Cooler Master Quick Fire XTI Mechanical Gaming Keyboard Review

When choosing which Cooler Master Quick Fire XTI Keyboard you need to choose which Cherry MX Switch you fancy, each switch offers a different feeling when using the keyboard, so choose wisely.

All Cherry MX Switches offer 100% anti-ghosting and 1000Hz polling, if you not certain what ghost and poling means, it’s time for a little teaching,

Polling rate is how often your mouse reports its position to the computer, example if you had a mouse with a 125Hz polling, the mouse would send its position 125 times every second, so having a 1000Hz polling rate, offers a more precise position as the mouse position is sent 1000 times per second.

Anti Ghosting is when a single or several keystrokes are lost, due to the keyboards inability to process simultaneous signals, anti ghosting stops this from happening, as gamers always/mostly will press more than one key at any-one-time during gameplay sessions, you will see this mostly is games that requires many keys pressed, like RTS games.

• Cherry MX Black – Linear switch with Actuation Force
• Cherry MX Brown Switches – Tactile Switch with Actuation Force
• Cherry MX Blue Switches – Tactile & Clicky with Actuation Force
• Cherry MX Red Switches  – Linear Switch with Actuation Force

When viewing the Keyboard from a marketing and selling point, have nailed it, on the front you can see the full size keyboard in all its glory, lite up and ready to fire, you will know what MX switch and Layout you are buying directly on the front packaging.

Features include

• 100% German-made Cherry MX Red/Blue/Brown RGB mechanical key switches for ultimate performance to endure 50million keystrokes
• 35 color backlighting per key for customization
• Key Switch Cherry MX RGB Red/Blue/Brown Mechanical Switches
• Backlighting Red / Blue
• Report Rate – 1000 Hz (USB) Rollover 104-Key
• 100% Anti-Ghostinging

Opening the box and you get to see that cooler master have moved past basic packaging and now your new keyboard is bedded down in a nice cloth bag. You will also find a basic instruction manual, not really needed and a 1.8m braided cord, that is great since it stops wire tangling, which is a pain in my arse when it comes to peripherals, even worse when you get a high end product with a cheap shitting rubber cord.

You also get a keycap puller and a spare cooler master logo key, which seems, errr stupid, would if not make more sense to send spare WSAD keys, as these do get used a lot more often.

First look

The keyboard looks sweet under hand, with a nice heavy feel to it (around 1kg), add that with the sweet matt black finished design. The keys feel nice when pressed, not too stiff, not too rugged, just right, the best thing about the keys though, is the UV protection that helps prevent the letters from fading over time.

Something I see a lot nowadays, media keys is found printed on the function keys, not this time though, you can find the media key printed on the same keys as INS, HOME, PAGEUP, DEL, END and PAGE DOWN. Printed on the function keys themselves are other options, which include LED control, repeat rate, macro control and windows lock key. Wondering what a Windows Lock Key is? Well, it stops the windows key from functioning and dropping you on to the windows desktop.

First time use

Once you have connected up the braided cable to your PC/Laptop off you go, as you are treated to a red and blue light combo, when using the FN Key (Function key) you can alter the light profile or macro profile, but best of all, you can play Snake on the keyboard. Yes, you read that right Snake, the same game everyone was addicted to back when the game, came pre-installed on all Novia devices, and became one if the main selling points to owning a Nokia phone.

Why Mechanical?

Well gamers seem to prefer mechanical keys as they feel more noticeable when pressed down compared to the standard rubber sheath used with another keyboard, normally cheaper keyboards. I personally live mechanical for gaming, but prefer low key with rubber for typing.

You will also find that each key has its own separate LED, which makes them brighter and more attractive to the eye, should I say brighter? I can confirm this as I use the SteelSeries MS GS70 Laptop which has a rubber sheath keys with LED and the brightness is no where near as good as a mechanical keyboard.

Software Vs Hardware.

I have sued Software for some time now to control the LED’s on my keyboards, apart from the brightness levels, which can be controlled via the keyboard itself, I find using a software more flexible but can also add a little extra resource hogging in the background.

This keyboard uses built in Hardware to control everything, no need for software, but has its limitations. Getting use to and remembering how everything works is a must as you cannot simply click on a desktop icon and alter and save, you need to choose everything and then save as a profile, or go for what is pre-set. With firmware updates more animations will become available.

Below I found an image that tells you what each function does, I printed this off and chucked it in front of me to I learnt how to use the keyboard perfectly.

Play time

Got a few new games recently for my PC, Fallout 4, Just Cause 3 and Assassins Creed Syndicate all quality games from AAA studios, I also have a few indie titles , like the sweet Valhalla Hills. The keyboard performed great, never missed a key stroke, never switched off and having the WSAD keys light differently to the other keys, did not make a huge difference, but did make them stand out more favourably. The limitation of not having software and opting for hardware has its pro’s and its cons, in lamens terms do you have a good memory or willing to go back and learn if you forget how to program something.

I was hoping to see Cooler Master adopt the new 16million colour lighting system, like other major gaming brands have, this is a good thing, can you imagine what an arse ache it would be to program without software. Limited animations, limited colour variants, hardware of software, is it enough, maybe it is, maybe we should go back to the simple life, of, turn on, click, click, click and not faff around with software.

A keyboard is for typing on, controlling games, not for night clubs or lighting displays, this keyboard performs well, well built, great illumination, when needed, never misses a key, plenty of function variations, media keys to control your media of coarse, dark and non intrusive, damn this keyboard is nice.

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.