HyperX Alloy Rise Keyboard Broadens HP’s PC Gaming Accessories Line

HyperX began as a gaming division within Kingston in 2002. It was spun out as a gaming accessory division famous for headsets in 2014, and was acquired by HP in 2021, sitting alongside HP’s OMEN gaming business. HyperX still makes gaming headsets – I have been using the most recent Cloud Mix 2 and it brings solid performance to a form factor that easily doubles as a regular pair of travel and music headphones. However, HP clearly intends to use HyperX to help it in PC gaming, a key industry growth area. To that end, HyperX has now upgraded its mechanical keyboards with its first keyboard to feature its own hot-swappable switches in a 75% form factor, the Alloy Rise 75. This is a much better effort than I was expecting – the in-house switches are a definite highlight – and if HP keep investing in the line, I expect it will be successful. However, I did find a few obvious areas for improvement, and it is priced at the high end of the market for its capabilities.

Like much of HP’s product line, the HyperX Alloy Rise comes in eco-friendly plastic-free packaging, a touch much less common with third party gaming accessories from Chinese brands. HyperX also includes a HyperX-branded detachable USB cable and a similarly branded keycap/switch puller in the box. The Alloy Rise comes in full-size configuration with a numeric keypad and in TKL (ten key -less) “75%” layout. HP sent me the 75.

Build quality is fine – with the aluminum plate on top of the plastic body, there is no flex when you pick it up. However, at just over 2 lbs. it is still considerably lighter and cheaper feeling than premium all-metal boards at or even far below the Alloy Rise’s price point. There is definitely some flex to the keyboard bed itself, but that is deliberate; the gasket mounted design is a desirable feature, making slamming your fingers into the keys during gaming sessions a bit more comfortable.

HyperX has connectivity fully covered. The 8K polling rate using the included dongle USB-A dongle is wild overkill – it is more likely to add cycles to your CPU than to help you score a kill with responsiveness, but it is a key spec that gamers will appreciate. If you don’t use the dongle, it stores magnetically in the keyboard (nice attention to detail). The keyboard not only supports Bluetooth, but in a nice nod to hybrid work scenarios, it can be paired with up to three separate devices. There is a simple toggle switch on the rear of the keyboard for switching between modes – a commonsense design that some enthusiast keyboards somehow miss. Finally, there is wired operation with the detachable braided USB-C cable.

HyperX Alloy Rise 75 with stock black top plate (top) and optional white (bottom)

Customization is a focus of the Alloy Rise line. Like DROP CSTM keyboards, the top plate of the Alloy Rise 75 is magnetically attached, and can be removed and replaced with a different color. Unlike the DROP, which is a plastic case with plastic top plate, the HyperX Alloy Rise is a plastic case with an aluminum top plate. (DROP offers optional aluminum top plates as well at higher price points.) HyperX sent me a white top plate ($50), which comes with a white knob to complete the change. While I loved the look of the newly white keyboard case, the magnets on the replacement plate are not nearly as strong as the original. As a result, any time I move the keyboard, the top plate is liable to pop off. Unfortunately, that’s also essentially where the top plate customization ends, with a choice of only two colors: white or blue. There are no other options, no themed, game-specific, or branded top plates, and no keycap sets that coordinate with the colors are available.

Another area of customization is the magnetic side badge, and there are several options to choose from – but this is just a small badge on the side, and no options are included in the box. Unless you know that it is there, you’re unlikely to see it. The magnet is nice and strong; there’s no danger of it falling off during transport. HyperX really ought to make the badging larger and offer more variety and game-specific branded versions. HyperX could also take customization to a deeper level with large bottom weight plates; that would make the board feel more premium, but, realistically, it is more likely that someone who is customizing their keyboard to that extent wants to start with a metal case to begin with.

There is plenty of RGB hiding under the keys and along the edges, but, like the Cloud Mix 2 headset, HyperX’s keyboard design is subtle. There are no obvious gamer giveaways, and with the LED lighting off it would not look wildly out of place sitting next to an HP All-in-One or EliteBook notebook, not just an OMEN gaming rig. To control the lighting or reassign keys, you’ll need to download HyperX’s Ingenuity software. This is a Windows app (as opposed to a web app like VIA), but configurations can be loaded onto the keyboard so that the app does not need to be running in the background, and the app can control multiple HyperX products for a coordinated look. The HyperX website touts an ambient light sensor that can adjust the RGB intensity based on room lighting as a key differentiator for the Alloy Rise. Oddly, this was off by default. I enabled it in a menu in HyperX’s Ingenuity software, but once on I didn’t find that it made much of a difference. The LED’s are north-facing, and the hot-swappable switches can take 3-pin or 5-pin Cherry MX-style switches.

Most gamers prefer linear switches, and I found the pre-lubed HyperX linear switches to be excellent: smooth with slightly heavier activation feel than I would expect for their stated 40g operating force. The switches have “half-wall POM stems for better stability” and it works well – there is no side-to-side wobble on the preinstalled HyperX PBT Keycaps. I’m also a big fan of the plate mounted stabilizers that HyperX used – they are rock solid and have no rattling or pinging. These linear switches are a nice compromise between gaming and typing, and fits with the overall look of the Alloy Rise, which is work-friendly unless you have the RGB lit up like fireworks (multi-colored explosion is an option in the software). There is definitely some foam packed in between the PCB and the mounting plate – you can see it through the transparent mounting plate -- so the sound is slightly dampened. However, those who want a deeper, “thockier” sound will need to experiment. With the top cover off, screws are all exposed, but I did not pry it apart further.

However, if you want more tactility for typing, HyperX also sells its own tactile switches, and I installed those for the remainder of the review. The HyperX tactile switches are not as tactile as Kailh Box White V2, nor as loud. Again, they are a nice compromise for typing-first, gaming second experience. The HyperX tactile switches also sound deeper than the linear models.

The PBT keycaps have shine-through labels in a slightly gamer-y font that I found non-offensive, with front-printed labels for FN-key invoked secondary functions. On other keyboards, those secondary functions might be assigned to the F1 – F12 row instead, but HyperX puts them over on the right side of the keyboard – media controls, screen brightness, even battery level. This choice may make switching keycaps a bit more challenging but you can always remap keys yourself anyway. The top of each keycap is lightly textured – enough that it provides just a bit more grip for sweaty gaming fingers, but not so much that it’s rough or bothersome.

Conclusion

The HyperX Alloy Rise has a lot going for it: a choice of layout, excellent switches, limited customization in top case color, fantastic connectivity options, tons of RGB, good build quality and sound. After I finished evaluating it, I continued using the Alloy Rise with HyperX’s tactile switches, white cover, and taller DROP MT3-profile Olivetti keycaps. However, at $180 before any customization, it is more expensive than all-aluminum boards from well-established brands like Keychron, and not far from the price point of the latest gamer obsession, keyboards with magnetic hall effect switches. During and immediately following the pandemic, the demand for custom keyboards outstripped supply, and large gaming brands could command a premium simply by offering a good product with immediate availability. However, today, group buys with long lead times are back to being necessary only for niche enthusiast builds, and pricing pressure has returned. Margins can still be healthy, but if HyperX doesn’t want to discount it will need to provide significantly more customization and better case materials to justify the high price point.

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