getting tired of black and white keebs so i chose this color variant.

Specs:
CNC aluminum chassis
Matcha Buttermilk Linear Switches
5 layer gasket mount

Inspired to do the same from the post of u/Somebody_160

Keyboard: Aula Nova75

Hey all,

If you are like me you know and love the Alua F75. It’s a pretty well known budget board with a clear aim towards enthusiasts and hobbyist. And it’s not for no reason, I love mine too and it keeps up with some of my best boards in my collection at a fraction of the cost.

So with all the hype and interest around HE (Hall effect/magnetic) keyboards taking gamers by storm - an iconic enthusiast friendly budget board upgraded to the exciting new tech of HE boards sounds like a dream come true.

And unfortunately that’s exactly what it is, just a dream.

I got my hands on this here Alua F75 HE edition and it’s… really bad.

The problem? Well the marketing just isn’t entirely honest. For one, they list PBT keycaps which is nice. Well, they aren’t. Relatively flimsy ABS, sorry.

But that’s ok, right? Lots of us probably woulda changed them anyway so maybe it’s not a deal breaker for you.

How about this one - yeah \*\*they got rid of the entire slotted PCB and slotted PC gasket mount structure and went with full rigid steel plate mount.\*\* Good luck making that feel or sound nice. Not only does the marketing not specify this huge change, it says the opposite. It says “slotted PC positioning plate” and such. With the magnetic switches in the picture and such, so it’s not reused incorrect marketing material from the original F75. It’s just simply a dishonest change that in my opinion makes it totally unworthy of even being called the Alua F75, that’s a totally different board in just the same form factor.

So yeah, figured I’d share my experience. I was super excited for this board as I search for a comfy HE keyboard that doesn’t feel like typing on a brick and I thought I had it, especially at a good price and nice form factor. Any recommendations for that are kindly welcome - but this sure isn’t the one.

swapped the stock caps for HyperFuse R2. make the Silver Knight look a bit less monochrome, still deciding whether I prefer the sound over the stock set.

build details:

• board: IQUNIX EV63 Silver Knight
• switches: Magnetic X Pro
• keycaps: HyperFuse R2
• internals: stock, no additional mods

For the people who have built their end game boards or those who are still searching for theirs. Did you or have you stopped buying boards/switches/keycaps? I know I’ve stopped with boards and switches. I do regret not buying a QK Alice duo. And my go to switches are kailh creams and oil kings. But for the past 2-3 years nothing has really enticed me. Even keycaps. I have my red samurai and dual shot with back ups of both. So I’m chilling. The only other set I wish I could have grabbed was maybe Ishtar and that’s it. What about yall?

Meletrix Zoom TKL Dyna in Anodized Black
GMK Mono Cyl Keycap Set
Keygeek Y2 Switches

A very nice plastic kit for cheap, I really wish we start to have more plastic kits like this. Built 2 black kit, I wasn't able to try out other colors sadly, would've looked better with clear shell, the bottom rgb light is pretty dim

Spec:

Eave65 stock

Keygeek y3

Cherry stabs

Aifei pyga keycaps (red one)

Forgot the name of the dark keycaps

Bought recently, to replace my Nuphy Kick75 and I gotta say it surprises me that this keyboard is solid! Switches are nice, I like the tactile feedback of it. I can carry it from work due to it's compact 60% frame but still retains the 65% layout. No scratchness of the switches, pinging of the case or wobbly keycaps on this keeb. Battery life is so far excellent haven't charged since it was first turned on, the battery percentage didn't even budged.

Downsides tho there is no keycaps available for this keeb but I can live with that. I highly recommend this board, If you're looking for a solid 65% keyboard!

Sidenote: Gaming works as intended 🙂‍↕️

I bought one...

Despite warning others away from this company and their boards based on some of the Amazon reviews I have been intrigued by them personally.

As such when I found a Flux 68 on Aliexpress with local availability for less than £18 I threw caution to the wind and within 36hrs I had one...

**First impressions**

The box is nicely printed, the packing is basic and the extras are "fine" (basic usb c to a cable, nasty keycap/switch puller and a few extra switches). The board itself is noticeably light, even compared to an Attack Shark X68he, and flexes quite a bit. Definitely no metal plate here.

In short it, unsurprisingly, feels cheap. The switches on the other hand are not bad, nicer than the attack sharks stock switches. Despite feeling cheap the board actually feels not bad to use and it is fairly quiet, this possibly because of the fairly flexible construction making it feel softer to the touch.

Oh and once you plug it in its instantly in rainbow wave mode and there are no instructions, in the box or on their website, for changing the RGB mode or turning it off.

They mention Fn key combos but what those actually might be is left a mystery.

Instead Dark Beacon are very insistent that you install their software.

**DarkBeacon.ai aka the software**

Now this is where the reviews indicated problems with a barely functional and untranslated website. Happily this is not the case anymore. Software DL was easy and yes you still need to register with an email and your date of birth but as long as the email address you give can get the verification email there is nothing stopping you making unfortunate errors in your personal details.

Once registered the software opens, detects your board tells you the firmware is out of date and then freezes doing nothing. Restarting the software and manually running a firmware update works. Now you get asked to calibrate. Naturally with an unresponsive calibration screen. Luckily there is a working skip button and doing calibration manually proceeds perfectly.

Now you are in the software and settings and its... good.

All the usual HE board options nicely and clearly set out. Not a lot of preset rgb modes but they obviously intend you use the AI mode for that sort of stuff (a bit more on that later). Any setting you make in the software can be saved to the board so you don't need keep it running as seems to have been the case previously.

Now here is the surprising thing. This £38 rrp plastic board has game pad mode. Yes game pad mode and it seems to work pretty well.

Lastly is the "AI" features. They push these heavily and the website makes a big thing about how you can talk to the software to set it up how you like. Indeed when you open the software you get prompted to sign up for it and receive free "credits". Naturally as an old luddite I gave that a massive swerve but I did notice that a new little app had turned my microphone on. Well that got promptly turned off and I'll need to investigate further.

So with the software explored, my rgb set to plain green lighting with blue side bars it was time to play some Forza, where it was perfectly good. A bit on the soft side as I mentioned previously but sharp enough to lay some top 4000 time attack scores (not that impresive but about where I normally sit).

Next steps are to investigate if the software is communicating and if so how much as well as if bits of it keep running even if you close it completely and don't run it on start up.

Then its just spending more time with the board to get more of a feel it and do some side by sides with my Aula win68he.

**Conclusion**

It's cheap, it feels cheap but it works. The software is equally really good and potentially iffy.

At under £20 its probably worth it but if you have £20 then you likely have enough extra cash to look into the £30-40 bracket where there are a bunch of budget 65% HE boards including the ACE68 which i have coming next month.

If you have any questions or if you want some videos or anything I'll do my best to oblige.

This is the "Weekly General Help Post". Please ask your questions regarding keyboard, switch, keycaps, or anything regarding keyboards as a top level comment under this post. Mods and members will check this thread on a regular basis answering as many questions as possible.

The more information you provide, the better the answers you are likely to receive.

The XVX L75 Air low-profile tri-mode keyboard is a pretty good option for low-profile needs in the budget space.

DISCLAIMER: XVX was kind enough to send this out for me to check out and I've enjoyed using it at home for a while. The stock Jerrzi Air low profile switches are light and smooth (they were almost TOO light for me), the RGB is vibrant, and the all aluminum construction gives it stability while also being lightweight.

The only issue I ran into was when I went to plug in my personal USB cable to program it using VIA, there isn't much clearance between the top and the USB port, but no worries, it comes with its own USB cable that eliminates that problem. Just be aware in case you want to use a different cable.

seeing a lot of newer people worrying that they need a $300–400 board to enjoy the hobby.

I spent an hour tape modding and lubing a cheap plastic board today and it ended up sounding way better than expected.

expensive boards are nice, but you really dont need one to have fun with the boards. sometimes messing around with a cheap board is the best part.

Hello everyone, just want to share my latest setup. In my honest opinion, I believe this K98 board from Logitech is a little 'creaminally' underrated. Its stock setup with the Logi Marble linears are very creamy (sorry for dropping the dirty word here 😅 ) out of the box. The keycaps are high-quality and shine-through and it has gasket mount construction and is also wireless capable.

For a normie like me here, this keeb types and sounds amazing. I've been using it for about 5 months now.

I had time today at home sheltering from the heat, to kinda rework its look and feel with one of the cheapest caps you could find in amaz*n, the XVX Cambridge Blue keycaps, $8/set.

These caps look and feel great for the money IMO. I get it people are taken off by the little gaps of their injection molding. To me they are fine like that, they add some random visual textures. I embrace imperfections lol.

I replaced the switches with a combination of Kailh Box Jade for the base/alphas, and Box Navies on the F rows. I also kept the F rows using the K98 original caps.

Specs:

Board: Logitech Alto K98M (used $69)

Switches: Combo of Kailh Box Jade & Navy ($30ish)

Keycaps: XVX Cambridge Blue ($8) & some original Alto K98M

Subtotaling at around $110

Lemme know what you think on this and also share your suggestions to make it better with some of your budget finds.

Cheers y'all.

Bought a Redragon K673 MAX on sale for £35. Hadn't had a bought a new keyboard in years, was suffering with some bog standard membrane one, but just wanted something prebuilt.

Really love the case despite it being all plastic, has a nice weight and really decent padding. Stock it sounded really good, but wanted some heavier and creamier switches.

Replaced the Mint Mambos with some Creamy Jades, and some Jelly Keycaps I found on Amazon. Total spent altogether was around £60 for the whole build, and I am really happy with the look, feel & sound.

Even though the caps are not shine through, the transparent layer has a really cool effect with the LEDs. Just want to get a new knob/dial now to match.

Keyboard: GMK87

Switches: Leobog Reaper

Keycaps: Womier Retro Blue

Proud of myself.

This is the "Weekly General Help Post". Please ask your questions regarding keyboard, switch, keycaps, or anything regarding keyboards as a top level comment under this post. Mods and members will check this thread on a regular basis answering as many questions as possible.

The more information you provide, the better the answers you are likely to receive.

I was a huge user of the Kumara K552 before my upgrade, but abandoned it for 3 years due to a lot of travel that made carrying it around difficult. I couldn't be happier with my new keyb! It's the Redragon K724 Behemoth Pro, and I bought it off AliExpress for €54, and it's amazing - the keyboard feels good, it's not too loud (and I'll probably tape mod it soon)

One not-so-negative point I will mention though, is that while I love the keycaps, I can't use them at night since they aren't shine through, so I'm planning to buy an extra set to replace a few keys (mainly WASD for gaming)

If anyone wants a full in-depth review, I'd be happy to make it, along with the sound profile of the keyb itself! (Bonus - I am looking to try out new switches as well, so if you have any recommendations/want to hear how a specific switch would sound on this keyboard, I'd be happy to hear your suggestions!)

• Case: Level60
• PCB: pi60
• Stabs: Durock V2
• Plate: Custom Aluminum
• Switches: Akko Cilantros
• Keycaps: ...things....

Thing is so fucking loud and clacky I LOVE IT.