Mechanical key switches are key ingredients in most of the best gaming keyboards we have come across, and they are so common nowadays that pricing is often reasonable. That's especially true if you can catch one on sale, like HyperX's Alloy FPS RGB—the company currently has it marked down to $64.99, its lowest price ever.
This keyboard normally bounces back and forth between its $109.99 MSRP and a slightly reduced $99.99. Looking at CamelCamelCamel, which tracks price histories on Amazon, it only once came close to this sale price, dropping to $74 during Black Friday. Even accounting for that brief drop, its average price is just a tick under $95.
HyperX opted for Kailh Silver Speed key switches on this model. They have the shortest actuation point of all the switches HyperX carries, at 1.1mm, and an actuation force of just 40g. The switch is comparable to Cherry MX's Speed Silver (1.2mm actuation point, 45g actuation force), but slightly faster and lighter.
What all that essentially means is that it takes minimal effort and force to register a key press, with smooth key action, making it a good option for competitive gaming.
Notable features include a detachable cable, which I suppose can make packing it up for travel a touch easier, a Game mode that disables the Windows key, N-key rollover, and the inclusion of USB 2.0 pass-through ports with charging capabilities—you can plug in and juice up your smartphone, which is somewhat unique in the land of gaming keyboards.
RGB backlighting is part of the package too, with onboard memory to save your lighting and macro settings (up to three profiles).
We have not tested this specific model (we're very fond of HyperX's Alloy Elite RGB, though), but the overwhelming majority of user reviews across the web are positive. Our friends at GamesRadar also came away very impressed with this keyboard.
