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geekhack Community => Keyboards => Topic started by: spremino on Mon, 11 August 2025, 07:59:32
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How likely is that I could swap the case of a Cherry G80-3000 with a case from any other G80-3000 with the same key layout? I'm asking because I've noticed that different revisions draw different currents, meaning that the electronics changed and possibly the dimensions of the internal board along with them.
Thank you.
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There was a big change going from winkeyless to the one with Windows keys. I've not seen any difference between cases after that other than the colour. There are Win-key keyboards that support different protocols, so obviously those must have been different controllers: AT, PS/2 - USB-combo and USB only.
AFAIK only the electronics on the controller board changed ... but that doesn't mean a different keyboard case does not exist.
Where did you hear that they have different current draw? I've measured the current draw of a USB version. Enabling a single locking LED made it draw three times as much as idle, so they are really only comparable when all LEDs are off.
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There was a big change going from winkeyless to the one with Windows keys. I've not seen any difference between cases after that other than the colour. There are Win-key keyboards that support different protocols, so obviously those must have been different controllers: AT, PS/2 - USB-combo and USB only.
AFAIK only the electronics on the controller board changed ... but that doesn't mean a different keyboard case does not exist.
Exactly: if the electronics changed, then the inside of the case may have been changed to accommodate a controller board of different size. If changes did happen, maybe they were only from PS/2 to USB, but who knows for sure?
Where did you hear that they have different current draw?
From the labels: mine is USB and says 16 mA, but I've seen USB specimens with 25 mA, and 200 mA for PS/2.
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How likely is that I could swap the case of a Cherry G80-3000 with a case from any other G80-3000 with the same key layout? I'm asking because I've noticed that different revisions draw different currents, meaning that the electronics changed and possibly the dimensions of the internal board along with them.
Thank you.
IME the only things that really changed on the G80-3000 cases is the switch from WKL to WK. I've swapped plenty of PCBs out of plain jane 3000s to cases (WKL & WK) from G81-3000s with cool branding without issue so I think you'll be fine. I don't think the case internals had any changes when they switched over from PS2 to USB.