Mechancial Keyboard and Mouse

Hello,

I just build a gaming desktop and looking to purchase a Mechanical Keyboard and Gaming Mouse. My set up is i7 7700k, EVGA GTX 1070, 16gig DDR4 rams, 516gig SSD with the NZXT s340 window case in White.

I was hoping to go with a white keyboard and Mouse but there's very limited options. I prefer Cherry MX Brown Switches for typing and gaming. There's only one option I could find for a white RGB mechanical keyboard and it's the RK PRO104 keyboard from amazon.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01GYMEHGA/

For the mouse I found 2 good options are the Logitec MX Master Stone color and the Corsair M65 Pro.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01EPZI85Y/

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01LXV001A/

If anyone has suggestions I would greatly appreciate it.

Thanks

 

That keyboard doesn't have per-key RGB backlighting in the same way that the Corsair Strafe or Razer BlackWidow does. It also doesn't use genuine Cherry MX switches, if that's important.

I use the Corsair M65 myself and while the width takes some getting used to if you don't have large hands, it works pretty well. No issues with tracking and such. The Corsair Utility Engine software is a bit clunky but functional.

 

I personally would stay from anything that is based on the Khail Switches. Tried multiple keyboard with those and the other non cherry switches, didnt like the feel even one bit.

My preference - Cherry Blue/Razer Green (new ones) ( I prefer the New Razer Greens because of the slightly less actuation force) > Cherry Brown > Razer Orange > Cherry Silent.

 

First, the keyboard you linked is from a brand called Royal Kludge. It is a very highly respected niche brand among mechanical keyboard nerds... and much more highly respected than your "mass market" mechanical keyboard brands like Corsair, Logitech, Steelseries, Razer, Coolermaster, etc. The "mass market" brands are typically seen as "good enough" as entry-level products. But if you want higher quality, you go into niche brands like Royal Kludge, Ducky, Filco, Varmilo, Vortex.

However, I'd advise against that particular model (Royal Kludge RK Pro). The RGB lighting seems poorly-implemented, allowing only for 7 colors (instead of the usual 256-colors or higher). I'd advise you actually check out a site like mechanicalkeyboards.com or wasdkeyboards.com, which specialize in higher-end mechanical keyboards, and will will give you much better selection. than what you can easily find through a Google search.

If you find a keyboard with a keyboard base that you like, then you can always switch out and buy a separate set of white keycaps. For the keycaps, just do a search for "White doubleshot cherry keycaps." You'll find links to very reputable sites selling mechanical keyboards & accessories, like mechanicalkeyboard.com and wasdkeyboards.com. I won't go into a lot of detail, but the short explanation of the word "doubleshot" has to do with the keycap construction and quality. A doubleshot keycap is going to be much higher-quality and longer-lasting than the alternative cheaper "ABS" keycap.

And if you are looking for a keyboard for gaming, I'd suggest you check out TKL (tenkeyless) keyboards. They 84-key keyboards that have the NumPad chopped off, so that your two keyboard + mouse arms are in a much more natural shoulder-width posture, instead of the wider-than-shoulder-width-apart posture that you get with a traditional 104-key keyboard. After all, if you aren't using your keyboard for heavy number entry (e.g. Excel spreadsheets), when was the last time you actually used your NumPad?

As for keyswitch (Cherry vs Kailh)... I wouldn't worry too much about keyswitch brand right now. You honestly won't notice a difference, unless you are intentionally doing A/B testing, or unless you have personally experienced and heavily used dozens of mechanical keyboards before. For everyone else, the difference is so subtle that you won't notice the difference. And even if you ARE one of those people that notice a difference, it's really a matter of preference. One isn't strictly "better" than another.

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As for the mouse... the sensor in the mouse is going to be much more important than the color. Pick a mouse that does a good job at being a mouse, before you pick a mouse based on color. You listed two very different mice... the Corsair M65 Pro is a gaming-grade mouse with an optical sensor; whereas the Logitech MX Master is a high-end office productivity mouse. If you want a gaming mouse, you'll want to find a mouse that uses a PixArt brand (or Avago brand, as it was previously known) optical sensor. Those are generally the best mouse sensors you can find. Stay away from laser sensors. Laser sensors are far inferior to optical mouse sensors.

Currently, the PIxArt 33xx-series sensor is considered to be the "best" sensor you can find, like the Pixart 3310 or Pixart 3360. From a quick search, it looks like the Nixeus Revel is currently the only white mouse using a PIxart 3360 sensor. So if I were in your shoes, and absolutely must have a white mouse, then it would be a no-brainer for me to buy that mouse. Nixeus is a very highly regarded high-end niche mouse brand known among hardcore mouse nerds; so you can't go wrong there. But to be honest, if you just want the best-of-the-best mouse you can possibly buy right now, get a Logitech G502 or a Logtech G902. Again, buying a good mouse that does a good job at being a mouse is far more important than buying a sh*tty mouse just because it's white.

 

I pay my own bills, so every time I need to pay something and enter account numbers and reference numbers and and and...
In gaming, I think Descent games were the last ones I used keypad and joystick combo.

 

By those same nerds/snobs. "Quality" is subjective, and save for Steelseries, I've used keyboards from every one of the manufacturers you listed. I wouldn't rank any of them head and shoulders above the rest. I can certainly understand the argument for putting Razer at the bottom, but I've had great luck with their recent products - I used a BW Chroma Stealth Tournament as my daily driver for over a year until I moved to a space where I could use a full-size keyboard. The hardware and software couldn't have performed better. I much prefer Synapse to Corsair's solution, but I have zero complaints about the build and feel of my MX Silent Strafe RGB.

WASD Keyboards consists of their own in-house products. They all use the same basic design. You can customize the keycaps, but their quality is pretty trash. Fortunately, you can buy a board without caps and add your own set. Mechanicalkeyboards.com also has its own boards - their faux-RGB Fission is pretty cool and a solid competitor to the Corsair Strafe. They also sell a huge variety of boards from other companies. I would agree with checking them out.

I'd disagree on Cherry vs Kailh because the latter can suffer from inconsistent feel if you're using one of their tactile switches. Gateron makes the best Cherry clones. I'd go so far as to say that most of them have better feel than the originals.

 

Yeah, I'm in a similar situation, where I occasionally need to enter numbers. But even a TKL keyboard still has the numbers row on it! Personally, I'd gladly give up the NumPad because I only enter numbers maybe once per week. Meanwhile, I pretty much game every day of the month!

Yup, I mostly agree. It's the same "snobbery" that you find when people ask for gaming headphone / headset recommendations on these forums... and then you find the headphone audiophiles coming out of the woodwork, talking about things they read about in head-fi.org forums (neutral, balanced sound; soundstage; imaging; spatial separation, etc).

But the way I look at it is this... as more experienced forum members, it's our job to chime in and make people aware that there are other options out there besides whatever they can find in their local electronics store (e.g. Best Buy). Otherwise, they will think that the only mechanical keyboards are made by Razer and Corsair. Or that the only speakers & headphones are made by Bose. Or that the only gaming laptops are made by Alienware and Asus.

Now, in the end, it may end up that one of those brands is the best choice for them. But I say, give them the options; give them info about the general consensus of those brands; and then let them make their own choice.

I was surprised to find out that the MechanicalKeyboards MK Disco TKL is actually using a Ducky circuit board... pretty much the same as the Ducky Shine 5, except in a TKL version.

I don't know about any of the other MechanicalKEyboard models; only the MK Disco TKL (because at the time, it was the only tenkeyless RGB board available). But if that trend continues with some of their other models, then their stuff has some pretty good internals under the hood!

 

I don't disagree. However, it's not like the keyboards made by Corsair, Razer, or Logitech are bad - far from it. I love my Strafe RGB and I say that as someone who has used more than his fair share of keyboards - check out my Youtube channel and even then it doesn't cover every single one I've used over the last couple years. The "mainstream" gaming brands can be a good starting point for buyers, and because they're available at places like Best Buy, you can easily return them. The more specialty products can be harder to track down, and may be difficult, if not impossible, to return, meaning you'd have to sell it at a loss.

One thing I would recommend to anyone before they start investing money in actual keyboards is to buy a Cherry MX switch tester to find out which type of switch you like.

 

Thank you for all the info guys. I ended up getting the Corsair M65 Pro and the K70 RGB Rapidfire Speed Switches. They're both black but I guess and Black & White setup isn't bad.