Software

The Viper 8K is fully compatible with Synapse 3, Razer's staple software suite. Synapse is embedded into an overarching software suite called Razer Central. From there, additional optional modules may be installed, such as Chroma Connect, Chroma Studio, or the highly sophisticated macro editor.

All settings are accessible through five tabs. "Customize" houses button remapping, which also includes a HyperShift function, which allows for a second set of button maps that are accessed upon pressing a dedicated shift button. "Performance" enables one to adjust the CPI for up to five levels, ranging from 100 to 20,000 CPI, in increments of 50. Furthermore, x and y-sensitivity can be adjusted independently if so desired. Polling rate can be set to 125, 500, 1000, 2000, 4000, or 8000 Hz. "Lighting" is discussed below. "Calibration" allows one to adjust the lift-off distance in a highly detailed manner. One can either set LOD to pre-defined levels of 1, 2, or 3 mm or run a manual calibration. Additionally, Asymmetric Cut-off can be enabled for a higher lift-off distance while keeping the landing distance low. Lastly, profile management is available, too, which is useful for assigning different polling rates to specific applications.

All setting changes are applied immediately and saved to the on-board memory, so the software does not need to be running (or be installed) all the time. On my system, the software had a RAM footprint of 345 MB on average when running in the foreground, which doesn't change when minimized, be it to the taskbar or the system tray. Upon exiting the application, several processes with an overall RAM footprint of 135 MB keep running. Remarkably, these even load when setting Synapse not to auto-start with Windows. The only way to shut off everything while having Synapse installed is by running the firmware updater for the Viper 8K.

Lighting

The Viper 8K has but a single lighting zone, which is the logo. Five pre-defined lighting effects are available: Audio Meter (lighting reacts to audio playback), Breathing, Reactive (lighting reacts to button inputs), Spectrum Cycling, and Static. Brightness can be adjusted, and for most effects, the colors are adjustable as well. By using Chroma Studio, creating more advanced effects is also possible. Additionally, the lighting can be configured to switch off in idle or when the display is turned off. Flipping the switch above the brightness slider disables illumination altogether.

Color accuracy and vibrancy are excellent throughout. Here's a short demonstration video in which I go through the Spectrum Cycling and Breathing lighting effects: