Corsair K95 Platinum RGB Mechanical Keyboard

The Corsair K95 Platinum RGB Mechanical Keyboard (Affiliate Link) is Corsair’s flagship keyboard. It’s a rather big keyboard at 465mm x 171mm so if you have a small desk space it will be hard to fit it in. It comes with six programmable macros on the left and a media control section in the top right. Each key has its own LED and every thing on the keyboard lights up apart from the wrist rest.

Keyboard Specifications

• Comes in Cherry MX RGB Speed or Brown switches
• 6 Macro Keys
• USB pass-through (2.0)
• 110 Keys
• Keyboard report rate is 1000Hz
• USB 2.0 wired connectivity
• Dimensions: 465mm x 171mm x 36mm extended keyboard
• Full Key (NKRO) 100% Anti-ghosting
• Onboard memory
• Media keys
• iCUE support after 2.0

Unboxing and first look!

The Corsair K95 Platinum RGB Mechanical Keyboard ships in a black box with their signature yellow accents. The front and back of the box shows off the keyboard and some of the features it has.

Opening the Corsair K95 Platinum box we are greeted with Corsair’s logo imprinted on top. Once we remove this we are first greeted with the large keyboard. Everything is neatly packaged into the box and no space is wasted. Underneath the keyboard you will find the wrist rest and the extra key caps and key cap puller. The keyboard I chose has Cherry MX Speed switches.

Testing the Corsair K95 RGB Mechanical Platinum Keyboard

To test the Corsair K95 Platinum Keyboard I used it as my go to daily keyboard for just over three weeks. I have broken up this review into three different sections for your convenience.

Software – Corsair iCUE

The software that has been developed is the Corsair iCUE. It is the general home for all Corsair products such as headsets, mice and more. Through the iCUE software, we are first shown the screen where we can see all of our Corsair products. Once you click on the K95 you are shown various options on the left-hand side. These are Actions (Macro assignment), Lighting effects and Performance. You can also see what profile you have selected.

iCUE also allows you to update your software drivers with ease, just don’t disconnect them while it updates. I have been using this software since I have the HS70 wireless headphones and it’s one of the most responsive out there. You are able to change everything on the keyboard using this software. While it is optional to download, I recommend that you do download it as you will be able to configure your keyboard to how you like it.

RGB Lighting

Since each key is individually lit the keyboard is always visible in the dark. I have customized my colours to suit the games I play which are mainly FPS. The number pad is then my CPU temperature monitoring colours. This is done through the iCUE software. No matter what angle that you look at the keyboard from, it looks very stylish as it has a metal frame with bright colours and a soft wrist rest. You can also adjust the brightness of your keyboard if you think it is too bright, but you can clearly see every letter and number on full brightness.

Build quality

The build quality of this keyboard really meets up with its high price tag of £154.99. It has a sturdy metal frame with high-quality plastic keycaps. Pair this with Cherry MX Speed switches and you have a badass gaming keyboard. The extra keycaps it comes with are textured to allow you to find where WASD is without looking at your keyboard, or if you’re doing a midnight gaming session with no RGB.

Conclusion

All in all I think the Corsair K95 keyboard is a top tier gaming keyboard. Even though it has a high price tag, the quality and touch of the keyboard feel excellent. Even though I am used to Cherry MX Red, I quickly adapted and began loving the Cherry MX Speed switches. They are quiet, lightweight and require minimal force for them to register.

The keyboard also has endless options for mapping keybinds or controlling RGB. The extra buttons you have on the K95 are what everyone should expect on a high end keyboard. The multimedia controls provide quick access to volume control and allows you to skip tracks without leaving your current window. There are also three buttons in the top left of the keyboard which allow you to lock the menu buttons, change the LED brightness levels without using the app and change profiles depending on if you have more than one.

StariteGaming has also reviewed the Oculus Rift Virtual Reality headset and the RTX 2070 Aorus Xtreme GPU.