With the release of the K70 MAX in August 2023, Corsair introduces the new MGX magnetic-mechanical switches to their keyboard lineup, aside from the usual premium features, such as double-shot PBT keycaps and 8000 Hz polling rate. We also took this chance to check out the recently-updated iCUE 5 software.
Unboxing
Unlike previous keyboards from Corsair, the cardboard packaging has a more stealthy design, without the signature yellow accent color. Key features of the K70 MAX are outlined at all sides of the box, such as the MGX switches and dual-layer sound-dampening foam. The keyboard is compatible with Windows/macOS/consoles. The model number of our particular sample is CH-910961G-NA.
“PRESS THE ADVANTAGE” continues to be the motto for Corsair’s gaming keyboards.
The keyboard and wrist rest are now wrapped in paper, instead of plastic shell, which is fully recyclable. A welcome change from Corsair!
A standard set of paper documentation (warranty guide and safety information) is included, along with the 1.X meter braided USB Type-C to Type-A cable, a keycap removal tool and a couple extra special-looking keycaps.
Corsair K70 MAX RGB Mechanical Keyboard
The K70 MAX is a full-sized 104-key keyboard with dedicated media control keys. It is 44.2 cm wide, 16.6 cm deep and 4.0 cm thick. Its weight is at aroud 1.39 kg. It is slightly narrower, thicker and heavier than the K100 RGB. The black plastic back chassis is translucent, with the cable routinng channels for your gaming mouse or headset.
The bottom is also fitted with the flip-out keyboard feet and anti-slip rubber pads.
The K70 MAX shares the same design langauage from most high-end Corsair mechanical keyboards in the past decade with the floating keys and minimal side bezels, which now has chamfered edges on the aluminium top plate. New sound-dampening foam layers are added to the keyboard’s internal to enhance the typing feel/experience.
The K70 MAX is the first keyboard to incorporate Corsair’s own MGX magnetic key switches. It is the only switch option, no Cherry MX Speed (Silver) or even OPX optical switches. The MGX switch has a translucent plastic housing with a mini cutout on top for the RGB LED to shine through. Unsurprisingly, the stem and stabilizer design stays the same as the Cherry MX’s, which offers great compatibilty to third-party custom keycaps.
The standard set of keycaps are made from PBT (Polybutylene terephthalate) plastic, with a 1.5 mm wall thickness. Compared to ABS plastic, PBT is a harder material and should have a much better resistance against oil or grease from your fingers. An special patterned Spacebar and Corsair logo keycap are included, if you want to add some more flare to the keyboard.
The 1.82-meter braided USB Type-C cable is detachable and replaceable. There is no integrated USB passthrough port on the K70 MAX, but has a dedicated tournament switch to disable macros and RGB lighting temporarily.
Review
Design
The K70 MAX is similarly constructed like past Corsairs’ mechanical keyboard. Although it has a plastic chassis, the metal top plate helps a lot in keeping the board flex to the minimum. There is no RGB light bar at the edges, unlike the K100, but the floating-key design allows the per-key backlighting to shine through. The stock PBT keycaps feel solid and have a pleasant texture on the surface.
Corsair MGX Magnetic Switches
Inside the new MGX switches, there are no metal contacts to register keypresses. Instead, a magnet and a hall effect sensor are equipped to detect the strength of the magetic field, and determine the travel distance of a key press. This design characteristic allows users to choose their desire actuation point on each key, controlled by software. The light and linear MGX switch has an actuation force of 45 grams, and can be choose to actuate from 0.4 mm to 3.6 mm. With different keyboard profiles, you can set the keys to be more responsive for gaming and less sensitive for normal typing. It is also rated to have a lifespan of about 100 million keystrokes.
Typing Sound Test
RGB Lighting and Software
As with the majority of Corsair products, the K70 Max can be customized via the iCUE software. The older versions of iCUE software contains all the neccessary components to run all the hardware in the Corsair ecosystem, resulted in large download/install size and high resource usage in the background. This is one of the major gripe from the online community. The latest iCUE 5 software is aimed to tackle this issue by implementing a modular design. We downloaded iCUE v5.11.96 for this review, which after installation, “only” took up around 412 MB of disk space. It is a massive improvement over the previous versions’ around 1.1 GB size, though a 400 MB application for peripherals can still be considered quite large. It is delighted to see the company taking steps to make iCUE less resource-intensive.
You will be greeted with the home screen when you open the software. You will also be prompted to install and download the software modules for the K70 MAX for the first time you plugged in the keyboard. Each iCUE-compatible hardware/peripheral will be shown as a large tile, with some system information on the sidebar.
Every keys on the K70 MAX can be individually programmed to a different function, such as mapping the “A” key to a right-mouse click or the “F1” key to launch a specific application. For lighting effects, there are plenty of presets, like color wave, rainbow wave and color pulse. You can further adjust the effect, by adding more layers to each key. You can create lighting zones and fine-tune the colors/speed of the effects.
If you want the key assignments and lighting effects to be working without iCUE running in the background, please make sure to make the changes in the Hardware tabs, which will store the settings to the onboard memory.
You can choose the behaviour of the Windows lock button and the colors of the shortcut keys in the Performance settings.
The main focus for the K70 MAX is the ability to use iCUE to adjust the actuation point of the every single MGX magnetic switches on the keyboard in the “Key Actuation” section. Thanks to the hall effect sensor inside the switch, the user can determine when the keypress should be registered by the computer. By default, the actuation point is set to 2.0 mm. You can easily modify all the 104 keys to have different actuation values from 0.4 mm to 3.6 mm, for example lowering the actuation distance for “WASD” for more responsive movement in games. Presets can be created to quickly switch between separate scenarios.
There is also a “Rapid Trigger” feature, which allows the user to repeatedly press a key without the key physically returns to the original set point. Essentially, you can continuously press the same key faster, by removing the unnecessary travel distance after the initial keypress. In iCUE, you can set the sensitivity of Rapid Trigger by adjusting the distance before the subsequent keypresses are registered.
In the settings menu, you can manage the firmware update and onboard profiles. You can store up to 50 profiles (hardware mode) into the 8 MB onboard memory. The K70 MAX is capable of having a polling rate of up to 8000 HZ (0.125 ms), but it is defaulted at 1000 Hz.
As usual, the RGB lighting of the K70 MAX is awesome with smooth transition between effects. The light is evenly diffused without bright hotspots.
Extra Features
A set of multimedia keys and mute key are available to control music or video playbacks. The step-less metal volume wheel has trianglar-pattern knurling for better grip and distinction. You can also adjust the profile, brightness and Windows-key lock using the other set of keys on the top right corner.
Unfortunately, Corsair has yet to implement something with more functionalities over the glossy plastic piece at the center of the top bezel. As I suggested before, if there is an embeded mini display, it would be awesome to show some information about the keyboard settings, especially when adjusting the actuation point of the MGX switches without the iCUE software.
Conclusion
In terms of build quality and features, the Corsair K70 MAX RGB is unquestionably a premium keyboard. The new MGX magnetic switches give users some added benefits and customization options, with the adjustable actuation distance and Rapid Trigger. iCUE 5 is now better and consumes less system resources. The RGB lighting is great with tons of presets, which is expected from a Corsair product. However, the overall design is reused for most Corsair mechanical keyboards since 2014 with slight improvements over the years. It would be welcoming to see the company better utilize the top center section, maybe with a miniture stream deck or iCUE NEXUS display.
The K70 MAX is priced at $229.99 USD (MSRP) with a 2-year warranty, but is on sale for $179.99 USD at the time of this review. At the MSRP, it sits in the middle of the market with analog/magnetic switches. For example, the Steelseries Apex Pro (HyperMagnetic) and Razer Huntsman V3 Pro are at $209.99 USD and $249.99 USD (MSRP) respectively. The Apex Pro is equipped with a small OLED screen above the number pad, but does not have PBT keycaps and has a lower 1000 Hz polling rate (vs 8000 Hz). The Huntsman V3 Pro’s analog optical switches have a bigger adjustable actuation range (0.1 mm to 4.0 mm), but again only 1000 Hz polling rate.
You can purchase the keyboard from your local/online retailers or the links below from Amazon and Newegg.
- Amazon US: Corsair K70 MAX RGB Mechanical Keyboard
- Newegg US: Corsair K70 MAX RGB Mechanical Keyboard
- Newegg CA: Corsair K70 MAX RGB Mechanical Keyboard
Thanks Corsair for providing us the keyboard for review. (Review Sample)
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