Corsair STRAFE Silent RGB review

Corsair’s latest gaming keyboard builds on the legacy established by the excellent K70 RGB, which introduced per-key backlighting for some truly stunning desktop light shows. Unlike other mechanical keyboards, however, the Strafe RGB won’t make a racket when you type; it’s the first keyboard to use Cherry’s new MX Silent key switch.

The Switch

Effectively a redesigned Cherry MX Red switch, each MX Silent key has the same linear action, moving straight up and down without any additional tactile feedback. The light 45 Centinewtons (Cn) activation force allows for more rapid actuation, and each key is rated for 50 million keystrokes. They have an ever-so-slightly shorter travel (3.7mm versus 4mm for the standard MX Red) but in everyday use I didn’t notice.

You certainly notice the noise difference though. While not completely silent, typing becomes comparable to a membrane keyboard, with none of the clattering associated with bottoming out a traditional mechanical switch.

There was much debate in the office over whether there were any differences in how each key felt to press compared to a standard Cherry MX switch. Some said the Strafe felt squishier than other keyboards, but that was primarily because they were used to Brown or Blue switches with a physical actuation point. Others that use Red switches found it harder to tell the difference, with the consensus suggesting the Silent keys felt like they had slightly more resistance, but it’s only a slight difference.

The Keyboard

Corsair has made a few cost-cutting moves to launch the Strafe RGB Silent at a lower price than the phenomenally successful K70 RGB – namely ditching the metal back plate in favour of a plastic one, and using an Fn key to double the function keys up as multimedia shortcuts rather than include dedicated multimedia buttons.

That’s not to say the Strafe doesn’t have some advantages over the K70 though. You still get a comfortable wrist rest, full 104-key rollover, and a USB pass-through port – something missing from the Kxx series keyboards. It makes it much easier to connect a USB flash drive when your PC is stashed under a desk.

You also get two sets of contoured, textured key caps and a key cap puller tool. One set replaces the W, A, S and D keys for FPS gaming, while the other swaps out the Q, W, E, R, D and F keys for MOBAs. MMO gamers will appreciate the ability to customise every single key on the board, or set up complicated macros with just a few clicks in the software suite.

The textured finish has also been applied to the space bar, helping distinguish it from the rest of the bottom row keys – important, because of the non-standard layout. The Windows key and Menu key are smaller than usual to make room for the Fn key, but the difference is so slight that it didn’t affect me when typing or gaming.

The Lights

Corsair’s per-key RGB backlighting is simply the best of all the mechanical keyboards I’ve tried, and that remains true on the Strafe RGB. Each key is bright enough to be seen clearly during the day, let alone at night, but you can choose between three brightness levels using the button at the top right corner of the keyboard if you find it too distracting at night. Illumination is next to perfect, with no dim keys and the double-row punctuation and number pad keys being perfectly legible.

The Strafe also gains a light strip on either side of the keyboard tray. Each one is fairly dim, casting a small glow across your desk at night and acting as an attractive design flourish during the day. They are also restricted to white light only, unlike the rest of the keyboard.

Otherwise, the lighting effects are completely customisable using the Cue software suite. This works with Corsair mice like the Scimitar and gaming headsets such as the Void, too, saving you the need to run separate drivers for each peripheral. There are multiple effects pre-sets, including a random ‘rain’ of light from the top to the bottom of the keyboard, steady fades, pulses and shifts, a Knight-rider style side-to-side pulse, and my personal favourite, a rainbow ripple that slowly crosses the keyboard from left to right. You can also add per-key ripples, where a burst of light spreads across the keyboard whenever you press a key.

Creating your own effects takes a little more effort, as you can dial down into individual key effects, colours and activation parameters. Unlike the standard Strafe, which only has red LED backlighting, the addition of RGB colours here make things more complicated, so you could spend hours getting the effect just how you wanted it. Thankfully you can also download user-created profiles from Corsair’s support forums.

Conclusion

Now that the K70 RGB has gone up in price, the Strafe RGB is the Corsair keyboard to buy. The per-key illumination is fantastic, and unlike Q-Pad’s MK-90 the software actually works with Windows 10. It might not have a metal backing plate, but construction and build quality are fantastic, and the silent keys are perfect for typing or gaming when you have to share the room with other people. Corsair’s six-month exclusivity deal means it will be the only company with Cherry MX Silent switches until at least summer 2016, making the Strafe RGB Silent the obvious choice for anyone looking to add some peace and quiet to their gaming sessions.