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