INTRODUCTION

    NVIDIA finally unveiled their latest GeForce GTX 1080 and 1070 graphics cards based on innovative latest Pascal™ architecture (still can't believe that this monster uses just one power connector) so as it is typical after such launch events we expect many gamers, enthusiasts and professionals to gear up with one or more of these cards soon after their appearance in the market (especially since they will cost less) by NVIDIA partners. Upgrading your gaming rig however takes more than just a brand new graphics card so once again we are tasked with performing even more reviews of gaming peripherals and that goes double for mechanical gaming keyboards since you all seem to enjoy reading about them. Corsair recently released the K70 RGB Mechanical Keyboard with the brand new Cherry MX Speed switches but since we've been wanting to test the model with Cherry MX Red (50 million keystrokes and 45g actuation force) for quite some time now we decided to start with that.

   Founded in 1994, Corsair supplies high-performance products purchased primarily by PC gaming enthusiasts who build their own PCs or buy pre-assembled customized systems. The company's award-winning products include DDR3 and DDR4 memory upgrades, computer cases, PC cooling products, gaming headsets, gaming keyboards, gaming mice, power supply units, USB flash drives, solid-state drives and system monitoring and control devices.

   The K70 RGB has been around for roughly 2 years now (our sample is one of the latest Gen.3 ones) and is the successor to the even older and popular Vengeance K70 mechanical keyboard and although it shares many features with its predecessor including the same black aircraft-grade anodized-aluminum deck, dedicated media controls and a detachable full-length wrist rest as clearly stated by its name it also offers per-key adjustable full RGB illumination. You can also assign macro commands on any of the keys (no dedicated ones like the K90/K95 models) while in terms of specifications once again we have a 1000Hz polling rate (1000/500/250/125Hz), 100% anti-ghosting and 104-Key rollover. Unfortunately unlike the original Vengeance K70 however the K70 RGB doesn't feature a rear built-in USB pass-through (although it still takes up two USB ports due to the extra power needed for the onboard ARM CPU and memory). The K70 has already won countless awards around the globe so we know it has to be good but the time has finally come for us to see for ourselves.

SPECIFICATIONS AND FEATURES

PACKAGING AND CONTENTS

The K70 RGB arrived inside a colorful box that has its main features at the front along with a large product image and the company logo.

Both the specifications of the product and the contents of the bundle are listed at the base.

Showcased at the top of the box are the main product features.

A large product picture placed at the rear of the box is used to showcase the special keys and features of the K70 RGB.

Packaging is excellent and so the keyboard is wrapped inside a thick plastic bag and placed inside a formed piece of cardboard.

In terms of bundle i have to admit that Corsair could do much better since the only two things placed inside (aside the keyboard and its detachable wrist rest) are the user manual and two warranty information papers.

THE K70 RGB

Corsair has used an anodized aluminum deck with the K70 RGB so it doesn't get much better than this in terms of quality (perhaps if it was all made out of anodized aluminum). Size-wise the K70 RGB is an 104 key model that measures 438mm in length, 163mm in width and 24mm in thickness (without the wrist-rest).

Instead of just printing their name Corsair has used a small aluminum plate.

You can control the brightness levels of the keyboard and lock the Windows keys via these two round buttons.

The media control buttons are placed on the far upper right corner and include a mute audio button, volume control knob (made out of metal) and the usual stop/play/pause/previous/next buttons.

Cleaning the keys of the K70 RGB is extremely easy since they aren't placed inside the enclosure.

The BIOS switch is used to rotate between the available polling rates (1000/500/250/125Hz).

Here we see the Cherry MX Red RGB backlit switches.

Turning the keyboard over we see 4 relatively small rubber feet and 4 height adjusters.

These height adjusters can lift the keyboard roughly 9mm from the desk.

With the wrist rest attached the K70 RGB measures almost 210mm in width.

The wrist rest features a nice soft rubber coating at the top.

The almost 2 meter long braided cable has two regular USB plugs at the end.

This is the default RGB mode used the moment you plug the keyboard with your computer.

CORSAIR UTILITY ENGINE

Since Corsair doesn't bundle a software CD with the K70 RGB you should visit their support page to download the latest version of their Utility Engine software.

The first thing this software will do once installed is to check and see if your keyboard has the latest firmware version installed and if not it will ask to update it.

From within the software you can assign actions to each of the 104 keys (macros, text, keystroke and others), adjust the color and effect (9 available ones) for the keys, set the keyboard lock button functionality, create your very own lighting effects, record macros and enable the OSD (on screen display) feature for when changing profiles and using one of the selected media players.

Here we've placed several of the available RGB effects one can use with the Corsair Utility Engine (you can always download more custom ones from the Corsair Gaming website).

AUDIBLE FEEDBACK

Many people ask my opinion on what keyboard they should get for their needs. Some want a “silent” model for use in their living room or even in their bedroom while others ask for a model with good audible feedback for use in the office or for gaming. Because of this I decided to test keyboards by placing our ExTech HD600 vertically over each keyboard (5cm distance) and typing NikKTech a total of 6 times with each (after that the max recorded number - max hold - is placed in the graph). I have to admit that this may not be 100% accurate but it does give a good idea on what you can expect from each model since aside the type of switches used keycaps and keyboard material also matter.

CONCLUSION

   The K70 RGM mechanical keyboard may indeed already count roughly 2 years in the market but thanks to the fact that things have been somewhat slow in this particular industry Corsair has nothing really to be afraid from their competition (still they have performed slight updates for a total of 3 times). Also although now there are many mechanical gaming keyboards in the market that feature anodized aluminum plates and enclosures two years ago when the K70 RGB was released (and even longer since the original K70) it was among just a handful of keyboards that did and I think that says a lot about Corsair. In terms of RGB illumination the K70 RGB is not the first mechanical keyboard to make it here with that feature but it does offer far more control over that aspect (that is if you care to create your own effects, change color for each of the keys and use custom effects published in the Corsair forums) than most others in the market. Same thing goes for the Cherry MX Red switches which as usual offer good audible feedback and are easy to press (linear) so they are ideal for fast passed games and typing (although for long periods of typing nothing beats the Cherry MX Blues). Unfortunately we have no idea in regards to the why Corsair chose to skip on the rear USB pass-through port featured in the original K70 but I’m sure they had their reasons for doing so.

   I’ve always believed that in most cases you get what you pay for and so the current price tag of USD164.49 inside the USA (Amazon.com) and 205Euros inside the EU (Amazon.co.uk) Corsair asks for their K70 RGB (Gen.3) mechanical keyboard was expected. True it’s higher than what many of you will consider “tempting” but the problem lays elsewhere and more specifically in the price difference between the K70 RGB and the K95 which is currently roughly 5-6%. Luckily the main difference between these two models are the extra macro keys so the K70 could be a better choice both for people who have no use for dedicated macro keys and for people who just don’t have much space on their desks. Overall the Corsair K70 RGB Mechanical Keyboard is just as good as we thought it would be and since it also won a place in our lab it gets our Platinum Award.

PROS

- Excellent Build Quality
- Cherry MX Red Mechanical Switches (50 Million Actuations)
- Full RGB Key Illumination (Custom Effects/Individual Key Color)
- Built-In Memory
- Detachable Wrist Rest
- Braided Cable
- Up To 104 Macro Keys
- Corsair Utility Engine Control Software (Available Settings)
- BIOS / Polling Switch (OS Compatibility)
- Dedicated Media Controls
- 4 Height Adjusters

CONS

- No Dedicated Macro Keys
- Price (For Some)
- No USB Pass-Through