Question about the K70 MK2

[mcxmxmz]

I currently have the K70 RGB Speed MK1 and I have a couple of questions about the MK2 version:

 

1. On the top left you have three buttons, nr2 = brightness, nr3 = disable windows key. What is nr1? Is that for changing profiles/lightning mode?
    
   
2. Are the leds on the MK2 brighter? Because I found them somewhat dim on the MK1 (I have it set all the way to the brightest mode).
    
   
3. On my current K70 I always have it set to rainbow mode without macro's or other stuff and I wish to get rid of iCue. Is running the keyboard without iCue while still having the lighting indeed possible with the MK2?
   

 

Thanks in advance for the info.

[c-attack]

1) It is a physical profile change button, for both when the software is running or between the 3 hardware profiles when it is not. See below.

 

2) I would say there are lighting improvements compared the K70 RGB series. Most certainly if you are looking at the white K70 MK2 SE or K70 MK.2 Low profile, both of which have physical reasons for appearing more vibrant (white + silver base and lower key height on LP model).

 

3) There are three hardware profiles on the K70 Mk.2. You can freely choose these and overwrite them from the software at any time, but you are limited by space and processor requirements on the KB. You must choose between a) 1 of the presets (spiral rainbow, rainbow wave, color shift, color pulse, color wave, visor, rain, or type lighting) or b) up to 5 custom effects comprised of static, waves, ripples, gradients. You cannot combine the two, so no static blue (b) with type lighting (a). You need to set these up and save with the software, but they do not require the software to be active once that has occurred. You also will drop into HW mode anytime the software is not running, like boot, shutdown, lock screen, etc.

[Rando5]

Hey c-attack,

 

I can't get anything to save on my hardware profiles. When iCue isn't running or I'm plugged into a mac all the LED's (except the top three profile, brightness, lock buttons, interestingly) stay off. Any idea how this is happening? In testing I've setup 3 profiles, all with static colors and saved them to the onboard slots. Toggling the profiles does nothing if iCue isn't running.

 

 

 

1) It is a physical profile change button, for both when the software is running or between the 3 hardware profiles when it is not. See below.

 

2) I would say there are lighting improvements compared the K70 RGB series. Most certainly if you are looking at the white K70 MK2 SE or K70 MK.2 Low profile, both of which have physical reasons for appearing more vibrant (white + silver base and lower key height on LP model).

 

3) There are three hardware profiles on the K70 Mk.2. You can freely choose these and overwrite them from the software at any time, but you are limited by space and processor requirements on the KB. You must choose between a) 1 of the presets (spiral rainbow, rainbow wave, color shift, color pulse, color wave, visor, rain, or type lighting) or b) up to 5 custom effects comprised of static, waves, ripples, gradients. You cannot combine the two, so no static blue (b) with type lighting (a). You need to set these up and save with the software, but they do not require the software to be active once that has occurred. You also will drop into HW mode anytime the software is not running, like boot, shutdown, lock screen, etc.

[mcxmxmz]

1) It is a physical profile change button, for both when the software is running or between the 3 hardware profiles when it is not. See below.

 

2) I would say there are lighting improvements compared the K70 RGB series. Most certainly if you are looking at the white K70 MK2 SE or K70 MK.2 Low profile, both of which have physical reasons for appearing more vibrant (white + silver base and lower key height on LP model).

 

3) There are three hardware profiles on the K70 Mk.2. You can freely choose these and overwrite them from the software at any time, but you are limited by space and processor requirements on the KB. You must choose between a) 1 of the presets (spiral rainbow, rainbow wave, color shift, color pulse, color wave, visor, rain, or type lighting) or b) up to 5 custom effects comprised of static, waves, ripples, gradients. You cannot combine the two, so no static blue (b) with type lighting (a). You need to set these up and save with the software, but they do not require the software to be active once that has occurred. You also will drop into HW mode anytime the software is not running, like boot, shutdown, lock screen, etc.

Thanks for your reply and taking the time to write such extensive answers. Really appreciated c-attack.

 

Tiny follow up on answer 2: do you think there's a noticeable difference in brightness between a black MK1 and a black MK2?

[c-attack]

Tiny follow up on answer 2: do you think there's a noticeable difference in brightness between a black MK1 and a black MK2?

 

I would say that it would be difficult to distinguish per key lighting from the LUX editions to the MK.2 and I am not aware of any LED changes. If you were coming from the older "K70 RGB" it would be a clear improvement. The most obvious lighting feature is the illuminated Corsair logo at the top, replacing the fixed plastic stick-on from before. It's a 2 LED piece (left/right halves) and that was one of the things I liked about it. The K95P/XT does not do this as well with the lighting bar part of the logo.

 

The real selling point on the MK2 was the onboard memory. That may or may not be of value. If you truly live by the onboard memory, but love your lighting options, the K100 is the thing to look at.

[mcxmxmz]

Yeah I saw the new illuminated logo. Looks pretty cool but I'm more after brighter keyboard leds. I don't have the LUX I believe, I have the Corsair K70 RGB RAPIDFIRE (CH-9101014-NA). Do you think those LEDS are different from the MK2?

[c-attack]

I don't think you will see a "wow!" kind of difference without an accompanying physical change like the silver/white of the SE or the shorter key caps on the Low Profile model. One thing that I do remember as clearly better was the white tone. The older K70s always had a warm tinge to the white. The Mk.2 is cleaner display of it.

[mcxmxmz]

Ok fair enough. Thanks for your reply's man, really helpful!

[strafeRGB]

Same issue here. The "Save static lighting to device" function does nothing on iCUE for Mac, version 3.37.140. Click the button. Nothing happens on my Strafe RGB.

 

Therefore, "hardware mode" (that is, exiting iCUE software) makes my Strafe RGB go dark, because nothing is being stored to the device when clicking the save button. Despite upgrading iCUE regularly, the feature never has never worked for me.