Worth it if you want quality
by Paul
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Firstly, some housekeeping: it's called 'white ice' but unless you're pointing a lot of light at it, it's actually silver. Think 2010s-era Apple product silver. Not a deal breaker for me as I use it with a Mac, so it matches, but if you're expecting 'white', it isn't that.
So firstly, if you're wondering why this seems to be noticeably more expensive than other barebones cases/kits/whatever they're called, you'll notice this the minute you pick up the box. This thing is HEAVY. This is because it's very solid aluminium which is clearly thick in places. The sort of heavy that it would hurt a lot if you dropped it on your foot. Since I've assembled it with switches and keycaps and have put it into use, it will not move from where it is on my desk without lifting it first. Another advantage is that there's absolutely no flex when I'm typing on it, and I admit that I'm not the lightest typist.
One of the reasons I bought this particular model is that it can be modded in firmware so that the keys do alternative things; this was important to me because I wanted it to be a Mac layout rather than the standard Windows, which means moving the Windows/Command key to a different location amongst other things. I used VIA to do this (you have to install the VIA firmware first, I found that rev 1 worked, rev 2 didn't), which means I can easily change stuff (including the RGB) through a web interface. Handy!
Overall I'm really pleased with it, and consider it worth the money if you want something that you're going to use heavily.
Overall solid quality with some unfortunate quirks
by James
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Overall an enjoyable solid piece of kit lovely finish and weight, but it has some drawbacks that need to be addressed:Stabilizers are VASTLY overlubed, this is a known issue to other buyers, apparently the first batches were slightly underlubed and they've since over-corrected themselves to the point where it's basically a defect, since pressing any key with a stabilizer will cause it to stick for at least half a second to the PCB, and correcting the mistake is necessary either via cleaning the stabilizers, or replacing them entirely, both of which require opening up the keyboard to it's bare parts, so if you had the hope, like I did, of just plonking the switches in in it's assembled state you're probably out of luck, and also, quite a few of the screws are tightened way too much, for a modular keyboard this is just an oversight, I almost stripped one of the screws due to this, if you don't use the right screw bit you could cause some irrepairable damage.So I cleaned the stabilizers and they feel much nicer, except for the fact that I found that the enter key if pressed hard enough will STILL stick! Which shows the padding material they used is just a poor choice/poor quality, it's quite rubbery, so this against the plastic is making it grip a bit.If those quirks could be ironed out it'd be a flawless piece of kit in my opinion, but it's still quite unique, most hot swappable kits like this are 60% size and this is a good choice for it's form factor.
