Sangeo60 with Geon Raw HE switches
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- Опубликовано: 6 фев 2025
- Sangeo60
Aluminum plate
Geon Raw HE switches
Venom 60 PCB
GMK Monokai Material
No foam
This was a pretty fun build. Hall-effect technology is the latest "hot" trend among competitive gamers. Utilizing magnets inside the switches, a signal is transmitted from the PCB to the PC, providing faster response times for inputs within a few milliseconds. How does this build perform in games? More on that later, looking at this build from a keyboard enthusiast's perspective, I was more interested in the sound and feel.
From all the videos I've seen, they pretty much all sounded the same. Wooting's HE PCB, being the most popular on the market, utilizes a universal 60% PCB design and layout with a left-aligned USB-C port and all the standard mounting points that fit most universal 60% tray-mount cases. The builds I saw mostly used a Tofu60 with a lot of foam stuffed between the plate and under the PCB. When I saw that Geon had a HE-supported PCB, I wanted to try it out for myself. Geon is a prominent designer within the custom keyboard community, so I was interested to see how he would implement it.
Once the parts came in, I knew exactly which case I wanted to try it out in. The Sangeo60 is a wonderful case from Monstargear (If you're interested, you can check out my Sangeo65 vid I uploaded last year). It is a gasket mounted design that fits universal 60% PCBs. I've seen other build videos that put HE PCBs in keyboards like the Salvation and even in OptimumTech's very own case he made in collaboration with Wooting that utilizes a friction-fit mounting style. But none have used a sandwich gasket mount.
Once all put together, the sound really interested me. Because of how the switches are designed, the sound is pretty different from a mechanical switch. The wider stem and open bottom housing of the switches make for a sound that's similar to how a regular keyboard would sound with PE foam. It's low-pitched but also pretty loud.
The build process was pretty fun for me. HE PCBs need to be screwed into the plate because the switches only have two legs. So without the standoffs, the PCB would just fall out of place. The Sangeo60's plate only had 4 screw points that didn't match up with the standoffs that are soldered onto the Venom60 PCB. I had to dig through some spare parts from the Salvation where I could make my own standoffs. Once I got that figured out, it was time to install the switches. They actually surprised me because there are two additional tabs that stick outside on the sides. These extra tabs are meant to further stabilize the switches onto the plate. Pushing them into the plate took a bit of extra effort.
Geon's Raw HE switches come factory lubed but in the batch that I got, they were very overlubed. To my surprise, there was lubricant in places I didn't think made sense. For example, there was lubricant behind the LED diffusers and on the outside of the top housing. I ended up wiping the excess lubricant off and redistributing the existing lube to be a more even coat. This greatly improved the feeling of the switches.
Geon did something different with the Venom60 PCB that I haven't seen before. He not only provided support for both on-board USB-C and JST connections, he also included a daughterboard that comes attached the PCB right next to the spacebar. And not only can you remove it and use the PCB for cases that use daughterboards but you can also clip off the actual USB-port. Obviously this can't be undone and I'm honestly nervous to try it but I am interested in putting this PCB into a Korn.
Does HE technology make you a better gamer in competitive games? Not really lol. I've been testing out this keyboard in Valorant and Marvel Rivals for a couple weeks now. In Valorant, I do actually feel a difference. I can feel how responsive the inputs are with rapid trigger enabled. I feel like my movements in game are more precise and align with my intent. In Marvel Rivals, I don't feel much of a difference. But at the end of the day, HE tech isn't going to make you a better gamer and rank up quickly. That's all still very dependent on your own skills and game knowledge. To me, HE technology just reduces the lag time it takes for your PC to register a keystroke.
One last note, the web-based software that's used to customize the Venom60 PCB is very intuitive and easy to use. Setting the actuation points and configurating rapid trigger is super easy and quick.
This was a fun build. I know this was a longer write up than what I usually do, but there was just so much to talk about. Thank you for making it to the end! :)
Awesome write up! Any chance you know if this PCB will fit the new snake r2 keyboard in WK layout? From what I can tell geon listed it on their discord but I’d like to be absolutely certain before pulling the trigger.
Thank you! While there is a 7U layout variant of the PCB, I'm not sure it will fit the new Snake R2. Judging by pictures of the case, there seems to be a mounting point right on the '7' key, which the Venom PCB doesn't have. The Veonom PCB has a cut that's right in between '6' and '7', so the mounting point would be misaligned.
@ Interesting. I was under the impression that you could gummy O ring mount the venom PCB? I’ve seen people use the wooting friction mount pad with the venom PCB in the wooting optimum case. Which is basically the same thing as an o ring mount to my understanding.
When looking at the venom 60 HE compatibility list on the geon works discord it shows several boards that use gummy o ring mount such as singa unikorn, optica 60, and frog mini leggera (both the gummy o ring model as well as the tray mount model), as well as many more gummy o ring mount keyboards.
Also, the snake has 6.25u layout option on the hotswap pcb. Kbdfans had the layouts listed for both hotswap as well as solder pcb’s.
@ Yeah, you could definitely O ring mount the PCB. Just be conscientious that there are two standoffs on the very outer edges of the HE PCB (right below the backspace and the Esc. keys). You could get a standard 50A O ring to fit but it'll be very tight around those spots. It might be beneficial to use a softer O ring because of this.
Nice write up, been interested in HE but never had the funds to pull the trigger. Nice to know that new current options have nice QOL additions.