Kingston HyperX Alloy FPS Keyboard Review (Cherry MX Red)

HyperX is Kingston’s gaming brand. They primarily offer high-performance PC components, including RAM, solid-state storage, and USB flash drives. More recently, they started offering peripherals like headsets and keyboards. The subject of this review is the Kingston HyperX Alloy FPS, a full-size desktop keyboard featuring mechanical switches and backlighting.

Kingston offers the Alloy FPS keyboard with three different kinds of Cherry MX mechanical switches, the first of which is the Cherry MX Blue. Of the available choices, these require the highest amount of actuation force (the amount of pressure needed to push the key down) and make the most noise. The noise was our biggest complaint when we reviewed the Alloy FPS keyboard with those switches.

The second type of switch is the one that’s in our Alloy FPS review keyboard this time around, the Cherry MX Red. By comparison, these switches require the least amount of actuation force, and makes the least amount of noise from the available choices. The last switch Kingston offers is the Cherry MX Brown, which is between the Blue and the Red switches when it comes to actuation force and noise. There’s not necessarily a right or wrong choice; it mostly comes down to personal preference. We’ll talk more about the typing experience later in this review.

The HyperX Alloy FPS keyboard retails for $99 across the board, regardless of the type of switches inside. As we’ll detail in the review, we think this is on the expensive side, but you’re definitely getting a high-quality product. Let’s take a look.

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If it doesn't have any sort of RGB backlighting, why does it need two USB connectors?

This keyboard does seem a bit lacking for $99. $75-$80 would be more appropriate; hopefully Amazon, et al, will do this once it's past its launch window. The Corsair Strafe with Cherry MX silent switches is a better board, especially when Best Buy puts it on sale (as it often does) for $120. You get full, customizable RGB backlighting and a USB pass-through port for connecting a mouse, etc. Plus, the MX silent switches offer the feel of mechanical with the noise of a membrane. The Corsair Utility Engine software is not intuitive for creating profiles, but it's at least gotten to the point where it doesn't crash constantly like earlier versions did. YMMV in that area, of course.

 

The second connector is for the USB power pass-through in the back of the keyboard. It does power only, and isn't a hub, which I found disappointing. It's not required to plug in (which I didn't).

I agree with you that $99 is too much for this. I saw it offered with a free HyperX mousepad on Newegg a short while ago, which is better. My conclusion on the review was essentially that this keyboard would only be worth $99 if you truly didn't care about the configuration software, in which case it offers a feature set comparable to others at the price range (ignoring the software).

I bought the Corsair Strafe RGB with the MX Silent switches, and I didn't like the feel of the keys. The tactile feedback felt uninspiring to me; it wasn't fun to type. Do you like the MX Silent switches?

Charles

 

Forgive me if I'm misunderstanding, but are you perhaps confusing "tactile feedback" with the sensation of bottoming out when pressing the keys? MX silent and red switches share mechanical characteristics - 45g actuation and a completely linear keypress. The silents, though, muffle the noise that happens when you bottom out. When most refer to the tactile nature of a mechanical key switch, they're talking about a bump that you can feel, which occurs before the key hits the bottom. MX brown and clear switches have this but do not make an audible click, while blues and greens do.

Again, please correct me if I'm wrong. I'm just confused that you would praise this keyboard for having "tactile feedback," yet dislike the mechanically similar silent switch.

 

The feel of the Corsair Strafe RGB with MX Silent is different than the MX Red on this Alloy FPS keyboard, even without the sound. The bottom of the travel is probably the main difference. It doesn't feel good to me. The up-and-down key travel the MX Red on this keyboard feels a lot smoother to me.

Charles

 

The Strafe probably feels mushy, which is a fair criticism, especially if you're used to the more standard Cherry MX switches. It doesn't bother me, and my wife certainly appreciates it especially after my last keyboard was a clicky Razer BlackWidow.