TheOverclocker Issue 38 | Page 49

ques, synonymous with many of the smaller peripheral companies. It’s a simple design which refrains from being boring by any measure. The RGB configuration options aren’t any different from what we’ve seen before and you can pretty much achieve any sort of lighting scheme you desire via the CUE suite. This suite has come a long way and at present it is amongst the most detailed I’ve seen. The power, hidden behind sub and drop-down menus. For simply recording macros and changing lighting schemes, it will be a straight forward exercise, however should you wish to delve deeper into either of these. The software allows you tremendous levels of control and you can easily spend hours should you so choose customizing the keyboard to your exact play style or general needs. Should you own a compatible device, for instance the Headset, or mouse, you may use the CUE link which will allow you to match the lighting scheme across all connected devices. There’s a myriad of lighting options at your disposal when using this mode. If you’re into that sort of thing, you’ll again spend plenty of time in the sub-menu tweaking to your heart’s content. There aren’t any dedicated macro keys like the other strafe models. You may re-assign any key to your particular macro and many keyboards on the market get around the absence of macros in this very manner. I’m undecided as to how I feel about this, as a part of me believes that all keyboard functions should be available for you to use at all, times. The reality however is that one rarely if ever, uses the entire keyboard in any title, save for perhaps flight simulators and such. Regardless of how you feel about the absence of dedicated macro keys, there isn’t an action you can materially perform on such a keyboard that you cannot on this offering. Included in the package are rubberized keycaps, two sets to be exact. These are supposedly to prevent your fingers from slipping when you’re playing. You naturally have to remove the regular ones to install these via the included tool. These feel great to use, but are far from ideal when typing, so you’d have to keep switching them out depending on what you’re doing. In the end Iresigned myself to the regular keys as I do not have a problem of slippery fingers while playing any FPS game. The added comfort of the rubberized keys is simple not enough to offset the task of constantly changing out the key caps. A great addition nonetheless and again, one that helps sell this keyboard as the premium gaming peripheral it is. In closing, there’s little to dislike about the STRAFE RGB MX-Silent. This is a great keyboard and those MX-Silent switches are a blessing. The STRAFE is just a hair shy of being brilliant. At present however, I’m a convinced that there aren’t any competing keyboards that can offer this particular combination of build quality, aesthetics and functionality. If one has to find a keyboard for this kind of money, the RGB MX-SILENT is the one. [ The OverClocker] Issue 38 | 2016 The OverClocker 49