Upgrade for my venerable Steelseries 7

[Aielman]

Greetings all.

Long time listener, first time caller.

Gotta say, I love this site. I work in IT and have been on the internet since before it was called the internet, and that combination makes me one of those guys who researches damn near anything I buy in an almost ridiculous fashion. So it was with great glee that I discovered this site 3 years or so ago, and joined it in 2012.

When I first was initiated into the cult of mechanical, after much research on this site into the differences between the switch types, and with the, then, rather narrow possibilities I could get here in the states from the usual outlets, I settled on a Steelseries 7. This was almost soley because of one requirement I have that knocked all of the better choices out of the running at the time...it has to have usb pass through.

I've never been really happy with it for three reasons, the first being I prefer something backlit for the semi-frequent night time sessions with the lights out because everyone else is asleep. The second is the ridiculous key lay out, especially the oversized return and the undersized back space (i make a fair amount of typing mistakes and the standard backspace really makes a difference, heh). Lastly, I have fund that the keys are far too easy to knock off, and the space bar frequently comes up on the left side, forcing me to have to stop and re-seat the key.

So it's time to replace the old girl, and I it would be nice to have some help from the experts with having some options.

My requirements are this.
1. Quiet. I need a quieter switch. I'm nearly always typing when my wife and kids are in the room and watching tv, or working on artwork. I'm also frequently on conference calls on speaker. For this reason I think I need to stick with MX Black or Red, or possibly brown or clear (never used the tactile switches, so I'm not certain about them in terms of noise or for gaming).
2. Backlit. Color really doesn't matter...I just need to be able to see the keys with my aging eyes that now require bifocals as of this week.
3. USB Pass through. The way my desk is situated in relation to where my computer is, the computer sits behind me to the right on a table with a comm rack between it and the desk my monitor/keyboard are on. So I need a way to plug in my gaming keypad and mouse without having to stretch a bunch of cables across my desk and around. So unless the choices with pass through are so poor in comparison to those without it, I'd like something with. (mind you, I can always just get a long usb cable and throw a pub on it if i have to).
4. Price isn't that much of an issue, but I'd like to keep it under $200 including shipping.

The only boards that are leaping out at me in an evening worth of searching is either the Max Tesoro or the Max Nighthawk X9. But I'm seeing mixed reviews, and I'm not at all familiar with them. There also doesn't seem much like for Corsair or Razer, which would be the obvious usual suspects to the untrained, so I'm hoping for some suggestions.

Thanks in advance.

[lonedruid]

1. If you think your Steelseries 7G which uses black mechanical switches is loud,Other mechanical switches will be as loud too. Blues and green switches are taboo then. You can research on lubing or silencing.

2. Ducky Shine, Razer , Corsair, Tesoro, CMstorm all make backlit keyboards. So it shouldnt be a problem.

3.Corsair K95 and K70 , CM storm MECH, Roccat MK Pro, Tesoro, has usb pass through, whereas Razer Black Widow, Ducky Shine and rest of CMstorm series  do not  have USb pass through. However do note, most of them has one usb port only.

4.Pricing is: all  of them should be below 200, corsair k95 and CM MECH is ard 220 SGD, while Roccat MK Pro is ard 270 SGD.

Overall : CMstorm MECH(taiwan based), Tesoro, Corsair K95(germany), Roccat MK Pro (germany)

Hope it helps

[Aielman]

1. If you think your Steelseries 7G which uses black mechanical switches is loud,Other mechanical switches will be as loud too. Blues and green switches are taboo then. You can research on lubing or silencing.

Sorry...I don't think I was clear enugh. i don't think the blacks are too loud. I think the blues are...never used the greens, but it sounds like they'd be just as loud.

The blacks were acceptable for sound. I just don't want anything louder than this.

As for the rest, thank you. I'll look into them.

[johndavis33]

If you want silence, then clears may be an idea if you want to try out tactile switches. The only thing that makes noise on black switches is the bottoming out sound, and that's a problem no matter what switches you're using. Clear springs build resistance during the travel, and by the end it's pretty strong. This makes it really, really, easy to type and game on them without that loud SNAP from bottoming out. It's pretty easy to not bottom out while typing on blacks, but for gaming it's another story. I think clears are the only switch that I can easily not bottom out on while baming

[Aielman]

If you want silence, then clears may be an idea if you want to try out tactile switches. The only thing that makes noise on black switches is the bottoming out sound, and that's a problem no matter what switches you're using. Clear springs build resistance during the travel, and by the end it's pretty strong. This makes it really, really, easy to type and game on them without that loud SNAP from bottoming out. It's pretty easy to not bottom out while typing on blacks, but for gaming it's another story. I think clears are the only switch that I can easily not bottom out on while baming

I considered the clears just from reading, but am not familiar with them personally. Thanks for the insight.

Now I just need some more suggestions on actual boards

[zig_ziglar]

I expect to bottom out most of the time while gaming, on any switch. This fact does not bother me at all. When you are hitting keys like your life depends on it, the feel of the key press is hardly on your mind. I can avoid bottoming out on Reds when typing. Gaming is just a whole different kettle of fish.

[Aielman]

The sound from bottoming out really isn't an issue for me. The sound from a blue switch would be.

Keyboard sound isn't much of a worry when I'm gaming. Me swearing at my screen is far louder than any keyboard could ever be  )

[Linkbane]

Nighthawk would be a good choice, they're held in pretty high pinion around here. You might even take a look at Corsair boards, where the K90 and K70 should be backlit, with switch choice. Unfortunately, some of the best backlit boards (Ducky) don't have the passthrough.