Gaming Keyboard for gaming

[KinGamer7]

Right, so I'm planning out my soon-to-be gaming PC and am stuck on one last thing; the keyboard. I've been doing loads of googling and have only just discovered mechanical keyboards, which sound amazing from anecdotal references. I would prefer it if I could get one of those, but I'm still relatively inexperienced in deciding what's best.

So far I'm tied up between the Microsoft Sidewinder X4 and Razer BlackWidow keyboards; the former is your standard rubber-dome keyboard whereas the latter is a Cherry MX Blue switch keyboard. I've heard nothing but praise for both of these and am just wondering what to go for, or whether anyone here can recommend me any others and share your experiences. I play all genres -- FPS, RTS, RPG, etc., so I'm looking for a good all-rounder, and my budget is reasonably flexible, so no price worries here.

Thanks!

 

[sweenish]

i use a logitech g110, and it's great.

das keyboard is the king of mechanical keys, if i remember correctly.

i have no experience with razer products, but microsoft keyboards tend to be rock solid.

 

[Danny600kill]

Out of the two mentioned I'd always go for the Razer but I love all Razer products as they are designed just for gaming

 

[Zarcon]

Unless you're super hardcore competitive it doesn't really matter, just pick one you like the look/feel of.

Alternatively, if your current keyboard can type out "the quick brown fox jump over the lazy dog" while holding down both shift keys you're probably good to go already.

 

[fgghjjkll]

Unless you're super hardcore competitive it doesn't really matter, just pick one you like the look/feel of.

Alternatively, if your current keyboard can type out "the quick brown fox jump over the lazy dog" while holding down both shift keys you're probably good to go already.

Strangely enough, the resulting text are in capitals and the computer can't recognise the space bar... What do I do? :|

 

[kevan]

Unless you're super hardcore competitive it doesn't really matter, just pick one you like the look/feel of.

Alternatively, if your current keyboard can type out "the quick brown fox jump over the lazy dog" while holding down both shift keys you're probably good to go already.

Strangely enough, the resulting text are in capitals and the computer can't recognise the space bar... What do I do? :|

It means that you need a better keyboard for best performance.
Since some keyboards wont recongnize multiple keys at once.

 

[Sicklyboy]

Unless you're super hardcore competitive it doesn't really matter, just pick one you like the look/feel of.

Alternatively, if your current keyboard can type out "the quick brown fox jump over the lazy dog" while holding down both shift keys you're probably good to go already.

Odd... I can type every letter out EXCEPT for G and H when holding both shifts at once, using my Cyborg V7.

 

[exangel]

I have a stupid large amount of things to say about keyboards XD

I own a Logitech G15 which is pretty nice but the LCD screen is mostly frivolous unless you want to use it to display system monitors while in full screen games (which I do have set up but I rarely play games in fullscreen, so I can usually see the monitors on my desktop and avoid looking down and underneath my desk... that part of the keyboard is, sadly, completely obscured, because my desk has a keyboard drawer).

If/when I must replace this keyboard, I'm getting a Razer BlackWidow Ultimate. I chose one of these for a top of the line build I did a week ago for a retired doctor, who never really typed on anything but a typewriter due to having secretaries throughout his career. He was sold on the mechanical keyboard as per my description as well as the backlit keys. The "deliberate" feel of typing on the thing really helped with my typing accuracy but I didn't have much opportunity to game with it.
I know it'd be wonderful to have for myself because I've had to use the mechanical Happy Hacker keyboards on my dad's computers dozens of times, but my G15 was purchased for about what the BlackWidow Ultimate costs now and I'm gonna care for it like a child and use it until it's literally unfixably broken.

That thing's a bit loud so if you cohabit and are a nocturnal gamer you may disturb others if you're chatty or are a general button masher.
It's louder than my G15 for sure, the only PC keyboard I've ever used that is even louder than the BlackWidow Ultimate is the Happy Hacker keyboard which is a compact mechanical keyboard designed for programmers and is really not for gaming at ALL (it has a reduced keymap and depends heavily on using modifier keys for extended functions like most smaller form laptops do).

The BlackWidow Ultimate also has three ports in its side; Mic/Headphone 3.5mm and a powered USB port so you can plug a wired USB mouse into the side or just use it for easy plugging of USB 2.0 drives or USB VoIP headsets.
The 3.5mm audio jacks are extended via cable from your computer, this may conflict with having an older surround speaker system that utilizes the green jack instead of other audio outputs. This wasnt a problem for my client who had a 2.1 that used a single jack that I just plugged into the keyboard and showed him to swap it when using the headset to call his family.


tl;dr - Get BlackWidow Ultimate if "feel" is important to you. As for what I have, I won't personally recommend the G15 because mine is so heavily worn out after 1 & 1/4 year. Logitech has other, better keyboards but I know I'm not sticking with them for my next one up.

 

[KinGamer7]

i use a logitech g110, and it's great.

das keyboard is the king of mechanical keys, if i remember correctly.

i have no experience with razer products, but microsoft keyboards tend to be rock solid.
I've heard of Das keyboards, but they're very hard to find in the UK. I haven't tried any Razer products either, so it's a bit of an alien field for me there.

Out of the two mentioned I'd always go for the Razer but I love all Razer products as they are designed just for gaming

I'm not fussed on whether they were made specifically for gaming, but if you've had positive experiences with the products, that helps me to lean towards getting the BlackWidow Ultimate.

Unless you're super hardcore competitive it doesn't really matter, just pick one you like the look/feel of.

Alternatively, if your current keyboard can type out "the quick brown fox jump over the lazy dog" while holding down both shift keys you're probably good to go already.

I currently have an iMac for regular computing needs, but I want to get a completely robust system for gaming and make a permanent shift to it. Macs are good, but there's nothing they can do that Windows can't, nor can they do them better. As for the test, this is the result:

H CK BN FX JMPD V H LAZ DG

...Yeah, I'm definitely getting a proper keyboard!

QUOTE(exangel @ Aug 30 2011, 12:54 PM)

I have a stupid large amount of things to say about keyboards XD

I own a Logitech G15 which is pretty nice but the LCD screen is mostly frivolous unless you want to use it to display system monitors while in full screen games (which I do have set up but I rarely play games in fullscreen, so I can usually see the monitors on my desktop and avoid looking down and underneath my desk... that part of the keyboard is, sadly, completely obscured, because my desk has a keyboard drawer).

If/when I must replace this keyboard, I'm getting a Razer BlackWidow Ultimate. I chose one of these for a top of the line build I did a week ago for a retired doctor, who never really typed on anything but a typewriter due to having secretaries throughout his career. He was sold on the mechanical keyboard as per my description as well as the backlit keys. The "deliberate" feel of typing on the thing really helped with my typing accuracy but I didn't have much opportunity to game with it.
I know it'd be wonderful to have for myself because I've had to use the mechanical Happy Hacker keyboards on my dad's computers dozens of times, but my G15 was purchased for about what the BlackWidow Ultimate costs now and I'm gonna care for it like a child and use it until it's literally unfixably broken.

That thing's a bit loud so if you cohabit and are a nocturnal gamer you may disturb others if you're chatty or are a general button masher.
It's louder than my G15 for sure, the only PC keyboard I've ever used that is even louder than the BlackWidow Ultimate is the Happy Hacker keyboard which is a compact mechanical keyboard designed for programmers and is really not for gaming at ALL (it has a reduced keymap and depends heavily on using modifier keys for extended functions like most smaller form laptops do).

The BlackWidow Ultimate also has three ports in its side; Mic/Headphone 3.5mm and a powered USB port so you can plug a wired USB mouse into the side or just use it for easy plugging of USB 2.0 drives or USB VoIP headsets.
The 3.5mm audio jacks are extended via cable from your computer, this may conflict with having an older surround speaker system that utilizes the green jack instead of other audio outputs. This wasnt a problem for my client who had a 2.1 that used a single jack that I just plugged into the keyboard and showed him to swap it when using the headset to call his family.


tl;dr - Get BlackWidow Ultimate if "feel" is important to you. As for what I have, I won't personally recommend the G15 because mine is so heavily worn out after 1 & 1/4 year. Logitech has other, better keyboards but I know I'm not sticking with them for my next one up.

I'm not fond of the Logitech keyboards, because I don't really see the point of the LCD screens aside from the 'cool' factor; you'll be focused entirely on your monitor after all, wouldn't you?

I love the look of the Razer BlackWidow Ultimate; it's stylish enough without coming off as too tacky. My only issue with it is the fact that it has Cherry MX Blue switches, which some people find tricky to use with FPS', but I admit that this is a small percentage taken from a poll on another forum. For gaming, people generally recommend either black or brown switches over blue when it comes to mechanical keyboards, but whether a blue switch keyboard would be an issue for me is what's most important here. I'm not too bothered about the clicky noises the blue switches make; if anything, I like it quite a bit. However, my only concern is whether they click loud enough to be heard over my microphone while playing; I have a noise-cancelling Logitech desktop mic, so I doubt it will be much of an issue.

I'll take the plunge; I'll go for the Razer BlackWidow Ultimate. If I have any persistent issues with it, I'll just go for the SideWinder instead. Blue switches may not be optimal, but I'll give it a shot anyway. Posts like the last one in this thread are reassuring, as the poster mentions TF2 and CSS, which I play very frequently.

This isn't final, though, so I'm gonna keep researching into the switches.