Corsair K95 RGB Platinum XT Mechanical Gaming Keyboard, Backlit RGB LED, Cherry MX Speed RGB Silver, Black (CH-9127414…

One online review I read called the Corsair K95 RGB Platinum keyboard the “Rolls Royce of gaming keyboards.” As an all-around keyboard, however, it’s not only a Rolls Royce but also a Ferrari, Aston Martin, Maserati, Bently…well, you get the picture. The K95 XT also falls under this description. One of the first things you’ll notice about either K95, are their heft and stiffness. This thing weighs a ton (for a keyboard). Both of the K95s owe their heft and rigidity to their inspired aircraft-grade anodized brushed aluminum frame, which screams: QUALITY! As a result, the K95 doesn’t flex even under the most relentless pounding as most plastic keyboards would. The next thing that pops out at you is this keyboard’s beauty. Corsair has long been known for its quality keyboards and the K95 XT doesn’t disappoint in the least. Compared to all other keyboards (regardless of price), both K95s are works of art you’ll continue to appreciate long after you’ve purchased one.I purchased a K95 in 2019 and a K95 XT in 2020. These two keyboards are nearly identical, so one may ask, “Why would you buy two nearly identical and VERY expensive keyboards?” Of course, I could answer, “Because I can,” but the very subtle improvements of the K95 XT simply won me over. Little things bothered me. I ordered my K95 with Brown switches because that was the closest choice to my preferred keyswitch, the Blues, which were unavailable on the original K95. Corsair, in my opinion, made a huge mistake not offering Blue and Green keyswitches with the original K95. They could have sold many more K95s had they done so. I ordered my K95 XT with Blue switches. In addition, I hated the cheap, hard plastic wrist rest that came with the original K95. The K95 XT’s pillow-like plush leatherette wrist rest is a HUGE improvement and brings its flagship keyboard up to the standard long ago adopted by many of the best keyboard manufacturers, all Corsair competitors.There are, of course, other subtleties that won me over to the K95 XT, but the elephant in the room was the real reason for my purchase of an XT—my K95 had a glaring malfunction: the USB disconnected continually, rendering the keyboard useless. Corsair gladly suggested I return the keyboard in exchange for a new one. I never did return the K95 because I was convinced the problem was with the iCUE software, not the keyboard. I decided to wait until Corsair fixed the software problem. I was wrong, it WAS a hardware problem. Now it’s too late to return the keyboard. My new K95 XT, thankfully, is free of this hardware problem (experienced by MANY K95 purchasers), and works flawlessly. I regret not sending my original K95 back to Corsair in exchange for a new one. It does, however, serve as a very excellent paperweight.My purchase of an XT and not another high-end keyboard like Corsair’s new K100, reveals my fondness for the original K95 design: solid, beautiful, classic, refined, stylish, but not flashy. It is still a work of art, professional and preferable to DIY mechanical keyboards. Many “in-the-know” folks say that an owner of the original K95 should stay the course rather than “upgrade” to the XT and, in large part, I agree. Unless, of course, you’re like me and can use and appreciate the subtle improvements of the XT and can afford the expense.Mechanical KeyswitchesAs a flagship keyboard, the K95 XT is, of course, a mechanical keyboard, which refers to its mechanical keyswitches. The keyswitch choice for the K95 is, unfortunately, very limited to two types: Cherry MX Speed and Cherry MX Brown. The K95 XT adds Cherry MX Blue and Cherry MX Speed Silvers. Of course, the Speeds are preferable for gaming while the Browns are meant to be a compromise between gaming and typing. The Blues are clickier versions of the Browns, a very popular keyswitch and my personal favorite, although I fell in love with the Browns. While I infrequently play video games and most of my work involves writing and general typing, the Speeds were out of the question for me. I can’t get enough (obviously) of the loud click and tactile bump the Blues and Greens provide. Many would agree with me, but just as many find the Blues and Greens to be intolerable (as do other members of the household and fellow office workers often do). The Browns are really a “silent” version of the Blues and don’t provide much of a tactile bump. Still, the Browns manage to deliver a VERY satisfying typing experience. They are crisp, precise and not all that silent.By-the-way, when referencing a Cherry MX Blue keyswitch, know that Cherry is the name of the manufacturer, a German company. MX stands for “mechanical” and Blue describes this keyswitch’s “clickyness” and tactile bump.Macro Keys and RemappingPerhaps the most useful feature of the K95s are the six macro keys running down the left side of the keyboard. Along with the iCUE software that is downloadable from the Corsair website, you can program these macro keys to use keyboard events, mouse movements, mouse clicks and the mouse wheel to issue complex commands, select menu items or type long strings of characters. Macros in each profile can be activated by a specific program associated with them, or you can manually switch between each profile with a simple key press. Although there are only six macro keys, up to three onboard profiles (five with the XT) allow you to program and use up to eighteen macros (thirty with the XT). Unfortunately, many find programming macros and profiles in iCUE to be quite difficult. The iCUE software does not present an intuitive interface and commands. For instance, there’s no way to “save” a macro or profile. Unintuitively, iCUE saves the macro or profile you create automatically, without need to issue a “save” command. Many find this “feature” disconcerting (was the macro saved or not?). The complexity and confusion of the iCUE software is due to its ability to use keyboard events, mouse movements, mouse clicks and the mouse wheel to issue complex commands and select menu items, not just keyboard events. Learning to create profiles, for some, has a long learning curve and viewing YouTube videos to learn how to create profiles is essential. The tutorial videos on the Corsair website are often narrated by speed-talkers who fly through explanations so fast, you find yourself rewinding sections and reviewing them over and over. I must say, however, that once you “get the hang of it,” iCUE is a joy to use.Some people find the location of the macro keys problematic. Some mistake the G1 key with the “ESC” key, while others mistake the G6 key with the “CTRL” key. Fortunately, I have no such problem since the macro keys are textured and color-coded. What if eighteen macro keys aren’t enough for you? The iCUE software enables you to “remap” any key to do anything you want it to do, including making keys other than the six G keys behave like macro keys. This allows you to use those otherwise almost useless “F” keys at the top of the keyboard to finally start pulling their own weight as additional macro keys. Also, often unused keys (like the Pause / Break key, the Insert key, the Scroll Lock key, etc.) can be remapped to become macro keys. This remapping capability is a delight, an efficiency booster and time saver.RGB BacklightingThe keys on the K95s are individually lit (also called, “per-key backlighting”), unlike some RGB keyboards which often use zone lighting. In zone lighting, one cannot assign a color to just one key…it has to be to a third of the keys on the keyboard or a fourth. In fact, most “RGB” keyboards utilize zone lighting, not per-key lighting, which is a premium feature. The keycap characters on both K95s are big, bold and allow plenty of backlight to shine through them, making typing in low light or no light situations a breeze. The XT has double-shot PBT keycaps which is somewhat of an improvement over the K95. Many backlit keyboards use small, skinny keycap characters and/or dim backlighting, negating the whole point of backlit keys. Such keyboards make typing in the dark a difficult proposition. The K95s have a button with a sun symbol on it which adjusts backlight brightness: Off, Dim, Medium and Bright.The K95s use true RGB L.E.D. lighting. Many keyboards tout RGB backlighting as a feature. In their case, it’s true that Red+Blue=Purple and that other combinations of Red, Green and Blue (RGB) can create other colors. Such keyboards, in reality, have only eight or ten colors available to them. However, the K95s use the entire RGB spectrum, which contains approximately 16.8 million colors. The K95s utilize “brightness” to expand the RGB spectrum. This allows the K95 to display truly amazing lighting effects such as the “Spiral Rainbow” and other effects which you can either create yourself or import into iCUE from the internet or obtain from a friend.You can also customize the keyboard with functional backlighting. For instance, I made all the alphabetic character keys shine with a white light, while the number pad keys illuminate in cyan; the ESC, Delete, Enter, Backspace, Del, keypad Num, Enter and Decimal point keys all shine in red; the Tab, Caps Lock and both Shift and Alt keys shine in blue, the G keys shine in pink, the F keys shine in cyan, etc. The F key shines in yellow (YouTube enlarge, minimize window), while the J key shines in cyan (YouTube rewind 10 seconds), the K key shines in magenta (YouTube Stop) and the L key shines in green (YouTube advance 10 seconds). This makes each grouping of keys distinct and quickly identifiable, making typing in a darkened environment much easier. My computer desk happens to be located in a dimly-lit corner and I prefer working in a darkened environment anyway, but with the K95’s bold key characters and brilliant backlighting, typing is a cinch—especially at night, when that corner gets even darker.Whether you purchase the K95 (approximately $176) or the K95 XT (approximately $230), you’ll have a premium keyboard that’s a joy to use and a great addition to your art collection. K95 users need not upgrade to the K95 XT unless they need and appreciate the K95 XT’s subtle improvements and can afford the expense. Both provide a keyboard’s basic functions and much more. Except for some subtle differences, both K95s are basically indistinguishable from each other.

starting my career on IBM mainframes way back in the day, I used 3277-type keyboards for years. Loved the mechanical feel and that “clack” sound as you struck the keys. After IBM sold their keyboard technology a couple of times, a company in Louisville bought the rights to produce the original design mechanical keyboards and I have been using them for years. I started seeing Cherry MX keys popping up everywhere and looked into them to make sure I was not missing anything. I ordered one of these and WOW. I know some folks don’t get excited about a keyboard, but I have worked from a home office for years and have several home PC’s, so I use 3 keyboards across all of those systems. I type a lot. AND I have played FPS video games for about 25 years, so my keyboards get a workout. This Corsair is simply fantastic. I have always typed fast, but I can really fly across this board. I got the brown Cherry keys that require almost a full stroke to actuate. And corsair didn’t forget about the FPS gamer in me. they include replacement keys for W, A, S, D, the lifeblood of PC FPS gamers. they have a dish shape and a diamond plate surface to prevent slippage. I’m not really into LED lighting systems on keyboards, so I have the light on all 3 keyboards set for white. the soft padded wrist rest finishes out the package nicely. This is an expensive keyboard, but if you are serious about your PC use, you must try one of these. Cannot recommend highly enough..

This keyboard has it all in terms of a feature list.Pros:1. Good switches. I went with MX Brown which is my preference for most mechanical keyboards.2. RGB is really good. Building layers to have a base backlight in addition to effects is really fun.3. The macro keys work well as long as you stick to the iCue software. Stream Deck is very limited.4. The volume scroll wheel is really nice. I wish all my keyboards had a scroll wheel like this.5. I can type fast (for me) with few mistakes.Neutral:1. I appreciate the Doubleshot PBT Keycaps but the keycaps on my Durgod feels much nicer.2. I actually like the wrist rest but I don’t think it’s quite as functional as it should be.Cons:1. Sound. Most mechanical switches produce a slight metallic resonance. This keyboard amplifies it the extent that you will hear it all the time. Honestly sometimes it’s too much. Some will not mind if but if you don’t want to hear high pitched metallic sounds with each keypress then don’t buy this. Not a great sounding keyboard.2. No-standard bottom row key-caps. Not a huge deal but limits those who want to customize more.3. Bad software bricked mine. Three times!!! They claimed it was old software that failed to update the firmware but even after updating the software is bricked my keyboard. There’s a manual work around posted on their forums.This is a keyboard where the sum is not greater than the parts. It has top parts and capability but overall it just doesn’t hold up to some of the cheaper alternatives. I have a plain Durgod I got here on Amazon with no backlighting that I will always prefer over the Corsair because it types and sounds wonderful.But…if you don’t care about sound or feel as much (why would you by a mechanical keyboard) and want all the bells and whistles then this might be your jam.One last note. I rate things harder than other people. 5 = the best I’ve ever used. 4 = Excellent. I’m giving this a 3 and it’ll probably be a 4 or 5 for some of you.

I bought this to replace my original K95 that had the cherry red switches. The speed switches feel just like the reds, I can’t tell any difference at all to be honest (Which is fine, because I wanted something just like my old reds anyway). I game as well as code and type a lot and I’ve never felt like the switches were uncomfortable for any of that, depends on if you are used to something so linear or not.The leather wrist rest is nice and soft and I like it a lot more than the old plastic one. I also like the newer audio control buttons as well as the RGB lighting on the top being nicer than the original keyboard was. Not sure what other issues some of the other reviewers are having, but I haven’t had any problems at all with the software for this keyboard, no glitches or issues it all works perfectly fine.My ONE complaint is that I’m sad the newer K95 keyboards only have 6 of the G-Keys now instead of the like 15 the old ones used to have. Not sure why they downgraded that part of the keyboard, but its a small complaint.Overall great keyboard, the build quality feels sturdy, the speeds feel just like reds, would buy this again.