Driver

There is no software driver support for the HyperX Alloy Elite keyboard, with all functionality being hardware based. As such, I have chosen to combine the Driver and Performance pages into one.

Performance

There is full N-key rollover USB here out of the box, as Aqua's test confirms. Similarly, no key chatter was detected on all the keys using Switch Hitter.


When first plugged in, the keyboard lights up a static bright red. There are four brightness levels (0, 33, 67, 100%) to toggle between using the brightness control key in the top-left corner, and at <67% brightness, the secondary legends placed below the primary ones tend to come off as orange rather than red even to the naked eye. At 100% brightness, things are very consistent as far as backlighting goes.






There are multiple lighting effects one can toggled through using the dedicated button next to the brightness control button, and there are some static lighting options as well, including one that only makes the light bar between the 104-key section and the onboard control buttons light up and another where you can set specific keys to light up. This latter option is handy in that HyperX does not have to program specific lighting modes for FPS/MOBA/RPG style games as other competitors did, and of course, you can also change the brightness of the LEDs here. My only complaint here is the limited range of brightness control, wherein you need to have them at 100% to guarantee full consistency, and the LED driver certainly could have handled more.


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 an example sound clip of me typing on the HyperX Alloy Elite sample at ~110 WPM. For context, you can find sound clips from other keyboards here, including those with linear switches. I did bottom out here, as is common with lighter linear switches such as these. In terms of actuation and typing, these were no different than the vast majority of other MX Red switches I have used before, with excellent quality control from Cherry. Their average actuation force was 45.12 cN across the twenty random switches I tested, and bottoming out felt just fine as well since nothing in particular stood out.

The rest of the keyboard performed as any other would, with the dedicated media control buttons coming in handy and the volume scroll wheel being one of the better implementations I have seen. Having no macro support, just like the Alloy FPS, the Alloy Elite ends up as one marketed to the same set of customers as before - except for those who wanted more than a minimalist keyboard experience.