I found the OP's take on the K70 pretty interesting as the K70 was my very first board. I got the rapid fire version with silver switches and I have to say I still enjoy it for gaming although for just day to day typing it's far from the most premium experience. That being said gaming keyboards ability to lock windows key, media controls etc are something I do miss on more enthusiast level stuff.
Personally, I still don't understand how people accidentally press the Windows key when gaming.
Mal' I meant I cannot reuse the TOPRE RGB custom Titanium case of mine with another TOPRE RGB and expect a 100% gapless fit. I am that anal. $$$$ worth to be exact I was not speaking of the K70. I really like the "top" plate on the K70. The Silvers are too sensitive. Reds are about very good. Lubed and O-ringed are outstanding. The silent are not better just quieter. Reds are not loud like blues anyways. The k70 is okay. It is just kind of light and "flimsy". It is a good board but no way is it a custom board. I think for the price, the new IKBC should hands down shatter the K70. I am using my custom TOPRE now and there is no comparison. The K70 keycaps are good and luckily they sell them separately cheap. I suppose a custom based K70 would be nice. Like a 20+ pound board. Silvers could not have actuation points but reds could. Still, There are now better MX switches than Cherry for enthusiasts.
Could you maybe get a Norbauer case for it?
I consider reds to be too sensitive for regular typing too. I know I wouldn't want anything even more sensitive though. I like Kailh box reds quite a bit more than the standard Cherry ones, though I'm not sure whether or not I'll bother to put them into a board since I usually only use reds for gaming anyway. I have read that the silent reds are smoother, and somehow magically pleasant to type on. I have a switch tester that will hopefully come back out of the wormhole that is Chinese shipping ... in the coming months ... that has a silent red included, but I'm starting to be tempted to just get a board locally to try them. I have Kailh's new box silent red/pinks coming as well. I imagine if I did ever set up a board specifically with them, vs just using my old K70 with stock Cherries, I would probably put springs in them that fall somewhere between reds and blacks in weighting.
What is it that you find flimsy about a K70? Didn't you previously say that there was no flex at all? Maybe the newer ones are thinner or something, but the only keyboards that I have that I can definitively say are more sturdy than a K70 is my F77, and probably TG3 cop keyboards and BL82s. I have an F XT, Omnikey, Zenith Z-150, Zenith ZKB-2, Unitek K151L. They all have thick plastic upper cases and steel lower cases, but that steel is thin. You could say with any M or F, even with a plastic bottom case, will be very robust because of their thick plate sandwiches, but you can't say the same about their cases.
Do you mean an IKBC in particular? Most of the ones I have found look like thin plastic. I don't feel that custom necessarily means it is any more or less robust than a cheap board from China.