Cougar Attack X3 Review

After hearing quite a bit about the Cougar Attack X3 from various keyboard forums, I decided to get one to review myself! This is my first Cougar mechanical keyboard review but I’m definitely familiar with the company. They’ve been making gaming peripherals and I’m excited to share the review and unboxing of the Cougar Attack X3 with you guys.

Overview of The Cougar Attack X3

Cougar Attack X3 full size
  • Cherry MX mechanical switches.
  • Red LED backlighting.
  • Media control hotkeys.
  • Dedicated volume control buttons.
  • Brushed aluminum back plate.

Cougar is a premier gaming company that makes a variety of mice, keyboards, power supplies, computer cases, and more. Their newest gaming mechanical keyboard is the Cougar Attack X3. This keyboard has a lot of features that gamers will love, but let’s get started looking at some photos of this keyboard.

The Unboxing

cougar attack x3 review

The Attack X3 comes in an attractive box touting the benefits of the Cougar keyboard. This mechanical keyboard has a 1ms response time and is available in Cherry MX Brown, Blue, and Red switches.

Cougar Attack X3 full size

The Cougar Attack X3 is a full-sized RGB gaming mechanical keyboard and it comes with a small instruction booklet. Once you plug the keyboard into your computer, you should be prompted to download and install the Cougar UIX software.

This mechanical keyboard has the ability to run in either 6-Key Rollover or N-Key Rollover modes. You can change the polling rate between 125 Hz, 250 Hz, 500Hz, and 1000Hz. The higher the number, the faster the response time of the keyboard potentially is.

At 125Hz, the standard USB polling rate, the keyboard input can be sent to the computer every 8ms. While in 1000Hz mode, input can be sent every 1ms. This can potentially give you better reflexes in your gaming sessions.

Cougar Attack X3 back

The Cougar Attack X3 has two flip-out feet for increasing the angle of the keyboard. The black bottom of the keyboard is made of plastic, and overall the keyboard feels fairly light while still feeling sturdy.

Attack X3 side

The Attack X3 has a pretty standard key profile with a steady incline across all rows. We found the keyboard to be fairly comfortable for extended typing sessions. As you can tell in this photo, the aluminum back plate curves around the edge of the mechanical keyboard and looks pleasing to the eye.

The Keys and Switches

Attack X3 switches

The Cougar Attack X3 uses Cherry MX switches, the best mechanical switches available. Our model has Brown switches, but you can also find the Attack X3 with Red or Blue switches.

As expected with Cherry MX switches, these felt great for typing. Brown switches are also great for people looking for a quiet mechanical keyboard.

Attack X3 media keys

Overall, the font used on these keycaps are nice and bold without crossing the line into cheesy. Above the numpad, this keyboard has a great set of volume control keys that will let you quickly mute and adjust the volume on your computer.

In the below typing test of the Cougar Attack X3, you can hear this mechanical keyboard in action at 103 WPM!

One downside of the Attack X3 is the non-standard bottom row. The bottom-left keys (Ctrl, Function, Alt) are larger than a normal keyboard, leaving the spacebar to be smaller. Most people don’t prefer this setup, and it makes using aftermarket keycaps difficult. That being said, I really like the gaming aesthetics of this mechanical keyboard. If you really like Cougar Attacks’s price and functionality, the slightly larger keys are something you can quickly adapt to.

The Backlighting

Attack X3 Backlighting

The Cougar Attack X3 has one-color red LED backlights. There are 5 different backlighting modes – off, low, medium, max, and breathing. The max-lighting setting is very bright, and the status indicator lights (caps lock, scroll lock, num lock) are built into those keys. If the Caps Lock key is lit, that means caps lock is on.

One downside to the backlighting is anything towards the bottom of the keycaps (like the numbers row) don’t light up as bright as the symbols at the top due to the LEDs being top-mounted.

Cougar Attack X3 – UIX

cougar uix

The UIX software can be used to setup different “modes” which are stored on your keyboard. You can have 3 different modes which can have different macros, swapped keys, lighting profiles, and more.

The UIX will also let you change the different performance settings of the keyboard and set up different profiles that launch based on the game you’re playing as well.

This UIX software isn’t too difficult to navigate though it does feel a bit rudimentary. It does a better job than most keyboard software we’ve seen, though.

Cougar Attack X3 Mechanical Keyboard – Overall Verdict

Attack X3 switches

We really like the Cougar Attack X3 as a great gaming keyboard under $100. In this price range, you usually don’t get Cherry MX switches which is a huge selling point. The volume control buttons are also a very nice feature to have, and the keyboard feels very well built despite being lightweight. The Attack X3 is very much deserving of our Editor’s Choice award!

After having used this mechanical keyboard for a little while now, I can definitely say that it’s definitely a worthy buy. The Attack X3 is well priced given its functionality and awesome RGB features. If you’re considering this keyboard, I highly recommend you checkout the Amazon reviews as it’ll give you a better feel for this mechanical keyboard.