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geekhack Community => Keyboards => Topic started by: Encabulator on Fri, 28 April 2017, 22:03:32

Title: How noticeable is the difference in reds/silvers actuation point?
Post by: Encabulator on Fri, 28 April 2017, 22:03:32
I've looked into cherry speed/silver switches but I really don't understand what advantage it would give you in any games. The difference in actuation distance from my past experience would probably just cause misclicks/typos. The only time I could think of it being useful is if you're playing a game with frame perfect timings like Stepmania or any kind of speed running. Can any of you guys tell me about your past experiences with silvers and how they compared to reds?
Title: Re: How noticeable is the difference in reds/silvers actuation point?
Post by: klennkellon on Fri, 28 April 2017, 22:19:19
Unless you're a competitive Osu player, it's not really noticeable.

However they are quite smooth and have shorter travel w/o the mushiness of o-rings so there are reasons to get them.

Title: Re: How noticeable is the difference in reds/silvers actuation point?
Post by: Encabulator on Sat, 29 April 2017, 12:26:33
Unless you're a competitive Osu player, it's not really noticeable.

However they are quite smooth and have shorter travel w/o the mushiness of o-rings so there are reasons to get them.

I actually prefer heavy switches for OSU! because I get really fatigued from bottoming out.
Title: Re: How noticeable is the difference in reds/silvers actuation point?
Post by: iLLucionist on Sat, 29 April 2017, 16:34:51
Unless you're a competitive Osu player, it's not really noticeable.

However they are quite smooth and have shorter travel w/o the mushiness of o-rings so there are reasons to get them.

I actually prefer heavy switches for OSU! because I get really fatigued from bottoming out.

I know use MX Clears for OSU. Would you advise blacks / reds for osu? Why? I'm in the race for a new board for these kind of precision / double taps. What's best?

OSU... BF4... csgo...
Title: Re: How noticeable is the difference in reds/silvers actuation point?
Post by: Encabulator on Sat, 29 April 2017, 17:39:17
Unless you're a competitive Osu player, it's not really noticeable.

However they are quite smooth and have shorter travel w/o the mushiness of o-rings so there are reasons to get them.

I actually prefer heavy switches for OSU! because I get really fatigued from bottoming out.

I know use MX Clears for OSU. Would you advise blacks / reds for osu? Why? I'm in the race for a new board for these kind of precision / double taps. What's best?

OSU... BF4... csgo...


It really depends on how heavy handed you are. if the switches are too heavy, it will take too much for and hurt your hands but if your switches are too light the impact of bottoming out can hurt. I've tried gateron red, cherry blue, cherry reds, outemu blacks, cherry blacks and cherry clears. Currently I think blacks are a bit too heavy for gaming and reds are a bit too light so I think my sweet spot would be the cherry nature whites. It all depends on what you find comfortable, if you can buy a switch tester that also functions as a keyboard (like something from varmillo) and try out different switches for OSU.
Title: Re: How noticeable is the difference in reds/silvers actuation point?
Post by: tp4tissue on Sat, 29 April 2017, 20:05:09
it's a big difference     ONLY  IF    you need precise simultaneous keypresses.


Outside of reducing the timing window of simultaneous keypresses,  reduced key travel does absolutely NOTHING..



That is to say, if you don't play osu, or perhaps stepmania,  or maybe marvel vs capcom...  it's completely useless.
Title: Re: How noticeable is the difference in reds/silvers actuation point?
Post by: iLLucionist on Sun, 30 April 2017, 05:18:55
it's a big difference     ONLY  IF    you need precise simultaneous keypresses.


Outside of reducing the timing window of simultaneous keypresses,  reduced key travel does absolutely NOTHING..



That is to say, if you don't play osu, or perhaps stepmania,  or maybe marvel vs capcom...  it's completely useless.

The struggle... I want to use those linears to get myself a non-topre typing board as well. silent reds or silver speed cherry. SO DIFFICULT. WHY THESE CHOICES IN LIFE.

I know one thing... my clears / topre are NOT suitable for gaming. double tapping doesn't work reliably. I don't know if it is because the upstroke or because of the way the actuation works in clears, but it simply doesn't work and it frustrates me.

Sigh..
Title: Re: How noticeable is the difference in reds/silvers actuation point?
Post by: Soo8 on Sun, 30 April 2017, 13:40:11
it's a big difference     ONLY  IF    you need precise simultaneous keypresses.


Outside of reducing the timing window of simultaneous keypresses,  reduced key travel does absolutely NOTHING..



That is to say, if you don't play osu, or perhaps stepmania,  or maybe marvel vs capcom...  it's completely useless.

The struggle... I want to use those linears to get myself a non-topre typing board as well. silent reds or silver speed cherry. SO DIFFICULT. WHY THESE CHOICES IN LIFE.

I know one thing... my clears / topre are NOT suitable for gaming. double tapping doesn't work reliably. I don't know if it is because the upstroke or because of the way the actuation works in clears, but it simply doesn't work and it frustrates me.

Sigh..

The ideal gaming switch is linear. Muscle memory is key and linear switches provide the quickest learning curve. Switches that have the actuation point and the reset point at different points of the key travel are clumsy and are only viable because they are tactile and provide audible feedback. The pressure point on MX style tactile switches preloads your finger force so you end up shooting far past the activation point. Nice for typing, not so much for really quick repetitive motions. Topre doesn't really have a very distinct tactile bump and it's prolonged, so again not ideal unless you have to bottom out every press for some weird reason. On linears though you can easily balance your force to hover around the activation/reset force and activate the key as fast as you can. For osu I would recommend MX Silvers, you get more feedback to know when to depress the key after you bottom out. You got your topre board to keep you company, so why go the Silent route?
Title: Re: How noticeable is the difference in reds/silvers actuation point?
Post by: iLLucionist on Sun, 30 April 2017, 15:46:10
it's a big difference     ONLY  IF    you need precise simultaneous keypresses.


Outside of reducing the timing window of simultaneous keypresses,  reduced key travel does absolutely NOTHING..



That is to say, if you don't play osu, or perhaps stepmania,  or maybe marvel vs capcom...  it's completely useless.

The struggle... I want to use those linears to get myself a non-topre typing board as well. silent reds or silver speed cherry. SO DIFFICULT. WHY THESE CHOICES IN LIFE.

I know one thing... my clears / topre are NOT suitable for gaming. double tapping doesn't work reliably. I don't know if it is because the upstroke or because of the way the actuation works in clears, but it simply doesn't work and it frustrates me.

Sigh..

The ideal gaming switch is linear. Muscle memory is key and linear switches provide the quickest learning curve. Switches that have the actuation point and the reset point at different points of the key travel are clumsy and are only viable because they are tactile and provide audible feedback. The pressure point on MX style tactile switches preloads your finger force so you end up shooting far past the activation point. Nice for typing, not so much for really quick repetitive motions. Topre doesn't really have a very distinct tactile bump and it's prolonged, so again not ideal unless you have to bottom out every press for some weird reason. On linears though you can easily balance your force to hover around the activation/reset force and activate the key as fast as you can. For osu I would recommend MX Silvers, you get more feedback to know when to depress the key after you bottom out. You got your topre board to keep you company, so why go the Silent route?

Good points, thanks for the info.
Title: Re: How noticeable is the difference in reds/silvers actuation point?
Post by: Skull_Angel on Mon, 01 May 2017, 03:57:04
Unless you're a competitive Osu player, it's not really noticeable.

However they are quite smooth and have shorter travel w/o the mushiness of o-rings so there are reasons to get them.

I actually prefer heavy switches for OSU! because I get really fatigued from bottoming out.

I know use MX Clears for OSU. Would you advise blacks / reds for osu? Why? I'm in the race for a new board for these kind of precision / double taps. What's best?

OSU... BF4... csgo...


It really depends on how heavy handed you are. if the switches are too heavy, it will take too much for and hurt your hands but if your switches are too light the impact of bottoming out can hurt. I've tried gateron red, cherry blue, cherry reds, outemu blacks, cherry blacks and cherry clears. Currently I think blacks are a bit too heavy for gaming and reds are a bit too light so I think my sweet spot would be the cherry nature whites. It all depends on what you find comfortable, if you can buy a switch tester that also functions as a keyboard (like something from varmillo) and try out different switches for OSU.

I've found that Gateron Blacks hit this sweetspot for stock switches for myself; heavier than Cherry Reds, but lighter than Blacks. I'm not competitive FPS, but I've run enough games though these 3 linear switches to know what's most comfortable for me; dental bands helped a lot with fatigue on Cherry Reds, but Blacks felt too heavy for multi-tapping very often.

I've considerd running without a backplate to dapen bottoming-out as well, but I really don't mind just using dental bands and thicker keycaps (would love to find a full set of Cherry or thick POM for 75% layout!). I'm not sure if removing the backplate would help with switches close to the edges of the case any way; depends on the mount points.
Title: Re: How noticeable is the difference in reds/silvers actuation point?
Post by: iLLucionist on Mon, 01 May 2017, 06:33:35
Unless you're a competitive Osu player, it's not really noticeable.

However they are quite smooth and have shorter travel w/o the mushiness of o-rings so there are reasons to get them.

I actually prefer heavy switches for OSU! because I get really fatigued from bottoming out.

I know use MX Clears for OSU. Would you advise blacks / reds for osu? Why? I'm in the race for a new board for these kind of precision / double taps. What's best?

OSU... BF4... csgo...


It really depends on how heavy handed you are. if the switches are too heavy, it will take too much for and hurt your hands but if your switches are too light the impact of bottoming out can hurt. I've tried gateron red, cherry blue, cherry reds, outemu blacks, cherry blacks and cherry clears. Currently I think blacks are a bit too heavy for gaming and reds are a bit too light so I think my sweet spot would be the cherry nature whites. It all depends on what you find comfortable, if you can buy a switch tester that also functions as a keyboard (like something from varmillo) and try out different switches for OSU.

I've found that Gateron Blacks hit this sweetspot for stock switches for myself; heavier than Cherry Reds, but lighter than Blacks. I'm not competitive FPS, but I've run enough games though these 3 linear switches to know what's most comfortable for me; dental bands helped a lot with fatigue on Cherry Reds, but Blacks felt too heavy for multi-tapping very often.

I've considerd running without a backplate to dapen bottoming-out as well, but I really don't mind just using dental bands and thicker keycaps (would love to find a full set of Cherry or thick POM for 75% layout!). I'm not sure if removing the backplate would help with switches close to the edges of the case any way; depends on the mount points.

I think I am very curious about silent reds to see how smooth stocks can be as a couple of people pointed out that they use new tooling for the pink / silent reds.

silver cherry also sounds enticing but I haven't come across boards that I really like that have m. If only I knew how to solder dangit.
Title: Re: How noticeable is the difference in reds/silvers actuation point?
Post by: Skull_Angel on Mon, 01 May 2017, 07:35:26
I think I am very curious about silent reds to see how smooth stocks can be as a couple of people pointed out that they use new tooling for the pink / silent reds.

silver cherry also sounds enticing but I haven't come across boards that I really like that have m. If only I knew how to solder dangit.

They've got me curious as well! I might  stick to the Gateron Blacks for my first build though, they're just so much cheaper/easier to get a hold of  :))
Title: Re: How noticeable is the difference in reds/silvers actuation point?
Post by: Encabulator on Mon, 01 May 2017, 14:58:26
I think I am very curious about silent reds to see how smooth stocks can be as a couple of people pointed out that they use new tooling for the pink / silent reds.

silver cherry also sounds enticing but I haven't come across boards that I really like that have m. If only I knew how to solder dangit.

They've got me curious as well! I might  stick to the Gateron Blacks for my first build though, they're just so much cheaper/easier to get a hold of  :))

Nothing will beat lubed gateron black for smoothness in the mx category (or will someone prove me wrong?)
Title: Re: How noticeable is the difference in reds/silvers actuation point?
Post by: Shady on Wed, 17 May 2017, 19:15:22
Was going to make a very similar thread to this, lucky i searched first.

In the market for a new KB, using an old school razer blackwidow with mx cherry blues. Play alot of FPS games these days and blues are not really suiting.

Shame all the PBT cap duckys with silvers are out of stock in Australia..

Only option is the Shine 6, but i am not an RGB fan.