Glorious PC Gaming Race GMMK Compact - Barebone, ANSI-L, GMMK-COMPACT-RGB

This keyboard is probably one of the best hotswappable boards on the market. It features USB type C connectivity and an overall sleek design. Plus, the board has a nice weight to it which further increases the overall sturdiness of the board. Multiple different lighting effects are available too. Considering there is no function keys (f1-12,) they are integrated nicely with easy hot key orders. Additionally, this board is 3 pin hotswappable, perfect for a variety of key switches. I used Kalih Box Reds and they sound great in combination with this new board.

I just recently got into keyboard modding, and having something this modular and accessible at this price point is fantastic! Build quality is great for the price! It's got a decent weight to it, and overall just a lot better feel than the other hotswap/budget mechanical keyboards at this price point. My main keyboard is the DROP CTRL High Profile, but only because I bought the lilac aluminum case and I just love purple. (Dw Glorious, I've already placed my reservation for the GMMK Pro) I love finding excuses to use this lil thing! I've modded the stabs/stabilizers and slapped on some Ink Black v2s and it's buuuutteerrry. Acoustics is nice too! Overall, great package for what I paid for! Already ordered another to mod for my friend's birthday. :D

I typically don't get 3 pin barebones boards because they aren't compatible with most of my 5 pin switches. I did have some 3 pin switches from other mechanical keyboards that I bought and swapped out; I also had extra keycaps from other sets that I bought (but they don't reflect the actual keys, which makes this a touch type keyboard). Anyways for the price of $57 at the time, it was hard to pass up on for this weird build I had in mind with the extra parts. The stabilizers do have a fair bit of rattling/ticking do it and they are plate mounted, so you should probably do some modding. Not sure if these can take the pcb mounted stabilizers, but might be worth upgrading to. I did the dielectric grease on the wire ends, lube the housing with krytox 205, and the holee bandage mod (this one is non negotiable for addressing rattling), but I wasn't able to completely get rid of the rattle/ticking. I've heard other's say the stabilizers on this board isn't the greatest, and I do agree as my other boards seem to not have any rattle after modding. Another thing of note is that everytime i try to take off keycaps off switches, the switches come with the board quite easily. I had this happen to a renewed GMMK 2 board that I ended up returning, but was surprised to see it happen to this new board as well. Is it worth returning this time? No, I got this for quite cheap and I'm using cheap switches that came from other prebuilt keyboards and extra keycaps anyways, so you could say I don't mind it at all. Edit: Glorious reached out not too long ago about my issue with the rattling stabilizers and they have been gracious to make the situation right. I have updated the review to 5 stars for the customer service I received to reflect that.

This barebones keyboard, is a cheap way into the custom/gaming keyboard hobby and gets the job done. Only complaints really are the overall hollowness of the board and stabilizers before I modded them. But for the price it's a good bargain.

some of th screws are rusty