CHERRY MX BOARD 5.0 Mechanical Keyboard Review

By Olin Coles

Manufacturer: Cherry GmbH
Product Name: MX Board 5.0 Corded Keyboard RED SWITCH Linear (45 cN)
Model Number: G80-3920HYAEU-2
EAN: 4025112088056
MSRP: 159 EUR / $190 USD

Full Disclosure: The product sample used in this article has been provided by Bacheff Communications.

Choosing the right peripheral components is critical to demanding PC users. The mouse and keyboard work like natural extensions of the body, and so their selection becomes a personal choice. Keyboards are used for both everyday workload as well as entertainment, so picking the right one is very important. In this article, Benchmark Reviews tests the Cherry MX Board 5.0 corded mechanical keyboard with German-made Gold Crosspoint contact technology precision Cherry MX Red linear switches, double-shot keys, and customizable white LED backlighting.

Cherry Electrical Products was originally founded by Mr. Walter Cherry in 1953, in Highland Park, Illinois, and in 1963 opened Cherry Mikroschalter GmbH in West Germany, and soon began manufacturing computer keyboards in 1967. After Mr. Cherry’s passing, his son Peter took control of the company, and in 1979 moved the company’s headquarters to Auerbach in der Oberpfalz, Bavaria, Germany. Cherry was then purchased by ZF Friedrichshafen AG in 2008, and later incorporated as ZF Electronics GmbH. The Cherry brand name continues to be used today.

Cherry MX-series switches are considered standard equipment for serious PC gamers and hardware enthusiasts. Most mechanical keyboard varieties utilize either Red, Brown, or Blue switches, each designed with its own unique feature set. Cherry MX Red switches, like those featured on the MX Board 5.0, use a linear design that foregoes tactile feedback and audible click sound, while delivering a lightweight 45 cN resistance. Brown switches offer 55 cN response while Black raises the switch pressure to 60 cN, and both add tactile feedback without clicking. Blue switches offer a slightly more resistant 50 cN response with tactile feedback and audible click.

Features and Specifications listed below ere gathered from Cherry MX Board 5.0 product webpage.

MX BOARD 5.0 Features

• Mechanical corded keyboard with ergonomic solution and extra large, individually adjustable palm rest
• Aluminum frame with extremely sturdy and non-slip feet due to duplicate design and rubber elements
• CHERRY MX technology – Gold Crosspoint contact technology for all key switches “Made in Germany”
• Win-Key lock: Windows buttons can be disabled to prevent inadvertent operation
• Full N-Key Rollover: Simultaneous operation of all keys without any key ghosting effects
• Dimmable, white key backlighting with several light effects
• Abrasion-resistant double shot PBT keycaps (for US-international layout only)
• Compatible with the CHERRY Performance Key Kit

G80-3920HYAEU-2 Specifications

• Housing color: silver/black
• Key color: black
• Weight (product): approx. 1060 g (keyboard) 420 g (wrist rest)
• Cable Length: approx. 1.80 m / 70.8 inches
• USB Current Consumption: max. 500 mA
• Warranty: 2 years
• Dimensions (product): approx. 464 x 145,5 x 36 mm (keyboard) approx. 480,5 x 86,5 x 36 mm (wrist rest)
• Reliability: MTBF > 80,000 hours MCBF > 1-Billion operations
• Service life, standard key: > 50 million key operations

CHERRY MX BOARD 5.0 Overview

The Cherry MX Board 5.0 is a corded mechanical keyboard soon to be available with a 159 EUR / $190 USD MSRP. Benchmark Reviews has received model G80-3920HYAEU-2 with MX RED linear 45 cN switches for testing. Cherry’s MX Board 5.0 is also available with MX BLUE (click pressure point / 60cN) switches, MX BLACK (linear 60 cN) switches, MX-Silent RED switches, and MX BROWN (pressure point / 55cN) switches.

The Cherry MX Board 5.0 we received for testing came with MX RED mechanical key switches, featuring a 45 cN linear pressure. There is also a MX-SILENT RED version (Model: G80-3920HWBEU-2 EAN: 4025112088025), which features silent mechanical key switches and shares the same 45 cN linear pressure.

All Cherry MX Board 5.0 corded keyboards come with a detachable hand rest (wrist rest), with a rubberized open-cell foam rubber surface embedded along the top. Also common on all models is the variable white LED backlighting, which illuminates from beneath the double-shot PBT key caps at user-customized intensity levels.One stand-out feature on all MX Board 5.0 keyboards is the large red fold-out feet made of soft siliconized-rubber. While the keyboard has these feet in the upper corners, the rest has two sets, for customizing a standard or raised position, or tilt the rest and front end of the board forward or backward. Incredibly ergonomic wrist and hand positioning can be achieved by raising both pairs of feet on the rest and collapsing the keyboard’s back feet.

Although corded, Cherry’s MX Board 5.0 mechanical keyboard offers three cable routes to orientate the cord out the left, front, or right sides of the frame. The USB 2.0 connection is rated to draw up to 500 mA maximum power, as the LED backlighting consumes very low power and there are no USB extension ports on this keyboard.

Cherry offers three modes of LED backlighting on the MX Board 5.0 mechanical keyboard: constant, pulse, or breath. In constant mode, you can adjust the white LEDs from 0-100% brightness in 10% steps. In pulse and breath modes, you can also adjust the speed of these lighting effects.

MX Board 5.0 is a mechanical keyboard designed for multipurpose use. While Cherry offers several models with gamers in mind, the MX Board 5.0 is primarily a high-end peripheral for power users who spend considerable time drafting documents and working behind the keyboard. Function keys control audio levels and multimedia playback, while the Cherry logo key (above number pad) to switch between Office and Gaming mode (detailed later).

In the next section, I share my testing results with the Cherry MX Board 5.0 corded mechanical keyboard…

Keyboard Testing & Results

Keyboards require individual interaction, and testing them is very much a hands-on ordeal. After that, however, everything else about them becomes subjective. I have used various membrane and switch-style keyboards for everyday activity for nearly twenty years. It wasn’t until the past five years that I began using mechanical switch-style keyboards for everyday productivity and PC gaming purposes. In this section, I test the Cherry MX Board 5.0 with MX Red switches for everyday typing (this article) and occasional gaming.

This is an account of my personal experience with the Cherry MX Board 5.0, a corded mechanical keyboard with German-designed Cherry MX Red switches guaranteed for 50-million key strokes. Personally, I prefer to use Cherry MX Red switches, which operate quietly with light linear 45 cN resistance. Cherry MX Brown switches also operate quietly and offer mild resistance (55cN), but feature mild feedback delivered mid-stroke. Cherry MX Black switches operate quietly with modest linear 60cN resistance, while MX Blue switches include an audible click similar to a ballpoint pen and mild tactile feedback felt mid-stroke at 60cN.

Since I tend to work at the computer for many hours, the added resistance of Cherry MX Black and MX Blue switches tends to fatigue my hands faster than Cherry MX Red or MX Brown switches. Although Cherry MX Red, MX Brown, and MX Black switches offer quiet actuation, most key caps deliver a tapping sound when they reach the bottom of travel and make contact with the keyboard frame. Cherry’s MX Board 5.0 is available with MX-Silent Red switches, which as the name suggests are noise dampened, and brings operational noise levels closer to the near-silence achieved by rubber membrane keyboards.

Test Results

For the past year I have been using the Azio Armato, which features Cherry MX Brown key switches. Although the measured difference in resistance between those MX Brown switches and the MX Red switches on this MX Board 5.0 is a mere 10cN, the difference felt was immediate and noticeable. The lightweight double-shot key caps also contributed to the perceived differences, and enabled rapid keying with effortless depression.

If you’ve ever enjoyed the silence of membrane keyboards, you might find the light clacking sound of mechanical keyboards a bit disruptive. MX Blue switch keyboards annoy me with their constant clicking and clacking, and far more quiet are MX Red key switches, which are a delight to use, yet produce more noise than rubber membrane keyboards. Clacking noise aside, the key double-shot caps feel crisp and the traditional layout very familiar.

Typing (or keyboarding, if you’re a purist who was thinking of commenting below just to correct me) with the Cherry MX Board 5.0 was very easy on the hands, and didn’t fatigue my fingers the way that some rubber membrane and Cherry MX Black or MX Blue key switches often do after a few hours. Gaming offered a similar benefit, as I use WASD movement and maintain constant pressure on at least one of those keys while playing PUBG or CS:GO.

While most gamers would go the route of a gaming keyboard that doubles as their everyday typing peripheral, I’ve found the excess macro and function keys to be distracting, and the ergonomics lacking. This led me towards the Cherry MX Board 5.0, which serves as my all-in-one answer for productivity and entertainment. To be fair, it does offer both Office and Gaming modes, detailed below:

Office mode:

Office mode is suitable for entering text and numbers. It stops entries being duplicated from keys that are accidentally held down too long. All Windows commands are available.

Gaming mode:

In Gaming mode, the Win-Key lock is activated. This stops you selecting Windows commands by mistake. When the Win-Key lock is activated, the signals from the following keys are not sent to the PC:

• Windows key
• ALT + F4
• ALT + TAB
• CTRL + ESC
• CTRL + ALT + DEL

In the final section, I offer my thoughts on mechanical keyboards, and rate the Cherry MX Board 5.0.

Mechanical Keyboard Final Thoughts

Once upon a time, I couldn’t be convinced that mechanical keyboards were superior to membrane counterparts. If you’ve ever used a quality membrane keyboard, you’d agree that they feel similar to MX Brown switches, but without the clacking key caps. MX-Silent Red switches alleviate that clacking, but you pay for it with a premium price tag. While less expensive, you won’t often find a membrane keyboard with double-shot key caps, nor will they offer anywhere near the longevity of mechanical key switches. As a personal anecdote, I would purchase Dell membrane keyboards by the case (25 per), costing me only $5 each, and discarded as soon as they felt dirty.

Mechanical keyboards are more expensive, but typically offer quality and features often not available with membrane keyboards. There are outliers, and some companies produce high-quality membrane gaming keyboards, but no matter how close they come they’ll always use rubber domes that lack the consistent tactile resistance and audible feedback that mechanical keys can offer. There’s no clear winner between these two styles, and so it comes down to comparing individual keyboard models when searching for the best features and fit.

CHERRY MX BOARD 5.0 Conclusion

Our first rating is performance, which compares how well the Cherry MX Board 5.0 corded mechanical keyboard compares to other products in this segment. Cherry MX Red key switches are as good as this reviewer has experienced in a keyboard, but MX Board 5.0 does offer Cherry’s MX-Silent Red switches, while all other models are still prone to light clacking when the key caps bottom out. Tactile feedback is quite nice, and the double shot key caps feel light, yet solid to the touch. Input recognition was flawless (and instant), with no lost key depressions.

In terms of product appearance, it seems that Cherry has delivered the ideal balance of function and fashion with the MX Board 5.0. While not a mechanical gaming keyboard, some might consider the general-purpose layout too simple. Cherry, to their credit, used a combination of colors to maintain attractive details with a subdued finish.

When it comes to construction, especially with regard to a keyboard, it would be difficult to find a better example than a Cherry product. The MX Board 5.0 features a solid aluminum frame, so the keyboard has a strong foundation for it’s top-tier key switches. The MX Red mechanical switches I received for testing operating with precision, guaranteed for more than 50 million key operations, and the wrist rest mated perfectly to the frame. This is a very well designed product, offered with a two-year warranty.

Functionality should be an objective rating, as MX Board 5.0 is designed as a general purpose mechanical keyboard, but it would be unrealistic to expect that it may not be used for gaming. After all, there is a ‘Gaming Mode’ that locks certain Windows command key combinations. In this regard I can report that the MX Board 5.0 functions flawlessly as the former, an ergonomic high-performance input device, and less than desired as a gaming keyboard. Cherry MX mechanical key switches are also used in literally hundreds of keyboards designed specifically for gamers, if this is what you require. For the scope of this review, the MX Board 5.0 functioned without complaint.

Cherry is launching the MX Board 5.0 in Europe first, followed soon after by North America. Although this corded mechanical keyboard is not yet for sale online, the MSRP is expected to be 159 EUR / $190 USD. While the premium price tag may leave some with sticker shock, by and large that price accounts for the durability and expected longevity for what could be the last keyboard you’ll ever need to buy.

In summary, I found the MX Board 5.0 to offer the perfect blend of ergonomic comfort and high-performance input. Although MX Board 5.0 worked well for my basic WASD-style gaming needs, if macros and special keys are desired I suggest the Cherry MX Board 9.0 mechanical gaming keyboard, available with MX Red, Brown, and Blue key switches. Like the hands they become and extension of, Cherry’s MX Board 5.0 fills the need for a well designed product that will last a lifetime. I highly recommend the MX Red/MX-Silent Red models of this mechanical keyboard.

Pros:

+ Cherry MX Red key switches
+ 50-Million key operations switch lifetime
+ Ergonomic adjustable wrist rest design
+ Incredibly smooth key depression
+ Abrasion-resistant double shot PBT keycaps
+ 2-Year product warranty

Cons:

– Light clacking sound from keys
– Expensive premium product
– Lacks programmable function keys

Ratings:

• Performance: 9.75
• Appearance: 8.50
• Construction: 9.50
• Functionality: 8.75
• Value: 7.25

Final Score: 8.75 out of 10.

Quality Recognition: Benchmark Reviews Silver Tachometer Award.