Premier manufacturer of mechanical switches will be showing off the MX Board 6.0 to a UK audience, a design which boasts full n-key rollover and low-latency responsiveness.
Premier manufacturer of mechanical switches will be showing off the MX Board 6.0 to a UK audience, a design which boasts full n-key rollover and low-latency responsiveness.
Cherry have long been the hallmark brand when it comes to assessing the fundamental quality of a mechanical keyboard, and so when they come up with something new the industry tends to sit up an take notice. Such should be the case this week as the German manufacturer best known from their MX-brand switches showcase a new keyboard design which addresses two of the most pressing concerns still remaining – true n-key rollover, and latency.
N-key rollover is something of a bugbear in reviews as it can be difficult to test, but when it breaks down the results are deeply detrimental for gamers. The symptoms are straightforward: when pressing multiple keys one or more of those keys aren’t registered, or additional ‘ghost’ keypresses are erroneously registered. The problem is especially acute in gaming, where pressing multiple keys at a time is commonplace and indeed essential to a solid experience.
6-key rollover is fairly common amongst gaming keyboards, whilst premium mechanical models boast up to 20-key rollover (which, naturally, is near impossible to test through standard means). However the digital controller common in most mechanical boards reaches a point where it can’t discern between individual keypresses, making full n-key rollover (where each key on the keyboard can simultaneously be registered independently) all but impossible.
Cherry have, they claim, solved the problem in their new MX Board 6.0. The design, initially unveiled at CES 2015 and now making its UK debut at Gadget Show Live 2015, is the first to make use of Cherry Real Key technology, replacing the digital controller with a highly sensitive analogue link to every key switch. Not only will this eliminate ghosting and unlock full-keyboard rollover, it will also reduce latency from the typical 20ms to a much more zippy 1ms.
Initial MX Board 6.0 designs come equipped with the well regarded Cherry MX gold crosspoint key-switch, at this stage limited to the 45cN ‘MX Red’ type typically favoured by gamers. Additionally it is the first Cherry keyboard to include keyboard backlighting, a feature typically limited to 3rd party designs. Other core features are: an aluminium chassis, detachable magnetic wrist-rest, braided USB cable, Win-Key deactivation, 12 double function keys and 4 additional programmable multimedia keys.
More information on the MX Board 6.0 can be found here, and you can find them at Stand C32 @ Gadget Show Live 2015 from April 7th through 12th. The keyboard has a prospective release date of 13th May 2015, with UK MSRP set to £149.99.
