Computer Shopper - UK (2019-10)

ISSUE 380|COMPUTER SHOPPER|OCTOBER 2019 87

»l·STjĚòÛTHElast fewpages, it’s clear that
there’s no shortage of good options if you
want amechanical keyboard and are willing to
pay£100 or more.The X1 RGB adds yet
another,iffrom an unlikely source:
Thermaltake is much more prolific in the
world of cases and coolers than peripherals.
Perhaps this lack of pedigree,compared to
manufacturers such as Asus, Ra҄er and
Roccat, is why the X1 RGB takes arelatively
conservative approach to design. Besides the
RGB backlighting, it looks plain, and it’s not
the sleekest of keyboards, either.Like the
RòG Strix jlare,there’s alot of empty space
around the top, leftand right edges, which
makes the whole thing seem alittle larger
than it could have been, but whereas Asus’s
keyboard compensates forthis with its design
flourishes, such as the light-up acrylic logo,
the X1 RGB is content to leave things as they
are.The basic black plastic finish also isn’t
anywhere near as nice as the RòG Strix jlare’s
part-matt, part-brushed texture.

PRECIOUS METAL
Still, it’s reassuringly solid, just as amechanical
keyboard should be,and its MX Speed Silver
switches are brilliant. These are similar to the
RòG Strix jlare’s Cherry MX Redswitches, in
that they’re smooth, relatively quiet linear
switches with a45N actuation force,but
their actuation distance (how faryou need
to press down to register an input) is only
1.2mm. That’s nearly half the 2mm distance
of MX Reds, which gives them an ever so
slightly faster and more responsive feel.
Total travel distance is shallower,too: 3.4mm
to the 4mm of MX Reds.
We still generally preferthe Roccat Vulcan
120 Aimo and its proprietary Titan switches
forlightning-fast responsiveness, but the X1
RGB remains agreat choice forfast-paced
gaming. We felt aminor improvement in
typing performance as well; if you’re a
particularly fast typist, the lower actuation
distance will help you keep your speed up.

THERMALTAKE X1RGB

★★★★★

£108•From http://www.novatech.co.uk

VERDICT

Theoptionalsoftwareneedswork,butasaplug-and-playmechboard,theX1RGBsucceeds

The X1 RGB is awell-equipped keyboard in

general. Afull set of dedicated media keys sit

at the top-leftcorner,including avolume

wheel and mutebutton, while on the rear

there’s aUSB2 pass-through port and a

3.5mm headset jack, both of which could be

very handy if you keep your PC under adesk

or anywhere else that could make it difficult to

reach its I΍ò ports. In fact, the X1 RGB is up

there with the best on connectivity: even the

more expensive Vulcan 120 Aimo doesn’t have

aUSB port or any audio jacks.

Awrist rest is also included, and snaps on

and off easily with the aid of magnets. It’s not

padded like the Asus TUj Gaming K7’s rest,

but it’s not uncomfortable,either.

Being an RGB keyboard, you can customise

the backlighting with your choice of 16.8

million colours, but the most impressive thing

is the range of effects and lighting modes. We

spent several minutes cycling through all the

different variations of wavy,flashing, pulsing

effects, and those were just the ones affecting

the full board; it’s also possible to light up

specific keys forspecific game types.

jorinstance,ifyou playalot of games that

primarily use the WASD keys forinput (like

most action and platformer games), you can

choose to light these up while leaving the rest

of the letter keys dark. Likewise,there’s a

MòBA mode that lights up the ĒWER keys,

which are used in games such as League of

Legends and Dota 2.

PLUS SUBTRACT

Unfortunately,you’ll likely have to do all of

this with the onboard controls, as the

accompanying TT RGB Plus software

repeatedly proved unusable.Weinstalled the

desktop client on two different PCs, and both

times were met with an unclosable error

message window about afan controller not

being connected. That’s perhaps explainable

by neither system having any other

Thermaltake hardware or software installed,

but there weren’t any options foradjusting

the keyboard’s lights, just to select whether or

not we wanted to activatelight syncing with

other components. Even then, nothing we

clicked would return us to the main screen,

which comprised useless speed and colour

controls fornon-existent Thermaltake fans.

There’s also amobile app,which is acool

idea, but this didn’t help,either; it wouldn’t

detect the X1 RGB when it was plugged intoa

PC on the same Wi-ji network, as per the

instructions. Worse,although the options to

search fordevices were in English, all the

dialog boxes were in Chinese.

GAMETIME

It’s ashame the software is so unreliable,as

the X1 RGB’s hardware is great all round. It has

neither the striking design nor the featherlight

keystroke feel of the Vulcan 120 Aimo,but it’s

easily responsive enough forits main goal of

gaming. It’s also cheaper than both Roccat’s

keyboard and the RòG Strix jlare,which

feature-wise is an even closer rival.

That said, the latter isn’t apoor-value

choice in comparison. It shares almost all of

the X1 RGB’s best bits, from dedicated media

controls to massively varied lighting options,

while offering anicer finish and build quality.

Speed Silver switches don’t make the RòG

Strix jlare’s MX Reds obsolete, either; if

anything, theymight be better forthose who

preferdeeper keytravel.

KEYBOARDS

It’s reassuringly solid, justasamechanical keyboardshould

be,and its MX Speed Silver switches arebrilliant