Corsair K70 RGB Pro Review
A fantastic all-round gaming keyboard
Verdict
The Corsair K70 RGB Pro is one of the best all-round gaming keyboards out there. It’s incredibly sturdy and premium-feeling, and features both an immense polling rate and snappy switches. This does all come at a high cost though, so it may not be for every gamer.
Pros
- Incredible build quality
- Light, snappy switches
- Gorgeous RGB lighting
Cons
- Expensive
- ‘Hyper-polling’ may be difficult for mere mortals to detect
Availability
- UKRRP: £169.99
- USARRP: $169.99
- EuropeRRP: €199.99
Key Features
- Range of key switches to choose from:Corsair lets you pick from a range of switches, so you can make the keyboard silent, or loud and crunchy.
- 8000Hz polling rate:Results in a fast response time to reduce the delay between key press and on-screen action.
- Corsair’s iCue softwareThere’s plenty of customisation options with iCue software and bright RGB lighting
Introduction
The Corsair K70 gaming keyboard, and its derivatives, have been around for nearly a decade now, and this latest revision – the K70 Pro – is a worthy successor.
With its fantastic feature set, good looks, and snappy switches, it’s little surprise that the K70 RGB Pro isn’t the cheapest of keyboards with a price of £169.99/$169.99/€199.99. But if you’re happy to pay the high price, you may well have one of the best gaming keyboards currently available.
Design
- Sturdy, thick outer shell
- Military-grade construction
- Comfortable and convenient wrist rest
The Corsair K70 RGB Pro is a remarkably well-built keyboard with good looks and a nice premium feel. Like other K70s I’ve used in the past, Corsair hasn’t skimped out on the looks and build of this variant, with a smooth anodized aluminium finish making it feel fantastic. In addition, its good looks help it to look suave and purposeful in all manner of settings, be it an RGB-laden gaming den or a modern-looking home office, and even at work too.
It’s worth noting the K70 RGB Pro also seems a little bit smaller than other full-size gaming keyboards I’ve tested recently. When plonked down on a desk, it doesn’t feel or look massive, unlike some other behemoths out there. There’s something remarkably cutesy about the size of the K70 RGB Pro, but it’s welcome.
Also unlike other premium boards out there, like the SteelSeries Apex Pro or the Razer Huntsman V2 Analog, Corsair’s premium offering doesn’t sport any massive statement features like a programmable OLED screen, which helps keep things simple but effective. In other words, it’s not trying to be anything more than a rather good-looking and well-built gaming keyboard.
There aren’t any dedicated macro keys on the K70 RGB Pro, but you will find a handy Tournament Mode key that disables any accidental Macro key presses, as well as locking the backlighting to a less distracting static mode. In addition, there’s some convenient media controls with tactile buttons and a smooth volume roller present.
You do get a wrist rest with this particular Corsair keyboard, which can make typing more comfortable, and it conveniently attaches via magnets to the keyboard’s underside. Moreover, its detachable USB-C cable is braided, furthering that premium feel. If you turn the K70 RGB Pro over, you’ll find some rather useful cable channels for routing the cable through the middle, left, or right of the board, depending on where is most convenient.
The keycaps are also reflective of the premium build of the K70 RGB Pro with double-shot, PBT offerings feeling sturdy and well-made, especially in comparison to cheaper keyboard’s ABS options. Including PBT keycaps just adds an extra layer of durability to the K70 RGB Pro, as they are sure to last longer than ones made of ABS plastic.
Performance
- Great choice of MX switches
- Incredible polling rate
- Zero-latency wired connection is fantastic
As for performance, the K70 RGB Pro is excellent within games. My review sample featured CHERRY’s tried-and-tested MX Red RGB switches with their 45cN actuation force making them light and snappy, alongside a linear feeling to keep things simple.
If you’re looking for light, mainstream switches, you can’t really go wrong with Reds for either gaming or banging out an essay. But if you do prefer something a little heavier like I do, you’ll be pleased to know the K70 RGB Pro is also available with Blues, Blacks and Browns, as well as Silent Reds, and MX SPEED Silver switches for maximum speediness.
Where the K70 RGB Pro does win against the competition though is on its polling rate and therefore response time. It features Corsair’s AXON tech that offers up a polling rate of 8000Hz and a 4000Hz rate of key-scanning. According to Corsair, this translates to a response time of 0.25ms which should eliminate practically all latency within games.
This allows the K70 RGB Pro to become one of the most responsive keyboards out there today, alongside the likes of Razer’s Huntsman V2 that also carries an 8000Hz polling rate and Team Green’s optical switches – the two feel pretty comparable, truth be told.
With that being said, while the powerful polling rate is an incredible feature to have, it may not be noticeable to most mere mortals. But rest-assured, it’ll be quite the useful feature for the pros.
Software and lighting
- Corsair’s iCUE is fantastic software
- Some gorgeous RGB lighting
- Plenty of capacity for profiles
The Corsair K70 RGB Pro also delivers when it comes to the software and lighting side of things, thanks to a marvellous marriage of Corsair’s iCue software and some great native RGB lighting.
Out of the box, the K70 RGB Pro will cycle through a shedload of brilliantly bright colours and patterns, and the PBT keycaps do a marvellous job of letting it shine through.
The bundled iCUE software is also among the best I’ve used, with some versatile customisation options and plenty of pre-installed lighting presets that can be customised. The K70 RGB Pro also features 8MB of on-board memory that Corsair says can store up to 50 different profiles if you need it to.
Latest deals
Should you buy it?
You want a marvellous all-rounder:
The Corsair K70 RGB Pro is the complete package with a sturdy frame, snappy switches and some gorgeous RGB lighting and clever software.
You want something inexpensive:
The only major downside to the K70 RGB Pro is its high price, so if you’re wanting something inexpensive, this may not be the keyboard for you.
Final Thoughts
The Corsair K70 RGB Pro is a brilliant all-round choice due to it sturdy frame and minimal deck flex. Alongside this comes some snappy linear switches that are ideal for gaming and the power of an 8000Hz polling rate for the most competitive gamers out there.
It is indeed expensive at £169.99/$169.99/€199.99, but if you can afford it, the K70 RGB Pro is a keyboard that will serve you will for a rather long time, considering the long lifespan of its vast selection of different MX switches.
How we test
We use every keyboard we test for at least a week. During that time, we’ll check it for ease of use and put it through its paces by playing a variety of different genres, including FPS, strategy and and MOBAs.
We also check each keyboard’s software to see how easy it is to customise and set up.
Spent at least a week testing
Tested the performance on a variety of games
Compared the build quality with similar priced keyboards.
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FAQs
No, this keyboard is not waterproof.
No, this keyboard uses a wired connection via USB-A.
Full specs
Jargon buster
Polling rate
The frequency of which a device sends signals to a computer. It's especially important for gaming keyboards and mice, as it reduces the time it takes for an input to be registered, such as firing a gun at a target.RGB
RGB stands for Red Green Blue, and essentially means a device is capable of producing colourful lighting, rather than just a white light. It's often found on gaming peripherals such as mice and keyboards.
Editorial independence
Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
Editorial independence
Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
