Pros & Cons

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  Decently customizable
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  8,000Hz polling rate
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  Hot-swappable switches

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  Not enough options at purchase

With the $200 Alloy Rise gaming keyboard, HyperX joins the many brands venturing into the enthusiast keyboard market. It has the typical features of a higher-end gaming keyboard, including per-key RGB lighting, an 8,000Hz polling rate for extreme responsiveness, N-key rollover, anti-ghosting and mechanical switches. For keyboard enthusiasts, it also offers a removable aluminum faceplate, hot-swappable factory-lubricated switches and a gasket mount.

Broadly speaking, it’s unobjectionable. It’s fast, reasonably customizable, not bold in its design but not unsightly either and it does the job it’s meant to. It’s a shame HyperX doesn’t offer more customization at the time of purchase or a bare-bones model, which would help buyers who don’t want the stock components avoid unnecessary waste. That makes this a better option if you like what the stock model offers but might want to change things up later.

Mark Knapp/CNET

The Alloy Rise is a full-size, USB-C wired keyboard, complete with navigation cluster, number pad and even dedicated audio playback controls. There’s even a clickable control dial in the top-right corner. HyperX also offers the $170 Alloy Rise 75 — a 75% version of the keyboard that omits the number pad, greatly shrinks the navigation cluster and strips all the dedicated media controls (except the volume dial). While the full-size version lists for $200, Amazon has it for $100.

The keyboard uses an aluminum top plate that you can easily remove to replace with another. HyperX sells a white or blue one for $50, but the default is black. The plate comes off so easily, in fact, that lifting the keyboard from the sides can be a nuisance, as the plate just pops off, letting the keyboard itself fall out. 

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HyperX executed the lighting reasonably well and even included a light sensor to automatically adjust brightness. That said, it has fairly cramped key legends, and it fails to illuminate all the secondary functions in the number pad. Beyond this lighting, the look of the keyboard is about as plain as you can get. Rounded corners and lightly chamfered edges don’t strike a bold visual. There’s little in the way of logos or embellishment. The keyboard stands at 1.4 inches tall, with its tallest key (the volume dial) bringing it to 2 inches. It’s also fairly hefty at 2.8 pounds. 

Aside from the aluminum top plate, it’s all plastic as far as the eye can see, save for the rubber feet on the bottom. Two of these provide one additional level of angle adjustment for ergonomics. The keycaps are textured PBT, so they shouldn’t wear or get shiny quickly, while the rest is smoother plastic.

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The gasket mounting helps make the linear switches feel a little less harsh to type on for me, as I have a tendency to bottom out keys. The keycaps also benefit from the stability of the half-wall, low-friction POM stems. Wiggly keycaps can be the bane of typists, and these are quite stable. That, combined with the lateral curvature of the keycaps, makes it easy to feel out the center and avoid going over the edge and bumping a neighboring key.

Even though I dislike the typing feel of linear switches, I was able to reach a satisfactory 118-word-per-minute typing speed in Monkeytype with 98% accuracy. The sound of the keys is relatively satisfying, with a low chatter, no spring noise or reverberation within the case and no creaking.

HyperX’s red switches aren’t quite a one-to-one match for Cherry MX Reds. They offer a lower actuation force at 40 grams and actuate at just 1.8mm, though they appear to have a similar 4mm of total travel. However, with the gasket mounting allowing the key to further depress and HyperX not listing full specifications, it’s hard to be certain, and it may well be just 3.8mm. If you want different switches, the board should take most five-pin switches.

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Software customization, via HyperX’s Ngenuity software, is rather basic and a little unintuitive at times. Hardware customization is available, but HyperX doesn’t provide many prepurchase options. Instead, you’ll have to get the keyboard with HyperX’s Red linear switches, and if you want the company’s own tactile switches, you’ll pay an additional $25 and have to swap all the switches out yourself. 

Mark Knapp/CNET

As effective as the $200 Alloy Rise is as a keyboard, at $200, it could certainly have stood to be more exciting. The lighting effects are minimal and not that dazzling. The hardware customization should satisfy tinkerers, but doesn’t provide many options at the time of purchase.

A bare-bones model would be great, since right now, if you’re not a fan of the stock configuration, you still have to pay for all the parts you’ll replace as soon as you get it. As nice as an 8,000Hz polling rate may be for gamers, it has to contend with other perks such as wireless connectivity and custom actuation points that can be found on other keyboards, such as the Wooting Two HE or the much cheaper Razer Huntsman V2 Analog.