Review: G.SKILL RipJaws KM780 RGB Mechanical Keyboard

#5174689 Posted on: 10/18/2015 10:59 PM

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I like the cherry MX keys, I like RGB lighting.

Shame about the function key placement on the left though. I align WASD control with my left hand by touch. I own a Coolermaster Storm MX white LED with brown keys and the same layout and its a great keyboard but I am always misaligning my hand due to the extra left hand row of keys and its a habit I cannot break so I use my Gigabyte Osmium with cherry red and blue LED instead for my main, which has extra keys at the top of the board. More user-friendly layout for my taste. While I like the look of this keyboard I would never get it because of the layout. What I would like is RGB cherry red or brown with function keys at the top.

So the review at least has been helpful, thanks

#5248968 Posted on: 03/23/2016 08:21 AM

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I just wanted to mention that this board is currently selling for $120 and free shipping right now at newegg.


I bought it last week for $140 and it's fantastic. I decided to give G.Skill a try for my first RGB/mechanical board (and theirs).


The software to control the lighting is certainly clunky but once you get the hang of it (a frustrating 5-10 minutes), you can make/save new lighting profiles in a few seconds. It's clearly their first effort (software-wise) but that will presumably continue to get refined over time. It wouldn't prevent me from recommending this board. Every other thing about it is a home-run. I'm digging the extra, raised, gaming keycaps.

#5250134 Posted on: 03/26/2016 12:32 AM

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this look better then what logitech offering atm.

Seeing i still in market for mechanial keyboard with dedicated media keys macro keys and on board profiles, as I tired of needing software always run to manage the profiles.

my G502 spoiled me in that regard, i want a keyboard i set the profile the way i want and then never have to run software again unless needed, also tired of said software causing issue, kind like logitech setpoint which i need solo for the my desktop wave pro keyboard.

#5250290 Posted on: 03/26/2016 03:51 PM

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That looks impressive. Things I like:

Small, out-of-the-way media and keyboard function keys. I like "dummy" keys like this, just not when they look like something from a Fisher Price toy that takes up the top half of a keyboard (much less buttons like, "Internet", "Email", "Chat" for example).
Analog volume control with level display: even though I'm sure it's being converted to digital and incrementing in steps, I prefer that to spamming volume up/down buttons (and I assume that this won't attempt to throw its own on-screen level display?). I also don't mind the placement of those buttons - I usually use those if I'm surfing the web or doing something elsewhere in the house and am using the keyboard as a remote for the media player.
Windows Lock Key - that hasn't been a problem for me for some time, but I'm glad it's there (some game caught me off guard with it recently... was kind of funny actually. Tron 2.0 I think it was?).
They didn't omit the "shortcut" key (much less the Pause/SysRq/Break/etc. keys).
The USB, headphone, and microphone line passthrough is nice (took me a minute to figure out what those were for).


The XArmor U9W mechanical keyboard has spoiled me though because it's wireless, but you can also wire it up directly. This allows me to use it for "serious" gaming (where I don't want to sweat battery levels or signal interference), and I can still disconnect it to use as a remote for the media player when I'm washing dishes or working on my bike (for example).

Also, maybe I missed it - what is that switch for on the back next to the headset outputs?

What are you using for reference? I align by touch, but I use the tactile bump on the F key (I actually bring my hand to the "home" position for typing, then scoot one key to the left). F is my default reload key, so that tactile feedback gets reinforced a lot.