I think these 3 are reasonable and will be addressed, just depends on how long Razer takes to get the product into production.


Additional feedback
1a - Right now Synapse software is a wreck, also there is the Cortex App, Razer central, etc. I feel it would be a good idea to discuss publicly what their plans are to fix. (I cant find a thread I created, but it listed out 26 different processes running for Razer. Its crazy the amount of resources it requires, not a lot of resources, just the number of independent processes.

2a - This is very annoying because there doesn't seem to be away or heck even voting system to show which games are coming or what games we would like to see next? I can understand UWP games not working (yet), but is Razer actively working with these companies to get supported added? Is there anything we can do as a community to show interested? Maybe Razer's API aren't very good and that is holding it up? Right now Blizzard seems to be one of the few is it because they have the $$ to do it? Could Razer make this easier for teams to adapt too? I would really like to see more UWP games get this feature. I have been buying the games that support Cross Play and its nice to go from PC to Xbox and back!

4.) Would love to see some Chroma Fans also that would round out the kit! /razer-120mm-chroma-case-fan-poll.408/

Still waiting on the Synapse 3.0 beta so i can control the lighting on my firefly.... Then i might get all DIY on my setup with chroma lights, Was just going to use a generic LED controller but if i can get it integrated with my chroma devices that would be sweet. Although i'm still waiting for the ability to sent lighting effects across multiple devices (Key stroke triggering the orbweaver or mouse click triggering the keyboard) we can dream

To download Razer Synapse 3.0 Beta: https://www.razerzone.com/synapse-3

And list of supported devices: Synapse 3.0 Devices Supported at the moment: Razer Lancehead, Razer Lancehead Tournament Edition, Razer Chroma Hardware Development Kit

Other Devices still use Synapse 2.0 to configure settings.

I have the Kit. But the Audio Visualiser will not run with this. :frown_:

Got mine today!

So, I've gotten a few thoughts thus far regarding this product:
- The lights are super fancy and of excellent quality, both in daylight and in the dark
- The package comes with four types of net power adapters: US, UK and 2 for european countries.. NICE!
- The power- and usb-cable connecting to the module are long enough for basic mounts
- The extension cables however, are rather short. I wanted to mount the module beneath my desk, but it appears that the extension cables are too short to mount it beneath the desk while having the led-strips on the top side of my monitors (Dell Ultrasharp U2414H) which are at their highest position. Extending the length of these extension cables with an additional 20-30 centimeters would be very nice.
- As stated many times before, the HDK is not supported by Synapse 2, but only with Synapse 3 (BETA), which does only support 2 devices thus far. You can however seamlessly use Synapse 3 alongside Synapse 2, so I don't really see a problem on this part for now.
- The option to provide the module with power through USB port, is sufficient, but the lights will be less bright compared to powersupplied through the net adaptor.

The point related to the extension cables forced me to just put the module at the back of my desk, which is rather unfortunate.

Note: The power connector is only neccesary when you would like the led-strips to be active 24/7 and/or desire more brightness. If you connect the module using the provided mini-USB cable, the module will shutdown itself when yoi shutdown your PC (Took me a few minutes to figure out). There is a 3rd power option, which is connecting it to your power supply, but the cable is way too short for that forcing you to mount your module inside or on your computer case.

Despite a few 'drawbacks', if you'd like to call them that.. I have no regret spending cash on them as they are of great quality (as to be expected from Razer) and I enjoy every second of the leds. Can't wait for Synapse 3 updates :)

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Dark room - Red static themed



Dark rood - Wave themed



(Semi)Daylight - Wave themed



Overall feeling:

I just received mine today, and having problem with sync-ing with old Razer synapse and Synapse 3.0
any suggestions?

Unrealxs
What's wrong?? I've been able to set it up within a few clicks. The powercable is only required if you would like the led-strips to be active 24/7. Otherwise the usb-cable is enough and the module will shutdown when your PC is shutdown.

I've worked out that the the USB connection works for now but for extra brightness you need the powercable. Right now I've only got the USB plugged in. Everything works fine. When I go to plug in the power cable alongside the USB, a single red led flashes on each strip. Probably indicating something is wrong or faulty. Can't find any troubleshooting for the HDK either.

Maggots94
I've worked out that the the USB connection works for now but for extra brightness you need the powercable. Right now I've only got the USB plugged in. Everything works fine. When I go to plug in the power cable alongside the USB, a single red led flashes on each strip. Probably indicating something is wrong or faulty. Can't find any troubleshooting for the HDK either.

Hah, that explains why the LED-strip seemed so dim the entire day.. Sucks I would have to disconnect the power cable to make sure the leds turn off after i shut down my pc.

I've plugged in the powercable too, I see no red light flashing or whatsoever. Could it be that you activated the Chroma advanced settings,, allowing you to control an idividual led?? Try restoring settings to default, using the standard wave effect.

untraceablez
I already have NZXT's Hue+, but if this ever ended up as a reward for ZSilver, I'd get it in a heartbeat!

That being said, is Razer going to try to work with any other manufacturer? The whole Chrome SDK seems pointless if the biggest thing it integrates with is a few games. I'd love to see you guys work with NZXT, MSI, or Asus on RGB SDKs that play nice with each other. Gamers could only benefit! Plus, I love all my Razer peripherals, but for example, I have a Corsair AiO and Corsair Fans, and MSI motherboard and GPUs. I'd hate to have to make my PC all one manufacturer, it feels like it would defeat the point of building, why not just a get a prefab at that point?

But anywho, I'm rambling on, glad to see this come out, I hope the HDK doesn't mean you'll stop trying to work with other hardware partners!

On the contrary, the Razer Chroma HDK is just the first step. We are still working with partners to grow the Razer Chroma ecosystem :)

Maggots94
I've worked out that the the USB connection works for now but for extra brightness you need the powercable. Right now I've only got the USB plugged in. Everything works fine. When I go to plug in the power cable alongside the USB, a single red led flashes on each strip. Probably indicating something is wrong or faulty. Can't find any troubleshooting for the HDK either.

That's very odd. Where do you plug in the power cable? With the adapter, molex, or another USB port?

Razer|Quis
That's very odd. Where do you plug in the power cable? With the adapter, molex, or another USB port?

I've tried both the adapter and USB port. Not tried a molex connection since they are mounted behind my monitor. I've contacted support and sent them a video of what's happening. They seem to think somthing is wrong with Synapse 3 but I just think it's faulty since it fails when I plug the extra power in. It works fine without the power cable.

imacellist
Ok so I got my kit today and this thing is legit. One question though, I guess I misinterpreted or something. I thought it would sync with games, at least the games that already have chroma support like overwatch. I have just the strips on my desktop, no other chroma stuff at the moment and was hoping it would work. Do we just need to wait for developers to get on board? If so are there any games that work with this as of now?

This is correct. Developers need to add support for new device categories as they come out (just like the Audio Visualizer app, if you've been following that thread).

Factorio, for example, already supports the Chroma HDK.