Review on Steelseries 6GV2 Mechanical Gaming Keyboard

Here is the Steelseries 6GV2 Mechanical Gaming Keyboard.

The snapshot above shows a cherry MX black switch for their keyboard. This switch is linear, unlike the brown and blue switch which gives user a clicky tactile bump.

From the side view, it looks like a plain keyboard and does not even look like a gaming keyboard at 1st.

The front view for the keyboard, looks pretty much like the old school compact keyboard i used to have during the old days.

Top view, They uses white LED for the num lock, caps lock and scroll lock indicator, looks odd but at least it is not like the blinding white LED on 7G.

It comes with a PS/2 converter for those who prefer to have NKRO  feature. On USB, you can get up to 6 simultaneous key pressed down and 1 modifier key which makes it a total of 7 keys under USB connector.

As you can see, the switches are mounted on a metal plate which provide better stability compared to those PCB mounted switches on Cherry boards.

Pros: 

1. The anti-ghosting on PS/2 is pretty amazing, suitable for games that requires simultaneous key pressed down. (FPS games,  Music games )

2. Sensitive switches that captures your input faster.

3. Silent keys, pretty good for typing in the middle of the night especially if you do not want to wake up anyone nearby.

4. Media keys allow users to control their volume with a short distance combination of steelseries key and the function key.

5. Feels pretty good typing on it.

Cons:

1. The NKRO features are not available on USB is a pain in the ass for those who need to press more than 6 keys at once. Music gamers for ez2on, DJ Max, LR2, O2jam that uses USB port will face this problem. Not everyone are used to  the big sized modifier key.

2. No clicky feeling might leave the user in question: "did i pressed the key just now?". 

3. The lifespan is  something which i personally doubt at, as the more you press it, the less springy it gets. The feel is totally different than a rubber dome keyboard.

4. The replaced windows key is something not so convenient as i tends to press the left windows key to access my stuffs. They could come up with a key to disable it temporary.

5. A little out of budget and does not illuminate like the Merc. From the switch there you can clearly see that there is LED slot for LED, i wonder why they never implement on it?

6. Long term rapid key press will somehow lead to losing the springy feel. You can change the switches of course..

Overall Rating:

Design: 8/10

Durability: 8/10

Tactile feel: 5/10

Price: 7/10

Performance: 8/10

Comment:

For those 1st timer, you might feel a little uncomfortable without the bump you used to have on normal rubber dome keyboards. Comparing it with the Razer keyboards, most of them are flat keys except the blackwidow expert and blackwidow ultimate that uses the blue switch with a more clicky feel.