does shorter travel make for better FPS keyboard?

[Thinkbank]

Something I've been thinking about... Does a keyboard with shorter travel key (.5-1mm), like scissor switch keyboard, give superior gaming performance over mechanical keyboard with 3mm+ travel? So then why are the mechanical keyboards all the rage for gaming?

[daerid]

The logical answer would be: for some people, maybe, but for many, no. That would be why a 4mm travel (the standard for Cherry switches) doesn't objectively affect gaming performance.

[Hucifer]

I think it depends on the game. If you need to hammer the keys multiple times per second then the reduced travel might be of some use but it's my feeling that the extra 1-2mm is negligible in most situations.

[FrostyToast]

I honestly just think that rubber dome keyboards feel awful and I can't use them to save my life.
For gaming... Eh I couldn't provide scientific evidence.

Edit: with mechanical key switches, especially cherry mx clears, you can hover below the bump, but above the actuation point for rapid actuations.

[Thinkbank]

I honestly just think that rubber dome keyboards feel awful and I can't use them to save my life.
For gaming... Eh I couldn't provide scientific evidence.

Edit: with mechanical key switches, especially cherry mx clears, you can hover below the bump, but above the actuation point for rapid actuations.

I cant stand rubber dome keyboards, they are squishy, but scissor keyboards seem like a compromise between mechanical and dome.

[JPG]

Once your finger starts going down, I am pretty sure it goes way fast enough that the travel distance of most mechanical keyboards does not affect the speed at which you react. In fact, the important point is usually to KNOW that you pressed the key and the feedback and precision is much better with a mechanical keyboard in general. I remember that when I was using a rubber dome keyboard for gaming, I often had the situation where I hit the key but not enough/correctly and was unsure if it had actuated and had to spend a second to determine if the action had taken effect or not.


So in the end, the travel distance, if not more than what is usually found in most mechanical keyboards, should not have a negative impact on the speed itself, and will mostly improve the speed because of the feedback of the keyboard and the trust you will have in it.


And in the end, the biggest factor will be the skill of the player anyway. But a mechanical can improve the pleasure of using the keyboard by a lot.

[Altis]

I game with both in FPS. Usually I use MX Cherry Blue (Razer BWU, yes, curse me) and the Apply aluminum keyboard (again) with scissor switches.

To be honest, my gaming isn't affected too much by using one over the other, but I do find that the scissor switches in the Apple keyboard have a much snappier tactile feel to them, a short depth, and are difficult to accidentally press the adjacent keys.

I actually don't use the MX Red at all for gaming, but I do for typing, and same with MX Brown. While the blue actually feel pretty nice for FPS, they are more tiring after many hours of gaming versus the Apple keyboard.

I don't think the response time of the scissor switches is really going to help you much, but not all scissor switches are the same, and most are pretty mushy. Other genres, though, such as strategy (ie. Starcraft 2) would benefit even more since they often use repeated keystrokes, which is not the case in FPS, where MX Blue for example can be unreliable when tapping repeatedly.

Just my $0.02.

[deltuhhh]

As far as FPS goes.... Not really. I've only used two switches while playing FPS (black and blues) and I didn't notice any kind of performance difference.

[Puddsy]

no

just learn to float mx reds

[Thinkbank]

no

just learn to float mx reds

Pardon my newbness, but what do you mean by "float"?

Thanks!

[quake4mhg]

As far as FPS goes.... Not really. I've only used two switches while playing FPS (black and blues) and I didn't notice any kind of performance difference.

Me too. I use mx black, brown & red for competitive fps games, don't feel any different. Might be I press too hard, too fast, concentrate on the screen too much.
But I do double o-rings on WASDR keys, I feel shorter keypress distance, o-rings bounce my fingers back up faster.

[dorkvader]

no

just learn to float mx reds

Pardon my newbness, but what do you mean by "float"?

Thanks!

he means to not bottom them out. To only press them to the actuation point.

It's a great feeling, typing lightly on MX reds. I used them to game for a short while and it was pretty cool, almost no effort involved.

[rowdy]

no

just learn to float mx reds

Pardon my newbness, but what do you mean by "float"?

Thanks!

he means to not bottom them out. To only press them to the actuation point.

It's a great feeling, typing lightly on MX reds. I used them to game for a short while and it was pretty cool, almost no effort involved.

Or more to the point, press the key down until just above the actuation point.

When you need to press the key, you'd have < 1mm travel distance to actuate, then let it up just enough to stop actuating.

So keeping the key pressed down almost all the way to the actuation point.

From that sense a switch with sorter travel distance to actuation would save you having to do this.

[Puddsy]

no

just learn to float mx reds

Pardon my newbness, but what do you mean by "float"?

Thanks!

he means to not bottom them out. To only press them to the actuation point.

It's a great feeling, typing lightly on MX reds. I used them to game for a short while and it was pretty cool, almost no effort involved.

Or more to the point, press the key down until just above the actuation point.

When you need to press the key, you'd have < 1mm travel distance to actuate, then let it up just enough to stop actuating.

So keeping the key pressed down almost all the way to the actuation point.

From that sense a switch with sorter travel distance to actuation would save you having to do this.

^^^^^^

[jacobolus]

What you really need is a linear switch with a nice big solenoid to make sure you know when you actuate the key. :-)

[Oobly]

No..

Clear stems make for a better FPS keyboard.

[Quardah]

I've think about this subject as well, trying to give myself an input advantage in games like Super Street Fighter IV: Arcade Edition and CS:GO, and i've come to the conclusion that the only logical answer would be : NO

Logic explained: It's not the input device that makes the player better or anything, as long as the player plays on the same device everytime. Why for? Because you personnal comfort is a much more important factor than some lower actuation point, and when you get real good at a game, you'll have what i may call "input memory" on this certain device and you will be able to execute flawlessly what you meant to do by habitude.

There is no unfair advantage into different mecanical switches (yes, Razer lies, i can confirm) but i would defenetly say that there's a legit advantage of having a mecanical keyboard when playing very input-dependant games, just because reliability comes in.

Also, just my two cents here, i strongly believe that the "best switches for gaming" (Yes, re-oppening the debate here) would be those with feedbacks, either clicky or tactile, just because feeling that an input is registered/unregistered was a huge difference for me in CS:GO especially. Just like TacticalStache said (smartest/wisest homie imo), "floating" using tactiles switches can defenetly turn to be advantagous when it comes to repeating an input based on your reflexes (like shift-walking in CS:GO to walk over specific material versus running on some others when they are mixed, or double registering the "q" to ready yo AWP faster after a good shot)

Hope you learned something from me, but don't forget it's opinion-ish only. Have a good one homie.
Peace.