Help deciding on a new keyboard

[MentalToast]

Hey I'm new here, I've only browsed these threads a few times and registered just moments ago, but I figured here would be a good place to ask some help regarding deciding on my upcoming keyboard purchase.

I'm avid gamer and a decently fast typer so the keyboard I've been looking into is the Razer Black Widow mechanical keyboard.

From all the viewpoints it looks like a good buy, looks sturdy, well built and the keys seem great sound and look alike. Up to this point i have only been using a variety of other keyboards switching off every couple months or so to keep things fresh, then cycling through the different ones. I have a Stock keyboard from my grandmother's 2-3 year old Compaq, while it's great and i love the large heightened keys, it proves itself horrible for gaming seeing as how it can't send more than 3-4 key presses at the same time ( I play World of Warcraft and can't do complex strafing maneuvers due to this ) I've also used 2 different Logitech wireless keyboards that I wasn't too fond of due to signal interruptions and random blackouts of the key presses. And I've also used  one of the latest model flat mac keyboards ( even though I'm a PC user) the flat keys are fairly nice...least for a short time.

I play many different games and swap between them sparatically and I type roughly 90-115 wpm depending on the keyboard and how well accustomed to it I am. So I just wanted to see if anyone has either some alternative suggestions or pros or cons of the black widow, or if they say that it's a good choice.


Sorry for the lenghty post, just wanted to get all the information out there.
(Also I'm not going for the black widow ultimate because i feel that an extra 50 dollars to shell out for back-lit keys and an audio/usb port isn't really worth it in my book, however I have heard that the keys on the ultimate and the normal are different material types)

tl;dr, Thinking about getting the Razer Black Widow , Is it a good choice?

[Pylon]

If you're holding down multiple keys, possibly look for a keyboard with N-key rollover, which allows you to hold down all 104 keys on PS/2 (or 6-keys over USB). Rosewill RK-9000 and a cheap USB-> PS/2 adapter ($2-$3 on Ebay) would be my pick. More expensive than a BW and lacks the programmable keys, but it's got NKRO and IMO looks better (the BW is just tacky IMO)

[MentalToast]

@Pylon, why do you think the BW is tacky? , Also I was kind of looking forward to the programmable keys on the BW.

[Pylon]

Actually, I take some of that back. The profile remind me of say, an F-117 stealth fighter, but it's just the font, the glowing Razer logo, and the excess gloss detract from it a bit. I mean Bank Gothic (what Das uses) is a bit better than that mess of a font that Razer uses, and F-117's aren't glossy and don't have excess lights.

[keyboardlover]

Welcome to GeekHack! I know nothing about that keyboard, but if you're interested in learning about other possible choices, here is a good place to start.

[MentalToast]

The choice of a Black Widow boils down to whether you value the Macros more than the lack of NKRO.  It's that simple.  (although right now the Black Widow is considerably cheaper than the Rosewill but that varies).

I'm willing to bet that as long as you are a typical WASD player the 2KRO won't be an issue.

I am a typical WASD player for about 90% of the games I play so I wouldn't need to press more than maybe 4-5 keys simultaneously. And since this purchase is pretty short on funds that's one of the reasons the black widow caught my eye. ( Plus I've wanted a couple macro keys on my keyboard for quite a while)

[bakageta]

Odds are good if you had issues with complex strafing stuff in WoW on your last keyboard, you'll have the same issues with the black widow. The setup might not be identical, but you've already noticed problems with 2-key rollover, there's going to be key combinations on the black widow that have the same problem. I'd spring for something with n-key rollover, even if that means saving a bit longer to get it.

[laden3]

IMO, if you have never tried/ plan to try other keyboards, the normal BW is a good choice.

If you are interested to try out other switches/ settled on blue switches (because you tried some boards with blue switches), don't buy the normal BW (IDK about the ultimate version), the keycaps on the normal BW just..... suck...

reasons?
- blue switches that are supposed to sound very energetic and lively feels like they are "dead" because of the keycaps
- it feels like the blue switches are "lagging" and you can't hear 2 clicks double-tapping the keys unless your finger is completely removed from the keycaps because of the keycaps (I tried some other keycaps, they do not have this problem)
- it is a PITA to change the keycaps next to the spacebar because their size is different compare to other replacement keycaps readily available

There are better boards out there and I regret spending $60 on the normal BW. These are just personal opinions, YMMV

[MentalToast]

Odds are good if you had issues with complex strafing stuff in WoW on your last keyboard, you'll have the same issues with the black widow. The setup might not be identical, but you've already noticed problems with 2-key rollover, there's going to be key combinations on the black widow that have the same problem. I'd spring for something with n-key rollover, even if that means saving a bit longer to get it.

I observed as I played for a bit and I read that the BW has a 6key rollover , all of my maneuvers used 4-5 so I think I'll be okay with it. And even those are only for a few seconds.

[bakageta]

Yep, it's definitely a 2 key rollover board, there's going to be some combos that don't work. Typically, if you're holding WD, 3 or 4 won't work, C won't work, etc, and if you're holding WA, then 1, Q, and Z won't work. I generally only noticed rollover issues in WoW and similar, while trying to strafe and move forward while using abilities, almost always in pvp. I ended up getting in the habit of always strafing left, and just mapping all of my useful abilities to 3 and up. It's not an issue for most fps games, but it's annoyed me several times trying to do complicated stuff in MMO's.

Like Ripster said, their advertising mentions "up to" 6 key rollover, but that could mean as little as a single combination of 6 works, like A F J L Esc Up, or something similarly useless. Any keyboard can do up to 6, what you're looking for is generally advertised as n-key rollover, which functions as 6 key rollover under USB.

[arc2]

Sadly I am beginning to sound like a broken record. Key roll over or lack of it can make a keyboard useless for gaming. I am speaking from experience here.

You need to be very certain the keyboard you purchase will register the key presses you make in game, and who is to know what games you will play in the next X years while you still have this new keyboard and what their key combinations are.

I didn't take a chance and went NKRO, at the very least you should ensure what you currently play is supported or be prepared for new keyboard purchase number two.

[Pylon]

About the key rollover.

Pretty much any keyboard can do "up to" 8 across the home row keys. But certain combos like QWAS and ASZX will fail and only 2 keys register, which is why we here at geekhack measure key rollover by minimum keys, which is usually 2. Most boards are 2KRO. Proper NKRO boards with a diode under every switch will allow ANY 6 keys to be held over USB, and all 104 over PS/2. There's a difference.

Though then, for gaming, it also varies on the board. A number of manufacturers use a gaming-optimized 2KRO layout that makes much of the keys around the WASD area capable of up to ~6-8 rollover, but 2KRO across much of the rest, I've played FPS's fine on a 2KRO board (the one on my Dell laptop) though.