Start with the keys you press every day, then check the width against your desk. The Akula 65 has 67 keys and leaves your mouse the most room. The Nighthawk 75 and X75 Rhino have 81 keys and keep the function row. The Akula 99 keeps a numpad in a body under 41 cm wide.
The Four Boards at a Glance
- Akula 65: 65% layout, 67 keys, 325.09 mm wide, 723 g.
- Nighthawk 75: 75% layout with a volume knob, 81 keys, 365.9 mm wide, 850 g.
- X75 Rhino: 75% layout, 81 keys, a CNC aluminium frame, 1665 g.
- Akula 99: 99% layout with a volume knob, 99 keys plus the knob, 406.76 mm wide, 1132 g.
What decides how a board feels in play is shared. All four connect over 2.4 GHz, Bluetooth 5.1 or a USB-C cable. All four have a 5-layer gasket mount with Poron and IXPE foams, hot-swap sockets, double-shot PBT keycaps, 1000 Hz polling and full NKRO. The layout question is about space and keys, then, and going smaller costs you nothing in speed.
65%: The Most Room for Your Mouse
A 65% board drops the function row and the numpad and keeps the arrow keys close to the letters. F1 to F12 and the media keys move to a second layer you reach with the Fn key. If you rarely press F5 in a game, you won't miss them.
You gain width. The Akula 65 is 325.09 mm across, about 82 mm narrower than the Akula 99, and on a normal desk that decides whether your mouse hand sits at shoulder width or reaches out past it. Players who aim with the whole arm at a low sensitivity feel it first, because every wide swipe needs clear space to the right of the keyboard.
The Akula 65 runs Cybeart MK I linear switches with 1.5 mm actuation and a 4000 mAh battery rated up to 200 hours with the lights off. At 723 g it drops into a bag easily, which makes it the board for a minimal desk or a setup that travels.
75%: The Function Row, Kept Close
A 75% layout keeps the function row and the arrows and drops only the numpad. The keys sit tight together, with little gap between the blocks, so you keep almost every key while the board stays short. We make two.
Nighthawk 75
The everyday 75%, with a dedicated multi-function knob, Cybeart MK II linear switches and a 4000 mAh battery rated up to 266 hours with the lights off. It comes in Signature, White and The Batman colourways. If you work and play on one board and want a knob for volume, this is the one most people should buy.
X75 Rhino
The flagship. The frame is CNC-machined aluminium and the board weighs 1665 g. Its Cybeart MK III switches actuate at 1.8 mm, against 1.5 mm on the other boards, for a deeper, more deliberate press. The 8000 mAh battery is rated up to 500 hours with the lights off, and a 1.9 m coiled cable comes in the box. All that weight makes it feel planted on the desk, though it is not a board to carry.
99%: A Numpad Without the Full-Size Bulk
A 99% layout keeps the numpad, the arrows and the function row, packed closer than on a classic full-size board. The Akula 99 has 99 keys plus a knob, measures 406.76 mm across and weighs 1132 g.
Pick it if you type numbers every day: spreadsheets, accounts, data entry, or shortcuts mapped to the numpad in editing software. It runs Cybeart MK I switches, like the Akula 65, and has an 8000 mAh battery rated up to 400 hours with the lights off. There are 8 extra keycaps in the box, one more than the other boards get.
Measure Before You Choose
Put a tape measure on the desk where the keyboard will sit. Note the width of the board, then the space your mouse needs to its right. Most of us sit centred on the letter keys, not on the whole board, so a numpad pushes the mouse further out than the numbers alone suggest.
- If the mouse often hits the keyboard or the desk edge, go smaller: a 75% or the Akula 65.
- If you reach for the numpad several times a day, the Akula 99 saves you a separate keypad.
- If you want the function row and a knob on one board, the Nighthawk 75 covers both.
A big pad helps any of them. An XXL desk mat measures 900 × 400 mm, enough for the Akula 99 with close to 50 cm left over for the mouse. Every size is on our mouse pads page.
Each layout also comes as a wired Lite board: Nighthawk 75 Lite, Akula 99 Lite and Akula 65 Lite. They keep the layout and the gasket mount, drop the battery, and are over-engineered for the price. The gaming keyboards page has all of them, with specs and live stock.
