Introduction

ROCCAT was all about AIMO at CES this year, and if that has you confused then you are not alone. AIMO, which ROCCAT also says to be a "living light", is their patent-pending solution to a more intelligent lighting platform to be used on their peripherals—keyboards, mice, and headsets alike. With a webpage dedicated to it, ROCCAT was making the point about how they were the first to add modern day RGB lighting to peripherals, and now, they wish to take it further. The AIMO system is supposed to be an out-of-the-box lighting solution that adapts to what is ongoing on your display to make sure it does not detract from the user experience. Without an explicit mention of how, and that is where the patent comes in, they certainly had my attention during the demo at the trade show, and today, I have my hands on the first keyboard that is, as ROCCAT puts it, AIMO-enhanced. Thanks again to them for providing a review sample for TechPowerUp.


The Horde AIMO is what ROCCAT decided to use to introduce the new lighting solution on keyboards, and it just happens to be an entirely new lineup as well. This is an interesting take in that ROCCAT could have easily decided to just add this to an existing keyboard, but by going with a new design, there are a few other interesting things here that are not present on their older keyboards. Indeed, the new features are enough to even justify a non-AIMO version simply termed the ROCCAT Horde, so do not dismiss this as yet another RGB gimmick. The ID is still convincingly that of ROCCAT to where you can immediately tell who made the keyboard at a glance. As with the Isku+ Force FX, ROCCAT decided to use non-mechanical switches to demonstrate a new technology to make it more friendly on the wallet, and this time, we see what are called "Membranical keys" in use here. We will go through all this and more and begin with a look at the specifications in the table below.

Specifications