ADFX_Pixy

Ducky Shine III with Cherry MX Blues and White LED's and a CM Storm Quickfire Stealth with Cherry MX Browns. Wanting to pick up a Vortex Pok3r and the MK MK2016 from mechanicalkeyboards.com (it's a rebranded Ducky Premier).

Rosewill RK-9000V2. Very nice keyboard especially for the price. The Rosewill logo is also stealth-printed black-on-black. Newegg listing: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16823201082&cm_re=rosewill_rk-9000v2-_-23-201-082-_-Product

If you like the Deathadder's shape, why not look at the Zowie EC1/2-A models? Its shape is similar to the Deathadder's.

Like everybody says, headphones with a clip-on mic / desk mic would trump the two headsets you have listed. If you absolutely need a headset to use, I would actually pick the first-generation HyperX Cloud. You don't need the 7.1 surround USB sound card that comes with the Cloud II's, stereo would be perfectly fine, even for games that necessitate positional audio like first-person shooters.

The Rosewill RK-9000V2 BR is a nice mechanical keyboard that's cheap. I'm pretty sure Rosewill uses the same OEM as Filco and Cooler Master so it's a good quality keyboard, just a cheaper re-brand. It may not be flashy like the Logitech G710+ or the Ducky Shine series of keyboards but it's a nice, simple keyboard that serves its purpose. Newegg link: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16823201083

First off, the Ducky shine 5 is still using double shot ABS for their stock keycaps. I'm pretty sure the Strafe isn't supposed to be a premium full-size mechanical keyboard like the K70 RGB is. The Strafe is meant to be cheaper for budget-oriented customers that don't want to pay the premium price of the K70 RGB. To achieve this cheaper price point, Corsair had to cut corners somewhere. It's like Ducky's new keyboards: the Ducky ONE and Shine 5. The Shine 5 is premium whereas the ONE is budget-oriented.

The Strafe isn't a silent keyboard. It just happens to be the first keyboard to feature Cherry's "Silent" switches.

Cherry MX Blues, Greens, and Whites are loud switches since they have a click when actuating them. Cherry MX Browns, Reds, Blacks, Clears, and Tactile (or) Linear Greys are the "quiet" switches with exception to the new Cherry MX "Silent" switches. I put quotation marks on quiet because since they don't have a clicking mechanism like the MX Blues, Greens and Whites. Most of the noise from these switches come from how hard the user bottoms-out their keyboard as well as the upstroke when the user releases the key and the stem springs back up. You can get o-ring dampeners for your keyboard and that will dampen the bottoming out noise of the keyboard, but the issue with noise come in on the upstroke after you release the key. Looking at Cherry's new "Silent" MX switches, they fixed the noise issue on the upstroke as well as the downstroke so if you want to wait for that in the Corsair Strafe, go for it. Good luck and happy buying!

For me, the deciding factor for choosing a TKL or a 60% keyboard are the arrow keys. Apparently, I use the arrow keys on a daily basis so that's why I chose my Quickfire Stealth over a Ducky Mini, Pok3r, or any other 60% keyboard. I probably could have gotten used to the arrow keys through the function layer but I really like the form factor of ten keyless keyboards too.

I remember when I followed the CoD community a lot, the Astro A40's were the headsets to get. When I got mine I was very happy to them but the one thing that made them "good" was just the Mixamp Pro that shipped with the A40's. Honestly, I would avoid getting the A40's and just get the HyperX Cloud's (not the II's). I wouldn't recommend the II's because the sound card doesn't really help imo (digitized surround sound isn't needed at all even for competitive gaming, in-game sound is sufficient) and the 1's should be cheaper than the II's. Honestly, I would recommend getting a headphone + mic combo. This audio setup beats many headset setups, if not all hands down. But if you really need a headset for whatever reason, I would recommend the HyperX Cloud's.

If you can wait until the fall and raise your budget a little bit, you can get the Shine 5 RGB from Ducky. Their Shine series of backlit keyboards are very nice and I am looking forward to how they will implement the RGB lighting into their keyboards.

Definitely agree. The silver accents that took place of the gold accents of the Z97-A was very nice and I knew that it would have a place in my build.

I still use my iPod Nano 2nd Generation 4GB. Before it held all the music that I listened too but now it holds a small fraction of my extensive music library that I only use to help me get up in the morning. I keep it docked into my cheap iHome alarm clock/iPod dock to give me an alarm tone that doesn't give me a headache when I wake up.

I'm in the same boat with you with Cherry MX Browns after using MX Blues for a little bit. At first when I tried them, I hated them because they felt like scratchy Cherry MX Reds. But now they feel perfect for me when typing as well as gaming. I also agree with you on how professional the Filco logo looks on the top right hand of the keyboard. Very understated and professional with a sexy stealth-black look.

I think that Zowie mice would be perfect for you then. Very basic design with a simple plug-and-play function. If there's anything to note about them is that they have preset DPI steps so you can't fine tune it and also use Huano blue microswitches which require more force than the common Omron microswitches in many gaming mice. But other than that, Zowie mice are very nice and I will gladly recommend them to anybody who's looking into purchasing one of their many mice available.