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Corsair K70 RGB
Welcome to my review of one of the newest offerings by Corsair, the K70 RGB.
Before I get started, I'm going to point out some things regarding the review in general.
Quick navigation:
Introduction
This is one of the newest additions to Corsair's already substantial product line-up, and notably one of the first (along with the Corsair K95 RGB and K65 RGB) to offer the new Cherry MX RGB switches, offering as you would expect, controllable RGB backlighting, a feature that was previously not possible on a board with standard Cherry MX switches.
What Corsair has to say about the K70 RGB:
http://gaming.corsair.com/en-gb/corsair-gaming-k70-rgb-mechanical-gaming-keyboard-cherry-mx-brown
Unboxing
Here is the retail packaging:
The packaging is well done, giving a good overview of the appearance and feature set of the board without seeming clustered. It definitely gives the impression of a premium product.
Now for the contents of the packaging:
Inside the outer advertising box we have a sturdy cardboard box to keep everything protected:
Inside we find everything securely packaged:
And everything included in the box:
Pretty minimal contents for the K70 RGB, the board, the wrist rest, manual and warranty information. No special gaming keys for WASD and 1 - 6 like with the original K70, not an issue in my opinion as the extra keys were annoying when you weren't using the keyboard for just games.
Overall I think Corsair has done a good job with the packaging of the K70 RGB, the outer packaging is informative and well-designed, telling you everything you'd need to know before purchasing, and it's packaged well to prevent any damage in transit.
Layout, Keycaps and more
Layout
On the surface it appears the K70 RGB uses a pretty normal layout, however there are a few things different about the layout compared to a more standard board:
F-row
The F-is positioned slightly closer to the main 60% cluster, this should make those keys easier to access in game if you need to use them, and also makes the keyboard slightly less long on the desk.
Bottom row
If you look carefully, you should be able to see that the K70 RGB is using a less common layout for the bottom row keys, instead of using a more typical 6.25x spacebar with 1.25x keys, it's using a 6.5x spacebar with a mixture of 1x, 1.25x and 1.5x keys.
The advantage of this is that the keys you might use more often, the Ctrl and Alt keys, are larger than the Windows key, which isn't used nearly as much by a lot of people. This is particularly useful for in games, where you're not going to be using the Windows key and could benefit from the larger Ctrl and Alt.
However, I'm not a fan of this bottom row layout as it means replacing the keycaps later on will be more difficult, and you'll have far less choice.
Keycaps
The keycaps on the K70 RGB are what we have come to expect from most big brand backlit keyboards, smooth ABS keycaps in an OEM profile, they aren't bad, but you can still feel the legends slightly on the keycaps.
Internals
Now we'll look at the internals of the K70 RGB.
Taking the board apart isn't easy, to remove the back cover of the board, you have to remove all the keycaps, and unscrew 24 screws, 1 of which is hidden under part of the volume wheel as shown below, and another is under the metal 'Corsair Gaming' logo, also shown below.
Once those screws are undone, you can carefully pry the back cover off the the front plate, making sure not to damage any of the wires or ribbons that connect the mainboard to the daughterboard(s).
Once this is done, we have the following:
As you should be able to see from the pictures above, the quality of the soldering is good, uniform and making good contact with the board.
One issue I have with the internals of the board however is the method by which the daughterboard for the media controls (volume wheel excluded) interfaces with the mainboard. The two are connected by a plastic tab with copper contacts from the daughterboard pressed against matching copper contacts on the mainboard, which seems reasonable except for the fact that the only thing that holds these together to create a connection is a small rubber insert that is mounted on the back part of the case. If this plastic insert isn't precisely in place, when you try to put the board back together the media controls (volume wheel excluded) will just simply not work.
I'm not entirely sure of the reasoning of using this type of connection, it doesn't seem very robust compared to the other connections they've used and I'd prefer to see some kind of actual connector than just a plastic tab with contacts.
Case
Design
Top side
As we've come to expect from the Corsair K series, Corsair take a less conventional approach by having no top casing, and instead having the plate the switches are mounted to as the top surface of the keyboard. This allows them to have an attractive metal top for the board without adding any extra weight. Corsair have opted for a dark coloured brushed aluminium plate in this model, and I think it looks particularly good, creating a nice contrast between the plate and keys when the LEDs are on.
Due to the switch plate being used as the top casing for the board, the top half of the Cherry MX RGB switches are visible underneath the keys. Whilst this could look bad with the standard black switch tops of the non-RGB Cherry MX switches, due to the translucent design of the Cherry MX RGB switches (to allow light to shine through the switch), it creates an attractive design feature when the switches are lit, allowing light to shine out from the sides of the keyboard and between the switches, creating a nice glow that complements the light visible from the key legends. This can be seen below:
The downside of this however is that if you want to use a lighting scheme on the keyboard based on contrasting colours, rather than blending them, e.g. alternating different colours in rows, then the design when combined with the jagged layout of the rows will cause these neighbouring colours to blend, making perhaps undesirable colours visible. Take for example the lighting scheme I used, below, which uses rows of only red, blue and green:
As you can see, there is some definite overlapping of light occurring, you can clearly see some orange, purple and turquoise light in addition to the red, blue and green set in the lighting profile. I personally like the effect, but it certainly isn't for everyone.
Moving on, due to the fact the top casing of the K70 RGB sits several millimetres below the bottom of the keycaps, it makes the board very easy to clean with a can of compressed air, much more so than a more regular board like the Ducky Shine 3, where you'd have to remove all the keycaps to be able to clean the board properly. However I'd still personally remove all the keycaps on the K70 RGB if I wanted to clean it thoroughly.
Reverse side
On the reverse side we have a smooth, matte black plastic back cover. The back cover feels solid and tough, definitely not like some cheap plastic cover that flexes when it's pressed.
Also on the reverse side are the expected rubber pads to prevent slipping, they are fairly small, but seem to do the job well out of box. In addition we have the expected flip out feet at the back of the board, they feel solid, however they are not rubberised, so when they are folded out the board doesn't seem to grip the desk as well as if they weren't being used.
A less expected feature on the back of the board is two more fold out feet towards the front of the board, this allows you to raise the front of the board. It might not immediately be obvious why they included these front feet, but upon using the board, it makes sense. If you have just the front feet folded out it seems to keep your wrist in a straighter position when combined with the wrist rest, this means if you're spending an extended period playing for an example an FPS game where your fingers are likely hovering around WASD, then your wrist won't be angled as much and you might have less wrist pain.
If you have both the front and back feet folded out, then this raises the entire board, which could be more comfortable for those who prefer to have their wrist on the desk, rather than the bottom of their palm.
Branding
The branding of the K70 RGB has been the subject of much controversy. Since Corsair have compartmentalised their peripherals division under a new 'Corsair Gaming' brand, a new logo was required to separate them from the normal Corsair division.
The new logo devised is shown below:
There has been a lot of dispute over the design of the logo as some people find it less professional looking compared to Corsair's well-known sails logo. I personally don't mind the logo, it doesn't look particularly obnoxious and there are much worse logos to be found on other computing brands, in my opinion at least.
Now, for how this new logo is featured on the board, the logo is only found in one place on the board, just over where the cable connects to the board. The logo isn't giant or excessively shown so this is a definite plus, in the past some companies have made their logos far too prominent on the board. I think the logo on the K70 RGB is shown enough to make the brand clear, but not the centre of attention, so I think it's been featured enough.
Quality
Given the price tag and materials the board is built from, you would expect a quality product and I think the K70 RGB has delivered.
The board does have some flex, however it is minimal, and more importantly, the top plate doesn't seem to be deforming from the flexing. This is important as if the top plate gets deformed, it can cause the board to wobble, as seen on some earlier K series boards, however there is no sign of it on this sample and I imagine you would have to put the board under a fair amount of stress before any problems start occurring.
Summary
In summary, the K70 RGB feels like a quality product, there aren't any areas where I feel like the keyboard is lacking.
Features
Given that the K70 RGB is marketed as a gaming-oriented board, you'd expect there to be a good selection of features on the board, Corsair comes through with a good feature set of stuff you might expect and some stuff you might not.
RGB Backlighting
It goes without saying that one of the main reasons for buying the K70 RGB is the RGB backlighting it offers. As mentioned before, Corsair are the first company to offer controllable RGB backlighting using the new Cherry MX RGB switches. Previously fully controllable RGB backlighting wasn't possible using Cherry MX switches as the controllable RGB LEDs were too big to mount on the switch, your only option was to use RGB LEDs that pulsed through all the colours available.
To create your own lighting profiles for the K70 RGB, you need to download the Corsair Utility Engine software from their site. The software is only a ~43MB download, and doesn't use up a lot of memory whilst running, < 25MB from what I have seen.
Given the huge number of possibilities for backlighting (16.8 million colours available for each LED at any time), it was inevitable that the software would take some getting used to. Upon initially starting the software I found it confusing, but watching YouTube tutorials made it clear how to do what I wanted. I will not be producing a dedicated tutorial on the lighting as I don't feel I can add anything to the information already out there, for anyone purchasing this board, I would highly advise watching YouTube tutorials so you can get the most out of the board.
As a a quick example of what you can do with the backlighting on the board, I created a fairly simple profile that sends a ripple of a few colours out from a pressed key, as can be seen here.
Of course, if you watch some tutorials and put the time in, you can create some very impressive lighting profiles, and the Corsair Utility Engine software even allows you to Export or Import profiles so you can share your work and try out what other people have created.
Now for the quality of the backlighting, the backlight is adjustable to 4 different brightness levels via a button above the print screen key. Some people have complained that the lighting is fairly dim compared to some other boards. My opinions on this are yes the light coming out of the legends does seem dim compared to some other boards. For example the picture below shows the difference in brightness between a Ducky Shine 3 (top) and Corsair K70 RGB (bottom), both using green backlighting at maximum brightness (the K70 RGB is set to max brightness both in the light profile and via the brightness button).
As you can see, the Ducky Shine 3 is far brighter.
However, unlike the Ducky Shine 3, the K70 RGB doesn't have a top plate and the LEDs are mounted in a different place (Ducky Shine 3 uses standard Cherry MX switches, not Cherry MX RGB). As a consequence, a fair amount of the light produced by the RGB LEDs on the K70 RGB is diffused through the translucent housing of the switch and can bleed out from underneath the key. I believe this can contribute significantly to the difference in brightness. Also as mentioned before, the K70 RGB has a glow around the keys, which some people may prefer over a brighter looking legend.
I found that even in a bright environment, such as next to a window in the middle of the day, the lighting was still more than bright enough for a glow on the lowest non-off brightness setting, and bright enough to light up the legends clearly on the two higher brightness levels, so I wouldn't personally consider the brightness to be an issue.
It's also worth noting that the K70 RGB has onboard memory, so the lighting profiles are stored on the board itself and don't have to be recreated or imported if you use the keyboard on a different computer.
I feel it is worth mentioning is that at the time of writing, the K70 RGB is unable to display the full 16.8 million RGB spectrum of colours. This is due to some issues with the technical aspects of trying to send uncompressed RGB data to the keyboard via USB. However, this is not to say that this problem cannot be resolved, the board is fully capable of supporting the full 16.8 million colour RGB spectrum, it will just require a driver update, which at the time of writing is being worked on by Corsair and should be available soon.
Also worth noting, though it is a minor flaw is that it's possible to get the backlighting to freeze by pressing Scroll Lock, Caps Lock or Num Lock in rapid succession, this prevents the RGB LEDs from changing colour or brightness until the board is unplugged and plugged back in.
Other Software Features
On top of controlling the RGB backlighting, the Corsair Utility Engine software also allows the user to assign various features to specific keys, including:
BIOS/ polling switch
Included on the board is a BIOS/ polling switch. This switch has five positions and allows you to set the board to BIOS mode, which is a mode designed to work well with older computers, specifically in the BIOS by disabling features such as N-key rollover.
The other 4 modes are labelled 1, 2, 4 and 8, with each of these modes changing the polling interval of the keyboard to 1, 2, 4 or 8ms respectively.
Media Controls
As you would expect from a premium gaming keyboard, the board includes media keys, specifically:
These are definitely a nice inclusion, as much as I love the minimal TKL format, I miss media keys and their convenience, using software to simulate them just isn't as convenient.
The quality of these media keys and the roller is good, they don't feel cheap and the volume wheel doesn't move from side-to-side like I have experienced on some cheaper keyboards.
Cable
The K70 RGB includes a thick, hard-wired, braided dual USB cable. Despite being thick, the cable is not hard to bend and should not cause you any problems. The board requires two USB ports due to the extra power requirements for the RGB backlighting.
Wrist rest
The wrist rest feels very well-made. The finish on the top is smooth and feels slightly rubberised, however it doesn't come with either of the downsides of a cheap rubberised coating by being prone to marking or feeling excessively grippy. It attaches to the board using two clips, which feel sturdy and unlikely to break easily. This wrist rest is a definite step up from some other packaged ones that I have tried, that often feel like they are made out of part of a plastic trash bin and attach to the board with cheap, brittle plastic clips.
Windows lock key
As you would hope, the K70 RGB includes a windows lock key. For those unfamiliar, this can be used for games when you want to prevent accidental presses of the Windows key, which would bring up the start menu and interrupt the game. Also worth noting is that in the Corsair Utility Engine software you can set the key to also disable Alt + Tab (which would change to the next window) and/ or Alt + F4 (which would close the current window you are viewing). I've never really considered how useful this could be before, it's nice to see Corsair adding stuff like this.
Summary
In summary, the K70 RGB is definitely a feature-packed board, I don't feel like it's lacking anything that would make me look at other options.
And before you think 'what about macro keys?', the K70 RGB deliberately doesn't have macro keys. Not everyone wants them, and it doesn't make sense to include them at the cost of making the board take up more desk space if people aren't going to use them, so Corsair have the K95 RGB for those that want macro keys.
Cost and Coverage
Cost: ~$170 at the time of writing.
Coverage: 2 year warranty
Final Thoughts
In summary, despite initially thinking I'd prefer my minimal TKL boards, I like this board a lot, it offers a lot of features that while may not be strictly necessary, are nice to have. Some people see RGB backlighting as a gimmick, and I can understand where they are coming from, I can't imagine having the board pulsing colours every second I'm on the computer, but it's nice to have the option to quickly and easily change the backlighting to keep the board interesting.
Whilst this board certainly won't be for everyone, I think it takes a sensible approach of offering many gaming features in a less gamer-y looking package, the board doesn't look excessively flashy unless you want it to, and I think this makes it highly desirable.
Now, would I buy this board with my own money? I'm used to the TKL format of keyboard, so I'm not sure I would move back to a full size keyboard, however if the K65 RGB (TKL format) is as good as the K70 RGB, then I would definitely consider that. That's not to say this is any fault of the K70 RGB, just my personal preference for a board that takes up less desk space.
Pros:
Cons:
If you feel there's anything I've missed out or if there's anything else you'd like to know about the keyboard, let me know!
Corsair K70 RGB
Welcome to my review of one of the newest offerings by Corsair, the K70 RGB.
Before I get started, I'm going to point out some things regarding the review in general.
- This board was provided as a review sample by Corsair for no charge.
- I will not be keeping this board, it will be given away randomly at a later date to a member of OCN.
- This review will only be discussing the board itself, not my opinions on the switches the board uses (in this case MX Reds), opinion on switches is subjective, and you'll have to make up your own mind about what switch is the one for you.
Quick navigation:
- Introduction
- Unboxing
- Layout, Keycaps and more
- Internals
- Case
- Features
- Cost and Coverage
- Final Thoughts
Introduction
This is one of the newest additions to Corsair's already substantial product line-up, and notably one of the first (along with the Corsair K95 RGB and K65 RGB) to offer the new Cherry MX RGB switches, offering as you would expect, controllable RGB backlighting, a feature that was previously not possible on a board with standard Cherry MX switches.
What Corsair has to say about the K70 RGB:
http://gaming.corsair.com/en-gb/corsair-gaming-k70-rgb-mechanical-gaming-keyboard-cherry-mx-brown
Unboxing
Here is the retail packaging:
The packaging is well done, giving a good overview of the appearance and feature set of the board without seeming clustered. It definitely gives the impression of a premium product.
Now for the contents of the packaging:
Inside the outer advertising box we have a sturdy cardboard box to keep everything protected:
Inside we find everything securely packaged:
And everything included in the box:
Pretty minimal contents for the K70 RGB, the board, the wrist rest, manual and warranty information. No special gaming keys for WASD and 1 - 6 like with the original K70, not an issue in my opinion as the extra keys were annoying when you weren't using the keyboard for just games.
Overall I think Corsair has done a good job with the packaging of the K70 RGB, the outer packaging is informative and well-designed, telling you everything you'd need to know before purchasing, and it's packaged well to prevent any damage in transit.
Layout, Keycaps and more
Layout
On the surface it appears the K70 RGB uses a pretty normal layout, however there are a few things different about the layout compared to a more standard board:
F-row
The F-is positioned slightly closer to the main 60% cluster, this should make those keys easier to access in game if you need to use them, and also makes the keyboard slightly less long on the desk.
Bottom row
If you look carefully, you should be able to see that the K70 RGB is using a less common layout for the bottom row keys, instead of using a more typical 6.25x spacebar with 1.25x keys, it's using a 6.5x spacebar with a mixture of 1x, 1.25x and 1.5x keys.
The advantage of this is that the keys you might use more often, the Ctrl and Alt keys, are larger than the Windows key, which isn't used nearly as much by a lot of people. This is particularly useful for in games, where you're not going to be using the Windows key and could benefit from the larger Ctrl and Alt.
However, I'm not a fan of this bottom row layout as it means replacing the keycaps later on will be more difficult, and you'll have far less choice.
Keycaps
The keycaps on the K70 RGB are what we have come to expect from most big brand backlit keyboards, smooth ABS keycaps in an OEM profile, they aren't bad, but you can still feel the legends slightly on the keycaps.
Internals
Now we'll look at the internals of the K70 RGB.
Taking the board apart isn't easy, to remove the back cover of the board, you have to remove all the keycaps, and unscrew 24 screws, 1 of which is hidden under part of the volume wheel as shown below, and another is under the metal 'Corsair Gaming' logo, also shown below.
Once those screws are undone, you can carefully pry the back cover off the the front plate, making sure not to damage any of the wires or ribbons that connect the mainboard to the daughterboard(s).
Once this is done, we have the following:
As you should be able to see from the pictures above, the quality of the soldering is good, uniform and making good contact with the board.
One issue I have with the internals of the board however is the method by which the daughterboard for the media controls (volume wheel excluded) interfaces with the mainboard. The two are connected by a plastic tab with copper contacts from the daughterboard pressed against matching copper contacts on the mainboard, which seems reasonable except for the fact that the only thing that holds these together to create a connection is a small rubber insert that is mounted on the back part of the case. If this plastic insert isn't precisely in place, when you try to put the board back together the media controls (volume wheel excluded) will just simply not work.
I'm not entirely sure of the reasoning of using this type of connection, it doesn't seem very robust compared to the other connections they've used and I'd prefer to see some kind of actual connector than just a plastic tab with contacts.
Case
Design
Top side
As we've come to expect from the Corsair K series, Corsair take a less conventional approach by having no top casing, and instead having the plate the switches are mounted to as the top surface of the keyboard. This allows them to have an attractive metal top for the board without adding any extra weight. Corsair have opted for a dark coloured brushed aluminium plate in this model, and I think it looks particularly good, creating a nice contrast between the plate and keys when the LEDs are on.
Due to the switch plate being used as the top casing for the board, the top half of the Cherry MX RGB switches are visible underneath the keys. Whilst this could look bad with the standard black switch tops of the non-RGB Cherry MX switches, due to the translucent design of the Cherry MX RGB switches (to allow light to shine through the switch), it creates an attractive design feature when the switches are lit, allowing light to shine out from the sides of the keyboard and between the switches, creating a nice glow that complements the light visible from the key legends. This can be seen below:
The downside of this however is that if you want to use a lighting scheme on the keyboard based on contrasting colours, rather than blending them, e.g. alternating different colours in rows, then the design when combined with the jagged layout of the rows will cause these neighbouring colours to blend, making perhaps undesirable colours visible. Take for example the lighting scheme I used, below, which uses rows of only red, blue and green:
As you can see, there is some definite overlapping of light occurring, you can clearly see some orange, purple and turquoise light in addition to the red, blue and green set in the lighting profile. I personally like the effect, but it certainly isn't for everyone.
Moving on, due to the fact the top casing of the K70 RGB sits several millimetres below the bottom of the keycaps, it makes the board very easy to clean with a can of compressed air, much more so than a more regular board like the Ducky Shine 3, where you'd have to remove all the keycaps to be able to clean the board properly. However I'd still personally remove all the keycaps on the K70 RGB if I wanted to clean it thoroughly.
Reverse side
On the reverse side we have a smooth, matte black plastic back cover. The back cover feels solid and tough, definitely not like some cheap plastic cover that flexes when it's pressed.
Also on the reverse side are the expected rubber pads to prevent slipping, they are fairly small, but seem to do the job well out of box. In addition we have the expected flip out feet at the back of the board, they feel solid, however they are not rubberised, so when they are folded out the board doesn't seem to grip the desk as well as if they weren't being used.
A less expected feature on the back of the board is two more fold out feet towards the front of the board, this allows you to raise the front of the board. It might not immediately be obvious why they included these front feet, but upon using the board, it makes sense. If you have just the front feet folded out it seems to keep your wrist in a straighter position when combined with the wrist rest, this means if you're spending an extended period playing for an example an FPS game where your fingers are likely hovering around WASD, then your wrist won't be angled as much and you might have less wrist pain.
If you have both the front and back feet folded out, then this raises the entire board, which could be more comfortable for those who prefer to have their wrist on the desk, rather than the bottom of their palm.
Branding
The branding of the K70 RGB has been the subject of much controversy. Since Corsair have compartmentalised their peripherals division under a new 'Corsair Gaming' brand, a new logo was required to separate them from the normal Corsair division.
The new logo devised is shown below:
There has been a lot of dispute over the design of the logo as some people find it less professional looking compared to Corsair's well-known sails logo. I personally don't mind the logo, it doesn't look particularly obnoxious and there are much worse logos to be found on other computing brands, in my opinion at least.
Now, for how this new logo is featured on the board, the logo is only found in one place on the board, just over where the cable connects to the board. The logo isn't giant or excessively shown so this is a definite plus, in the past some companies have made their logos far too prominent on the board. I think the logo on the K70 RGB is shown enough to make the brand clear, but not the centre of attention, so I think it's been featured enough.
Quality
Given the price tag and materials the board is built from, you would expect a quality product and I think the K70 RGB has delivered.
The board does have some flex, however it is minimal, and more importantly, the top plate doesn't seem to be deforming from the flexing. This is important as if the top plate gets deformed, it can cause the board to wobble, as seen on some earlier K series boards, however there is no sign of it on this sample and I imagine you would have to put the board under a fair amount of stress before any problems start occurring.
Summary
In summary, the K70 RGB feels like a quality product, there aren't any areas where I feel like the keyboard is lacking.
Features
Given that the K70 RGB is marketed as a gaming-oriented board, you'd expect there to be a good selection of features on the board, Corsair comes through with a good feature set of stuff you might expect and some stuff you might not.
RGB Backlighting
It goes without saying that one of the main reasons for buying the K70 RGB is the RGB backlighting it offers. As mentioned before, Corsair are the first company to offer controllable RGB backlighting using the new Cherry MX RGB switches. Previously fully controllable RGB backlighting wasn't possible using Cherry MX switches as the controllable RGB LEDs were too big to mount on the switch, your only option was to use RGB LEDs that pulsed through all the colours available.
To create your own lighting profiles for the K70 RGB, you need to download the Corsair Utility Engine software from their site. The software is only a ~43MB download, and doesn't use up a lot of memory whilst running, < 25MB from what I have seen.
Given the huge number of possibilities for backlighting (16.8 million colours available for each LED at any time), it was inevitable that the software would take some getting used to. Upon initially starting the software I found it confusing, but watching YouTube tutorials made it clear how to do what I wanted. I will not be producing a dedicated tutorial on the lighting as I don't feel I can add anything to the information already out there, for anyone purchasing this board, I would highly advise watching YouTube tutorials so you can get the most out of the board.
As a a quick example of what you can do with the backlighting on the board, I created a fairly simple profile that sends a ripple of a few colours out from a pressed key, as can be seen here.
Of course, if you watch some tutorials and put the time in, you can create some very impressive lighting profiles, and the Corsair Utility Engine software even allows you to Export or Import profiles so you can share your work and try out what other people have created.
Now for the quality of the backlighting, the backlight is adjustable to 4 different brightness levels via a button above the print screen key. Some people have complained that the lighting is fairly dim compared to some other boards. My opinions on this are yes the light coming out of the legends does seem dim compared to some other boards. For example the picture below shows the difference in brightness between a Ducky Shine 3 (top) and Corsair K70 RGB (bottom), both using green backlighting at maximum brightness (the K70 RGB is set to max brightness both in the light profile and via the brightness button).
As you can see, the Ducky Shine 3 is far brighter.
However, unlike the Ducky Shine 3, the K70 RGB doesn't have a top plate and the LEDs are mounted in a different place (Ducky Shine 3 uses standard Cherry MX switches, not Cherry MX RGB). As a consequence, a fair amount of the light produced by the RGB LEDs on the K70 RGB is diffused through the translucent housing of the switch and can bleed out from underneath the key. I believe this can contribute significantly to the difference in brightness. Also as mentioned before, the K70 RGB has a glow around the keys, which some people may prefer over a brighter looking legend.
I found that even in a bright environment, such as next to a window in the middle of the day, the lighting was still more than bright enough for a glow on the lowest non-off brightness setting, and bright enough to light up the legends clearly on the two higher brightness levels, so I wouldn't personally consider the brightness to be an issue.
It's also worth noting that the K70 RGB has onboard memory, so the lighting profiles are stored on the board itself and don't have to be recreated or imported if you use the keyboard on a different computer.
I feel it is worth mentioning is that at the time of writing, the K70 RGB is unable to display the full 16.8 million RGB spectrum of colours. This is due to some issues with the technical aspects of trying to send uncompressed RGB data to the keyboard via USB. However, this is not to say that this problem cannot be resolved, the board is fully capable of supporting the full 16.8 million colour RGB spectrum, it will just require a driver update, which at the time of writing is being worked on by Corsair and should be available soon.
Also worth noting, though it is a minor flaw is that it's possible to get the backlighting to freeze by pressing Scroll Lock, Caps Lock or Num Lock in rapid succession, this prevents the RGB LEDs from changing colour or brightness until the board is unplugged and plugged back in.
Other Software Features
On top of controlling the RGB backlighting, the Corsair Utility Engine software also allows the user to assign various features to specific keys, including:
- Macro
- Text block
- Keystroke
- Shortcut
- DPI
- Timer followed by action
- Mouse movement
- Media control
BIOS/ polling switch
Included on the board is a BIOS/ polling switch. This switch has five positions and allows you to set the board to BIOS mode, which is a mode designed to work well with older computers, specifically in the BIOS by disabling features such as N-key rollover.
The other 4 modes are labelled 1, 2, 4 and 8, with each of these modes changing the polling interval of the keyboard to 1, 2, 4 or 8ms respectively.
Media Controls
As you would expect from a premium gaming keyboard, the board includes media keys, specifically:
- Mute button
- Volume wheel
- Stop button
- Previous button
- Play/ Pause button
- Next button
These are definitely a nice inclusion, as much as I love the minimal TKL format, I miss media keys and their convenience, using software to simulate them just isn't as convenient.
The quality of these media keys and the roller is good, they don't feel cheap and the volume wheel doesn't move from side-to-side like I have experienced on some cheaper keyboards.
Cable
The K70 RGB includes a thick, hard-wired, braided dual USB cable. Despite being thick, the cable is not hard to bend and should not cause you any problems. The board requires two USB ports due to the extra power requirements for the RGB backlighting.
Wrist rest
The wrist rest feels very well-made. The finish on the top is smooth and feels slightly rubberised, however it doesn't come with either of the downsides of a cheap rubberised coating by being prone to marking or feeling excessively grippy. It attaches to the board using two clips, which feel sturdy and unlikely to break easily. This wrist rest is a definite step up from some other packaged ones that I have tried, that often feel like they are made out of part of a plastic trash bin and attach to the board with cheap, brittle plastic clips.
Windows lock key
As you would hope, the K70 RGB includes a windows lock key. For those unfamiliar, this can be used for games when you want to prevent accidental presses of the Windows key, which would bring up the start menu and interrupt the game. Also worth noting is that in the Corsair Utility Engine software you can set the key to also disable Alt + Tab (which would change to the next window) and/ or Alt + F4 (which would close the current window you are viewing). I've never really considered how useful this could be before, it's nice to see Corsair adding stuff like this.
Summary
In summary, the K70 RGB is definitely a feature-packed board, I don't feel like it's lacking anything that would make me look at other options.
And before you think 'what about macro keys?', the K70 RGB deliberately doesn't have macro keys. Not everyone wants them, and it doesn't make sense to include them at the cost of making the board take up more desk space if people aren't going to use them, so Corsair have the K95 RGB for those that want macro keys.
Cost and Coverage
Cost: ~$170 at the time of writing.
Coverage: 2 year warranty
Final Thoughts
In summary, despite initially thinking I'd prefer my minimal TKL boards, I like this board a lot, it offers a lot of features that while may not be strictly necessary, are nice to have. Some people see RGB backlighting as a gimmick, and I can understand where they are coming from, I can't imagine having the board pulsing colours every second I'm on the computer, but it's nice to have the option to quickly and easily change the backlighting to keep the board interesting.
Whilst this board certainly won't be for everyone, I think it takes a sensible approach of offering many gaming features in a less gamer-y looking package, the board doesn't look excessively flashy unless you want it to, and I think this makes it highly desirable.
Now, would I buy this board with my own money? I'm used to the TKL format of keyboard, so I'm not sure I would move back to a full size keyboard, however if the K65 RGB (TKL format) is as good as the K70 RGB, then I would definitely consider that. That's not to say this is any fault of the K70 RGB, just my personal preference for a board that takes up less desk space.
Pros:
- RGB backlighting.
- Less gamer-y aesthetics.
- Media keys.
- One of the few Cherry MX RGB keyboards available at the time of writing.
- Premium feel to the board in general.
- Powerful software.
Cons:
- Non-standard bottom row layout.
- Keycaps could be better.
- Some aspects of the internal design aren't ideal.
- Thin metal logo.
- Issues with software.
- Low-profile case design might not be ideal for some people.
If you feel there's anything I've missed out or if there's anything else you'd like to know about the keyboard, let me know!
