Introduction

Mechanical keyboards offer incredible performance and durability compared to membrane switch keyboards, and they’re loved by gamers and day-to-day PC users alike for their unique tactile feel. There’s more to your typical mechanical keyboard than just the feel and the sound of the switches, you can choose the type of switches you want in your keyboard, such as Cherry MX Blue, Brown, Black, Red, Green and of course the mechanical switches from competing brands such as Kailh. There are a lot of MX compatible keyboards that allow you to remove the key caps and replace them with aftermarket ones, and that’s exactly what I’ll be doing today.

Mechanical keyboards do have one downside vs a membrane switch, plunger or even scissor switch keys, in that they’re often louder, this can be a big distraction for some and while the noise levels vary from one switch type to the other, mechanical switches are almost always noisier than membrane keyboards. There is a solution to this problem, known as O-Ring modding, which is something I’ve known about for a while, but never really had the opportunity to put to the test; until today. So while I’ll be replacing the key caps on my keyboard today, I’ll also be installing a range of O-Ring mods to test how they can effect the overall acoustic performance of my keyboard.

For those of you who don’t know what O-Ring mods are, they’re simply little rubber hoops that can be put onto the stem on the inside of a mechanical keyboard key cap, this prevents the key from bottoming out (hitting the chassis of the keyboard or the switch) and as such, they can massively reduce the acoustic levels of your typing.

At my disposal today I have a set of double shot injection Cherry MX stem key caps, they come bundled in a clear plastic box, nothing fancy, but it’s not like they need to be individually wrapped.

Around the back you can see there are other colour options available, although I’m quite happy with the neat and tidy white colour we’ve chosen for today’s review.

In the box you’ll find a simple owners booklet and a key cap puller; an essential tool for any mechanical keyboard owner.

The O-Ring mods come in three choices; black, clear and blue. They’re quite small, so they only come packaged in a ziplock style bag

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A Closer Look

The key caps are pretty standard looking, but they have a slight powdered texture to them that is nice to the touch and it gives them a nice bright matte finish.

The keys are double shot moulded. This means that the black lettering you see on the front is actually black plastic with the white casing surrounding it. This means that the fonts on the keys will not rub off what so ever; this is a considerably higher quality approach vs printing directly onto the keys.

The solid design does mean this particular set are not compatible with LED lighting, you would need laser etched keys to allow light to flow through the key cap.

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Installation and Performance

Installing the O-ring mods is a lengthy job, as all of the keys require a ring mod on each stem. Putting one on is a tricky task and to completely equip all of the new key caps took over an hour to complete; this is despite the fact I had someone helping me!

The end result speaks volumes, the matte white finish of the key caps beam out against the black keyboard.

They really do look stunning and if your keyboard is starting to look a little tired, this is a great way of sparking fresh life into it.

While there are other colour choices available, I’m very happy with these white ones; although I admit they may need a little extra care to keep them nice and clean.

The key caps are all of a very high quality in terms of construction, and no faults were found throughout the installation process. Except for the fact I can see the caps lock key is sticking up a little, nothing I didn’t fix afterwards by pushing it all the way onto its stem.

It took 20 minutes to strip and clean the keyboard of its original key caps, an hour to install the O-Ring mods on the new key caps and a further 45 minutes to install the key caps on the keyboard; so as you can tell, this was no small job.

The final result was certainly worth it, the key caps get my approval in terms of aesthetics and tactile sensation, but how do the O-Ring mods perform?

With the O-Ring mods fitted to the stock Mionix Zibal 60 key caps, it was time to test out the acoustic levels of the switches. First I mashed away at the WASD keys, a heavy and fast typing action where my fingers were lifting away from the keys between strokes. I then did rapid presses through W, A, S and D with my fingers staying in contact with the key cap. These two tests gave us a look at acoustic levels when you may be frantically mashing keys while gaming or casually typing a document.

First we have the stock Mionix key caps, you can clearly see that the O-Ring mods shave off a few decibels. The Blue O-Rings took the noise from 63 to 55dBa in the mash test and 58 to 47 in the press test; that’s a huge reduction in acoustic levels.

The space bar is still pretty noisy even with the ring mods installed, but there is still a clear reduction of around 4 to 6 dBa with ring mods installed.

Now we have the OCUK double shot key caps installed, interestingly these keys are noisier than the stock ones in the mash test, but quieter in the press test. The O-Ring mod kits quickly solve the extra noise problem and once again you can see up around 10 dBa shaved from the mash tests and 5-10 from the press tests, very impressive!

The new space bar cap is a lot quieter than the stock one, shaving off a few more dBa. The new space bar is even quieter again with the O-Ring mods, with the clear and the black being the best performers.

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Final Thoughts

Price

The OCUK Tech Labs Noise Dampening O-Rings for Cherry MX keyboards are available from Overclockers.co.uk for £9.95 per set; each set contains 125 rings and are available in Black, Blue and Clear.

The ABS Double Shot ISO Full UK Layout Keycaps are available in red with white legends, blue with white legends and white with black legends from Overclockers.co.uk; each set costs just £24.95.

Overview

The ring mods do make a slight difference to the feel of the keyboard. The key feels physically dampened and you don’t get as much tactile clack as the key bottoms out; mostly because the key won’t bottom out. The key travels about 1mm less than it did before; I actually find rapid key strokes even easier than without the mods.

The new key caps are a big improvement over the stock Mionix ones, they feel lighter and more responsive to the touch and the contrasting black and white look of the keyboard also looks pretty cool. The only downside of the double-shot moulded keys vs laser etched is that LED lighting doesn’t shine through the keys, something worth keeping in mind. I have discovered that I still get a subtle under-glow to my keys with the lighting turned on, but it’s nowhere near as bright as it used to be. If you’re using lighting in your keyboard, then you’ll want to invest in the clear O-Ring mods as these are designed to let the light through, the solid black or the blue rings will not.

The clear O-Ring mods combined with the new key caps is certainly my favourite combination. They’re a little softer and thinner than the black and blue rings, so they don’t dampen too much of the typing sensation that I get from my keyboard. The rings do a great job of dampening the noise levels by a huge amount and that’s a big win for me and it’s an even bigger win for whoever is in the same room as me; my typing won’t be so loud as to drive them crazy.

These mods are a great investment, they’re cheap enough that you can take your chances on them and if you don’t like them, it’s not the end of the world. If you want a quieter keyboard, then I suggest you pick up a set of O-Ring mods for your mechanical keyboard; just to try them out.

As for the custom key caps, they’re a luxury extra. If you want to spruce up your current keyboard or just fancy having some premium quality keys under your finger tips, then these are a great addition to any mechanical keyboard; just keep in mind that this particular set doesn’t work well with LED lighting.

Pros

New key caps are a great way of bringing new life to an older keyboard

O-Ring mods significantly reduce noise levels

O-Rings and new key caps are affordable mods

New key caps are easy to install

Cons

O-Ring mods can be time-consuming to install

Double-shot moulded keys don’t allow LED lighting to shine through

“Custom keycaps and a set of o-ring mods are both great ways to add a little extra flair and customisation to your Cherry MX stem keyboard, without spending a huge amount of money. If you want a unique look or need to reduce the noise levels when you’re typing, it’s really just a small investment away.”

Thank you Overclockers UK for providing this review sample.