Disassembly

The MK Fission has several layers to peel, and the first set begins with the keycaps. Once done, you will notice several countersunk Torx T6 head screws on the front which when removed help separate the bottom panel off the rest of the keyboard. However things are not done yet as we see a steel plate underneath too- no wonder this weighs as advertised.


Four more screws T6 and one steel Phillips head screw later, we can remove two more layers- the stainless steel at the bottom and the white plastic piece which forms the accent bar we saw earlier. Notice also here the line of RGB LEDs on the periphery of the PCB, these are what help provide the secondary lighting for the accent bar.


A sticker on the PCB tells me this particular sample was assembled on December 5, 2016. Solder quality on the PCB is average to decent, with solder plateaus everywhere but thankfully no terminating peaks or any near each other to potentially short out. The internal USB header is a fairly small one, but performs as one would expect. USB 2.0 will suffice for functionality, although there should be no lack of USB 3.0 ports in 2017. Each key has a well defined trace layout with the components soldered close by, including the white LED under every one of them for the primary lightning.



A control cluster is located close to the USB header with quite a lot of components including a micro-controller (Vision VS11K06A) and a dedicated LED driver (Vision VS12L02A) for the two lighting options. These components used are relatively unknown in that there is not much information available online despite use in a lot of backlit keyboards from last year, but rest assured that these are plenty enough for this keyboard.

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.