Govee AI Gaming Sync Box Review: Smarter Lighting for Your Desktop
With the Govee Home app for Android or iOS you can configure your new system. It’s tremendously versatile, but there are so many options that it will take time to get used to them. Too bad there isn’t a desktop version, but the mobile app works well and connects quickly via Bluetooth. You can choose from a wide range of colors and light effects. There are 24 individual LED zones that can be customized, 14 on the light strip and five on each light bar.
If you have other Govee lights in the room, you can also control them via the sync box and set their relative positions in the app for a coordinated light show. Synchronization is what sets this system apart. It can sync to music, adjust on-screen colors, and use AI to respond to on-screen game action.
Let there be light
Photo: Govee
Lights are vibrant, color matching feels fairly accurate, and there’s no lag (a common flaw on older, camera-reliant systems). But none of this is new. The headline here is Govee’s AI. While color matching splits the screen into a grid to adjust colors in relevant zones, the AI aims to recognize in-game actions and trigger lighting effects that tell you something.
Unfortunately, this only works on a handful of titles, including Apex Legends, Valorant, over watchAnd League of Legends. Custom in-game lighting effects include red flashes when you take damage, green flashes for a med kit, or blinks and sparkles to celebrate victories. It’s a smart idea that works well and adds real utility to the lighting. Govee promises support will increase. Only time can tell. As cool as they are, these effects are best suited for fast-paced FPS and action games.
Because the Govee AI Gaming Sync Box analyzes the image over HDMI, it can conjure up reactive lighting for whatever you’re playing on your monitor, including movies and TV shows. While it’s accurate and gets rid of the slight lag of systems like the Govee T1 I tested with my TV, it can prove annoying at times. Light syncing is just not desirable for most TV shows, movies and slower games, but it’s nice to have background block colors to set the mood and make the screen pop.
