Corsair Vengeance K90 Performance MMO Mechanical Gaming Keyboard (CH-9000003-NA)

by Corsair

• Cherry MX Red Mechanical key switches - Get all of the high-sensitivity, low-operating force and ultra fast response needed for fast double and triple clicks - all without the annoying click of a typist's keyboard.
• Full Key Matrix Anti-Ghosting - Enjoy flawless control even when you're pressing multiple keys at once. 100% ghost free without tradeoff or compromise
• 20 Key Roll-over (20KRO) on USB - Get 3x the KRO of typical gaming keyboards at a blazing fast 1ms (1000 reports per second) report rate.
• Professional grade brushed aluminum chassis with laser etched, keys provides increased durability and stability with outstanding illumination even in dim light
• 18 dedicated, customizable G-Keys - Easily access to your most frequently used macros, presets and key combinations even during the most intense action. You can record up to 54 programmable functions accessible from three separate banks, ideal for grouping macros by function, or access. Macros can be created on-the-fly, customized, and activated with a single keystroke.

Product Details

• Product Dimensions: 22 x 8.8 x 3.4 inches ; 4.4 pounds
• Shipping Weight: 5 pounds
• Shipping: This item is also available for shipping to select countries outside the U.S.
• ASIN: B005QUQP94
• Item model number: CH-9000003-NA
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (179 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank:
  • #55 in Electronics > Computers & Add-Ons > Game Hardware > Accessories > Gaming Keyboards
• Date first available at Amazon.com: September 28, 2011

Product Description

From the Manufacturer

The Vengeance K90 Gaming Keyboard: designed for performance gaming

The K90's professional-grade brushed aluminum chassis is visually stunning but built for durability..

Cherry MX Red mechanical key switches

Cherry® MX Red key switches are the best of the best — they provide the sensitivity and low operating force that professional gamers love. Reaction times are ulra-fast and responsive for quicker double and triple taps. The action is predictable and linear unlike lesser gaming keyboards that have a tactile bump or the annoying click of a typist’s keyboard.

18 dedicated, customizable G-Keys

Easily access to your most frequently used macros, presets and key combinations even during the most intense action. You can record up to 54 programmable functions accessible from three separate banks, ideal for grouping macros by function, or access.  Macros can be created on-the-fly, customized, and activated with a single keystroke.

Full key matrix anti-ghosting

Our expertly designed anti-ghosting technology provides flawless control even when you're pressing multiple keys at once.  The K90 has individual switches with dedicated diodes for each switch so every key press results in an input and is 100% ghost free without tradeoff or compromise.

20-key rollover (20KRO) on USB

Typical USB gaming keyboards are limited to the USB standard six-key rollover. The K90 features increased performance with a 20-key rollover implementation on USB at a blazing fast 1ms (1000 reports per second) reporting rate.

Professional-grade brushed aluminum chassis with laser etched keys

The rugged aluminum chassis provides increased durability and stability compared those that are primarily plastic. The stiff suspension chassis and the laser etched keys are made for durability so they won't degrade over time. And the K90 has over 90 LEDs that provide outstanding illumination even in dim light.

The K90's Cherry MX Red key switches provide the sensitivity and low operating force that professional gamers love.

Vengeance Gaming Keyboard Software

Create up to 50 profiles and share, import and export macros with the Vengeance keyboard gaming software. It's a free download at corsair.com.

On-board memory lets you take it with you

36Kb of memory built into the K90 lets you take your customizations and profiles with you and use them on any system.

Easy access multimedia controls

Control all of your music with the easy access media controls.

USB pass-through

A USB port on the back of the Vengeance K90 gaming keyboard makes connecting your mouse or other USB devices a simple task.

Soft-touch wrist rest

The soft-touch wrist rest helps you play for hours without fatigue.

Corsair Vengeance: Designed for performance gaming

The gear that brings your gaming to the highest performance

Incredible responsiveness. Precise accuracy. Customizable, reliable controls. Intelligent design. The smallest details and the highly crafted refinements that make all the difference. Vengeance gaming peripherals aren't typical gaming devices, but elite mice, keyboards and headsets that allow you to perform at your highest level. Brought to you by Corsair — people enthusiastic about performance gaming.

The Corsair Advantage

With a long history of building enthusiast-grade memory and components, we've earned a reputation for quality, compatibility, and performance. Need help? We're available by phone call, email or web forum.

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Contents and Specifications

Package contents

• Vengeance K90 gaming keyboard
• Soft touch, detachable wrist rest
• Warranty card

Compatibility

• PC with high power USB 2.0 port (+500mA)
• Windows® 7,  Windows Vista®,  or Windows® XP
• Internet connection (for SW driver installation)
• At least 35MB of hard disk space
• Two USB connectors are required for USB pass-through

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

40 of 42 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars made the switch December 21, 2011

By Cleric7x9

Amazon Verified Purchase

I went from a logitech G15 to a Razer Black Widow Ultimate to this Corsair Vengeance K90, and I must say, I am so happy with the decision. The black widow is what got me hooked on mechanical keyboard, but i had a few gripes with it. first of all, the mx cherry blues feel great, but they are really noisy. this is just a preference thing, but i really love the feeling of typing on the reds on the corsair k90. i also love the look and construction of this keyboard. the black widow was glossy black plastic, which showed smudges and just looked cheaper than this keyboard.

as far as the whole hybrid mechanical/rubber dome debacle, it hasnt really given me the same problems everyone else has been having. there is obviously a noticeable difference between the two types of keys, with the mechanical keys being superior, but it really doesnt bother me. 99.9% of my keypresses are on mechanical keys, and the feeling of the rubber dome is still pretty high quality. there is one thing that is really bothering me though. the backlight on the rubber dome keys, both the F keys and the macro keys, is quite a bit dimmer than the backlighting on the mechanical keys. it would just improve the overall esthetics to have the backlights be the same brightness. its not that big of a deal, but it is noticeable.

this is the best keyboard i have ever owned, and that included some of the other top keyboards on the market. would highly recommend.

27 of 27 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars Might want to wait (longer) for this one December 19, 2011

By J. Chan

Amazon Verified Purchase

I'm one of the many people who ordered the K90 closer to its original launch window of late October to early November, and hung onto my preorder through all the delays into mid-December. I've heard all the complaints about this being a hybrid keyboard but marketed as fully mechanical, etc, etc, etc. In the end, however, it turns out to be a pretty decent keyboard with a couple quirks and one really bad launch flaw: horribly undocumented software.

I am pleased with the form factor, and the three levels of blue lighting are more than sufficient for my needs. The size is surprisingly compact, and it fits easily on a small keyboard tray without the wrist rest (which I choose not to use) and still plenty of room for a mouse.

As a pianist, I am used to striking keys hard, so was a little dubious whether a mechanical keyboard would do me any good, but I found the cherry red switches to be very comfortable, and, because of the standard spacing between keys, needed only a couple minutes to get used to the feel. The keyboard is probably just as loud as the Dell keyboard I have now relegated to backup status, just a higher frequency of clacking vs thudding. It's a very satisfying typing experience with one exception that I'll mention in a moment.

I am not an MMO player but am a big fan of the plentiful macro buttons mostly for work purposes. The buttons are set up in 3 groups of 6, and are seated much lower than the rest of the keyboard, making them easy to feel for without confusing them with the other keys. The macro keys are also backlit in white, so I definitely think the Corsair folks did a good job keeping the macros look and feel distinct from the main board but still conveniently in reach....

The only complaint I have with the keys is that they made the left shift key particularly shallow or I received a defective unit. I makes a much different sound than the rest of the keys and feels like it goes down far less. I can't see or feel any obstruction, but beware that I probably won't be the only one with a potentially busted key. I chose the K90 instead of the more ubiquitous Razer Black Widow because I trusted their build quality would be better, but time will tell if this is an anomaly or a trend.

As to the hybrid keys vs fully mechanical keys debate, I acknowledge that it is still not prominently marketed anywhere, and there will probably be some people who purchase this keyboard without knowing that only most of the keys are mechanical. I originally thought that it doesn't matter much, and for the most part it doesn't-- the macro keys make fine dome switches, as do the function keys, but I found the lack of mechanical switches on the Insert, Home, Page Up, Page Down, Delete, End buttons to be very disappointing in practice. The rationale the Corsair product manager gives that these keys need a good firm press to maintain accuracy certainly makes sense for the macros, but not for Home block. It seems like any experienced typist or gamer will already recognize the perils or mishitting delete vs insert, etc, and are not gaining any additional accuracy by having these buttons be dome switches. I hope any future model revisions will at least make that block mechanical if not any others.

Finally, the keyboard software is competent but the documentation is completely missing. Hitting the info and help buttons currently brings up the Corsair website and keyboard FAQ respectively, which are almost completely useless. The software itself is NOT intuitive and uses icons without labels or tool tips (or help file). That being said, the software does work, and after much searching I discovered that per-application profiles CAN be set by right clicking the name of the profile and choosing the Assign Application. I have not seen any compatibility problems between games.

I wish I could give the K90 a 5 star review, as I was fully expecting to be able to do. Until they at least create a help file for the keyboard software, do not get this keyboard for the macros unless you're willing to put in a lot of trial and error. I wish my left shift key didn't feel like it was stuck, but I'm going to hammer on it the next few days and see if it settles itself out. I'm afraid to send it back because I don't know if I'd get a replacement in the next couple months (unless Corsair wants to play cross-ship with me). It's a shame, because I love everything else about this keyboard and it does games and applications very well... IF you can psychically figure out their software or take the time to figure it out like I did. I never want to count myself amongst the rabid few who believe every key MUST be mechanical on a mechanical keyboard, but I can see their point with the Home block on this keyboard, and I hope Corsair reconsiders at least that block for their next iteration.

EDIT: The backlighting went out under my +/= key after a week of use. Not sure how that's replaceable or if it's worth shipping back, but something to consider if backlighting is important to you. Also, perhaps coincidentally, at one point the = button got "stuck", meaning that it came back up, but then continued to register = keys everywhere I was until I pressed it again. It has only happened once, but it was like it got stuck in software. Read more ›

19 of 20 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Great keyboard for programmers December 10, 2012

By mathboy

This is a really really great keyboard, period. I won't go over what everyone else has said about it except to confirm the positive points and vote NAY on the meme that somehow the non-mechanical keys are an issue. I'll instead spend my review addressing a particular market which may especially benefit from this keyboard- computer programmers.

1.) Key pressure.

If you're a programmer, then between documentation and writing code you actually spend a lot of time pressing keys. The ease with which keys depress can be a real joint saver, especially if you do other things in life which require you to use your hands vigorously. These keys depress very easily. I myself play guitar and lift weights and do a lot of yardwork and some woodworking and all those activities can give your fingers and wrists quite a workout. I don't have carpal tunnel syndrome but just the nonstop pounding my fingers were taking was starting to add up. I would say by using this keyboard I can literally 1/5 the pressure I used to use to trigger the keystroke and it makes a difference.

The challenge is to retrain yourself to not pound the keys. My approach is to set out three minutes each hour (when I remember) to play a "game" whereby I try to type using very little pressure. I think of it as a game so I accept that my productivity is going into the gutter for that amount of time. The result over a few weeks is that, slowly, that new keyboarding style is effecting my normal, completely code-focused, keyboard-and-joint-unmindful one. It's a challenge, but this keyboard makes it at least possible to change your habits, to your own long term benefit.

2....) Programmability

All IDEs have the problem that all the "good", convenient shortcut key combinations are quickly taken up with the basic functions of word processing and editing. The less frequently used but still critical refactoring / searching / navigating ones have to be assigned increasingly inconvenient and unlikely keystrokes because well, that's all that's left unassigned.

Add to that your own macros and just remembering all the key combos can be a pain, especially if you don't use them on a regular basis. Just because I am not doing it every few minutes doesn't mean I want "Pull Up.." or "Extract Interface.." to be assigned some non-menomically, non-ergonomically friendly 3-press key combo I have to look up every time.

In fact, the reason a lot of the menu items have no shortcut assigned to them at all is because they ran out of even mildly respectable key combos.

The special bank of 18 (!) programmable G-keys on this keyboard, as they are called, can be used to program your IDE's macros and menu items.

No, your IDE is not going to recognize when you press any of those 18 G-keys but that actually doesn't matter. They way it works is, you go into your IDE and assign your chosen menu / macro item you want executed to some weird unlikely key combo, using only the "normal" keyboard keys. Suppose you assign the function to something like SHIFT+&+}. You then use this keyboard's software to program that weird combination to one of the 18 programmable keys and viola, your weird key combo is executed by the keyboard when you press that one key which in turn executes your macro or menu item.

There are 3 dedicated little round "mode" buttons located above the first few function(F1 F2..) keys. Each one lights up the same beautiful LED blue if it's activated. You can activate one at a time and at least one is always activated. Each one represents a different "mode" you put the bank of 18 G-keys into, so that in effect there are 3 different versions of these 18 keys available to you giving you 54 different G-keys to bind arbitrary key combos to. That's a lot of macros and menu items.

If that's not enough, you can create quite a few "profiles' which effectively aggregate those 54 G-keys into one "container". When you create a new profile, you effectively get a new, empty container into which you can program another 54 keys.

Here's a couple other small things programmers might be interested in. The dedicated "Windows key" on the keyboard can be disabled on this keyboard with a dedicated "lock Window key" button located above the Home / Delete / Insert bank of keys. This is nice if you tend to hit that button by accident releasing god knows what hidden Windows "function" in the middle of some sensitive operation, yet you still want it to work sometimes.

3). Cleanability

The keys are also not surrounded by any kind of frame, as on a normal keyboard; they "float" above the brushed aluminum base and all you have is key floating atop of keystem sticking out of the base. What this means is that the keyboard is very cleanable. There is no space where things (crumbs, hair, dust) can go into then disappear, couch cushion-like, and slowly but surely make your keyboard unsanitary, disgusting and a point of shame you have to weakly joke your way around.

Mine has been with me at home living with dog hair and at work in a lunch-at-keyboard environment long enough to start to have that unfortunate no-longer-cleanable look all my keyboards always end up acquiring. But in both places, it's still as crisp and bright and inviting as they day I unpacked it. That's because the design of the floating keys lets a combination of forced air and just plain shaking it upside down very effectively remove anything that does get onto it; the stuff just has nowhere to hide and nothing is stopping it from going out the way it went in.

Look over the other 5-star reviews to see the basics of why this keyboard is really great, there's a lot I could say that I don't want to just reiterate.

4) ADDENDUM - How to program this thing

For anyone still reading this review, I'll go over how to install and program the software and driver since this is where the bad reviews of this largely come from.

It's simple. First, INSTALL THE DRIVER before you install the key-programming software. The key-programing software on my version is named "Corsair k90 Gaming Keyboard Configuration". If you don't install the driver, (seriously, who normally installs keyboard drivers? Not me! ) or if you do it AFTER you install the key-programming software, then arbitrary things can and will happen when use it and you'll think it's a piece of junk, like I did. I got absolutely wild key events being fired for no reason. Keystrokes repeated 40 times in a row. Stuff like that. Other people got other weird behavior. Don't do that. Download and install the driver even though it appears to work just fine without it. THEN and ONLY THEN install the key programming software.

Then, with respect to that software, here's how you program a key to fire an arbitrary (series of) keystroke(s). Programming it to execute what they call "basic commands " (cut paste copy) or "advanced commands" (lock your PC, show explorer, run a program) all appear when you press the "advanced options" button and just
involve selecting from the limited menu items presented.

OK so, programming keystrokes to G-Keys:

Step 1 - select they key you want to program, either on the keyboard or virtually on the screen.

Step 2 - select the mode (m1, m2, or m3) this G-key is to be a part of. Again, you can select it either on the screen or on the keyboard.

Step 3- in the little box to the right of where it says Assign Key G[the key you chose], type in whatever name you want to call this keystroke combo, typically the function it's going to execute when pressed. This name is the textual description you will see associated with this key in this mode. This is how you yourself will know what this G-key does.

OK now you have only assigned a name to the key in that mode. Nothing is programmed.

Now you're going to make it do something.

Step 1- Press the round, red "mr" key, either on the keyboard or on the screen. Now you are in "program this thing mode." I suppose "mr" stand for "memory record".

Step 2- Press the mode you want by pressing one of the m1 m2 or m3 buttons either on screen or on the keyboard.

Step 3- Press the G-key you want to program. Even if it appears that the g-key you want to program is already activated, nevertheless press it again- you have to do this. If it's already activated, as indicated by the blue color, it won't change color again to show you it's been pressed but that is immaterial; you have to now press the g-key you're programing irrespective of whether it already looks pressed or not.

Step 4- whatever keys you press now are going to be bound to this g-key. You will see them appear as you press them. You can edit your mistakes out and even add other keystrokes after you're done. Don't sweat mistakes.

Step 5- press the "mr" key to get out of programming mode. Now you can right click on each keystroke as it appears in that list of keystrokes on screen and edit it, delete it or whatever. You'll figure that part out.

OK that's the hard part. The rest you'll probably be able to figure out. If you screw it up a few times, no worries. Right click over the virtual g-key itself and select the disturbingly-named "delete this key" and all that will happen is that keybinding for that mode will be deleted. The key itself doesn't fly off your keyboard or explode or become permanently non-functional or anything.

They advertise this as a "gaming" keyboard" I suppose because there are more gamers than programmers. Nevertheless, it fills some real needs I had when programming. I needed a keyboard with a lifespan of more than three months. I needed a keyboard that would let me press less hard. I needed a keyboard that would give me more keys I could program. I needed a keyboard that was cleanable. I needed a keyboard I wanted to see when I got to work.
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I also realize I was looking for a keyboard I thought was of the same quality as the rest of my computer build- something that looked nice, felt nice, had a high quality build. You are with and get to know your keyboard the way you are with and get to know your car or your jeans. Quality counts.

Buying another big name ergo keyboard after 3-5 months just felt wrong. I consciously selected Corsair for about half of all components on my computer because they seem to come into a market with the business plan that they're going to win market share by delivering value and competing on quality, reliability and durability.

So far, they have always delivered those things in my components, not to mention the dedicated and excellent customer service that must cost them a little something to maintain. I want to reward companies like that if I can afford to. I don't like having only crappy choices in the market. Thus the largish amount of time I spent creating this review. I want the companies that make excellent stuff to be called out and to succeed so they go on making excellent stuff. Read more ›

15 of 17 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent Feature Set December 16, 2011

By C. Taylor

The Corsair K90 keyboard is an outstanding keyboard with a very useful feature set.

* Beautiful & fully backlit
* Dedicated media keys
* Easy macros
* Excellent feel
* USB port for peripherals
* Very nice wrist rest

I have tried at least 10 different high end keyboards in the last several months and this is the one that just feels right to me. I enjoy typing and gaming on the Cherry Red key switches. The keys that are silicon dome do not bother me in the slightest. This is pure personal preference, but for me, I really enjoy the feel of typing on this board.

Other reviews have complained about the hybrid key switches, but speaking as an actual owner and user I am very happy with the look, feel, and quality of the Corsair K90.