Review

Corsair K68 RGB Mechanical Gaming Keyboard Review

Corsair is one of the biggest known brands when it comes to PC peripherals. Providing the latest of the technologies and features to games and PC enthusiast. One such peripheral is the mechanical keyboard, as more and more gamers and PC enthusiast are turning toward the mechanical click and feel of this type of keyboard. But good mechanical keyboards are darn expensive, so Corsair came with a new budget friendly RGB Mechanical Gaming Keyboard with Cherry MX Red switches, the CORSAIR K68 RGB Mechanical Gaming Keyboard. An ultra-durable mechanical keyboard with per-key RGB backlighting, up to IP32 water and dust resistance and 100% CHERRY MX key switches .

Now let's see what CORSAIR K68 RGB Mechanical Gaming Keyboard has for us.

Features

• Brilliant Per-Key RGB Backlighting: Virtually unlimited lighting customization, or use a variety of on-board pre-installed effects.
• Dust and Spill Resistant: Help protect from accidents, so your gameplay never has to stop with IP32 protection.
• 100% CHERRY MX Keyswitches: Gold-contact CHERRY MX mechanical gaming keyswitches deliver the ultimate competitive advantage.
• Fully Programmable with CUE: Intuitive and powerful CORSAIR Utility Engine (CUE) enables sophisticated macro programming and dynamic lighting effects.
• 100% Anti-Ghosting with Full Key Rollover: No matter how fast your in-game actions are, every keypress registers correctly.
• Dedicated Volume and Multimedia Controls: Adjust audio on-the-fly, without interrupting your game.
• Windows Key Lock Mode: Stay focused and prevent accidental Windows and Context Menu key presses.
• Palm Rest Included: Removable palm rest for complete comfort.

Brilliant Per-Key RGB Backlighting - Dynamic and vibrant lighting effects with virtually unlimited customization.
K68 RGB offers very robust lighting capabilities, with per-key multi-color dynamic vibrant back-lighting. The keycaps were also designed to provide a much brighter and dynamic lighting experience. The modern font allows for more light to shine through, making for an even more powerful lighting show and experience. Enjoy virtually unlimited customization with CUE - craft your own lighting profile, or choose from multiple unique presets. Configure different shades of color combined with solid, wave, gradient, and ripple animations across different multiple groups of keys. Or use variety of on-board pre-installed effects for instant-illumination, incl. Spiral Rainbow, Visor, Key Ripple and many more.

Dust and Spill Resistant - Help protect from accidents, so your game never stops.
CORSAIR K68 was designed to resist damage to internal components from accidental water spills or debris. This is accomplished with a two-way approach. First, the custom-fit translucent rubber silicone sheet seals plate- mounted keyswitches to prevent the water or fine debris from entering the keyboard chassis. Secondly, the chassis itself features specially designed inner channels. They provide controlled escape routes, away from critical electrical components, for any small amounts of water that may have made it inside through other means. The drainage holes located at the bottom of the keyboard aids in expulsion of that water back outside.

100% CHERRY MX Keyswitches - Fast performance with the precision and durability of gold contact Cherry MX mechanical gaming switches.
CHERRY MX keyswitches feature CHERRY's unique Gold Crosspoint technology that NAI)( ensures high precision key contact for matchless reliability. It is the world's leading precision technology for mechanical keys. They're tested to resist over 50 million keystrokes with no loss of quality. That means, the 50 millionth key press will feel just like the first one. And they're resistant to dust and dirt too. That's German engineering for you -robust design coupled with durability and quality. The CORSAIR K68 RGB utilizes MX Red mechanical key switches, designed to meet the demands of performance gaming. A short 2.0mm actuation point, light 45g actuation force and linear response make this keyswitch perfectly suited for quick reaction times and accuracy.

100% Anti-Ghosting with Full Key Rollover - No matter how fast you go your keypresses will always register.
A true gaming keyboard goes beyond having the right key switches. The term "ghosted" refers to the keystrokes that are not detected and then drop off (for example, when someone presses D-C-U and only sees D-C, the U has been ghosted). While anti-ghosting is present in most gaming keyboards, it is often restricted to a certain number of keys or sections of keys. Popular sections of limited anti-ghosting may include the WASD part of the keyboard as it incorporates the keys that are the most common to use for first-person shooter games. To maximize performance with the Cherry MX Red keys, the K68 RGB keyboard features a 100% anti-ghosting matrix with full key rollover. This ensures that every keystroke will be recognized accurately by the computer, even when simultaneous combinations are inputted by the user. Full key rollover terminology simply refers to the number of simultaneous key presses that can be recognized by the keyboard. Since the K68 can recognize all of its keys being pressed simultaneously, we refer to this as "full key" since no specific value is a limitation.

Dedicated Volume and Multimedia Controls - The control you need to adjust your audio without interrupting your game.
Another premium attribute is the inclusion of a dedicated volume and multimedia control system. You don't just play games - you play music and video, too. Play, stop, pause, skip tracks and adjust volume directly from the CORSAIR K68 keyboard.

FULLY PROGRAMMABLE WITH CUE
Intuitive and powerful CORSAIR Utility Engine (CUE) enables sophisticated macro programming and dynamic lighting effects.

Palm Rest Included - Additional comfort to support your gameplay during marathon gaming sessions.
The ergonomic palm rest provides comfortable positioning for your hands and is finished with a lightly textured soft-rubber material. It comes standard with the keyboard and can be attached easily within seconds.

Specifications

Package

The keyboard comes in a black colored cardboard box with an image of the keyboard and the legendary CORSAIR logo with K68 RGB on the front right of the box . Back of box covers details about the product features along with specifications.

Inside the box

Along with the keyboard box also includes a quick start guide, Warranty notice and Palm rest.

Looks

The design of keyboard looks great with a full 104-key layout that has dedicated multi-media keys and separate buttons that control the lighting level and windows key lock..

Being focused on budget market, this keyboard don't have a full braided USB cable.

A closer look at the gold contact CHERRY MX RED mechanical key switches.

Testing

Bundled Software

The K68 RGB mechanical gaming keyboard is one of the many peripherals that uses powerful CORSAIR Utility Engine (CUE). The software will allow gamers to create actions such as double macros, re-mappable key assignments, timer countdowns, and more. CUE also allows gamers to create multiple color profiles as well as different modes that will enable separate lighting and action configurations based on the game or application Users will be able to export and import profiles/actions/lighting to share with one another on CORSAIR forums and elsewhere so they can share and collaborate on lighting schemes.
CUE will also allow to:

• Enable fluid and dynamic illumination with sophisticated lighting controls with supported CORSAIR devices
• Construct actions and complex macros for any programmable button on supported CORSAIR devices to allow nearly unlimited control
• Change the icons and background to match your desktop with our new custom user interface
• Unify all your CORSAIR gaming peripherals together in one application

Pros

• Cherry MX Red keys
• Solid feel
• RGB back-lighting
• CORSAIR Utility Engine
• Dust and Spill Resistant
• Palm Rest Included

Cons

• Additional four extra WASD rubber keycaps for gamers is missed
• No keycaps puller included

Conclusion

The CORSAIR K68 RGB Mechanical Gaming Keyboard is a feature packed keyboard for gamers offering dynamic RGB lighting effects and macros settings using the CORSAIR Utility Engine (CUE) software to match your style.

Best part of this keyboard is that, it is design to resist damage against accidental water spills or debris. The keyboard inner shell have specially designed inner channel acting as escape routes for liquid to channel away from critical electronic components. That's good because accident do happen, but CORSAIR should have also included a keycap puller to deal with the cleaning of keyboard after such an incident.

I personally also missed the additional extra WASD gaming keycaps which are included in the many Corsair gaming keyboard. In conclusion at a price of approx $120 the CORSAIR K68 RGB Mechanical Gaming Keyboard offers a pleasant experience with Cherry MX Red keys and RGB lighting control along with IP32 certification for water spill-resistance.

Manufacturers Info

Thanks.

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