This keyboard uses Corsair’s iCUE configuration software, which is easy to use and understand, but some options are somewhat clunky. You can customize a wide range of settings, including key assignments, macros, RGB lighting effects, polling rates, and key switch debounce time. You can also save your custom settings to the keyboard’s onboard storage.
That said, much like the software options from other major manufacturers, this software receives criticism for requiring frequent updates and taking up disproportionate system resources. You may find this software frustrating if you prefer more lightweight software options or no software at all.
Note: Out of the box, this keyboard presented a number of significant technical issues. It would freeze and become unresponsive whenever you pressed the FN button, which prevented combination keys from being used. Attempting to customize the backlighting would also result in a full freeze state. There are fairly widespread reports of others experiencing this issue online. In both these cases, we needed to unplug and reconnect the keyboard to get it to work again.
We also experienced additional issues when attempting to update this keyboard to the latest firmware on Windows. The update process failed repeatedly, and iCUE failed to recognize the keyboard. It’s also a widely reported issue online.
We could only circumvent this issue by downloading the firmware update on a separate macOS computer; after that, iCUE properly recognized the keyboard on both Windows and macOS. The FN key and backlighting issues were also resolved, and we encountered no other issues. If you have this keyboard and want to share your experiences, reach out to us in the forums.
