Time for a new Doom keyboard

[Ledmeister]

My current "modern" (6-year old) keyboard ghosts, a.k.a., just beeps at me when I try to use too many keys at once when playing Doom, such as strafe-running while trying to do something else at the same time.

Currently my only alternative is to dig out an even-older heavy, sharp-keyed, loud, clanky PC keyboard, which I don't like anymore.

So, what's a good modern non-ghosting keyboard?
How do you like the one you use now for Dooming?

I'm usually a bit rough on keys during an intense firefight, so something sturdy is preferable. Something with media buttons (play/pause/etc. for music apps) is even more preferable, but I'm willing to skip that if need be.

Money's no object, but cheaper is better o'course.

Recommendations? :)

[HackNeyed]

"no object" you say? Then allow me to present the...

SteelSeries 6Gv2 for US$100.

http://www.steelseries.com/us/products/keyboards/6gv2/information

The info says that the G series keyboards support "as many simultaneous key presses as there are keys on the keyboard." The FAQ says something about having "SteelSeries' Media Controls" that the 7G does not have however the 6Gv2 doesn't seem to be for sale yet.

Keep in mind that I can only speak for the SteelSeries company in regard to their Ikari Laser mouse (best/most comfortable mouse I've ever used, god I miss that thing) and gaming mouse pads (also great).

I'm sure you could find something cheaper that works though it is a crap shoot (that's why you are asking after all.) I'm stuck with my laptop and netbook and ESDF + Shift does not work on my eeePC 901.

[EarthQuake]

I use a Logitech Classic 200, which I bought years ago. It's quiet, comfortable, lightweight, pretty durable (actually it's rather flexible), doesn't have a "key press limit", and it's probably dirt cheap by now (paid $30 for it 2 years ago). It doesn't have any application buttons though, but does anyone seriously use those anyway?

Well anyways, it might not be for you, but it's probably the best keyboard I have ever used (and I've been through a LOT).

[Nomad]

I'm using a Saitek Eclipse. Aside from the paint on the keys flaking off (which doesn't really matter since I type by touch anyway), it's been a real trooper. Nice attractive looking keyboard without all those useless "media" buttons all over it; just a couple volume controls, and a button to dim or turn on/off the backlight. All in all a pretty impressive keyboard from a company owned by Madkatz.

[aleksej]

http://pckeyboards.stores.yahoo.net/index.html
These keyboards exactly doesn't have ghosting/jamming effect. Successfully use this one (with Buckling Spring) in games that requires bunch-of-keys-at-one-time combos and FPS'es with non-usable mouse suppoort (wolfenstein3d like).

[bgraybr]

EarthQuake said:

I use a Logitech Classic 200, which I bought years ago. It's quiet, comfortable, lightweight, pretty durable (actually it's rather flexible), doesn't have a "key press limit", and it's probably dirt cheap by now (paid $30 for it 2 years ago). It doesn't have any application buttons though, but does anyone seriously use those anyway?

Well anyways, it might not be for you, but it's probably the best keyboard I have ever used (and I've been through a LOT).

I bought a Logitech keyboard almost exactly like that one for $9.00 when I built my first desktop.

It's a good keyboard, durable, I bang the keys a little sometimes when I play games but I haven't broken it.

[wildweasel]

For $100 I bought a Logitech G15. I haven't detected a keypress limit on it, it has nice media keys on it, macro recording (actually quite handy for repetitive tasks in WAD editing), the backlit LCD screen (set up LCDStudio on it and you'll be able to see your CPU usage, memory usage, hard drive capacity, volume, and many others), and a switch that disables the Windows keys. You could probably find an original G15 for less than $100 nowadays, and if you don't care about the LCD screen, the G11 is significantly cheaper.

[kimo_xvirus]

EarthQuake said:

I use a Logitech Classic 200, which I bought years ago. It's quiet, comfortable, lightweight, pretty durable (actually it's rather flexible), doesn't have a "key press limit", and it's probably dirt cheap by now (paid $30 for it 2 years ago). It doesn't have any application buttons though, but does anyone seriously use those anyway?

Well anyways, it might not be for you, but it's probably the best keyboard I have ever used (and I've been through a LOT).

Does this work with W-E-D at once? I got the Logitech Ultra-Flat keyboard that's about the same price but I get ghosting with keys like WED and others

[hervoheebo]

bgraybr said:

I bought a Logitech keyboard almost exactly like that one for $9.00 when I built my first desktop.

It's a good keyboard, durable, I bang the keys a little sometimes when I play games but I haven't broken it.

If you're getting a G15, try to get a first generation model. It's the one with the blue backlight, the newer one has orange. It's generally better: more macro buttons, bigger and foldable LCD screen, and personally I think it feels more comfortable to use.

[Chronohunter45]

If you're in the market for a new keyboard and you are planning to stick with a ps2 port, I would recommend Deck Keyboards. They can be found at http://www.deckkeyboards.com/

Deck keyboards have that tactile key feel of the old IBM keyboards of the late 80's and early 90's; you're sure when you've hit a key well enough because you can feel the spring-like rebound of the key. They are simple designed, and have have a back-lit led setup that surpasses most other led keyboards, like the Saitek Eclipse (which I had and replaced with a deck).

They are also very robust, sturdy, and durable. They don't feel flimsy in the slightest. You could honestly use a deck keyboard and bludgeon someone to death. No joke.

Check 'em out. They're worth every penny.

[Vorpal]

I'm going to second the steelseries recommendation. I use the $50 Z-Board specifically for the simultaneous key feature. It's main feature however is fairly lame; buy customized key layouts that plug into the chassis and have art from the game printed on them. However, this solves another one of my keyboard pet peeves which is cleanliness. You can just pop the lock and pull the standard keyboard set out of the chassis, and clean all the dust and dead skin and gross stuff.

[Ledmeister]

Well, I finally got a new keyboard that I'm mostly happy with.
Thanks to all who replied. I appreciate it.
I tried a couple of cheaper ones, including a Logitech Classic 200, and a Saitek Eclipse, but both ghosted.
A bounced-rent-check later and now I'm using a Steelseries G7.
On the downside it's expensive (~$147 w/free shipping @ Amazon), and loud. Despite being advertised on the box as a "no click" keyboard (whatever that means), that non-clicking can be heard 2 rooms away. Maybe they mean it doesn't click, it clacks.
Anyway... it is truly non-ghosting, seems really well built, and does have media keys, which I find I've been spoiled by on older keyboards, since I usually have a podcast or music playing through headphones, and it's nice to be able to quickly pause/play whenever you get those pesky Real Life interruptions.

If you have a couple minutes and are willing to experiment, I'd be curious about your results.
Start a game of vanilla Doom/Doom II (preferably old-school DOS, versus modern source-port) and, keyboard-only, try strafe-running forward-left, using Shift, Alt, and the arrow keys.
Does it work? Consistently? If so, try adding some keys... say, strafe-run forward-left up to a door and open it, while not letting up on the other keys... now maybe firing or changing weapons at the same time? Still work? If so, I'd like to know what keyboard you're using, and if you'd recommend it.

[40oz]

I think it's absurd to pay something like $100 for a keyboard. That seems way too extreme. Granted having something that costs lesser runs the risk of being a piece of shit, for keyboard advice I'd like some kind of medium between shitty low-budget cubicle keyboards and top-of-the-line gaming keyboards.

[darkreaver]

Keyboard schmeeboard, I use laptop only. Works like a charm. Seriously, how can a keyboard be...uh, not good? Exept for the ghosting thing you speak of, which I find very strange.

[Ultraboy94]

I use a HP 5187-7583 Multimedia keyboard. Never had any issues with it (although it definitley isn't a full-out gaming keyboard it works fine for gaming, as well as work tasks), and the extra multimedia keys at the top are very useful when you get used to them.

I don't know how much I paid for mine but checking online the best deal is around $32.

[Dragonsbrethren]

40oz said:

I think it's absurd to pay something like $100 for a keyboard. That seems way too extreme. Granted having something that costs lesser runs the risk of being a piece of shit, for keyboard advice I'd like some kind of medium between shitty low-budget cubicle keyboards and top-of-the-line gaming keyboards.

Yeah, I had a $5 keyboard that was fine for playing games with. In fact, I've never owned a keyboard that had a problem with ghosting, to my knowledge.

[Nuxius]

Ledmeister said:

and loud. Despite being advertised on the box as a "no click" keyboard (whatever that means), that non-clicking can be heard 2 rooms away. Maybe they mean it doesn't click, it clacks.

That's because you're bottoming out the keys. That Steelseries board uses Cherry MX Black switches which are designed to bottom out easily, because in gaming, you are pretty much always going to be hitting the keys hard enough to bottom them out.

It's a no click keyboard because the mechanical parts of the keys themselves don't click. If you lightly tap the keys on your keyboard, you'll notice they don't make any clicking sound, since the key and the bottom of the pad aren't coming in contact at such a high rate of speed anymore.

Cherry MX Blues, on the other hand, will always click, regardless of how slow you hit the key. (they're designed for typing though).

You could try a keyboard using Cherry MX Brown, which has a little more resistance behind it versus the Blacks, however, it's still going to make a sound if you hit the key hard.

In a nutshell, Cherry style mechanical switches are always going to make a clack sound if you hit them hard enough, because it's two hard surfaces coming into contact with each other. The only way you can get away from that is to a)not type so hard (almost impossible to do when you are gaming); or b)go back to a rubber dome style keyboard (where the rubber acts like a cushion against the sound) and forget about full NKRO (ie hitting whatever combination of keys you want).

[kristus]

I use the Razer Lycosa. And I love it. Only problem is that it's polished black. So it gets visibly dusty.
http://www.amazon.com/Razer-Lycosa-Programmable-Backlit-Keyboard/dp/B000YDIA78

[DaniJ]

Not exactly gaming gear but I use an Enermax Aurora, for a reasonable amount of touch typing on a daily basis (coding). I bought it about 3-4 years back I think. Easily one of the best keyboards I've ever owned.

The only minor drawback is that the black finish does react to sweat (revealing the base metal). Although mine has only just started to go under the Space bar and besides Tab. Mechanically, its still as sound as the day I bought it.

[gggmork]

I think search for 'n-key rollover':
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rollover_%28key%29#N-key_rollover
(I've had plenty of jamming problems with keyboards (too many keys held make some not register, but never had ghosting (extra key gets pressed out of nowhere).
BTW, a quick solution is to change from arrow keys to the number pad which jams much less; that fixed my earlier problems well enough.

Probably good for music software too, playing multiple notes at once (I'm pretty sure n-key means you could play a note for every single key on the keyboard all at the same time..). I've been too poor and lazy to buy such a keyboard so far myself though, so can't comment on any.



'It's main feature however is fairly lame; buy customized key layouts that plug into the chassis and have art from the game printed on them.'

lol, everything sold tends to be lame because its targeted at the majority. Welp, 2009 is over, I better toss out madden nfl 2009 and get madden nfl 2010 and some matching keyboard keys! That's feature's probably the main cause of sales.

[Ledmeister]

40oz said:

I think it's absurd to pay something like $100 for a keyboard.

Me too. :) But so far I hadn't found anything cheaper that doesn't get all faily during keyboard-only combat. :/

darkreaver said:

[...] Except for the ghosting thing you speak of, which I find very strange.

I may have been inadvertently using the wrong term. I mean: When holding down several keys at once, some will register and some won't... Or, newly-pressed keys cancel out keys that are already being held down, or vice-versa.

Nuxius said:

In a nutshell, Cherry style mechanical switches are always going to make a clack sound if you hit them hard enough, because it's two hard surfaces coming into contact with each other. The only way you can get away from that is to a)not type so hard (almost impossible to do when you are gaming);

DingDingDing. :/
You'd think that, for what they're charging they could rubberize a surface or two, or come up with something more advanced than Hollywood film-clapboard architecture.
But anyway, thanks for the tips; I'll keep that in mind when hunting for the next keyboard. :)

kristus said:

I use the Razer Lycosa. And I love it. Only problem is that it's polished black. So it gets visibly dusty.
http://www.amazon.com/Razer-Lycosa-Programmable-Backlit-Keyboard/dp/B000YDIA78

I had briefly considered that one...I'll research a little more. Thanks!

gggmork said:

I think search for 'n-key rollover':
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rollover_%28key%29#N-key_rollover

Cool; Thanks for the link and info. :)