There’s currently a limited number of products in the HyperX portfolio, but it doesn’t mean that the company stops with what it currently has. Do take note, most, if not all of its products have been well received in the market, and we’ve given huge praises to three of the headsets we’ve reviewed that carry the HyperX banner. With that said, the company is taking careful steps to avoid tarnishing its current hold in the market, and now we’ve got a surprise that comes in the form of a mechanical keyboard – the HyperX Alloy FPS Mechanical Gaming Keyboard.
There’s currently a limited number of products in the HyperX
portfolio, but it doesn’t mean that the company stops with what it currently
has. Do take note, most, if not all of its products have been well received in
the market, and we’ve given huge praises to three of the headsets we’ve
reviewed that carry the HyperX banner. With that said, the company is taking
careful steps to avoid tarnishing its current hold in the market, and now we’ve
got a surprise that comes in the form of a mechanical keyboard – the HyperX
Alloy FPS Mechanical Gaming Keyboard.
Technical Specifications:
Switch: Cherry MX
Type: Mechanical
Backlight: Single color, Red
Light effects: 6 LED modes and 5 brightness levels
Connection type: USB 2.0 (2 USB connectors)
USB Passthrough: Yes (mobile phone charging only)
Polling rate: 1000Hz
Anti-ghosting: 100% anti-ghosting
Key rollover: 6-key / N-key modes
Media control: Yes
Game mode: Yes
Cable
Type: Detachable, braided
Length: 1.8m
Dimensions
Width: 441.65mm
Depth: 129.38mm
Height: 35.59mm
Weight (keyboard and cable): 1049g
Price: Php 5,990 SRP
PACKAGING
The HyperX Alloy FPS comes in standard HyperX design fashion
straight from the packaging – the familiar red and black design dons the box,
with the traditional HyperX branding stapled upfront. Those perusing can also
checkout the specs and features printed around the box.
As far as the inclusion goes, HyperX also books the Alloy
FPS with the standard fare and a couple of goodies, too. It comes with a
detachable braided cable, 8 replacement keys for WASD and 1-4 numerical keys
with red-metallic finish textured to cater to FPS gamers, a keycap removal tool
(which you don’t really have to use since the keycaps are easily removable
manually), and a high-quality mesh travel pouch that’s similar to what we’ve
seen on the HyperX Cloud II. Of course, the standard paperwork for a HyperX’s
warm welcome, as well as a quick start guide are also in the cards.
DESIGN
Design-wise, we’re very impressed with the construction of
the Alloy FPS – the full-sized keyboard’s solid-steel frame feels very nice and
sturdy to the touch, and its slim design is perfect for minimalist desks and
spaces. Despite its full-sized layout, it’s pretty compact for what it is. The
space between the Function lines and the numeric keys are kept at a bare
minimum, and there are no thick bezels on each side of the frame to boot. There
are no dedicated media keys, but you can easily access them using Fn
combinations with the Function keys.
The spaces in between keys feel somewhat large at first brush,
especially if you’ve been using laptop keyboards or the mini ones for your
desktop. Despite that, it’s easy to get used to once you start using
it, and there’s no steep learning curve to learn get the hang of it.
As for the lighting effects, the HyperX Alloy isn’t RGB.
It’s a single color red backlight, but it comes with five brightness levels and
dynamic lighting effects to keep you entertained/assisted when you’re using in
the dark. Cycling through different modes is quite easy, all it takes is the Fn
key and an arrow key to the left or right and you can check which one fits your
mood. It’s the same process for the brightness levels, only with the up and
down arrow keys for changing the levels.
While not exactly a dealbreaker, the Alloy FPS does not
come with dedicated media keys. HyperX designed it to be a no-frills gaming
keyboard, and it does a good job at it for what it is for. They are secondary
keys shared with the Function keys, which you can access via Fn. They aren’t evenly
lit though, but it’s well enough to see even in the dark.
HyperX also equipped the Alloy FPS with USB passthrough for
charging your phones. It’s probably not what you’d look at first in a
mechanical keyboard, but it adds a nice touch if you can’t be bothered to reach
to your PC’s USB ports to juice up your device.
PERFORMANCE
The Alloy FPS, as its name suggests, is a mechanical
keyboard designed for first person shooting games, but we’re not going to limit
ourselves with the intended market. We’ve tried it out with several titles
ranging games in the First Person genre to Action RPGs, and it has been our daily
driver for the past couple of weeks.
The Alloy FPS’ Cherry MX Blue switches are quite responsive,
although with high actuation that could work on your advantage or against you,
but once you take it out for a spin, you’ll get used to how it actuates. This
is vital especially to first person games like Overwatch where fast actuation
of keys would mean life or death in certain scenarios. For other games such as
RPGs and action adventure titles, it’s decent enough to fill you in with
essential usage. As mentioned, it has a Game Mode that disables the Windows key. It even comes with Anti-Ghosting as well as full N-Key rollover instead of the usual 6.
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When it comes to overall performance though, the buttons feel
crisp and the actuation is quite quick. Response also feels great, the Cherry
MX Blue Switches give awesome tactile response, although the switch noise would
probably annoy people around you especially if you’re using this one in the
office or if you have roommates with you.
CONCLUSION
The HyperX Alloy FPS is the company’s first foray into mechanical
keyboards, and it plays it safe by making it a no-frills offering for anyone in
need of a reliable controls. Design cues are actually great, there’s no nonessential
part here – HyperX sticks to the basics and does a great job at it. While, yes,
certain additions like an wristrest or lighting in RGB fashion could play a big part in your options, you can adapt to
the former, and the latter is just for bling. And hey, the inclusions can fill
you in if you’re the type to move around. We’re also giving props to its build
quality. Its solid steel construction gives it extreme durability, and its
keycaps absolutely feel good to the touch.
HyperX has just brought the Alloy FPS in the country with a
street price of Php5,990. Its strong core performance and straightforward features bring
it to eSports glory, and it’s one we can easily recommend.
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