Corsair Gaming K95 RGB PLATINUM review

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Final Words and conclusion

Final words and conclusion

The new K95 RGB Platinum is a very nice improvement over the original K95. It is now fully software programmable, your profiles and macros can be saved onboard and, in addition, this keyboard has received a massive aesthetic overhaul. The trick is that Corsair didn't trade in on the good stuff the K95 had to offer, no, it shares that DNA and offers similar looks and that familiar feel. The difference obviously is that incredible RGB implementation and the combination of the fact that each and every key on this keyboard is programmable. And that certainly is nice.

1+1=2... Your keyboard can be amazingly programmable, but if the programmable software blows, then you are already one step behind. I have been complaining about the Corsair CUE software quite a bit in the past few years, but now have to state... Corsair improved it, BIGTIME. The new and updated CUE software is the cherry on top of the Cherry MX cake, albeit it still might be a bit much to digest for a starting PC gamer / new user. It seems that Corsair listened to feedback from us and you guys. If you take into account the macros, profiles and all the RGB programmability and then fire all that off at the K95 RGB, well, then you'll get a smile on your face. So yes, I do not have much to complain about really. The keyboard has improved on all fronts when compared to the original K95, and thus certainly is a long overdue upgrade. I do miss having a few more dedicated G-keys though, that might be the one remark for this keyboard. The original K95 had like 18 I think it was, this now is six. Yep, I found something to nitpick about - yay!


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Yah or nay?

Well, it has to be a yah as the K95 RGB Platinum nears perfection in my book. There is something we need to discuss though before you obliterate my yah. So we need to talk pricing, RGB on this level and implementation is expensive, Cherry MX switches are expensive, aluminum coating is expensive and considering there's an ASIC empowered SoC with 8MB profile storage in there... all this ensures the K95 RGB Platinum does not exactly sit in a cheap price segment. We already mentioned the price, it's 199 USD and a similar amount in EUROs. I know that is hard to defend for a gaming keyboard, but you will hopefully agree with me that you can see where the money went. I feel it is worth the money and Corsair will cover your investment with two years warranty as well. But this arguably will be the biggest conundrum for many people.

The CUE Software

I've stated a thing or two on the CUE software already. I've been nagging Corsair for two years already that the CUE software was too complicated and not user friendly enough, not to speak of the bugs I have seen consumers report. Over the past year or so Corsair has been going strong with updates and overhauling the software. The latest update (download here) honestly looks good, feels good and is so much more user-friendly that I can now finally classify it as a proper software suite. It is extensive though, but that's just because of the fact that the keyboard is extensive. The new software is your one stop piece of software for all new mice, headsets and keyboards from Corsair. It's the heaps of functions that can complicate control software, Corsair has improved this massively up-to a state where we like this new CUE software.

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Final words

It is time to wrap it up. The Corsair Gaming K95 RGB Platinum indeed is a flagship keyboard. Honestly, it is impressive to work with, feels great, comes with extra tactile feel WASD keys and is available optionally with Cherry MX Brown or the new MX Speed keys. Next to that, you get two color tone choices, all black and gunmetal. The Corsair K95 RGB Platinum will take getting used to a little. Please do give yourself a few days with the keyboard to fully understand it and get a feel for it. Really, if you come from a dome based keyboard then using a mechy definitely is different. Combined with all the lights etc. it is a lot to digest and get used to for the first day or so. If you use the keyboard for productivity (typing letters etc.) then noise might become a factor to consider. Mechanical keyboards are simply more noisy when you type on them.

If you allow me to take pricing out of the equation and purely focus on the hardware then yeah, Corsair might have struck gold here. It is an awesome keyboard to game on, it is incredibly versatile in its programmability and it just feels right working and gaming on it. The icing on top of the cake obviously is the advanced RGB LED system, which is amazing to look at and intricate to the level it can be configured, combined with that intriguing animation system. It's a showcase product alright, bound to impress your friends when you show off your PC or in a nice LAN frag-fest.

This new / revised / revamped / overhauled K95 keyboard once again evolved one step higher making it a mature and very feature rich product. It has a nice base that sits tight on your desktop with rubber feet and quite a hefty keyboard weight. We do love the extra tactile feel switchable WASD it offers. I also want to note that the macro programmable G-keys are very handy to use, I would have liked to have seen a few more though. Corsair did however research this and the result was that people prefer six G-keys over 18 of them as the board would be smaller. Hey, each to his own of course. For the true gamer the Corsair Gaming K95 RGB Platinum is simply a much desired product that comes highly recommended. But only you can decide whether or not it is worth this kind of money. 



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