Corsair’s K70 gaming keyboard up to date with extra responsive optical switches

Corsair is saying an up to date model of its K70 mechanical keyboard immediately that comes with extra responsive OPX optical mechanical switches. It prices $149.99, $10 greater than the customary K70 launched final 12 months with extra conventional Cherry mechanical switches. Other than the change change, the brand new K70 is broadly equivalent to final 12 months’s mannequin, with a removable USB-C cable, RGB lighting, and a tenkeyless format.

The explanation you may want a gaming keyboard with optical switches comes right down to debounce delay, which usually impacts keyboards with conventional mechanical switches. Whenever you press a mechanical change, there could be a transient interval when its metallic contacts clatter collectively earlier than ultimately settling, and this implies the keyboard can take a second to register a keypress. Optical switches merely interrupt a beam of infrared mild when pressed and don’t undergo from this delay by default, making them an amazing alternative for gaming.

However the advantages of optical switches on Corsair’s keyboards are just a little extra difficult. Spokesperson Justin Ocbina tells me the corporate’s Axon know-how can already keep away from any debounce delay incurred while you first press a mechanical change. The advantages of an optical change on Corsair’s keyboard come while you repeatedly press the identical change. There’s no 5ms interval when a key can’t register a second press after a primary; it’s able to be pressed once more immediately — helpful for any video games the place velocity is of the essence.

Ocbina declined to share who’s manufacturing Corsair’s OPX optical mechanical switches however mentioned it’s a linear change with a 1mm actuation distance. That compares to a 2mm actuation distance for Cherry’s MX Crimson change or 1.2mm for its speed-focused Silver change. The K70 scans for keypresses at 4,000Hz internally (4 instances sooner than many mechanical keyboards) and experiences them to a linked PC at as much as 8,000Hz (eight instances sooner than most). Corsair says this retains median latency under 0.25ms.

Different options of the K70 embody sturdy PBT double-shot keycaps, a {hardware} event change to disable macros throughout aggressive play, media keys, a quantity curler, and the flexibility to coordinate the keyboard’s lighting results through Corsair’s iCUE software program. For an thought of how the non-switch elements of the keyboard carry out in apply, try our assessment of the Corsair K70 from final 12 months.