Corsair K100 RGB Mechanical Gaming Keyboard review

Our Verdict

The Corsair K100 RGB offers a few advantages over cheaper Corsair keyboards, merely not plenty to justify its hefty price bump.

For

Gorgeous pattern
Useful control wheel
Comfortable wrist rest
Beautiful RGB lighting

Against

Limited switch selection
Very expensive

Tom's Guide Verdict

The Corsair K100 RGB offers a few advantages over cheaper Corsair keyboards, but not enough to justify its hefty cost bump.

Pros

+
Gorgeous design
+
Useful control wheel
+
Comfy wrist remainder
+
Cute RGB lighting

Cons

-
Limited switch pick
-
Very expensive

Corsair K100 RGB Mechanical Gaming Keyboard specs

Cardinal Type: Mechanical
Switch Type: Corsair OPX or Cherry MX Speed
Illumination: Full RGB
Size: 18.v x 6.54 x one.5 inches

The Corsair K100 RGB Mechanical Gaming Keyboard is perhaps the well-nigh elaborate keyboard that the visitor has ever produced. By and large speaking, that's a good thing, since it includes a useful cavalcade of macro keys, a novel command wheel, a heavy-duty aluminum chassis and the company's signature RGB lighting patterns. The flip side, though, is that the keyboard is incredibly expensive, even as RGB mechanical gaming models go: $230, which is about what you lot'd pay for a wireless mechanical model from Logitech or Razer.

Still, the Corsair K100 offers one reward that (now) no wireless mechanical keyboard tin match: optical-mechanical switches, which function past transmitting light rather than pressing a mechanical switch. It's a fancy, functional applied science, albeit one that's not terribly unlike from a good mechanical switch for most users.

However, in that location's no denying that the K100 is a beautiful peripheral that offers a lot of useful functionality, peculiarly if you're willing to exercise a lilliputian legwork and brand the command wheel part of your everyday routine. While I call back about users are withal ameliorate off with the less expensive Corsair K70 RGB Mk.2, if y'all similar the latest and greatest tech in your gaming gadgets, the K100 may be ane of the best gaming keyboards for you.

Read on for our full Corsair K100 RGB Mechanical Gaming Keyboard review.

Corsair K100 RGB Mechanical Gaming Keyboard blueprint

If you're familiar with Corsair's general keyboard pattern, so the K100 should look pretty familiar correct out of the gate. The Corsair K100 RGB features a sturdy black aluminum chassis, with slightly elevated key caps.

Corsair K100 RGB Mechanical Gaming Keyboard review — (Image credit: Tom's Guide)

The detachable wrist rest is one of the most comfortable I've used, with a sturdy cream construction and a lot of resistance. There'due south a USB passthrough in the back equally well.

You get all the standard full-size keyboard keys, including a numpad, as well as a set of discrete media controls in the upper-right corner. In the upper-left, there'south a profile-switching push button and a "lock" push button, which locks certain keys during gameplay to prevent adventitious switching. What's really interesting here, though, is the command wheel.

The control wheel looks like an oversized volume punch with a push in the heart, but it'southward not for decision-making sound — unless you actually want information technology to be. Instead, the control wheel lets you perform a bunch of useful hardware and productivity tasks, from adjusting the keyboard's RGB brightness, to zooming in on a web page, to scrolling through a spreadsheet horizontally. You tin can fast-forward and rewind your music or skip tracks; you tin can even record macros. The button in the center switches amongst diverse tasks.

While the control bicycle isn't a strictly necessary feature in a gaming keyboard, I establish myself getting a lot of use out of information technology, peculiarly for horizontal scrolling. It's a cool characteristic, and while it's non quite worth the $230 premium by itself, information technology's a skilful argument for the K100 — especially for video and audio editors, who could use it to scroll through footage or recorded sound.

The left side also has a column of macro keys, similar to the Corsair K95. They work well if y'all similar having extra keys, and are piece of cake enough to ignore if you lot don't.

Corsair K100 RGB Mechanical Gaming Keyboard keys

Different other Corsair keyboards, which offering a whole rainbow of Cherry MX switches, the K100 has 2 choices: Ruddy MX Speed or Corsair'south new proprietary switch, the OPX. The Speeds are a known quantity: linear switches with rapid actuation, meant for short keypresses, especially during competitive multiplayer. They're not the most versatile Red switch, simply they can be useful on the tournament scene.

I was more interested in the OPX switch, which is Corsair's take on an optical-mechanical switch (similar to the Razer Huntsman). To requite a brief overview of how they look, optical-mechanical switches transmit signals via light rather than electric impulse (like a membrane keyboard) or a physical printing (like a mechanical keyboard). In theory, it's faster, more than reliable and less prone to failure than a mechanical switch. In practice, though, it feels pretty similar — specially because there'southward still a mechanical component to information technology.

I will say that the K100 switches feel all right, and that they take extremely depression actuation: one mm, to be precise, which is just a barely perceptible bear upon. I retrieve the Carmine Speeds have a slightly improve experience to them, personally, but the K100s are indeed a tiny chip faster, if that's your primary concern.

One matter is for certain: the OPX switches sure are fast. On a Typing.com examination, I scored 125 words per minute with 99% accuracy on the K100, versus 116 words per infinitesimal with 99% accuracy on my regular Logitech G915. That's pretty incredible, considering that I use the G915 every mean solar day, and just started using the K100 a few days ago.

Corsair K100 RGB Mechanical Gaming Keyboard features

The Corsair K100 RGB Mechanical Gaming Keyboard runs on the Corsair Utility Engine (iCUE) software, about which I have mixed feelings. On the one paw, I adore the program'south complexity, peculiarly the incredible specificity with which you lot tin can program hardware commands and lighting patterns. Yous can fifty-fifty coordinate the macro keys with an Elgato Stream Deck, if you're of the Twitch persuasion. On the other hand, this complexity ways that the program has a steep learning curve, even for uncomplicated deportment, such equally using preset lighting patterns, or reassigning keys.

The control cycle, discussed above, is what really sets the K100 apart from the contest, and you can programme it to do some extremely absurd things in iCUE. Nonetheless, you also have to go through a somewhat convoluted practice of creating macros first, so using the control wheel to dispense them. Like a lot of other iCUE features, programming the control wheel opens up a tremendous corporeality of possibilities, simply besides requires some elbow grease if you want to take advantage of them.

Corsair K100 RGB Mechanical Gaming Keyboard performance

Like most Corsair keyboards, the K100 performs absolutely beautifully in-game. I tested it with Age of Empires Iii: Definitive Edition, Doom Eternal, Shadow of the Tomb Raider and Final Fantasy XIV, and it handled every genre with ease. I switched weapons instantaneously as I gunned down demons in Doom, and allowable armies with ease in Age of Empires. The shallow actuation and rapid response time was helpful for every game I tested.

Since I tested the version of the K100 with OPX switches, I tried to gauge whether at that place was any meaning difference from traditional mechanical switches. Merely in terms of everyday play, I didn't detect any major changes. This could alter for high-level multiplayer matches, but my suspicion is that optical-mechanical switches may simply last longer than purely mechanical ones; we'll know for sure inside a few years.

Corsair K100 RGB Mechanical Gaming Keyboard verdict

In our Corsair K100 RGB Mechanical Gaming Keyboard review, we pointed out how this expensive keyboard offers some excellent new features, and maintains Corsair's usual quality standards. But while the control wheel is a great addition, I recall it's difficult to justify the $230 price tag for a wired model, especially when we're starting to see first-class wireless gaming options in that cost range.

If you want Corsair's signature build quality along with some extra keys and the choice for optical-mechanical switches, the K100 is an fantabulous choice. For near players, though, the K70 RGB Mk.2 is a more straightforward — and less expensive — choice. Alternatively, the Corsair K57 RGB is another selection to consider.

Marshall Honorof is a senior editor for Tom's Guide, overseeing the site's coverage of gaming hardware and software. He comes from a scientific discipline writing background, having studied paleomammalogy, biological anthropology, and the history of science and technology. After hours, yous tin find him practicing taekwondo or doing deep dives on classic sci-fi.