Gaming Keyboard

My pleasure mate.

I've been an advocate about mech boards from the moment I used one.

I don't mean to poo-poo others choices either. Not everyone can afford the price of a 'gaming' keyboard. But when a backlit mech board is going for the same price as a Logitech, it's worth looking into mech.


As for switch types, there are four main Cherry MX switches. Blue, brown and red, black. The Blue and brown are 'tactile/clicky' switches. Tactile keys have a two step feel. 2mm press to actuate the key and 4mm to bottom out. You can 'feel' the keypress. Linear switches also have a 2mm actuation, 4mm bottom but there is no 'bump'.

Reds and Blacks are linear and feel most like a typical membrane deck. There is no 'bump' in mid actuation. They are all or nothing switches. Still with a 2mm actuation.

MX Blues: Favoured amongst typists and RTS, although you can play anything on a mech really. Is the most 'clicky' sounding.

MX Browns: The 'gateway' cherry switch. Is quieter and requires less force to actuate than blues. Good for everything. Typing. gaming etc. My personal favourite.

MX Red: Linear, very light actuation. 2mm actuation. Your fingers can dance on these. Unfortunately they can dance everywhere, which makes Reds unsuitable for some. I personally found them too light.

MX Black: Linear, heavy actuation. A good FPS switch. Typing, not so much as the blacks can be fatiguing after extended periods of use.


There is a switch out there for everyone.

I think a new keyboard Guru badge is in order for Patrick.:)

What are rollover, stabilizer, and modifiers? Heck I have a very well used old Dell USB keyboard that misspells often.

smarteyeball said:

ganjiry said:

Cyborg v7 = very nice to use but ugly as hell and absolutely massive.

That was the last 'gaming' keyboard I had. Started playing up about 3 mths in. It was so ugly I liked it :) (it was an aesthetic choice to match my case+fans)


But didn't you notice the shocking lack of rollover? I couldn't strafe/crouch to the right because the d key wouldn't be registered. It took me a little while to cotton on what was up. I also found the macro keys awkward to reach and never really used them.

I did a shedload of research before I got into mech keyboards. Brands like coolermaster, roccat etc didn't even have a drawing on the board about mechs, let alone have one available.

There's a reason they are going mech now. Enthusiasts have spoken, companies realized they were missing out on the 'next' thing.

The only 'downside' to mech boards is sticking with one. I've got 5 and use three daily. They're fun to collect. And outside of gaming, they are enjoyable to type on. They may not make you an overnight typist, but your speed does improve.

Personally I have found I prefer MX Brown switches over the other cherry switches. I also prefer my Topre Realforce over Cherry switches. Either way, I love my decks and wouldn't go back to membrane.

The plus side is that there is plenty of choice now. They typically last longer too and can withstand a fair amount of punishment if you're heavy handed. Far more than normal boards do. Some of the hybrids (mech qwerty, membrane modifiers) have a bit of quality issues. Razer particularly. But others are getting better all the time.

When i bought my Roccat Isku i saw the Cyborg and vowed i would never own one as they were just sooo ugly. The Roccat failed so i returned n swapped it fro the Razor Lycosa which also failed and when i returned it they would not swap it for another Lycosa and the only board left instore was the v7 So i had to bite the bullet n go with it. Yeah the lack of rollover was pretty grim n strafing was impossible. Yup macro keys were in a rediculous place too. When i said it was really nice to use i should have been more clear. It was really nice to type on. My daughter has it now and it only just fits on her desk with an inch hangover each side lol.
My CM board has cherry red's which i really like the feel of, It took me a good while to get used to typing on it though. The keys springing back was proper odd at first. The only thing that bothers me with it is when in games where you need to hold the "w"key down for long time's as if you have weak wrist's for instance it can get tired quickly.

Britton30 said:

I think a new keyboard Guru badge is in order for Patrick.:)

What are rollover, stabilizer, and modifiers? Heck I have a very well used old Dell USB keyboard that misspells often.

N-key rollover is the amount of keys that can be hit consecutively. A board with say 6 Nkey rollover will register 6 keys pressed at once. 0 Nkey rollover means more keys can be pressed at the same time. for instance if you mash your face into the keyboard it should register all the keys hit.

mohit pahuja said:

hello,
i am having an acer aspire 5740
it haves a ati radeon 5650 hd graphic card
but it is not detected in device manager
please help me and when i check my screen resolution advanced setting it says
total graphic memory:- 131008
dedicated video memory :- n/a
system video memory :- n/a
please help me i download the driver from acer website but it dosen't work begging u help me

This is not the correct place to ask that question. This is a thread about keboards.

I suggest you start a new thread in the Graphics section - Graphic Cards - Windows 7 Help Forums

That looks like an awesome keyboard but too bad I am a Razer fan boy. I am currently using the first generation Razer BlackWidow Ultimate Stealth Edition. The standard BlackWidow has Cherry MX Blues, which I can't stand, so I went with the Ultimate Stealth Edition because it has Cherry MX Browns, which I cherish.

It is hands down the best keyboard I have ever owned. I have dropped it, dropped things on it and have spilled water, Gatorade and beer on it and it still won't die. If it gets wet just unplug it, let it sit to dry out for a few days, plug it back in and you are good to go. The thing works like a champ!

It always pickles my how peeps think they will get a result by just jumping into a thread and ask a totally unrelated question.

Edit: Yeah those Black widow's are quite a popular board enit. I know a couple of peeps who sware by them.

ganjiry said:

It always pickles my how peeps think they will get a result by just jumping into a thread and ask a totally unrelated question.

Edit: Yeah those Black widow's are quite a popular board enit. I know a couple of peeps who sware by them.

Me too mate, but such is life

paulpicks21 said:

ganjiry said:

It always pickles my how peeps think they will get a result by just jumping into a thread and ask a totally unrelated question.

Edit: Yeah those Black widow's are quite a popular board enit. I know a couple of peeps who sware by them.

Me too mate, but such is life

Yeah enit chap, There's always one

ganjiry said:

only board left instore was the v7 So i had to bite the bullet n go with it.

That's similar to how I got mine except I was after a G1** whatever at the time and none were in stock.

My CM board has cherry red's which i really like the feel of, It took me a good while to get used to typing on it though. The keys springing back was proper odd at first. The only thing that bothers me with it is when in games where you need to hold the "w"key down for long time's as if you have weak wrist's for instance it can get tired quickly.

I found the Reds semi fatiguing for that reason too.

Britton30 said:

I think a new keyboard Guru badge is in order for Patrick.:)

What are rollover, stabilizer, and modifiers? Heck I have a very well used old Dell USB keyboard that misspells often.

N-key rollover is the amount of keys that can be hit consecutively. A board with say 6 Nkey rollover will register 6 keys pressed at once. 0 Nkey rollover means more keys can be pressed at the same time. for instance if you mash your face into the keyboard it should register all the keys hit.[/QUOTE]


Lol, ask the boss. I like the idea

Stabilizers are what's under the shift, Ctrl, Alt, caps etc. Some decks will use Cherry stabilisers, Costar and some hybrids use membrane

Modifiers are simply the F1-Pause/Break keys. Again, good boards use mech switches, others cheap out and stick with membrane.

ganjiry said:

It always pickles my how peeps think they will get a result by just jumping into a thread and ask a totally unrelated question.

How long should I cook chicken in the microwave for?