Driver

There is no software driver support for the Cherry MX Board 6.0, with all functionality being hardware-based. As such, I have chosen to combine the Driver and Performance pages into one. All keyboards currently sold already have the latest version 6.1 firmware, but in case you have the older 6.0 firmware, please download and run the relevant executable patcher here.

Performance

There is full N-key rollover USB here out of the box, as Aqua's test confirms. Similarly, no key chatter was detected on all the keys using Switch Hitter.


When first plugged in, the keyboard lights up in a static bright red on nearly all switches, with some lighting up blue. Onboard brightness control is easily the best here of any other keyboard I have tested so far, with Fn + F7/F8 changing brightness of the LEDs (both red and blue, as applicable with firmware 6.1) in increments of 10% dimmer and brighter respectively. As if that isn't sufficient, Fn + F5/F6 provides incremental changes of 1% down and up respectively, and Fn + F9 toggles between on and off for backlighting. There are no lighting effects on the keyboard, and thus, static lighting is all you get here. Good thing then that the LEDs were all consistent across the board, at least in the 10% increments I could tell apart.

As for the other keyboard-specific functions programmed in, Fn + F1-F3 handles volume control, and there are dedicated media playback buttons in the top-right corner. Next to those buttons is the dedicated Cherry key that toggles between the Office and Performance modes. In Office mode, the key lights up blue and prevents automatic keystroke registration from buttons pressed down accidentally. In testing, it worked very well after 1.5-2 seconds of the switch in its depressed position, which does mean there would still be a lot of extra keystrokes to remove, but it will help should you decide to fall asleep on the keyboard.

When pressed again, the Cherry key turns red and Performance mode toggles on. This is where Cherry's RealKey (RK) technology comes in. It is separate from the scan rate over USB, wherein some keyboards have the option to have it vary from 200-1000 Hz (5-1 ms respectively). This means every 1-5 ms, the keyboard controller checks for whether a key is pressed. If a key press is recognized, different software routines within the keyboard are processed (i.e. de-bouncing, anti-ghosting, and so on). Normally, this has it take ~ 20 ms before the keystroke is output to the PC and then the display. Cherry's RealKey technology uses an analogue controller which detects current flow from a key press, and the signal processing takes ~1 ms instead of the 20 ms most others take. This is a part of the journey from key press to key stroke as seen on the screen and is different from USB vs. PS/2 latency, key switch actuation, display input lag, etc. In theory, this can help reduce total keyboard input latency from the keystroke to the display effect, although with an irreproducible means to quantify this, I can not say much more. Refer to this for more on Cherry's RealKey technology, and also note that no other keyboard since, including some newer keyboards from Cherry, have adopted this. Take that for what you will.

Performance mode also activates Win key lock, where the following signals are disabled and not sent to the PC:

• Windows key
• Alt + F4
• Alt + Tab
• Ctrl + Alt + Del

Ideally, you would want to be in Office mode, and this is part of Cherry trying to appeal to both professionals and gamers alike here. The keyboard saves the setting and remembers it each time it is powered on. These dual-color LEDs are also how the keyboard handles indicator LEDs in the absence of dedicated ones, so Caps Lock will be backlit blue when used vs. red, for example. You can also lock the Fn key to be active without having to press it each time, should you want to use the secondary functions on the Fn row as dedicated buttons for volume and brightness control, and this is done by toggling the Ctrl + Fn keys together. The Fn key will light up blue when active and locked and red when inactive. This is a neat approach to having secondary functions be easier to use, and something I want to see others adopt also.


As always, the sound of a keyboard is based on more than just the switch type. So when comparing sound clips, consider the keyboard as a whole. In this case, I have provided above an example sound clip of me typing on the Cherry MX Board 6.0 sample at ~115 WPM. For context, you can find sound clips from other keyboards here, including those with linear switches. I did bottom out here, as is common with lighter linear switches such as these. In terms of actuation and typing, these were no different than the vast majority of other MX Red switches I have used before, with excellent quality control from Cherry. Their average actuation force was 45.09 cN across twenty random switches tested, and bottoming out felt just fine as well with nothing in particular standing out.