Gigabyte Aivia Osmium Keyboard Review

Playing with the Osmium

Mechanical keyboards really deliver a different gaming experience than regular membrane models. The precision is remarkable, and the basic commands for any FPS game, like the WASD cluster, have immediate and comfortable tactile response. Gigabyte says the anti-ghosting technology allows up to 64 simultaneous keystrokes to be registered. Well, it seems the company believes that 64-fingered aliens will be using the Osmium, but we didn’t notice any errors when we pressed eight keys at the same time.

Speaking of pressing, we didn’t like the positioning of the G1-G5 macro keys. In other models, this particular cluster usually rests on the left side of the mouse, where the keys can be quickly accessed. However, here they are located on the upper region of the Osmium, and the user’s hand has to leave the wrist rest and the conventional keys in order to reach them. So we ended up creating macros for less urgent tasks (like summoning a mount on World of Warcraft). Our suggestion to Gigabyte would be to put the macro keys in the conventional place on the left, for offensive actions, and even leave those five keys on the upper region. Another question: if the Osmium already has a cluster of extra keys on the upper left side, why is t
here no similar cluster on the right side for the multimedia keys? Instead, they got bundled with the F1-F4 function keys, and the user has to press a separate Fn key (located by the side of the right Ctrl) to access the multimedia controls. But not everything is negative criticism: the control wheels for the volume and illumination are a very good idea.

Figure 12: Illuminated Osmium

On the table, the Osmium is a beautiful keyboard thanks to the blue lighting. Since it is heavy, it takes a beating without moving an inch.