The 8 best gaming keyboards

Many high-end gaming keyboards will include dedicated controls for your media, giving you an easy way to skip songs or change volume without needing to reach away from the keyboard. Some may use a higher-quality material for the keycaps, helping you get more value by extending the lifespan of the keyboard. Then there are advanced features, like more exotic key switch mechanisms, enhanced rgb lighting, and zero-latency wireless. If you're looking for a keyboard that can wow you, you'll find it here. There are good gaming keyboards and then there are great gaming keyboards , but what sets the two apart can sometimes be a fine line. Many share a lot of the same dna, from their rgb lighting and mechanical switches to their macro buttons and wrist rests.

This means you can set a lower pre-travel to increase the responsiveness for gaming or set a higher one to improve typing accuracy for productivity tasks. These are optical switches with a linear feel, so they don't provide any tactile feedback when typing, and they don't make much noise. It also features some handy storage on the keyboard, so you can easily save your preferences to a profile that will travel with you if you move it to a different machine. It's an excellent, fully-featured keyboard with some truly fantastic switches, though you'll pay a premium for the privilege of using them.

These switches are preferred for their great tactile and audio feedback. Now, when it comes to switches, the leading company is cherry, which makes the mx line of switches. These switches are identified by their color and include the mx black, mx brown, mx blue, and mx red switches mousekeyboard, among others. Each switch is designed slightly differently to give a different sound and feel when typing or gaming. We don't see the wrist rest or dedicated media keys that we see on more expensive models, but given the price that's a pretty reasonable omission.

The cherry mx board 1.0 keyboard is the odd one out one this list, as it’s not officially a gaming keyboard. With no flashy rgb lights and a lack of dedicated macro keys, it’s clear this board was built specifically for typing rather than gaming. The redragon k551/552 are some of the most popular budget mechanical keyboards available, thanks to their low price, good range of regional layouts and optional red backlighting. The keyboard uses kailh-made switches similar to cherry mx blues, which provide an excellent tactile feel and a loud click. There are few advanced features here; this is just a simple keyboard that delivers a great typing and gaming experience for the money. The best full-sized gaming keyboard that we've tested is the steelseries apex pro. It's a mechanical board that features unique omnipoint switches, allowing you to customize the pre-travel distance to suit your needs.

Most gaming keyboards worth their weight in gold use mechanical switches. A mechanical switch is simply one where each key is matched up to its own spring loaded switch.

It sports a gorgeous full-size layout, a wrist rest, a convenient volume wheel and media keys, a long-lasting battery and your choice of 2.4ghz wireless and bluetooth support. Razer's software is more advanced than logitech's, so this might be a better choice if you want to set intricate or game-specific rgb lighting effects. Both clicky/tactile and linear/silent switch options are available; we used the clicky version in our testing and had a lovely time typing and gaming at maximum volume. The cynosa has some of the best feeling, low profile membrane keys I've ever tested, and at a retail price of $60, is one of the most affordable gaming keyboards out there . At the high-end, you can see keyboard makers showing off their best work, not just throwing in good components but also building around those components with a trove of features that make your computing experience better.

The switch type is arguably the most important choice to make when picking your new gaming keyboard. Cherry mechanical switches are the most common and most recognizable, but there are a host of alternatives on offer, as well a bunch of upmarket, specialist switches to choose from. Other features you might want to consider are some dedicated media controls, macro keys, and whether or not your keyboard of choice has usb and audio passthrough. Mx red switches have no tactile click and instead have an extremely smooth keystroke all the way to the bottom of the board. These are the most common switches on gaming keyboards due to their exceptionally easy and quick operation. They’re less comfortable for long periods of typing, and the lack of feedback can prove disconcerting for some. Mx black switches are very similar to reds but require more force to activate.