What a silent gaming keyboard is quieting

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Want a mechanical keyboard that won’t annoy everyone in the room (or on your mic)? A silent gaming keyboard is a mechanical board whose switches hit softer. Cherry’s MX Silent Red page explains it: the stem is two components with integrated, patented noise-reduction, the characteristic is linear, and the operating noises are reliably minimized by that damping. It is still one switch under each key. The word silent is that damper, not a layout and not a brand.

For full picks, see the best gaming keyboards. Linear, tactile, and clicky are still the three feels. Here we look at the sound those feels make, and what “silent” means on a spec sheet. I play left-handed on UHJK. More keyboard guides.

Which sound you are hearing

Which sound is the problem?

A snap on the way downA thud at the bottomA rattle on the space barThe whole board ringing

That snap is clicky. A silent switch is a different part. Foam in the case leaves the snap in the room.

A snap on the way down is clicky. A thud at the bottom is a normal switch landing. A rattle on the space bar is the stabilizer. A ring in the desk is the case. The title has to name which of those it quiets.

SKUs worth a look

• Official silent linear switch: Cherry MX2A Silent Red. Article numbers on Cherry’s page include MX2A_71NA (RGB) and MX2A_71NN (non-illuminated). Official: linear, 45 cN operating force, 1.9 mm pre-travel, 3.7 mm total travel, lubricated, silent, over 50 million keystrokes. Cherry: the stem of MX Silent switches is two components with patented noise-reduction. The pink stem is the linear Silent Red. Cherry MX Silent Red. Amazon search for MX Silent Red
• A full-size board that names that switch: Corsair K70 RGB PRO Cherry MX Silent, SKU CH-9109413-NA. Official tech specs: CHERRY MX SILENT Red, full-size, 104 keys, Full Key (NKRO), report rate up to 8,000 Hz, 8 MB onboard memory, magnetic palm rest, two-year warranty. Corsair’s copy: linear travel with a patented noise-reduction design, for streamers and gamers who want a soft, quiet press. Corsair K70 RGB PRO MX Silent. Amazon search for K70 RGB PRO MX Silent
• Official silent tactile switch: Cherry MX2A Honey, article MX2A_J1NB. Official: tactile and silent, no click, 45 cN actuation force, 1.9 mm pre-travel, 3.7 mm total travel, final force 110 cN, over 50 million keystrokes. Cherry wrote it for shared spaces. Cherry MX2A Honey. Amazon search for MX Honey

Cherry’s own MX BOARD 3.0S page recommends MX Silent Red when you want keys that trigger more smoothly and quietly.

The short version: silent is a damper in a named switch. Foam is the case. A clicky snap is a different part.

Official silent numbers

Cherry’s MX Silent Black highlights print 60 cN, 2.0 mm pre-travel, 4.0 mm total travel, lubricated, no click, over 50 million keystrokes. The dark-grey stem is the linear Silent Black. I am citing those highlights. The properties table on that same Cherry page currently reprints the Silent Red row. Those two Cherry pages disagree, so I leave both numbers as printed.

A regular MX Red is the comparison: 45 cN, 2.0 mm, 4.0 mm, over 100 million, no silent in the name. Silent Red keeps the light spring and shortens travel by 0.1 mm at the count and 0.3 mm at the floor. That shorter trip is on Cherry’s page. It is not a score.

What the damper is doing

Cherry’s Silent Red page describes the stem as two components with integrated, patented noise-reduction. A normal MX stem is one piece of plastic. The silent stem carries the pad inside the switch, so the damper does not peel out as a separate ring you add later. You are buying the pad as part of the switch, not a setting you toggle in software.

The same page is clear about the result. Operating noises are reliably minimized. The switch is still a mechanical press. Keycaps still knock. Stabilizers still move. A hollow case still rings. Cherry also lists a factory lubricant and a noise-reducing barrel spring. Those are extras inside the housing. They are not foam in the case.

Corsair’s K70 RGB PRO Silent page uses the same language: linear travel, patented noise-reduction, a soft and quiet keypress, aimed at streamers. The 8,000 Hz AXON line on that board is the report rate. It is not the quiet.

The landing changes. Cherry calls Silent Red a soft actuation. Some people like the cushion. Others call it mushy. A shop that takes the board back is how you learn which word you would use.

Silent linear, silent tactile, and the click

Silent switches come in two feels. Silent linear is smooth, with no bump. Cherry’s Silent Red and Silent Black are that feel. Silent tactile keeps a bump and does not add a click. Cherry’s MX2A Honey is that feel. A regular linear, with no silent in the name, is already quieter than clicky, and its bottom and its return still clack. The silent linear takes most of that clack away. A regular linear in a damped case keeps more of the knock. That is a different purchase.

There is no silent clicky MX switch on Cherry’s current list. The click is a piece that snaps on purpose. Cherry’s MX Blue page calls that acoustic feedback. Foam can dull the ring around that snap. The snap still leaves the switch. A shared room means a different switch: silent linear, silent tactile, or a tactile switch that never had the click. A headset on your ears does not keep the snap in the room.

Razer prints a third official wording that is easy to mix with Cherry’s. On Razer’s mechanical-switches page, Yellow Gen-3 is “smooth and silent” with a built-in sound dampener, 3.5 mm travel, 1.2 mm actuation, 45 g, factory-lubed, 100-million keystrokes. Orange is “tactile and quiet” next to Green, and that page does not give Orange a built-in dampener line. Yellow is Razer’s damped linear. It is not Cherry MX Silent Red. The BlackWidow V4 Pro is the full-size board that offers Yellow. Official US from $229.99. Amazon search for BlackWidow V4 Pro Yellow

The case, the bar, and the desk

Foam is the case. It sits in the empty space, or between the plate and the board, and it cuts the ring. Foam does not put a pad in the stem. A clicky switch in a foamed case is still a clicky switch. Cherry’s MX BOARD 3.0S page never claims the aluminum housing is a silent switch. The quiet option on that page is MX Silent Red.

The space bar, Shift, and Enter ride on stabilizers. A silent letter switch leaves that wire alone. Press the space bar before the return window closes. UHJK does not include the space bar. The bar is still the key the room hears first.

A hard foot on a hard top lets the case buzz the table. A cloth layer under the keyboard cuts that buzz. The mouse pad you aim on is a separate surface.

Rings under the caps, and a color that lies

O-rings are the outside version of the damper. They sit on the stem, under the keycap, and they hit the housing before the stem finishes its travel. The bottom gets quieter. The press gets shorter and softer, which is the mushy complaint again. They do not remove a clicky snap, and they do not replace a switch that was built with the pad inside. Cherry’s Silent stem already carries that pad. Use O-rings when the bottom knock is the only complaint on a board you already own and you have accepted a softer landing. Skip them when the snap is the complaint.

The color on the box still is not the sound. Cherry’s black and red switches are both linear. They are quiet only when the name says Silent Black or Silent Red. MX Red is 2.0 mm / 4.0 mm. MX Silent Red is 1.9 mm / 3.7 mm and the two-component stem. A red switch from another brand can be a heavier spring, or a loud one. Read the word silent next to linear or tactile. “Gaming switch,” “speed,” and a color by itself have not named the damper.

A low-profile switch can still click. Cherry’s experience box lists MX ULP Click as tactile and acoustic. Height and sound are two lines.

A membrane board can be quiet for a different reason. Cherry’s membrane page says rubber-dome keystrokes produce minimal noise and suit a room that wants a quiet press. If the spec line says membrane or rubber dome, that quiet is the sheet. It can suit the room. It is not a damper inside a switch, and it is not a switch you pull out later.

What the quiet leaves alone

The percent is the width. A silent full-size board and a silent tenkeyless board are the same damper in two layouts. I mouse on the left. UHJK already lives on the right side of a standard ANSI board. A silent 60% still has those four keys and still drops the F-row, which I care about more in WoW than in Overwatch. The Naga Left-Handed already holds consumables. TKL versus 60 versus full-size is the width page.

The damper leaves the report rate where it was. Polling stays the rate on the link you play. A thousand reports a second on a cable or a 2.4 GHz dongle is the ordinary match. The K70 RGB PRO Silent’s 8,000 Hz line is Corsair AXON, not MX Silent Red. Bluetooth is for typing.

A magnet is a different product. Hall effect and TMR read position. Rapid trigger follows the finger back up, and the listing has to say so. A silent switch still registers at one point on the way down. Silent Red’s point is 1.9 mm. That is the actuation point, not a slider.

Hot-swap means the socket accepts a named list. A hot-swap clicky board can take a silent switch of that family later. Cherry’s mechanical page says standard MX switches can be replaced without soldering on a hot-swap board. Keychron’s Silent K Pro pack is one official MX-stem option: Silent Red linear at 45±10 gf, 2±0.4 mm pre-travel, 4±0.4 mm total travel, 3-pin, factory-lubed, gold-alloy contact guaranteed up to 50 million keystrokes on that page. Official from $12.99 for 45 switches. It is a bag of switches, not a keyboard I have typed on. A soldered clicky switch stays clicky. If you might change your mind, the listing has to say hot-swap, or the return window is the way out.

A quiet recording is sometimes the software, not the board. A noise filter on a stream changes what the recording keeps. The room still hears the keyboard that is on the desk. Corsair’s Silent K70 copy talks to streamers. The room test is still the space bar and the switch name.

How to choose

Read four words before the price. Silent linear, or silent tactile. Then the space bar, because the stabilizer is the key the damper leaves alone. Then the layout the desk can hold. Then whether the softened bottom is a press your fingers accept.

Use the room first. Someone else can hear the board: do not buy clicky, and do not trust foam to hide a Blue. Matches, and you have no opinion about a bump: Silent Red is the official light linear I can cite. Typing in a shared room: Honey is the official silent tactile. A heavier linear: Silent Black’s highlights are the 60 cN line. A membrane board you already type quietly on is not a defect. Cherry itself says the sheet is the quiet everyday option.

I would not buy a clicky full-size as the only WoW board in a shared room. UHJK still fits.

Buy the damper when the spec line says silent linear or silent tactile, and press the space bar before the return window closes. Otherwise keep the keys the room already accepts. More keyboard guides.

Common questions

What is a silent gaming keyboard?

A mechanical keyboard with silent switches, which have rubber dampers in the stem to soften the sound of each press.

Are silent switches actually silent?

No, just much quieter. Keycaps, stabilizers, and the case still make some sound.

What's the quietest switch type?

Silent linear switches like Cherry MX Silent Red. Clicky switches are the loudest, and there's no truly silent clicky switch.

Do O-rings make a keyboard quieter?

A bit. They soften the bottom-out sound, but the key still makes noise on the way back up.