CM Storm QuickFire XTi Mechanical Gaming Keyboard Review

Introduction, Specifications, and Pricing

Given the success of the QuickFire Rapid, Rapid-i, and many other great mechanical keyboards from Cooler Master and the CM Storm team, it makes a lot of sense to keep building the portfolio of options to get your product into as many hands as possible. Of course, we started out with the Trigger series, and that is where we got hooked. Since then we have seen many variations of options and layout, 104-key and TenKeyLess designs, and not once have we ever had an issue with them. While they do tend to end up as out daily driver, we have yet to have one fail, and tend to donate them to others long before their lifespan is used up.

In our minds, the CM Storm team has their ear on the heartbeat of the more advanced portion of the mechanical keyboard community. This allows them to filter through issues that come up in other products; they can field tons of suggestions to what the masses want. This allows them to not only bring forth new products, but do so with more than just "hey look guys, we changed the LED color", or "we added stuff you will never use." In this instance, you get a lot of control at your fingertips and is a keyboard that goes to show you do not require a huge keyboard with a ton of extra keys to get the job done, and done well.

So building upon what are already really great options for your hard earned dollar in mechanical keyboards, CM Storm now brings forth the QuickFire XTi and delivered it for our opinion. CM Storm sticks with Cherry MX switches in this design and offers this design in three flavors so that you can find the right switch type for you. While we don't want to give it all away before you see for yourself, what the QuickFire XT includes within the usual size and shape of a keyboard is impressive. While not full RGB LED backlit, with the various light profiles and dual color LEDs, there is plenty to keep users more than happy with this latest mechanical keyboard offering.

As we move into the specifications, we first must cover that while we were sent a sample sporting Cherry MX blue switches in it, you can also purchase this same layout backed with Cherry MX red or brown switches as well. It is also noted that availability can depend on region as well. The QuickFire XTi offers full NKRO support in Windows via presses of the ABS keycaps that are sprayed with a grip-coat, and all of the caps are removable. The QuickFire XTi also sports a 1ms response time or polling rate by default, and use of the keyboard is done without drivers. There are however firmware updates you can get that improve on what the QuickFire XTi offers out of the box.

Every key on the board has an LED to backlight it, as shown, in 35 colors and across five modes of effects. With the color options, however, you have solid blue, solid red, or many shades of purple and pink as you combine the two color buttons. The modes, however, are more impressive for those who like to look at the keyboard, or on a break switch modes and use a red and blue snake to chase a pink dot. There is also a Windows "lock-out" key offered, there is a set of muti-media keys, and there are still keys for repeat rate, Macros, and profile keys as well. The last things worth a mention are that there is a detachable gold plated USB cable, 1.5 meters in length and that the QuickFire XTi weighs in at 2.46 pounds.

Locating the QuickFire XTi is relatively easy, as everywhere we looked, we found a listing. Shopping smart can save you a bit of cash with this keyboard as well. First we found it at Amazon where they have it listed at a fairly reasonable $144.93 with Cooler Master listed as the seller, and if you are a Prime member, you can have it shipped for free. We then looked for the best deal we could find, and ran across the listing at Newegg, where they currently list the QuickFire XTi for just $119.99 with free shipping. Twenty-five dollars isn't a huge deal to most, but that is near twenty percent off the price. Either way, though, we feel that what Cooler Master is offering, and what we are about to show you will have you also seeing the value in such a keyboard.

Chad's Peripherals Test System Specifications

• Motherboard: ASUS X99-E WS - Buy from Amazon / Read our review
• CPU: Intel Core i7 5930K - Buy from Amazon
• Cooler: Corsair H100i GTX - Buy from Amazon / Read our review
• Memory: KLevv Cras DDR4 3000 - Buy from Amazon / Read our review
• Video Card: ASUS GeForce GTX 980 Matrix Platinum - Buy from Amazon / Read our review
• Storage: Intel 730 480GB - Buy from Amazon / Read our review
• Case: SilverStone TJ11 - Buy from Amazon / Read our review
• Power Supply: Corsair AX1200 - Buy from Amazon / Read our review
• OS: Microsoft Windows 10 Professional 64-bit - Buy from Amazon