Disassembly

As noted on the previous page, the aluminum alloy cover with a golden finish is simply held in place with screws (precision Phillips screws and a Hex 2.5 mm head), and the screws are easily removed. The smaller Phillips head screws are hidden between keys, and you will have to remove all the keycaps to remove the cover - do not forget the two screws on the space bar. Once done, you have the option to simply re-install the keycaps and now have an all-black keyboard, albeit out of nothing but plastic. We also see a spring for some support to the cover over the numpad here.


The PCB and bottom panel are also held together by screws on the bottom, and there are no hidden screws here, to my relief. Once all screws are loosend, the two pieces come apart easily, and we can see that, as with most retail keyboards today, the bottom panel is made of thick ABS plastic. What is different here is the black PCB used for the switches, LEDs, input, and controller. We see that there is some cable routing in place for the USB cable, which is plugged into the internal header below the numpad area, and notice also the two other connections at each end to light up those side plates in a very similar manner to what Corsair has done with its Strafe keyboards, which is not unique to Corsair, of course.


Solder quality is excellent on this sample, and very likely the best I have seen so far. It helps that there are not a whole lot of components here. Each key has a red LED associated with it, and a single Sonix SN8F22E88B 8-bit MCU helps control everything. It has 256 Kb of ROM and 8 Kb of RAM, along with a 6-channel PWM output. Expect basic LED brightness control and the usual detailed macro functionality support from Bloody here but no more.

Before we take a look at the driver, be advised that disassembly will void the warranty and that TechPowerUp is not liable for any damages incurred if you decided to go ahead and do so anyway.