By Meng Vang
Manufacturer: Corsair Components, Inc.
Product Name: K65 RGB RAPIDFIRE Compact Mechanical Gaming Keyboard
Model Number: CH-9110014-NA
UPC: 843591082181
Price As Tested: $139.99 (Amazon | Best Buy)Full Disclosure: The product sample used in this article has been provided by Corsair.
Corsair and Cherry have been working together to make some of the finest mechanical switches for gaming. With the K65 RGB RAPIDFIRE compact mechanical gaming keyboard, it comes with Cherry MX Speed switches. These switches have a silver colored stem and the actuation point is 1.2mm instead of 2mm on a standard Cherry MX Red switch. According to Corsair, this makes the switch 40% faster than a standard red switch. The Cherry MX Speed switch is similar to the standard Cherry MX Red switch, but the only difference is the shorter travel distance to the actuation point. At Benchmark Reviews, we will take a look at the compact Corsair K65 RGB RAPIDFIRE mechanical keyboard. Let’s take a quick look at the features and specifications.
- Ultrafast mechanical gaming switch. Ultrafast 1.2mm actuation and light 45g switch force for truly unrivaled response time
- Fully programmable – assign macros to any key
- Sturdy, rigid, brushed aluminum platform
- 100% anti-ghosting with full key rollover on USB
- Detachable soft-touch wrist rest
- 10 keyless design for additinal space and mouse movement
- USB pass-through and BIOS mode + polling rate selection
- FPS and MOBA lighting modes
- 100% Cherry MX mechanical key switches
- 32-bit ARM Processor
- Up to 1000 Hz USB report raten
- Selectable 8ms, 4ms, 2ms, 1ms and BIOS mode
- Product demensions: 356mm x 166mm x 37mm
- Product weight: 1025g (without wristpad)
In terms of performance, the K65 RGB RAPIDFIRE does great in this category. Gaming grade Cherry MX Speed switches will register at 1.2mm, making it 40% faster than a standard Cherry MX Red switch. In games where every millisecond counts, the Cherry MX Speed switches will register first compared to other Cherry mechanical switches, which can possibly lead you to victory. A Windows lock button is available and the lighting effects transition smoothly across the keyboard.
The keyboard looks great with its large bold letters on the key caps and the durable brushed aluminum frame. Color accuracy is spot on, but I really wished the LED’s were more vivid. When the LED’s are set to white, we can see some red, green, and blue reflecting off other keys. This seems to be a common problem with the Cherry switches used on Corsair keyboards as this is present on the older K65 RGB, the Strafe RGB, and the K70 RGB. But on the brighter side of things, all of the lighting effects look great and there is flexibility in the CUE software to create custom lighting effects.
The forged aluminum frame not only makes the K65 RGB RAPIDFIRE keyboard look great, but it also provides long lasting durability to the body of the keyboard as well. The aluminum frame is lightweight but can be hard to clean especially since it has a brushed texture. The Cherry MX Speed switches are rated at 50 million keystrokes, giving the keyboard an incredibly long lifespan.
When it comes to functionality, the K65 RGB RAPIDFIRE does well in this category. Polling rate can be adjusted through the keyboard and a USB 2.0 pass-through port is available for a wired mouse, flash drive, or a USB sound device. It would have been nice to see a USB 3.0 pass-through port instead, but perhaps Corsair was expecting us to use this port for a wired mouse. In this case, USB 2.0 is good enough. The CUE software is great to use and I like how flexible the software is to the enthusiasts. One thing I did not like about the software was it must run in the background for the lighting effects to work. If you are using an older computer with a low-end CPU or are stress testing your computer and it ends up crashing because of a bad overclock, you will experience the animations slowing down, lagging, and sometimes not working at all since the animations are done through the software, which runs on the CPU. And if you like to run the lighting effects and animations at all times, you must start the application with Windows. To most people, it may take 10 to 30 seconds for the CUE software to start; no big deal, just grab a beer to past the time. But for someone who needs their computer up and running the moment it gets into Windows, well you may want to stick with a static color theme.
As of June 2016, the Corsair K65 RGB RAPIDFIRE mechanical gaming keyboard sells for $139.99 (Amazon | Best Buy). Although it may not be the most affordable keyboard, do consider the excellent build quality, great RGB lighting effects, Cherry MX Speed switches, and the Corsair Utility Engine software for taking full advantage of all of your Corsair devices. If you are interested in the non-TKL version of this keyboard, Benchmark Reviews has a review of the Corsair K70 RGB RAPIDFIRE mechanical keyboard priced at $169.99. For those looking for a compact mechanical gaming keyboard with enough bells and whistles from the higher-end models, the K65 RGB RAPIDFIRE is definitely a keyboard to consider.
+ Great RGB color accuracy
+ Simple yet elegant space saving design
+ Cherry MX Speed switches with clear switch housing
+ Optional FPS (WASD) and MOBA (QWERDF) key caps
+ USB 2.0 pass-through port for other devices and peripherals
+ CUE software is extremely flexible for both beginners and enthusiasts
– Not the most budget-friendly keyboard
– Illumination could have been more vivid
– CUE software must run to have lighting effects work
– SMD lighting solution causes LED’s to reflect different colors on other key caps when set to white
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Performance: 9.50
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Appearance: 9.00
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Construction: 9.50
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Functionality: 7.75
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Value: 8.50
