CM Storm Octane Keyboard and Mouse Review

With so many different keyboards and mice around these days, it’s never been a better time to grab a new keyboard and mice to compliment your new or old gaming rig, or just to spice up something you use as a daily driver. The biggest problem for those of you who are maybe looking into buying some for the first time is, bloody hell there are a lot of different types and models all with different, membrane, mechanical then you have different colour key caps that do different things, ghosting, function keys oh my. Now for a new buyer these can be overwhelming, and it would be awkward for this review if they hadn’t, Cooler master has come along to try and make things easier with a new bundle for you.

The Octane Gaming gear combo as they are calling is, is a nice little bundle with both a keyboard and mouse, all the things you need really too, well use that shiny new computer you have, or that older dusty one that you use and abuse. So you have new keyboards, both are very nice pieces of gaming kit, you can type on your keyboard and click with your mouse, but let’s go into this a bit more in-depth should we.

So let’s start with the keyboard called…well actually it’s called the MB7C keyboard, so I’m just going to call it keyboard, I like that name for it. So the keyboard is pretty much what you would expect from a gaming keyboard.

So basics, you have keys, normal and you have a num pad, personally not a fan of these, but I know many people who can’t deal without them, so yay. You also have some keys you would expect from a laptop, you have media keys at the top left, so you can play, pause and skip all your favourite songs, and on the right hand side two volume keys that affect well volume on your windows system.

The keyboard boasts 19 Anti ghosting keys, the ones you will use the most when playing games, they seem to have most genres covered, so unless you’re playing a flight SIM that requires every game, don’t worry, you won’t get any ghosts disturbing you. They work as intended, I didn’t find any problems when using the keyboard and found they worked fine, I never really had a problem with ghosting personally but there we go!

They keyboard also boasts backlit keys which are not that new or suppressing these days, especially when you compare it to the RBG keyboards offered by Razer and well Corsair, but the backlights are bright enough and make it easy to use in the dark. There are some nice options for the keyboard, like breathing and switching between colours, though nothing amazing, it’s a nice enough effect. The keyboard offers 7 different colours and a final off colour if backlit isn’t your thing.

Key wise, these are not mechanical keys, but they don’t feel off if you’re used to them, they have a nice little click when you press them even with a membrane underneath, they feel like a nice mix between the two as they have a nice feel with each keystroke but don’t have the super loud clicking noise that are associated with mechanicals.

The design of the keyboard will be hit or miss, I mean it’s very striking, with notches along the side of the keyboard and the whole unit looking very angular. It’s definitely an interesting design, and one you will need to like before purchasing, and it doesn’t hit all the right notes for me personally as I prefer a plain keyboard, but I can definitely see this complimenting the right set up well.

The keyboard all together is actually quite nice and for the price you would be hard pressed to find a better keyboard, in a similar bundle. On that, let’s look at the mouse, which also shares a similar interesting naming scheme as the keyboard with it, I the MS35, so again, it’s going to be called a mouse.

The mouse is highlighting a very similar design choices as the keyboard does, again extremely angular design which complement each other extremely well, but at the same time, fully depends on what you prefer as a design. The mouse also comes with the same colour choices as with the keyboard, a choice of 7 colours to match you alongside your keyboard.

The mouse is a standard 4 buttons, two standard and two on the left hand side which again is pretty standard among mice, you have a nice scroll wheel, with a slight catch on each notch of the scroll, It’s a nice feel but again personal preference. You also have two buttons below the scroll for controlling your mice DPI, which goes from barely moving, to normal, to holy shit slow down, and another button which allows you to change the colours of your mouse.

The mouse itself is actually quite light and small, which makes it a little uncomfortable to hold if you have larger hands. Though my only real complaint is the scroll wheel, it felt like I was having to stretch my hand just a little too much when using the mouse, which doesn’t feel that great.

All together these two make a fantastic bundle for someone who might not know a great deal about keyboards and mice, and just want two very stylised pieces of hardware to go with their computer and for the price that is what you get. There might be some dislikes depending on what the user likes in terms of design, but all together it is a very solid pack, and should be picked up when if you need them, for that 5/5 for great value and very solid designs.

Disclaimer:All scores given within our reviews are based on the artist’s personal opinion; this should in no way impede your decision to purchase the game.