Asus ROG Strix Scope II 96 The best gaming keyboard Jump to details More HyperX Alloy Origins Core The best cheap gaming keyboard Jump to details More Asus ROG Azoth The best wireless gaming keyboard Jump to details More Keychron Q1 HE The best gaming keyboard with Hall Effect switches Jump to details SteelSeries Apex Pro Mini Wireless The best gaming keyboard for esports Jump to details Asus ROG Falchion RX LP The best compact gaming keyboard Jump to details Glorious GMMK Pro The best gaming...
There are two things that help the Strix Scope II 96 achieve such a fantastic feel. It includes board foam, absorbing the hollow ping you get on most gaming keyboards, and it comes with lubricated ROG NX Snow switches. These two factors allow it to get close to the typing experience you get on enthusiast-level gaming keyboards, but Asus still comes in at a mainstream price.
The HyperX Alloy Origins Core is an unassuming mechanical gaming keyboard, which means one thing: It's cheap. Coming around $80, and often on sale for around $60 to $70, the HyperX Alloy Origins cuts the fluff and provides a sublime gaming experience at a fraction of the price. It's rare for an off-the-shelf keyboard to truly rival the best custom keyboards, but that's exactly what the Asus ROG Azoth did when we put it through its paces. It offers an almost-unparalleled typing experience, a supremely sturdy design, soft and comfortable keycaps, and it's incredibly quiet.
The switches on this keyboard come from Gateron, and they use two opposing magnets. You can customize where each key activates based on the distance between these two magnets, down to 0.1mm. You can also set multiple commands to a single key, activating at different points as you press down and release the switch.
The SteelSeries Apex Pro Mini is an unassuming 60% keyboard, but it has a lot of interesting features beneath its basic exterior. It uses SteelSeries' Omnipoint 2.0 switches, which allow you to adjust the actuation point through software from 0.2mm up to 3.8mm. The biggest change is board foam. There are two layers of silicon inside the keyboard that help absorb the pinging noise you get on keyboards without any sound absorption. The ROG Falchion RX LP still has that snappy response that low-profile keyboards are known for, but the sound and feel is much more premium.
Custom keyboards allow you to build them in a way that best suits your needs. The Glorious GMMK Pro is one such option and is an excellent choice if you want to build your first keyboard. It's a 75% mechanical keyboard where, apart from the switches and keycaps, you can also change the programmable rotary knob, the USB-C cable, and the included aluminum PCB switch plate.