Gigabyte Aivia Osmium Mechanical Keyboard

[BenHTBDT]

Buy it from NCIX here: http://us.ncix.com/products/?sku=73954&vpn=GK-OSMIUM&manufacture=Gigabyte

While researching this keyboard, I could not find any real reviews, so I'd like to help out anyone considering this keyboard in the future by recording my thoughts here. This is my first review, so I would appreciate some pointers and tips. :) If you have any questions, feel free to ask! I had to link to a dropbox folder full of all the pictures (sorry for the amateur quality) because I could not get the forum to let me upload the pictures.

PICTURES: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/cscz82v6ec1i2c1/cmV0izSll5

I bought this keyboard today, and I plan on making several edits to this review as I get used to the keyboard. I got it from MicroCenter, who currently sells it for $150, but as both Amazon and NCIX have it for $129, I convinced the manager to allow a price match. Unfortunately, my first unit was DOA (kinda my fault, more on this later), so I had to make the ~30 minute journey up to our MicroCenter twice in one day. The second try works great.

This is my first venture into a mechanical keyboard, and I have done extensive research on what I needed/wanted out of a keyboard before finally deciding on this one.

It uses Cherry MX Reds, which originally I thought I would not like. After playing with some keyboards while in the store, I decided that the clicky blues were nice, but I plan on keeping the keyboard for years, and I don't think my college roommates would appreciate me clicking late into the night. After using the Reds for a little bit now, I much prefer the smoothness to the clicky feeling anyway.

I had several requirements in a keyboard.

1. Mechanical, obviously.
   
2. Audio/Mic pass-through
   
3. USB pass-through
   
4. Volume/media controls
   
5. Back lit
   
6. Palm rest that was big enough to comfortably lay your hands on.
   

This keyboard met all of those needs. The most impressive feature that I have not found on any other keyboard so far is the USB 3.0 pass-through.

Box

When you first open the box, the biggest indication that its awesome, other than the sexy looking keyboard, is the very solid foam packaging. We all know that when a manufacturer spends money on the packaging, they mean business. The palm rest is already attached, and when I pulled out the first one, it "broke" off, and I thought I had broken it. But it fortunately simply snaps in and all was good. They also include a key puller, and 4 extra keys.

Connectors

The connectors themselves are gold plated. There are two USB ports, one 2.0 with a black inside, the other 3.0 with the blue inside. There is also two 3.5mm audio jacks, marked with pink and green, for the mic and headphone pass through ports. The USB 2.0 pass through is on the back of the keyboard, near where the cord comes out, while the USB 3.0 as well as the two gold plated audio ports are on the right side of the keyboard.

The Keyboard

The keyboard itself is very sleek. It has a completely matte finish, except for the Aivia button in the top right corner, which looks like some faux brushed aluminium. The keyboard has a blue LED backlight on each individual key. ALL keys are mechanical, unlike the K90. It has 5 programmable macro buttons at the top, G1 through G5. To the right of the macro keys, there are two scroll wheels for keyboard brightness, and volume. They scroll infinitely in both directions. You can also click them, which for the brightness it turns off the back-light while for the volume it mutes it. Like I said earlier it uses the Cherry MX red switches, and its worth noting that the keys are rather loud compared to most other Red's that I tried out while I was in the store. However, I do bottom out the keys while typing, so that might be why. The bottom includes two sets of rubber feet, which work surprisingly well at holding it in place.

The Software

I would like to preface this with the fact that I am not much of a gamer, I do not really use Macro keys for anything, so the software that is included does not do much for me. That being said, I did tinker with it just enough to know whats going on. It gives you a full suite of functions that you can program the macro keys to do. Its called Aivia Ghost, and it is available as a download from Gigabytes website. One thing to note is that the Aivia logo on the Aivia button, which switches macro presets, is set by default to "breathe" which is really just the back light fading in and out. This can be disabled in the Ghost software.

Another piece of software, also available on their website, is the firmware updater. I noticed this, and immediately downloaded and followed the instructions on how to update the firmware. WARNING: DO NOT DO THIS. This ended up, despite the utility saying "Flash successful", bricking my keyboard. Thus, I had to exchange the keyboard for another one. Even though this was kinda my fault, I did the procedure correctly, and they really shouldn't publish an update that bricks the keyboard.

Overall, I enjoy my new keyboard, and am glad that I finally made the switch to mechanical. I had been using a Logitech wireless keyboard for awhile, then switched to a SteelSeries Shift, and I thought THAT was a huge improvement. Mechanical is the best decision I've ever made.

As I said, this is my first review, so tips are much appreciated. This keyboard seems to be looked over by many, but it seems to be of very high quality and I highly recommend it. It would be nice if Linus could unbox it, given that NCIX does sell it, and its mechanical!

[Crowcore]

I stumbled upon this keyboard a week ago. It has almost everything I'm looking for. I'd prefer a white backlight & brown switches. The second point is a deal-breaker. Why can't all manufacturers offer the choice of selecting our own switches with each of their products ?

[Mysticode]

I stumbled upon this keyboard a week ago. It has almost everything I'm looking for. I'd prefer a white backlight & brown switches. The second point is a deal-breaker. Why can't all manufacturers offer the choice of selecting our own switches with each of their products ?

Massive increase in production cost. You'll find manufacturers who have their main business of selling PC accessories more likely to do such a thing. I foresee however, Corsair/Logitech in the future offering some more versions of their keyboards with different switches.

[Jmjam]

I have been wanting this keyboard for a while. Kind of wished other companies actually used USB 3.0 Passthorughs on their keyboards. Brown switches would also be an awesome variation to this Keyboard too. I went with a K90 instead of this though. Maybe in the future they'd add some more features and have an Osmium 2.0

[codytappen]

USB 3.0 is nice, but why is it important for you? I imagined that the port was for mice....

[Jmjam]

USB 3.0 is nice, but why is it important for you? I imagined that the port was for mice....

I'd rather use those ports for an External USB 3.0 Hard Drive or Flash drive. You're not going to be unplugging and plugging back in your mouse very often which is why usb ports on keyboards are more convenient for me to be used for that.

[ThermoUndynamics]

This is a very detailed and well written review for a first time reviewer. Good job, bro. :D

I like that you included all of those pictures. Being able to see what you're talking about is a big plus.

There's only a couple things that I suggest changing for future reviews. The first is perhaps think about putting in text references to your pictures; "There are two USB 3.0 ports on the keyboard, which I personally love because it makes it easy to use external harddrives (see Fig A)." The other is that I think you should be a bit more subjective. Giving a summary of all of the capabilities of the keyboard is one thing, but talking about what's truly amazing and terrible about it is another. Why do you recommend it even though you bottom out the keys and the software bricks it? What makes it so amazing?

Once again, great review, and now you've got me curious about it...

[Eric1024]

Very good review :D

[meatshield]

Great review...I am or was contemplating this keyboard but now you got paranoid! Can't update the firmware without bricking the board...that's just scary and a deal breaker! Could you please elaborate on this.....have you talked to gigabyte about this issue?