Corsair K70 RGB RAPIDFIRE Mechanical Keyboard Review

Apr 21, 2016

[section_title title=”Packaging & Closer Look”]

Packaging & Closer Look

This particular pre-release sample of the RAPIDFIRE arrived in a plain box, however expect the final version to look like below. Strong emphasis on the RGB and new switch type is as you would expect.Inside the box you get a wrist rest, MOBA/FPS textured key caps & key puller, quick start guide and of course, the keyboard.

The keyboard itself is incredibly similar to the K70 RGB model, released back in 2014, however a few tweaks have been made here and there. The K70 RGB RAPIDFIRE is a full sized keyboard (standard 105 keys for ISO, 104 for ANSI).

The underside of the RAPIDFIRE is relatively plain, however there are the usual feet to raise the back profile, plus additional ones at the front to increase the overall height.

After a great deal of feedback on the original K70 RGB model, Corsair have now added back in the USB 2.0 passthrough port along the top edge. Next to this is the polling rate switch and a BIOS mode, which disables a lot of the features of the keyboard to maintain maximum compatibility with systems at the BIOS level.

As usual, Corsair have kept the non-standard bottom row, which means it’ll be a pain finding 3rd party key caps to replace the basic set – not good Corsair! You can also see some of the industrial styled textured spacebar in the image below – a nice bit of detail.

In the opposite corner, you have the very useful media keys and winlock & brightness keys. The K70 has by far the best dedicated media keys to date, so it’s great to see that Corsair have stuck with their winning solution.

The RAPIDFIRE requires two USB cables to be connected to your system. You can get away with one, but the increased power draw from the lighting means you wouldn’t be able to use the backlighting.