Cooler Master Quickfire Rapid-i Mechanical Keyboard Review

By David Ramsey

Manufacturer: Cooler Master Corporation
Product Name: Quickfire Rapid-i Mechanical Gaming Keyboard
Model: SGK-4040-GKCL1
UPC: 884102024887 EAN: 4719512045886
Price As Tested: $99.99 (Newegg / Amazon)

Full Disclosure: Cooler Master Corporation provided the product sample used in this article.

Benchmark Reviews has looked at a number of gaming keyboards of late, and most are stuffed with features: extra keys, elaborate macro definition software, dual-core CPUs and megabytes of RAM to hold all the key definitions and macros. And there’s also the elaborate RGB lighting that has become de rigueur in this market segment. So it’s almost a relief to see that the Cooler Master Quickfire Rapid-i is a compact, minimalist TKL (ten-keyless) version of their Quickfire Rapid series of gaming keyboards. Benchmark Reviews will check out this new minimalist entry to see if less really is more.

Like many other enthusiast keyboards these days, the design of the Cooler Master Quickfire Rapid-i is very plain: it’s small, black, has very thin bezels, and except at the rear, no badging.

Features

• Cherry MX mechanical switches (Blue, Brown, or Red)
• Soft-touch paint
• Adjustable command rate
• Full LED backlighting with 5 modes and 5 intensity levels
• ActivLight mode lights keys when pressed

Let’s take a look at this keyboard in the next section.