Performance Part 2

Using the CORSAIR K100 will not seem that different if you have used their K95-series of keyboards before. After all, the K100 retains the G-keys on the side and has the usual media/volume controls in the top-right corner as well. It is in the top-left corner that things change. The iCUE control wheel is effectively giving the power of iCUE customization to more than discrete on/off steps. With a wheel in place, finer control is available, and the company has some suggestions already with the hardware and software options pre-configured. As expected, options in hardware mode are more limited and pre-recorded to the device, with the button in the middle enabling a toggle between the different functions outlined above. The button changes color to indicate which function is on at the moment, and it is the same with software modes that can be associated with onboard profiles. As long as iCUE is running in the background, you get more customization options, as seen on previous pages. I found myself using the wheel mostly for quick-switching applications open in Windows, especially as I am currently away from my desktop and there is limited screen space on my laptop. The novelty of using it for brightness control wears out quickly, but your mileage may vary. Macro recording with the wheel is.. an interesting option that really does not use the wheel at all and just relies on the button to initiate/close the recording. Claiming it as a wheel function is marketing at work, but I will give them that it is still an addition over their previous keyboards.


Let's talk about Axon, shall we? Oh, it's AXON. Just like Corsair is now CORSAIR. OPX isn't the only new verbiage introduced by the company as it pertains to the K100. AXON is CORSAIR saying that if they can do Slipstream for wireless tech and improve signal strength to allow faster and multiple simultaneous connections, they can do the equivalent for wired devices. The average mechanical keyboard boasts a polling rate of 1000 Hz by default, which just means that the PC is set to check for a signal every 1 ms from the USB port, and the USB connector in turn does the same to every single key on the keyboard. Most keyboards can slow this down to ~125 Hz (8 ms), especially if an older BIOS has trouble recognizing it, but practically, there is not a whole lot of a difference given mechanical switches take longer to actuate feedback. So this step, which is one of several that comprises the process of you pressing down on a key to the signal showing effect on your PC, is not a bottleneck in itself.

That has not stopped companies from trying to lower the response rates and even claim faster switches, however. The latter has come in the form of companies using shorter actuation distances, as with the Cherry MX Speed switch itself, for a "faster" response with all other things being equal. Others have gone with the use of optical switches, for example, which aims to negate the time for the mechanical parts to actuate, another reason why CORSAIR has introduced the OPX switch with the K100. Finally, there are technologies such as RealKey Analog from Cherry, which aims to reduce the debounce delay between keystrokes. AXON from CORSAIR is effectively on this pathway and uses a real-time running OS on an SoC to quadruple the USB throughput, which in turn allows a polling rate of up to 4000 Hz.

For the more technically inclined, CORSAIR shares that AXON is multi-threaded to allow for parallel processing of complex instructions, which justifies the SoC choice I now want to take a look at even more than usual. There is a deterministic scheduling algorithm, no further information about which was provided; it promises critical keystrokes always get through when they need to. Take that for what you will, but my take on it is that keystrokes in a sequence are guaranteed to be fed to the output in that sequence. Complementing the 4000 Hz polling is a 4000 Hz scan rate of the individual keys as well, and the feature comes in play with the advanced hardware playback on the K100, which allows for as many as twenty lighting effects to be layered in sequence and saved onboard. This is along with the 200 profiles that can be saved onboard at the same time, all of which fit onto the 8 MB flash memory. I have been meaning to add response-rate testing to keyboard reviews, so we may well get back to this in due course of time. As it stands on this ancient laptop I have with me, I dare not say I perceive a difference between 1000 Hz and 4000 Hz polling in games or general use.


As we saw before, the CORSAIR K100 RGB comes with either the Cherry MX Speed (Silver) RGB switch or their new branded OPX optical-mechanical switch. We will take a look at the latter in a separate article down the line, and this sample has the Cherry switch instead. This switch is based off the extremely popular Cherry MX Red RGB, but has been modified to a pre-travel distance of 1.2 mm as opposed to the 2.0 mm for the MX Red, with the total travel distance also reduced from 4.0 mm to 3.4 mm. The switch is one of the few Cherry has updated the mold and testing protocol for enough to rate it for a lifetime of 100 M keystrokes as opposed to the 50 M from before. The force characteristics are the same for these updated actuation and bottoming out points, at 45 cN and ~70 cN respectively. You can find more information on the official product page, and I will say right away that these are not necessarily the best for touch typists. Indeed, designed with fast actuation kept in mind for gaming, the Cherry MX Speed Silver can actuate unintentionally if you like to have your fingers over the keys. This mechanism has since been used by other switch makers, including Kailh and Gateron, for linear, tactile, and also clicky switches with a shorter actuation distance.


As always, the sound of a keyboard is based on more than just the switch type. So when comparing sound clips, consider the keyboard as a whole. In this case, I have provided above a sound clip of me typing on the CORSAIR K100 keyboard sample at ~115 WPM as it comes out of the box. For context, you can find sound clips from other keyboards here, including those with linear switches. I did bottom out more often than not, but you can train yourself not to. The thicker PBT keycaps definitely affect the sound signature even compared to the more-standard Kxx series keyboards from CORSAIR, which retain the metal frame but use thinner ABS keycaps. There is a short second in the clip where I press one of the G-keys on purpose, which clearly sounds different to the others because of the ABS keycap on the former.