Mechanical keyboards have become the only choice for hardcore PC gamers, and gaming peripheral manufacturers have responded with mechanical keyboards purpose built for gaming. Capable of professional gaming, but designed for everyone, these sprawling monuments to the gaming tower are fitted with complex key switches, advanced macro features, and bold aesthetic design.

With so many preferences and opinions about the best mechanical keyboard for gaming, we decided the best course of action was to bring some in and pit them against each other in keyboard battle royale. The competitors include the Logitech G910 Orion Spark, Razer BlackWidow Chroma, SteelSeries Apex M800, and Cooler Master Quick Fire XTi.

They’re all excellent keyboards, and crowd favorites, but only one can take home the title. Time for a keyboard cage match!

The gaming aesthetic

The current state of gaming peripherals is all about shades of black, hits of color, and exciting edges. To different degrees, the boards are in line with that look. While the Logitech has wild loops and angles, the Razer and SteelSeries are a bit more subdued, with smooth corners, matte and glossy black, and stylized print on the keycaps.

Cooler Master, on the other hand, has taken a classic approach with the Quick Fire XTi, opting for a heavy duty chassis with no logos or detailing. If not for LED backlighting, the Cooler Master could pass for an office keyboard.

Regardless of aesthetics, all of the keyboards in our review suite are built with great care. There are no panel gaps, weak corners, or flexible panels on any of the boards.

Flip the switch

While the industry standard is the Cherry MX switch, we’ve also chosen a selection of keyboards with in-house or commissioned keys. This has become a popular trend as of late, as each brand looks to distinguish its keyboards with a specific feel and sound.

The Cherry MX Blue switches found in the Cooler Master are something of a control for our experiment. The Blue switches are designed to have both a physical and audible response, with a light touch and quick activation point.

There’s a reason Cherry MX switches are still so popular, and it doesn’t take much time with the Cooler Master to feel it. The keys slide easily when touched, and click satisfyingly after hitting the actuation point. They quickly return to fully extended, so the loudest part of typing on the Blues is the cap smacking as it snaps back into position.

The most comparable keyboard to the Cooler Master is the Razer BlackWidow. Although the switches are branded Razer Green, they’re produced in partnership with Kaihua Electronics, which has been making switches for almost as long as Cherry has. The Green switch is the rough equivalent of the Cherry MX Blue, with a slightly higher actuation point, and a heavier touch.

The result is a switch that feels more defined than the Cooler Master. That’s not to say a quick strike won’t fire the key, but it’s easier to hold the key right above the activation point. The BlackWidow has a more distinct feel to activation than the Blue does.

The Logitech’s Romer-G switches lack an intentional click mechanism in the switch, which makes them quieter. The activation point is very close to the surface, so a quick touch can fire a switch easily. It doesn’t take much force to do so, but just enough to keep the keys from firing accidentally. The high activation point means a slower spring rebound than the other keyboards, which means they take more time to bounce back, but they returned quickly enough to keep me satisfied.

SteelSeries’ Apex 800 is supported by its proprietary QS1 switches, the only truly linear switch in our roundup. They’re comparable to the Cherry MX Brown switch, a popular choice for fans of FPS games, for their fast rebound time and easy double-tapping. The lack of tactile response means a quicker reset before pressing again, and the lack of an audible click makes the keyboard whisper quiet.

Related: Why mechanical keyboards aren’t just for geeks anymore

The same qualities that make the board a great fit for an avid CS:GO player also render the keyboard difficult to type on or use casually. The unclear activation point and light touch mean lots of accidental key presses, which is annoying while typing, and detrimental to MMO and RTS play, where an extra tap can mean the difference between victory and defeat.

Story continues