OCZ Alchemy Elixir Gaming Keyboard Review

Usability and Functionality (General Applications)

No matter how hard core a gamer you think you are, a “gaming keyboard” will still spend most of its time acting as a normal keyboard and not a game enhancement tool. To this end we swapped out our normal MS Comfort Curve 4000 keyboard and replaced it with the Elixir for a full week.

While I may use an ergonomic, reverse tent (aka “reverse slope”) keyboard as my main rigs main tool, I also routinely use my beloved Compaq IBM clone (aka heavy as a log, all metal keyboard / small shield in case of battle axe wielding intruders) and thus have not been “spoiled” by the split keyboard layout. While I usually type at a nominal 50WPM on the 4000, I still type at a nominal 35-38WPM on a straight keyboard.


At first this keyboard does take a bit of getting used to as I am a touch typist and the F and J key bumps are minuscule on the Elixir. This combined with a tendency to hit an L macro key instead of the caps lock was annoying at first. However, after a day or so of use the quirks of the Elixir quickly settled and it became relatively docile to use.


By the end of the week we came to love to the oversized delete key and the much more sane double row design of the of this cluster of much used keys. Not hitting the properly placed insert key was also a god send and actually slightly increased my productivity! However, not everything is wine and roses since to ensure a key command is recognized you really do have to slam the key harder and further than most keyboards we have used in the past.

To further investigate this issue we download a simple “learn to type” time key test which not only tells you how fast you are typing but also how accurate. Before beginning with the Elixir we first ran the test 4 times using the Compaq clunker and the Comfort Curve 4000 keyboards. With our older straight keyboard our accuracy rate hovered around 92% at 37WPM, and with the comfort curve 4000 we were hitting 95-96% at 49WPM. This is about right for me as can get down and boogey at about 65WPM but only with mid 80 accuracy. However, as soon as we swapped in the Elixir our best rate was only 34WPM and 88%. By redoing, and redoing the test I realized that I had to slam the keys past the point where the tactile response kicks in to ensure a “hit”, which in turn caused the slow down; however once we learned the Elixir’s quirks our accuracy went back up to a more normal 92%.

The tactile feel of the keys do take some getting used to but it certainly is not like typing on a microwave’s keypad either. Taken for what it is worth, these results are not terrible and being able to compare a “cheap” keyboard to my favorite antique or my favorite expensive keyboard (which when I purchased it was over $80) is darn good in our books!

Usability and Functionality (Gaming Applications)

When all is said and done this keyboard IS a game enhancement tool. It may look like a regular keyboard (though one with good fashion sense…and few extra buttons) but it is in fact a PC Game / Human mind melding device and its main job is too make your gaming experience better (or at the very least keep your suspension of disbelief unbroken due to a crappy interface). The keyboard really is not the best at any one genre yet it is the best jack of all trades device ever invented.

To get a real feel for how this keyboard would performed in its “natural environment” I bravely took one for the team and went on a good old fashioned gaming bender. For 18hours I played Crysis on Delta setting while eating roasted coffee beans (tanzanian pea berry coffee beans to be precise), a big bag of Cheetoes, home made beef jerkey (extra spicey, smoked over apple w/ alder than hickory) copious amounts of diet sprite and Mountain Dew. In other words I did my darndest to reenact a good old fashioned LAN party with all the fixin’s.


During the whole time using the Elixir for gaming, not once did my fingers slip from the W,A,S,D, no matter how greasy those little suckers got. The macro keys while unable to allow me to do on the fly tweaking (AKA cheat like a dirty dog) they did come in handy for things like throwing grenades. You wouldn’t think hitting one key instead of another would make much difference but by mapping L2 key to it I was able to keep my right hand on the mouse and keep my left in position for moving nomad. This subtle refinement brought my game to a whole new level of enjoyment as I fragged and fragged and fragged all the while ducking and weaving.

Even more impressive than upping my enjoyment level, was during this marathon test the keyboard was pounded on hard when I hit that horror of horrors the dreaded Crysis endgame error! Yes after fighting my way to the end the game I was unable to get a target lock on the final boss, with that annoying {FRIENDLY} {CLASSY LADY} nattering in my ear about “use the tac gun nomad, use the tac gun!”. Even more impressive than it standing up to my impromptu caffeine fueled rage torture test was not that it survived intact (even though I pounded on it hard enough for it to bounce); no, what was most impressive was it still works even after bouncing off my table and slamming to the ground.

This keyboard can certainly take anything you can throw at it…and maybe even can take anything you can throw it at! This is no mean feat as I have literally destroyed more expensive keyboards with a lot less effort than I inflicted on this inexpensive (yet oh so durable) keyboard, which to me makes this accomplishment all the more sweeter.