Corsair has been one of the brands at the forefront of gaming mechanical keyboards ever since their resurgence in the mainstream market. The Corsair K70 RGB Pro is just one of their latest offerings packing a maximum polling rate of 8,000MHz, plenty of RGB lighting, a full-size layout, and plenty of software features under the hood.
| Switches | Cherry MX Red, MX Brown, MX Blue, MX Speed, MX Silent, Corsair OPX |
| Switch Durability | Up to 100 Million Keystrokes |
| Layout | 104-key, Media Controls, Volume Rocker, Profile Switch, Lighting Switch, Windows Lock |
| Connectivity | Wired, USB-C, Up to 8,000Hz Polling Rate with AXON |
| Build | Aluminum, Floating Keycaps |
| RGB Lighting | RGB Lighting |
| Software | Corsair iCUE |
| Keycaps | Laser-Etched, Double-Shot PBT, 1.5mm Thick |
| Features | 8MB On-Board Memory, Up to 50 On-Board Profiles, N-Key Roll Over, Anti-Ghosting |
| Weight | 1.15kg |
| Dimensions | 444 x 166 x 40mm |
| Colors | Black, White |
| Accessories | Magnetic Palm Rest, Braided USB-A to USB-C |
The Corsair K70 RGB Pro comes in a black and yellow box with the brand’s branding and its feature listed. Inside are the keyboard itself, a magnetic palm rest, a braided USB-A to USB-C cable, and documentation.
The Corsair K70 RGB Pro sports a full-size 104 layout with a couple of additions including dedicated media controls, a volume rocker with a mute button beside it, and dedicated buttons for lighting, profile switching, and Windows Lock.
There are also LED lights at the top-middle for the Corsair logo, lock lights, and Windows Lock. The brand’s logo follows the RGB pattern of the rest of the keyboard but the other indicator lights are locked a white color.
The addition of more keys for controls means that the keyboard is slightly larger compared to other 104-keyboard in the market. The top portion of the chassis is also thicker than the rest of the board presumably to house more electronics for its controller and on-board memory.
Over at the back is a USB-C port and a toggle for its Tournament Mode. The latter turns off RGB lighting and Profiles to make the keyboard as bare-bones as possible. This is helpful for those who participate in Tournaments as macros and profiles might not be allowed by the tourney’s organizer.
At the bottom are six cable routing channels and four large rubber feet. There are also two 2-stage flip-out feet that opens sideward – a nice touch from Corsair as some flip-out feet do give in if the keyboard is moved up and down the table or deskmat.
You have several choices of switches for the K70 RGB Pro, which include vanilla Cherry MX RGB Switches like Blue, Brown, Red, Speed, and Silent. You can also opt for Corsair OPX switches, which are optical switches, but the model that sport these are slightly more expensive.
The model we got come with Cherry MX RGB Red. They are fairly average when it comes to mechanical switches but they do the job. Cherry’s Red switches are lightweight linears with 45cN of operating force, 2.0mm pre-travel, and 4.0mm total travel before bottoming out.
Cherry MX RGB Reds are smooth for beginners but more experienced fingers will find them scratchy when compared to more exotic aftermarket switches. They could do with some thin lube to get the best feel possible. Unfortunately, the Corsair K70 RGB Pro’s switches are not hotswappable. This means that you won’t be able to change or replace switches, unless you have experience in soldering.
Keycaps are made out of double-shot PBT with laser-engraved legends that allow RGB lighting to pass through. They are standard affair though they are averagely thick at 1.5mm. The top part of the keycaps is slightly rough to give them a bit of texture. Primary and secondary legends are placed at the top, presumably to give them better RGB lighting coverage.
The keycaps are easily replaceable since they have Cherry-style mounts – the most common mount found for aftermarket keycaps. The layout is standard enough with a 6.25u spacebar so most sets, even cheap ones, should fit.
The Corsair K70 RGB Pro delivers a mixed typing experience. The chassis sounds hollow but it reverberates and the switches themselves produce a hollow thock whenever they bottom-out. The spacebar sounds okay but slightly mushy at the sides. Other larger keys, however, suffer from terrible rattle since Corsair applied no lube to them.
The stabilizers themselves are plate-mounted onto the chassis. They can be easily lubed if you wish since they are much more open compared to PCB-mounted stabilizers. So, some elbow grease can potentially remove their rattle. In our opinion, however, Corsair should have pre-lubed them out-of-the-box.
Some of the more observant of you may have heard coil whine in the recording. It seems that it emanates from the right-hand side of the keyboard while the RGB is on. This could be a case-by-case basis but our review unit does have this issue.
In order to get the most out of the Corsair K70 RGB Pro, you’ll need to download the iCUE app from their website. iCUE controls most of the software features of the keyboard including RGB lighting as well as allowing you to synchronize the lighting of other compatible devices with one another.
The software has a plethora of customization options for the keyboard. You can customize the assignment of each key or assign a lengthy macro to any of them. These options are less thorough when it comes to its Tournament mode for obvious reasons.
As expected, the RGB lighting options on Corsair devices are comprehensive. If you just want to use the device, you can choose from several presets available on the app. But if you really want to customize the RGB lighting on the keyboard, Corsair supports per-key RGB assignments as well as Lighting Layers for a nearly infinite amount of customization.
The Corsair K70 RGB Pro offers a complete set of features packed in a full-sized formfactor. Most of the gaming features that you want are here like RGB lighting, macro binding, and additional keys for multimedia controls. Both RGB lighting and macro are superbly comprehensive and can be fun to customize if you dive in to Corsair’s iCUE software. It’s build is rigid as well thanks to an aluminum chassis and the inclusion of a magnetic wrist rest is an appreciated gesture from the brand.
For the keyboard part, it does have its issues. While Cherry MX keys are great for entering the hobby, they are now pretty vanilla and don’t feel as good compared to aftermarket switches. It is unfortunate that the keyboard isn’t hotswappable so it can be customized even further. The stabilizers are incredibly noise because of their rattle. Thankfully, the spacebar is saved from this issue.
We also experienced issues with its RGB lighting. While the lighting itself is great and the software implementation is thorough, turning the lighting on causes the board to have a significant amount of coil whine. You won’t notice it if you’re playing music, videos, or games, but it will be noticeable in quieter areas. This issue might be contained in a small number of stocks but it is still something to lookout for.
Priced at PhP 8,495 in the Philippines for its Cherry MX RGB variants, the Corsair K70 RGB Pro is a solid gaming accessory and a serviceable keyboard. There are some issues but those who want a lot of software customization, excellent RGB lighting, and a hefty keyboard, then the K70 RGB Pro is one to be added to the short list.
The Corsair K70 RGB Pro is now available in the Philippines for PhP 8,495. Several switch variants are available including Cherry MX RGB Red, MX RGB Brown, MX RGB Blue, and MX RGB Silent. Its Corsair OPX model, however, is yet to arrive in the Philippines.
The K70 RGB Pro can be had through Corsair’s official Shopee and Lazada stores, and authorized retailers nationwide. Check out the list of stores in the Philippines via the official Corsair list.
