SPC Gear has plenty of cool items in their inventory, as we last saw with their excellent gaming chair. Today we have the chance of reviewing a compact mechanical gaming keyboard, dubbed the GK630K Tournament Pudding Edition.
Deciphering the nomenclature, we find out that the GK630K series is made without the numpad section of your standard keyboard format. Then the latter ‘Pudding’ moniker visually refers to the dessert looking keycaps that are manufactured using PBT Double Injection. This will enrich the eye candy experience of the RGB to a whole new level.
To finish things off, you can have the GK630K in variety of mech keys powered by Kailh which are rated up to 50 million clicks and a handful of other features that we will explore shortly.
SilentiumPC was established in 2007, Warsaw, Poland. They build high-quality silent PC cases, power supplies and cooling solutions that simply get the job done without breaking the bank. They accomplish this by the old-school belief that good products are the key to success. No aggressive marketing, no flashy banners everywhere, no mighty slogans. Instead they’re putting efforts in effective design and smart cost-cutting so the customers get the pure essence of functionality at unbeatable prices.
Prices and Availability
It should retail for around £60 (MSRP €64.90) depending on stock availability. Also worth mentioning that KG630 series has plenty of variation of keys, layout and colours.
*19.04.22 Update – Check the video review online as well!*
Presentation and Specification
*Courtesy of their website.
The SPC Gear GK630K Kailh Red RGB Tournament Pudding Edition is a compact tenkeyless keyboard which, thanks to its characteristic keycaps, is a sensational-looking mechanical keyboard designed for players who appreciate not only functionality but also the unique character of its surround. The Pudding keycaps, manufactured using PBT Double Injection technology, are characterised by their unique appearance as well as their high durability. The GK630K Pudding keyboard, thanks to its compact size and reinforced construction with an aluminium top and detachable cable, will be perfect both for home use and at tournaments or at LAN parties with friends. The user can adjust the RGB backlighting – fully configurable, including profiles – and a there is a system of macros to speed up specific actions in games, etc. Kailh Red switches – thanks to their ultra-fast keystroke response – provide an advantage in games, especially those where response time is crucial.
KAILH RED MECHANICAL SWITCHES – A LIFETIME OF UP TO 50 MILLION CLICKS
Kailh Red is the perfect choice for the demanding player. The switch is activated very quickly, while at the same time the amount of pressure needed is low. This is what makes Kailh Red perfect for FPS or Battle Royale online competitive games. Thanks to their extremely quiet mechanical keyboard operation, the action of the keyboard does not affect the comfort of the whole household, e.g. when playing at night.
CONFIGURABLE RGB BACKLIGHTING – 18 PRELOADED EFFECTS
The multi-colour RGB backlighting allows you to customise the appearance of the keyboard according to your own preferences. The 18 preloaded light effects provide endless configuration possibilities – from a fixed single-colour effect, through changing colours of the rainbow, to backlighting that reacts to a specific key press. As well as this, the SPC Gear GK630K keyboard software lets you adjust each effect and change according to your own preference. The backlighting itself is also a functional accessory, clearly improving the visibility of the keys both day and night.
Unboxing and Visual Inspection
Branding and packaging is on point, with the keyboard in full eye-candy glory visually depicted in the middle of the box, while on the back we have a list of its main selling points.
There is sufficient protection inside via this plastic bag and Styrofoam side pads.
Regarding accessories, there is only a user’s manual, if we don’t count the custom USB Type C that will power the keyboard. The 180cm long cable is sturdy and has a smooth finish thanks to its braided nylon for easy gliding over surfaces and edges, while the connector contacts are gold plated.
So this is the SPC GK630K Tournament RGB Pudding Edition mechanical keyboard which has a sleek and compact body. The top part, despite its minimalist painted look, has an aluminium plate which increases the overall stiffness of the keyboard and its premium feel.
Then it’s really easy to notice the eye-grabbing ‘pudding’ keys since they are basically double layered. This is not done merely from a visual rationale but also meant to increase the longevity of the keys because the double-shot caps divide the symbols and the key cap from each other. This in turn means that the marks will not wear out as fast, as in a scenario with only imprinted characters.
This is how it looks next to a full sized keyboard (which has the right numerical section). SPC Gear went this 87-key route to offer a highly competitive keyboard that will fit desks with limited surface area, leaving more space for the mouse.
As mentioned this series is powered by Kailh mechanical keys and in our sample we have the Red ones. These are essentially an almost direct correspondent to the Cherry MX keys. Thus these are ‘gaming’ keys as in they have a short stroke (actuation point ~2mm / total travel 4mm), silent in operation and require less actuation force (~50g). The transparent base is of course, for the RGB lighting.
On the underside of the keyboard we have a lot of interesting features. There are 5 big rubber anti-slip pads and a practical cut-out for the modular cable with tracing and routing channels.
This is where you attach the USB Type-C cable and basically you can route it in 3 directions: middle, left or right.
Even more interesting is the built-in quick release key-cap tool that has its own slot.
Finally the keyboard can be tilted in two extra positions thanks to the two set of fold-out feet.
The first position will tilt the keyboard by an extra 5mm while the second one will lift it by 14mm. There is a cool looking SPC Gear logo on the top right corner.
Back inside the dojo, the SPC Gear GK630K feels right at home on a smaller desk like ours.
Lastly, here is the RGB in action which looks really good even in daylight. Of course you can cycle through the 18 built-in effects, adjust the brightness levels and the speed of the effects.
As you can imagine, at night time, the keyboard is just marvellous to glaze at.
Testing and Feedback
Right of the bat, the review was written on the keyboard in question. Red mech keys, may not be the best choice for large text typing, but it’s still doable. Ergonomic wise, we had no problems in quickly getting used to the layout of the SPC Gear GK630K when compared to our day to day Riotoro Ghostwriter.
Regarding its performance in gaming, which is its main purpose after all, the Kailh Red mech keys have the typical ‘gaming’ response, as in fast and easy to press. Since the keyboard can be had in a variety of key flavours, make sure to try out some of them first before you choose the right one for your needs.
To further tune and customize your experience with the ‘pudding’ edition keyboard, you need to head over to their website and enter your unique serial number which is located on the back of your keyboard.
After this, you can download the proprietary software which will let you do all sort of things from, updating the firmware for the keyboard, fine-tuning each key and/or the built-in RGB profiles or reassigning functionality for each key. On top of this you can even assign macros which can be made as you go, as in you record them first than edit them and lastly you can even select the polling rate from 4 levels (125, 250, 500, 1000 Hz) and disable the N-key rollover capability. All in all you can store up to 50 different user defined profile, so that should take care of a wide range of experimentation.
Suffice to say that the N-Key rollover function in the SPC Gear GK630K keyboard is full anti-ghosting which means that no matter how many keys you press at the same time, you can be sure that each of them will be registered. This is mission-critical in games requiring complex commands with multiple keys pressed simultaneously.
To end the testing session, here is a sound sample of how the Kailh Red mech keys sound like, in a comparison with Cherry’s MX Browns.
Conclusion
In essence, this is a great looking and compact mechanical keyboard that is built really well and easy to transport thanks to its modular USB cable. The RGB implementation is excellent due to the unique ‘pudding’ branded keycaps where you can customize and fine tune the functionality and the lighting effect for each key. As long as you do your due diligence in choosing the correct Kailh mech keys for your needs and if you truly don’t need the number pad, then this SPC Gear GK630K Tournament RGB Pudding Edition is a great choice!
The good:
+ Great built quality
+ Superb eye candy from the ‘pudding’ keys
+ Compact size
+ Solid retractable feet
+ Full RGB support
+ More customizing via the downloadable software
The bad:
– Low availability
– Lack of quick pictograms for the effects for the combo keys
Glob3trotters “Highly Recommend” Award – 5 out of 5
Many thanks to SilentiumPC for supplying us with this ‘dessert’!
