I'll start by saying I've never had a gaming keyboard so my review is from a guy who uses a standard keyboard with a computer. without headphones, but it's not very loud. The keys are arranged higher than on a conventional keyboard. At the same time, after a little typing, I've now got used to the height perfectly. The individually programmable buttons are amazing and not just the RGB buttons but the buttons themselves can basically be reprogrammed however you want. It feels solid without being insanely heavy, I could almost take it with me as an extension for my laptop. The USB pass-through built into the keyboard is great and I haven't had any issues with it. If you're a gamer but know very little about PC peripherals, this is cheaper than many competing brands with similar designs and features. . You can't go wrong.