Kingston Technology’s HyperX division has released a number of great gaming peripherals on the PC and is certainly one of the first few brands to consider when looking for an upgrade. From the mechanical keyboard, gaming mice, headsets, to RAM, there’s plenty of options for both fine-tuning your PC build to playing the latest competitive video game title with the help of a few tools.
Recently, during this year’s CES event, Kingston Technology was present showcasing a few of the upcoming HyperX products releasing into the market. One of which is their updated HyperX Alloy Elite gaming mechanical keyboard.
This is a gaming keyboard that we’ve previously checked out, but this time around the gaming keyboard sports some much needed RGB elements. Gaming mechanical keyboards have become a must own for PC gamers and there’s a wide range of brands, switches, bells, and whistles to take into consideration when making a purchase.
The HyperX Alloy Elite RGB makes a solid adjustment from the previous iteration by giving gamers the ability to tweak the color options showcased on the keyboard. By default, there are three options, a wave rainbow effect, along with a blue and white highlight option, and lastly, the standard red backlight that was present in the standard HyperX Alloy Elite.
As you may have expected, there are some further tweaks and options available to adjust the color and effects of your keyboard. Thanks to the HyperX NGenuity software, gamers will have options to make profiles and adjust various lighting effects or macros. Unfortunately, there are not too many control options so your creativity can be limiting.
Really, there are only two option sets to craft up your color effects. However, for most gamers, I’m sure that two is plenty as the main focus for gaming would likely go to creating profiles for certain video game title macros.
To rehash some of the information from the previous review of HyperX’s Alloy Elite, the build quality is solid. While the keycaps are plastic, the overall base build of the HyperX Alloy Elite RGB is a solid steel frame. Furthermore, this is a full-size keyboard and being that its solid steel, the keyboard can be quite hefty. This would likely not be a good candidate for someone who plans on tossing this keyboard in a bag to attend a LAN party or events.
Included in the purchase of the HyperX Alloy Elite RGB, gamers will find that there is a keycap puller along with alternative WASD keycap set and a set number keys, one through four. Instead of black, the keycaps can be silver in color, with WASD keys being textured for gaming.
Speaking of the keys, HyperX does offer the Alloy Elite RGB gaming mechanical keyboard with CHERRY MX Blue, Brown, or Red key switches. In our review unit, we were provided with the Browns and it’s offered a great performance so far. With that said, the key switches are preference so if you don’t know which key switch would work best for you then you may want to do a bit of research before making the mechanical gaming keyboard purchase.
Though there are no dedicated macro keys that come extra with the keyboard, there are three additional keys located on the top left of the gaming keyboard. These are considered quick access buttons which will adjust the brightness, cycle between three lighting effects and a game mode to turn off the windows key. Oddly enough, these are the only keys available that don’t offer any backlighting.
Moving to the top right of the keyboard, you’ll find that there are dedicated media keys along with a volume wheel. RGB elements are included in the media keys outside of the volume wheel.
Due to the keys being raised in a floating kind of design, the led lighting to alert of the Game Mode being triggered along with the numbers lock and caps lock can prove to be troublesome. More specifically, the caps lock is difficult to see unless you bring the keyboard in and look directly down. I would have preferred the lighting options to be adjusted slightly just so they are easier seen from a more natural distance from the keyboard.
Directly below the media keys is a LED light strip that ranges from side to side of the gaming keyboard which also highlights the color effect. Giving an extra little touch in aesthetics.
Next to where the braided USB cable for the keyboard is a USB 2.0 passthrough, which again, is something that was present in the previous HyperX Alloy Elite model we’ve reviewed.
Sadly, the biggest issue I personally had with this gaming keyboard is the wrist wrest. This is often the biggest flaw I come across with gaming keyboards and the only one that I’ve personally enjoyed was the CHERRY MX 6.0 gaming mechanical keyboard which offered a nice big rubberized wrist wrest that was attachable via magnets.
I’m hoping the next mechanical keyboard that is released under HyperX does have an alternative or more considerable wrist wrest. While more of a preference, I am always a bit more cautious when there’s a plastic clip wrist wrest that comes bundled with a gaming keyboard. Likewise, even though the wrist wrest is textured, it’s a bit too smooth and small as such I found myself not using it much during my time testing the keyboard.
Currently, the HyperX Alloy Elite RGB is available today for $169.99 though if you can do without the RGB elements then you can pick up the standard Alloy Elite with red backlighting for just $109.99.
Full Disclosure: A unit was provided for purposes of this review.
