I doubt the LEDs add more than a few cents to the BOM for these parts. I imagine the line of thought goes something like this: most people don't buy desktops.

I doubt the LEDs add more than a few cents to the BOM for these parts. I imagine the line of thought goes something like this: most people don't buy desktops. if they buy a desktop at all (instead of a laptop), they are probably an enthusiast. if they're building a desktop from parts, they are definitely an enthusiast. if they have a window in their case, they want blingy hardware. if they don't care about bling, they won't have a case window to begin with. QED, put LEDs on every single retail part. outside of the HN crowd, I don't think they're actually wrong. personally I don't hate the idea of RGB LED parts, but I do hate the fact that I have three different poorly written apps that control the colors of different hardware/peripherals for the same computer. and they never all manage to remember their state after a reboot.