HyperX Alloy Origins 60 Mechanical Gaming Keyboard

I’m a huge fan of smaller keyboards so that I can maximize my desk space for my mouse, and this keyboard has quickly become my favorite out of all of the ones I’ve used thus far.

This keyboard feels SOLID. I love its weight, making it so that it can’t budge around when gaming. The keycaps and switches feel great, with the keycaps having a slight grippy texture to them that just feels pleasant to type on. While I’m not a huge fan of crazy RGB lighting for keyboards, I still do enjoy having some kind of light so that it’s easy to read my keyboard if need be. There is a pleasant rainbow color setting where the colors aren’t harsh, with the brightness at the perfect level to not distract from my screen.

Additionally, one thing I didn’t realize until I received this keyboard was that it’s essentially just a flat board with the switches and then keycaps. There’s no edges/indents, which I have come to really appreciate because it makes cleaning the keyboard an absolute breeze. There aren’t any nooks and crannies that you have to worry about – just pull off the keycaps and wipe it down.

I bought this with the HyperX blue switches to replace a Das Keyboard Pro 4 with Cherry MX Blue switches for work (I am a programmer). I loved the Das, it’s a solid workhorse and the clicky cherry blue switches are so satisfying, but it’s huge and I wanted something smaller so that I could position my keyboard directly in front of me without pushing my mouse way off to the right.

Feel – When I got this keyboard, I put it next to the Das to compare the HyperX blue switches to the Cherry MX blues. There is a slight, noticeable difference. I would say that the cherry blues are _slightly_ crisper, but the difference is negligible. The HyperX blues are still plenty clicky and satisfying. I got used to this keyboard very quickly. I probably wouldn’t have noticed any difference if I didn’t have them side-by-side. No complaints here, it’s a joy to type on this keyboard.

Noise – Yes it’s loud, that comes with the territory. The volume is comparable to the Das… however… I read other reviews that complained about “pinging” and didn’t know what they were talking about. This wasn’t a problem with the Das even after years of use. However, in the past few days (after a month of using this keyboard) I noticed that some keys, particularly the Tab and Ctrl keys, make a “pinging” noise after being pressed. It’s not as loud as the normal clicking noise of the keys and it depends how snappy and hard you tap the keys, but it’s there. It doesn’t really bother me but I could see how it might grate on some people’s nerves. You could always just turn on some music. 🙂

Design – I love the compact form. There is no wasted space around the keys to needlessly take desk space. The key layout is the same as what I’m used to minus the number pad, no funky layout to make it more compact or cram in extra keys. The spacing feels slightly different compared to the Das; I guess the keys are slightly closer together? Not a big deal, I got used to it in maybe a week or two. It lacks USB ports to plug in other devices, but this wasn’t a big issue for me. Like any other mechanical keyboard it is a bit tall and I highly recommend getting a wrist rest like the Glorious Gaming wrist rest (don’t forget to get a TKL size).

Lighting and software – This was low on my priorities, but I have to say the RGB lighting is cool. This keyboard is VERY BRIGHT. It has 4 brightness levels other than off (25%, 50%, 75%, 100%) but even on the lowest setting at 25% it is quite bright. However you can dim the brightness to whatever level you want with the software. The software, despite all the complaints in other reviews, seems fine to me. It gives you a lot of flexibility for layered colors and effects that are very cool. I have no problems with it other than I wish it allowed you to load the settings from your keyboard to tweak them after you save them to the keyboard, but it does look like it has profiles that you can save and load in the software.

Summary – This is a fantastic TKL layout mechanical keyboard that I would recommend for work or games. The blue switches are comparable to Cherry MX blues. However, if you can’t stand the “pinging” noise on some keys then you may want something higher quality.

Mesmo que você queira usá-lo com configuração de teclado abnt2, a experiência será a seguinte:
Ç ~ , . ; ‘ [ todos nos lugares normal pra quem já está acostumado a digitar em um abnt2.
] fica logo ao lado do [
/ pode ser encontrada ao usar o alt da direita e a tecla Q
? pode ser encontrado ao usar o alt da direita e a tecla W
A única coisa que realmente ficaria faltando seria a tecla \ que em um teclado abnt2 ficaria entre o shift esquerdo e a letra Z, porém com a opção de configuração na camada fn você pode adicionar facilmente tal tecla.
A tecla ESC vem por padrão para ser ESC e ” com o uso do shift, para fazer ‘ basta usar fn e a tecla ESC.
Caso você prefira usar o sistema em configuração de teclado us mesmo para poder usar as teclas que você vê no próprio teclado, há tutoriais de como você pode usar a configuração correta para ainda digitar em português e onde vai encontrar tudo que precisar.

A construção do teclado é maravilhosa, ele é muito gostoso de se usar e ouvir, muito confortável e fácil de transportar. Por ser de metal é um pouco pesadinho para o tamanho; tal peso, junto com as borrachas na parte inferior fazem com que ele não escorregue na mesa.

Para jogos ele é muito bom, o único problema é que você pode sentir faltas de usar teclas F1-F12 dependendo do jogo e, assim como eu, talvez sinta falta da tecla ‘ ao lado do 1, mas nada que uma configuração de perfil não resolva. Eu uso uma configuração de perfil para jogar que inverte a tecla ESC fazendo com que o padrão dela seja o ‘ e precise usar o fn para ESC.

O software para controle é muito bom, o controle de iluminação é bem completo e te permite colocar várias camadas para criar a iluminação que desejar. Controle e criação de comandos e de configuração na camada FN são muito bons também. Pra mim é importante então devo ressaltar que, diferente do software da Corsair, o NGENUITY não te dá a opção de usar as teclas F13-F24 para comandos; caso isso mude e eu lembre, virei alterar minha avaliação.
Para usar a configuração de diferentes perfis como eu disse na seção de jogos, é necessário fechar o NGENUITY, coloquei o meu para não abrir automaticamente quando o pc ligar e não tenho problemas. Ele deixa tudo salvo na memória do próprio teclado.

After trying several competing products, this is likely the one I am keeping.

Thoughts:
1. The LEDs are really bright. The only other company on par with this are the logitechs. The LEDs just look phenomenal and are true to color, unlike many competitors.
2. The alloy frame is solid and just screams quality. The only thing I don’t like is that the keyboard is really thin overall. I prefer to use a wrist rest and I think it will be difficult to find one thin enough to truly match this keyboard’s height.
3. The switches are really nice. I got the red linear and they are buttery smooth. They don’t really thock but are relatively quiet. NZXT might be quieter but are higher pitched. steelseries was lower ptiched but very thocky, if you like that.
4. The pbt keycaps feel great but the legends on the the symbol keys look a little gamery and not really crisp (eg. ;: looks pretty trash).
5. The stabilizers are really the big problem. There is more lateral play than I would really like (my right shift is pretty wobbly) and they are really rattly. Such a stupid oversight for what is otherwise a really well thought out product, particularly since they chose to make it not hotswappable.
6. It’s not hotswappable… I don’t really want to swap the keys out, but it would be nice to have the freedom to do a little light modding like replacing the stabilizers with something that isn’t trash.

All in all, after trying several competitors-NZXT, steelseries, logitech, royalkludge-this is likely what I will keep. The tecware phantom+ is on backorder, so I haven’t been able to do a comparison of that yet.

Update: I followed a youtube tutorial on how to basically do a variant on the bandaid mod for this keyboard that significantly helped the stabilizer issue. While the stabilizers could use some lube, the main problem is that they are just way too loose on the top plate. I partially pulled up the stabilitzers by unclipping them from the top plate. Then, I cut some really thin strips of electrical tape and used some tweezers to feed them through the part where the clip is and then clamped the stabilizer down on top of the very end of the tape. This made the stabilizers more snug with the top plate and I think the rest of the tape is sort of under the stablizer and the padding it from the PCB. This has made it so the longer keys have a lot less play in them and they are also quieter. I am still trying to decide if I will use a syringe to inject some krytox on the stabilizer bar and maybe the housing. For now, this was a good enough fix and I recommend others give it a try.