I really like my X4, does the job nicely and doesn't cost the earth. My friend has a Razer and the keys have started to wear away already - something to bare in mind.
Originally Posted by morguk View Post
What's good about a mechanical keyboard? I've never looked into it. How does it work differently?
Rubber dome uses a large rubber sheet with domes (you probably know what this is if you've ever taken apart your keyboard to clean it). A mechanical switch keyboard uses individual mechanical switches for each key.
In regards to what is better about them... they'll last for years without the key pressing action deteriorating over time, which is the most common problem with rubber domes after just a few years. If you're using a keyboard a lot to type, you'll end up with deterioration of the membrane occurring much more quickly.
Most keyboards originally were mechanical switch. The most famous being the IBM buckling spring type, which people still laud as the best keyboard ever made. Rubber dome type keyboards came about by companies cheaping out on the production of keyboards.
I really like my X4, does the job nicely and doesn't cost the earth. My friend has a Razer and the keys have started to wear away already - something to bare in mind.
Cyborg V5 is also a Chicony rebranded. More specifically the KU-0418.
http://www.chicony.com/new_kb/backlit keyboard/backlit.htm
...Ultimately keyboards aimed at "gamers" however contain a lot of marketing spiel to sell gimmicks. With things like "gaming optimised" and "anti-ghosting". So long as the keyboard has 6 key rollover, it'll be more than enough for any modern game...
the keyboard is NOT NKRO. And I don't mean not NKRO as in, because it's USB it can only to 6+4 keys. No. I mean, there are no diodes on the board, so key combos are blocked by the controller instead of by the USB protocol. So you will run into combinations that get blocked at only 2 keys, meaning this is just 2-key rollover. One such combination is Z+X+C, which screwed me up because I use those keys for both emulators and music games. Not that I couldn't find a new cluster of keys to use, but it's just something that I wouldn't want to have happen immediately after spending $130 on a keyboard.
Many thanks for the detailed reply. I only play FPSs and I presume rollover is pressing keys at the same time so how important is 6 key rollover in FPSs? I've never seen a keyboard (even my ancient, grey block that came with my dad's old olivettii) that couldn't recognise a few keys pressed simultaneously in games.
One review of the Black Window states:
As long as I can run and strafe and jump it'll do me but should this be a cause for concern?