Roccat Suora FX Mechanical Keyboard Review

German peripheral manufacturer Roccat has been a notorious name for quite some time, and not because of their League of Legends EU LCS squad. Roccat offers keyboards, mice, mousepads, headsets and other gaming peripherals. All of their products are under $200, and come with a one-year limited manufacturer warranty.

I have been a fan of Roccat for some time, however, I was never offered the chance to fully test one of their keyboards. Thanks to the team at Roccat, they agreed to send us one of their Suora FX keyboards for review!

If you are in the market for a keyboard and don’t want to drop hundreds of dollars, then keep reading! Roccat has never underperformed, and they kept the bar high with their Suora FX keyboard. If you are a gamer who likes to compete with friends, or you are an aspiring esports professional, then the Suora might be the keyboard for you.

Features

• N-key rollover
• 6 macro keys
• Frameless build
• 8m color key back-lighting

Design

The Suora FX is built with minimalists in mind. The keys stand straight out of the aluminum board. The caps depress around the switch to minimalize exposure. There is no housing to hide switches from the environment, however, the switches are protected by the inside of the keycap.

The Suora FX takes advantage of TTC’s Brown switches, which are a direct clone to Cherry switches. I was apprehensive about the use of clone switches, however, I was impressed. I have used Cherry Red switches for the past year, however, the Suora FX convinced me to switch over… no pun intended. It is also important to note that if you wish to add your own Cherry keycaps, they will fit snugly around the TTC Brown switches.

You can easily pop off the keycaps without any tools, which is always a personal worry. Using tools to pop off key caps concern me, as I have broken a switch or two on competitor keyboards. In fact, with the Suora FX, I was able to remove every keycap with my fingers, except the space bar, enter, and shift keys due to a metal bar holding them in place. The bars are easy enough to remove if you want to clean every surface of the Suora FX.

I should add that the only complaint I have with the Suora FX is that the painted aluminum face attracts dust. After a few hours, I could see little white specks of dust on my keyboard. It is easy enough to wipe off with my finger or a cotton swab, but it was still annoying.

I do not physically rage during my gaming sessions, however, I was curious if the aluminum cover could withstand a few ground-and-pounds. I picked up and dropped the Suora FX one foot above my desk plugged it, and nothing happened. There were no ghost clicks, RBG stutters or any physical sign of damage. I also slammed my keyboard with my fist in multiple areas, and the only issue was that the “8” key popped off. The key only popped off once, but it is worth noting.

There isn’t much customization to work with in terms of dedicated media keys with the Suora FX. The F keys double as your basic pause, skip, play buttons for media. Along with these the top three buttons above the number pad act as volume controls with volume up, volume down, and mute buttons. The top right button is dedicated for “game mode.” We will get into this later.

The Suora FX has no extra ports for connecting USB devices. It is powered by a USB 1.1 braided cable. I enjoy braided cables over your everyday rubber/plastic shielding due to the added protection. The braided shielding also protects against cable breaking, fraying, and cracking. It is almost an industry standard that gaming peripherals have braided cables.

Performance

The Suora FX’s mechanical key switches create a satisfying gaming and typing experience. I personally love the sound of mechanical key switches with an audible “click”, and the TTC Browns provide that. Switching from my old keyboard to the Suora FX took almost no adjustment time. Within two hours I was comfortable enough to not have to look down at the keyboard in order to navigate the keys.

Once you press on a key, you will feel a slight “bump”. It is not noticeable after a few hours of consistent use. Once you let go of a depressed key, it will spring back into place. The keys create an audible “click” which isn’t always the best option if you want to use this keyboard in a room where somebody else is working. I personally work in an environment where there are two full gaming PC set ups, so a “clicky” keyboard is always welcome in my home!

The Suora FX runs at a 1000Hz polling rate, which means that this keyboard can handle anything you throw at it. If you are turtling in Fortnite or trying to pull off a legendary gank in League of Legends, the Suora FX will not fail you.

Software

In order to gain full control of the Suora FX’s potential, you will need to download Roccat’s Swarm software. Within the application, you can set up to five different RGB presets, or customize each key with a different color and hue. You can also select zones with a specific color as well! Each key supports up to 16.8 million colors.

The F1 through F4 keys are dedicated to selecting different color profiles. You can select a range of colors for different games, or whatever the mood dictates. You don’t need the Swarm application open to use the dedicated presets either, which is a plus.

Remember the “game mode” button we talked about earlier? That button is dedicated for the keyboard’s gaming shortcuts. Each key can be designated a specific function, and a secondary function. The secondary function becomes active when the “game mode” is deployed. The mode is toggled by simply clicking the button on or off. You will know when the Suora FX is in “game mode” due to the key lighting up. It’s a simple solution for a keyboard that is minimal. This is just another example of Roccat taking advantage of every square inch of their product.

Specs

Summary

The Suora FX is designed and built to fit virtually any type of gamer. The performance has been incredible throughout my two weeks of use and has yet to fail me. I wrote several articles with the keyboard, and I did not drop my word count. In fact, I began to type faster due to the switches and the small distance between each key. The design is easy on the eyes, and the endless amount of RGB options make the Suora FX that much slicker.