Corsair K65 RGB Mini Review: The Most Powerful 60% on the Market

The Corsair K65 RGB Mini is a 60% keyboard that you absolutely should consider for a couple of important reasons.

As a compact keyboard with the fastest response time on the market, the K65 is an excellent option for gamers out there.

The Verdict

The Corsair K65 is officially the fastest mechanical keyboard in the world with a polling rate of 8000 Hz, making it 8x faster than most mechanical keyboards.

The wicked fast hyper-polling rate mixed with the Cherry MX Speed Silver switches makes the K65 RGB Mini the best 60% option if you are a serious gamer. While it does not come outfitted with optical switches, the mechanical speed switches should get the job done.

If you’re looking to play competitive games such as Valorant, Call of Duty, or Fortnite, the K65 is the perfect tool for responsive gaming. You’ll never need to worry about being behind the competition.

The K65 has the most robust mix of software and firmware I’ve seen from a 60% keyboard. If you need to customize your keyboard for peak performance, you can tweak the setup with the onboard firmware or dive into the software for even more customization options.

This means you can outfit your keyboard with macros and keybinds to make your keyboard the most efficient gaming setup possible. Everything down to the RGB can tweaked and saved to different profiles.

Don’t get us wrong, the keyboard is not perfect. The keyboard lacks kickstands, which can be a turnoff for those who enjoy an aggressive typing angle. Not to mention the case design is barebones and a little bland looking, but don’t be fooled, there is a V8 engine under the hood.

If you are interested in checking out the Corsair K65 RGB Mini, you can find it on Amazon.

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In The Box

The keyboard comes outfitting in a small Corsair branded box with standard black and yellow coloring. Once you open the box, you are surprised with a few really cool items. Here’s what you get:

Stylized spacebar: A stylized spacebar is included, that offers an unique triangle disintegration pattern. The real magic happens when you turn the RGB lights on and the design is illuminated.

Corsair ESC key: An extra keycap with the Corsair logo is included that you can swap out with the ESC key. This is also shinethrough, and really pops with the RGB lights turned on.

Keycap puller: An all-black plastic keycap puller is included that helps you remove the keycaps if you want to swap them out with the extras included in the box.

Dust cover: If you hate getting dust or other gunk on your keyboard, the dust cover can be throw on the keyboard when it’s not in use to protect it from the elements.

Braided cable: To keep your keyboard powered, a braided USB-C cable is included in the box. The cable feels high quality.

Build Quality

Despite the small form-factor and size, the K65 RGB Mini is actually quite robust. With minimal flex, you can not bend the keyboard even if you try. I am pleasantly surprised at how strong the case is.

The keyboard is built like a brick, but unfortunately, it looks like a brick too.

The case design comes in an all-black design with some small Corsair branding on the back left-hand side. With minimal colors or intriguing elements, the case feels lackluster. It would have been nice if they put more work into making the design feel more original.

The case also lacks kickstands, which means you’re stuck with the typing angle it comes with.

The USB port is located directly in the middle-backside of the keyboard with a port that’s easily accessible. It would be very easy to use a custom cable to power your keyboard.

Overall, the keyboard built like a tank, it’s just lacking a few elements to take it to the next level.

The Keycaps

The keycaps on the K65 are a point of interest.

Coming in a PBT doubleshot plastic, the keycaps will last a very long time without wearing down. Instead of the typical cheap ABS keycaps, Corsair opted for a more expensive and longer-lasting plastic choice. This bodes well for the longevity of the keyboard.

The legends on the keycaps are all shinethrough, which allows the RGB lighting to illuminate the letters as you’re typing. This is perfect for gaming at night in the dark.

Almost every keycap on the keyboard also has lower layer functionality, making the K65 very handy with so much power at your fingertips.

An extra stylized spacebar is included that really ties the whole keycap design together, making it more fun to use. The RGB also illuminates the unique design for an exciting experience.

It would have been nice if Corsair included a few colored keycaps like the Ducky One 2 Mini, but instead it’s an all-black design.

The Stabilizers

The stabilizers on the Corsair K65 are surprisingly very stable and satisfying to use.

In the past with the Corsair K70 and K95, the stabilizers on their keyboards have been historically bad. Each keystroke felt like an earthquake happening under your fingertips.

But with the K65, Corsair really upped their game.

The stabilizers are, well, stable. For a stock, out of the box keyboard, they are very well done.

The Switches

The Corsair K65 RGB Mini comes with Cherry MX Speed Silver switches, which is a lower actuation gaming switch for a speedy response time.

I’m a little curious as to why Corsair didn’t use their trademarked optical OPX switches, as this is a gaming keyboard and is quite pricey.

Optical switches are typically better for gaming because they have zero debounce delay making them slightly faster than mechanical. Seems like a strange choice by the company, but regardless, Speed Silver switches are quite satisfying to use.

At the time of writing this review, you can only choose Cherry MX Speed Silver switches, so you unfortunately don’t have a clicky or tactile switch option, just linear.

The Software and Firmware

The software and firmware is where the Corsair K65 really stands out from the crowd.

With incredibly robust firmware and enough functionality to make Inspector Gadget blush, the K65 is already impressive in this department. But once you realize that you have the full power of the Corsair iCUE software at your fingertips as well, the full weight of the keyboard starts to hit you.

Between the firmware and software, here’s a quick outline of the different functionality:

• Change between lighting presets
• Change lighting brightness
• Switch between profiles
• Record macros
• Use Windows lock, scroll lock, caps lock
• Full mouse functionality
• Access lower layer media keys
• Use arrow keys
• Change the polling rate
• Customize up to 20 layers of RGB
• 8MB of onboard memory
• And more.

Most of the functionality is available on the lower layer by pressing FN, but a few items such as changing the polling rate and customizing the RGB can be done through the software.

Traditionally, 60% keyboards don’t have this much functionality, so seeing Corsair take this seriously is a big plus to them.

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Conclusion

Overall, the Corsair K65 RGB Mini is an excellent option for gamers out there that take their equipment seriously. The only way this keyboard could be better for gaming is if it came outfitted with the Corsair OPX switches, but I suppose that is only reserved for the flagship K100 keyboard at the moment.

The firmware and software is very powerful and allows more customization than any other 60% keyboard currently on the market.

Not to mention, the PBT keycaps, satisfying stabilizers, and RGB lighting all make this feel like a premium keyboard even though it lacks an intriguing case design and kickstands.

While the keyboard lacks in a few departments, for their first 60% keyboard, Corsair did a pretty good job. As the first keyboard with an 8K polling rate, it should be interesting to see where this leads Corsair in the future.

You can find the Corsair K65 RGB Mini on Amazon.