G.Skill KM780 RGB Mechanical Gaming Keyboard Review

A Closer Look Continued

Here you can see how the toolkit box attached, personally, I wouldn’t keep it here, I’d put it in a drawer somewhere, but it’s nice to know you can keep it fitted to the keyboard.

The mouse cable bungee, I can’t state how much I love this little addition! Most people don’t realise the benefits of a cable holder for their mouse until they’ve tried one, so I’m sure a lot of people will benefit from this little add-on.

Hooking up the keyboard to the PC, and installing the desktop drivers so we can update the firmware, we’re treated to a gorgeous light show. The key’s are sitting in a black brushed aluminium housing, so the base reflection isn’t great, but it does have a softer and warmer tone than most of the eyeball-melting RGB setups that are on the market right now.

One of my favourite little features is the volume readout, which is on zero here.

Up a little bit.

Up a little bit more.

And more.

Ok you get the idea, but it’s a cool little addition to show you your master volume level, especially while you’re in the middle of a game. The lit up LED buttons at the top are nice too, as you can easily see where the multimedia controls are at a glance.

So what about the rest of the colour range? The RGB are certainly rich in colour and capable of smooth transitions, although I wouldn’t have expected anything less given that Cherry switches have proven their RGB talents to use in quite a few new keyboards this year.

Working on this keyboard is an absolute joy, but again, they’re Cherry MX Brown switches and while I’m not knocking G.Skill’s keyboard design, if you’ve used any other MX Brown switch keyboard, you know you’re going to get the exact same level of performance from this one as any other keyboard with the same switch.

Where the KM780 really shines is gaming, that is without a doubt what this keyboard was designed to excel at and it doesn’t take long to realise that fact. The gaming keys are a cool touch, although they’re optional so you can always leave the stock ones on if you like. Even more so, this is MX equipped, so you can add your own custom caps too if you so desire.

The powerful macro engine is a huge benefit to gaming, especially if you play a lot of simulators or MMO-type games. Being able to deploy complex commands at the stroke of a single key is a big time saver and can really give you an advantage.

The heavy weight and durable design of the keyboard brings other benefits too. If you’re a heavy-handed gamer, who frantically mashes at the keys you can rest assured that this keyboard isn’t going to slide around you desk. The other benefit is that there’s no vibration through the keyboard, so each key has a stable base and bounces back perfectly every time. I’ve used cheaper mechanical keyboards that have a bit of flex to them and with a thick aluminium frame and backplate, this keyboard exhibits nothing of the sort.

The RGB lighting is nice, but it’s not quite as bright as some keyboards on the market. This is mostly due to the black backplate, as it doesn’t reflect as much light, but even in a bright room there are some nice colour effects and I personally prefer the softer and warmer lighting of this keyboard vs some other popular RGB keyboards that can be a little dazzling and distracting.

Not taken by the whole rainbow effects thing? You can just as easily dial in a colour of your choice and leave it there, something I think is handy on a per-profile basis, as you can quickly tell which profile you have selected based on the current colour of the keys.