Building or buying a new gaming PC? Awesome. Just don’t forget to save a little room in your budget for your accessories. A comfy keyboard with fast, reliable switches is an important part of your setup, and we’ve found the best ones available.
Mechanical keyboards with Cherry switches are where it’s at for current keyboard designs, though we’ve included one with more conventional membrane keys (like you’ll find on most cheaper keyboards) for those who prefer them. Otherwise we also have choices for gamers who want something small, something sans wires, or something that won’t break the budget.
The Best Overall Gaming Keyboard: Ducky Shine 7 ($160)
“Ducky” isn’t a household name for PC accessories, but it’s well-known among the keyboard enthusiast community. And if you’re looking for a big, bombastic board to pair with your bodacious gaming PC, the Shine 7 is it. Coming with full 108-key layout and an gunmetal or black zinc alloy finish, it’s big and heavy enough to literally put a dent in your enemies.
The Shine 7 also offers some gaming-friendly features that set it above the rest of Ducky’s line, and justify its high price tag. High-quality PBT plastic on the interchangeable keycaps, a wide selection of key switches including Cherry MX Silent Red and MX “Speed” Silver, and even compatibility with the Razer Chroma software suite for the RGB LED lights are among them. Ducky’s software can program any keybind or macro you like, so this is a full-function gaming keyboard.
And while there’s no accounting for taste, I appreciate the more subtle styling on the metal case that doesn’t scream “I am a gamer who buys Mountain Dew by the keg.”
The Best Non-Mechanical Gaming Keyboard: Cooler Master Masterkeys Lite L ($60)
So you’re not down with the whole mechanical craze, but you’d still like access to some neat lighting and programming for your PC games. It’s hard to find a decent gaming-focused keyboard with a conventional membrane build now, but Cooler Master is still making them. The Masterkeys Lite L is the best of the bunch, offering RGB lighting (in wide zones instead of individual keys) and full key and macro programming.
