GIGABYTE OSMIUM & Aivia Krypton Gaming Mouse ERP: $129.99 (Osmium Keyboard) | $64.99 (Krypton Mouse) | $34.99 (Krypton Mat) Website: www.gigabyte.com
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012 has to be a record year as far as gaming peripherals are concerned or at least gaming keyboards and mice. There isn’t a single vendor out there that does not have a mechanical keyboard of some sort and gaming mouse it seems. Add to that, mechanical keys are all the rage and any keyboard that wants some credibility has to feature CHERRY-MX switches. On the mouse front, laser mice with adjustable sampling rates are a dime a dozen. Add macro keys to the mix and you’ve pretty much defined the modern gaming mouse. GIGABYTE has thrown its entry into this increasingly crowded market and I have to admit that this second wave of products from the Aivia range is remarkable. In an older issue of TheOverclocker there was a brief review of the K8100 keyboard. It wasn’t the worst attempt by a component vendor at the gaming market but certainly not special. It’s in light of this that the Osmium keyboard is truly impressive. GIGABYTE has moved from being a passable manufacture of gaming devices to offering game changing peripherals that should concern specialists such as Razor, Roccat and Logitech. I’ve used several gaming keyboards in the past, but with the Aivia Osmium I think I’ve found my keyboard of choice for the foreseeable future. It’s not perfect not by any means of the imagination, I personally prefer an even stronger mechanical switch, but this is purely personal preference and has nothing to do with the
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9 11 qualitative aspects of the Osmium. Compared to the K8100, GIGABYTE has moved up to the upper echelons of the gaming arena. Aesthetically the K8100, especially in black is still a more appealing keyboard one might argue but in regards to build quality, features and functionality the Osmium is years ahead. Initially I was going to review this mouse with the Force M9 Ice, but realized that the Krypton was the better mouse and moreover since I’m left handed it’s perfect as it’s truly ambidextrous . Once again as if taking notes from the Osmium keyboard the Krypton mouse exudes quality. From the packaging right down to the interchangeable chassis and weight distribution, it’s superior to the M8600 which was impressive by GIGABYTE standards at the time. Not only does the Krypton have better sensitivity than the M8600, it feels significantly more accurate. It isn’t a matter of speed but precision and as a result the sensitivity need
not be set to its highest to achieve smooth and quick responses with the in game crosshair. The Teflon is the one I prefer as it glides smoothly over the Krypton Mat which is another peripheral that GIGABYTE has introduced. I’ll not go into details here as it’s a mouse mat, but suffice to say it’s the best mouse met I’ve ever used. Pair these three together and you’re unlikely to ever complain about not having the best input devices money can buy for your gaming endeavors. Check out some of the highlight features of both the keyboard and the mouse. These are not sold as a set, but I’d strongly suggest anyone looking seriously into high end gaming gear consider getting these as a pair.
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CHERRY MX Red mechanical key switches are the order of the day offering some weighty feedback for every key stroke. GIGABYTE claims that these are quiet, but as we all