![Keychron V3 [V1, V5, V6, etc.] Ultra 8K](https://i.rtings.com/assets/products/knHvYDYR/keychron-v3-v1-v5-v6-etc-ultra-8k/design-medium.jpg?format=auto)
The Keychron V3 Ultra 8K is a TenKeyLess (80%) model in Keychron's V Ultra 8K series of wireless mechanical keyboards. This new version builds on the well-established Keychron V3 Max. The new V Ultra 8K lineup pushes polling rates up to 8000Hz for lower latency in both wired and wireless modes with the 2.4GHz adapter. The switch from QMK to ZMK firmware should also noticeably improve battery life. Keychron has also updated the stabilizers and included its Silk POM switches. The whole V Ultra 8K lineup shares a plastic case with gasket mounting, which gives it a softer, bouncier feel than a tray-mounted board. You can swap out switches without soldering thanks to the hot-swappable PCB. Keychron throws in a small toolkit too, so you can take the whole thing apart and customize the keyboard however you like.
For other size options in the series, check out the Differences Between Variants section.
Our Verdict
The Keychron V Ultra 8K keyboards are an amazing pick for any type of gaming. The build quality is excellent, with pre-lubed switches and stabilizers that feel consistent whether you're gaming or typing. Single-key and multi-key latency are both outstanding, and the keyboards now support an 8000Hz polling rate. Keychron's software is feature-rich and well laid out, letting you easily customize macros, backlighting, and polling rate.
Outstanding all-around raw performance.
8000Hz polling rate using a wired or 2.4GHz wireless connection.
Impressive build quality.
The Keychron V Ultra 8K keyboards are impressive office keyboards. Build quality is excellent, and the gasket-mount design provides a soft, cushioned typing feel. Multiple layers of sound-dampening material and improved pre-lubed stabilizers keep things quiet, making it a solid office keyboard. Connectivity is flexible too, with a 2.4GHz receiver, and Bluetooth lets you pair up to three devices. Keychron's software is feature-rich and well-organized. It includes key remapping, backlight customization, and custom profiles, making it straightforward to tailor it to your workflow. The tall profile may take some getting used to, especially if you're coming from a laptop or low-profile keyboard. A wrist rest might make for a nice add-on for longer sessions. The OSA keycap profile's concave shape may also take a little getting used to if you're coming from a flatter keyboard, but once you do, it's very comfortable to type on.
Connects wirelessly with 2.4GHz receiver or via Bluetooth with up to three devices simultaneously.
Quiet typing noise.
Improved pre-lubed stabilizers
Impressive build quality.
No shine-through keycaps.
The Keychron V Ultra 8K series keyboards are decent for mobile devices thanks to their flexible connectivity, but they're not really built for on-the-go use. These are large, heavy keyboards, and hauling one around isn't practical for most people.
Connects wirelessly with 2.4GHz receiver or via Bluetooth with up to three devices simultaneously.
Impressive build quality.
Large and relatively heavy.
The Keychron V Ultra 8K keyboards are impressive for programming. The build quality is excellent, and the typing experience holds up well during long coding sessions. That said, the tall profile makes a wrist rest worth considering. Wireless connectivity is flexible, with both a USB receiver and Bluetooth support for up to three devices at once. Some size variants don't have dedicated macro keys, but the configuration software lets you program macros to any key and leaves plenty of room to customize the keyboard to your preferences. The full RGB backlighting uses south-facing LEDs, and since the keycaps don't have shine-through legends, the lighting ends up being mostly decorative.
Connects wirelessly with 2.4GHz receiver or via Bluetooth with up to three devices simultaneously.
Quiet typing noise.
Improved pre-lubed stabilizers
Impressive build quality.
No shine-through keycaps.
The Keychron V Ultra 8K keyboards are only passable for home theater PC use. Dedicated media keys are locked behind Mac compatibility mode by default, the keyboards are bulky, and the lack of shine-through keycaps makes it a poor fit for low-light setups. That said, the software does allow you to have dedicated media keys. The built-in knob and wireless connectivity are nice touches for this use case, but they're not enough to make up for the other shortcomings.
Connects wirelessly with 2.4GHz receiver or via Bluetooth with up to three devices simultaneously.
Impressive build quality.
No shine-through keycaps.
No dedicated media keys by default (in Windows mode).
Large and relatively heavy.
The Keychron V Ultra 8K keyboards deliver outstanding raw performance. Their single-key and multi-key latencies are outstanding, making them ideal even for competitive gaming settings. Whether you use them wired or through the included 2.4GHz receiver, you'll get an effective update rate of 8000Hz without any bottlenecking from other latency elements.
Outstanding all-around raw performance.
8000Hz polling rate using a wired or 2.4GHz wireless connection.
Check Price
Differences Between Sizes And Variants
The Keychron V Ultra 8K series keyboards are available fully assembled with Keychron Silk POM switches. We bought and tested the Keychron V3 Ultra 8K with Keychron Silk POM Banana switches. Here's the label on the keyboard we bought.
Here's a table with the different variants currently offered in this series:
| Name | Size | Switch Type | Switch Options | Dedicated Macro Keys |
| Keychron V0 Ultra 8K | Numpad | Keychron Silk POM | Red, Brown, Banana | 9 |
| Keychron V1 Ultra 8K | Compact (75%) | Keychron Silk POM | Red, Brown, Banana | N/A |
| Keychron V3 Ultra 8K | TKL (80%) | Keychron Silk POM | Red, Brown, Banana | N/A |
| Keychron V5 Ultra 8K | Compact (96%) | Keychron Silk POM | Red, Brown, Banana | 3 |
| Keychron V6 Ultra 8K | Full-size (100%) | Keychron Silk POM | Red, Brown, Banana | 4 |
| Keychron V10 Ultra 8K | Alice layout (96%) | Keychron Silk POM | Red, Brown, Banana | 4 |
Popular Keyboard Comparisons
The Keychron V3 Ultra 8K is a TenKeyLess (80%) model in Keychron's V Ultra 8K series of wireless mechanical keyboards, which succeeds the already well-established Keychron V Max keyboards. The new series includes many small improvements that help polish the overall performance. Keychron has refined the pre-lubed stabilizers to eliminate rattle on the larger keys and swapped QMK for the more power-efficient ZMK firmware. That firmware change helps push battery life past 660 hours, according to their estimates, which is a big jump from the 180 hours the previous model could manage. The polling rate also climbs to 8000Hz, though in our testing, that doesn't really translate into tangible real-world benefits. These keyboards are very well-rounded, delivering impressive typing quality, solid build quality, and great software.
Like its predecessor, the Keychron V3 Max, the Keychron V3 Ultra 8K is a complete, polyvalent package that can serve any purpose. It's well-built and features multiple layers of foam for a great-sounding typing experience. Its latency performance is also outstanding, which makes it a very potent gaming keyboard. While its overall build and typing feel don't quite reach the same heights as the Keychron Q Ultra 8K series, it still gets pretty close and performs just as well in most other respects. It's also competitive with similarly priced models like the NuPhy Kick75 and the Logitech Alto Keys K98M, and can even match many dedicated gaming keyboards, like the Corsair K70 CORE, in terms of raw performance.
For more recommendations, see our picks for the best keyboards, the best wireless keyboards, and the best mechanical keyboards. For more options from Keychron, see our picks for the best Keychron keyboards.
The Keychron K2 HE and the Keychron V3 Ultra 8K keyboards share many similarities, but they differ in the type of switches they use. While the V3 Ultra 8K uses standard mechanical switches, the K2 HE uses Hall effect switches with adjustable actuation. This makes it possible to include features like Rapid Trigger, which can be a nice boon for shooters who benefit from counter-strafing techniques or rhythm games. The Keychron K2 HE also includes shine-through keycaps, which makes it better to use in darker rooms. The V series is no slouch for gaming either. Its latency performance is actually slightly better, thanks in part to the 8000Hz polling rate.
The Corsair K70 CORE and the Keychron V3 Ultra 8K are mechanical keyboards. While the Corsair is a wired gaming keyboard, the Keychron is marketed as a versatile all-rounder and includes a feature some nice additions. It's available in multiple sizes, its switches are hot-swappable, and it provides a better overall typing experience and build quality. Its latency performance is also as good as the Corsair's for responsive gaming, and its web-based software is feature-rich, making it a more complete overall package.
Both the Keychron V5 Ultra 8K and Logitech Alto Keys K98M are wireless mechanical keyboards with gasket mounting, giving them a soft, springy typing feel. The Keychron has a clear edge in gaming latency. It's also part of a wider lineup with many size options, and its configuration software offers more flexibility for key bindings and macros. It also includes full RGB backlighting, though the keycaps don't have shine-through legends, so the lighting is mostly decorative in the dark. The Logitech keeps things simpler with white-only backlighting, but it does have shine-through legends, making the keys easier to read in low light. It's only available in one size in the North American market and uses a larger full-frame gasket mount, though the practical difference in typing feel is subtle, as it mostly reduces vibrations.
The Keychron Q Ultra 8K and Keychron V Ultra 8K series of keyboards perform similarly in many ways. They share many of their internals: they have the same switches, stabilizers, and overall latency performance. The main difference comes to their build quality. While the Keychron V Ultra 8K keyboards are well-built in their own right, the Q Ultra 8K series uses a more premium-feeling aluminum case and slightly more refined acoustics. The Q Ultra 8K series also uses a double-gasket mount rather than the more standard gasket mount found on the V Ultra boards.
Test Results
![Keychron V3 [V1, V5, V6, etc.] Ultra 8K Top Picture Sample](https://i.rtings.com/assets/sample-images/keyboard/dimensions-small.jpg?format=auto)
![Keychron V3 [V1, V5, V6, etc.] Ultra 8K Build Quality Close Up Sample](https://i.rtings.com/assets/sample-images/keyboard/build-quality-small.jpg?format=auto)
for pictures & test results
![Keychron V3 [V1, V5, V6, etc.] Ultra 8K Side Picture Sample](https://i.rtings.com/assets/sample-images/keyboard/ergonomics-small.jpg?format=auto)
for pictures & test results
![Keychron V3 [V1, V5, V6, etc.] Ultra 8K Customizability Overview Sample](https://i.rtings.com/assets/sample-images/keyboard/custom-small.jpg?format=auto)
![Keychron V3 [V1, V5, V6, etc.] Ultra 8K Backlighting Picture Sample](https://i.rtings.com/assets/sample-images/keyboard/backlight-small.jpg?format=auto)
![Keychron V3 [V1, V5, V6, etc.] Ultra 8K Brightness Max Sample](https://i.rtings.com/assets/sample-images/keyboard/brightness-max-small.jpg?format=auto)
![Keychron V3 [V1, V5, V6, etc.] Ultra 8K Brightness Min Sample](https://i.rtings.com/assets/sample-images/keyboard/brightness-min-small.jpg?format=auto)
![Keychron V3 [V1, V5, V6, etc.] Ultra 8K White Shot Sample](https://i.rtings.com/assets/sample-images/keyboard/whiteshot-small.jpg?format=auto)
for pictures & test results
![Keychron V3 [V1, V5, V6, etc.] Ultra 8K Extra Features Sample](https://i.rtings.com/assets/sample-images/keyboard/features-small.jpg?format=auto)
![Keychron V3 [V1, V5, V6, etc.] Ultra 8K Bundle Picture Sample](https://i.rtings.com/assets/sample-images/keyboard/in-the-box-small.jpg?format=auto)
![Keychron V3 [V1, V5, V6, etc.] Ultra 8K Typing Sample Sample](https://i.rtings.com/assets/sample-images/keyboard/typing-sample-small.jpg?format=auto)
for pictures & test results
![Keychron V3 [V1, V5, V6, etc.] Ultra 8K Key Switch Actuation Graph Sample](https://i.rtings.com/assets/sample-images/keyboard/feel-graph-small.jpg?format=auto)
for pictures & test results
![Keychron V3 [V1, V5, V6, etc.] Ultra 8K Input Linearity Graph Sample](https://i.rtings.com/assets/sample-images/keyboard/keyboard-input-granularity-graph-small.jpg?format=auto)
![Keychron V3 [V1, V5, V6, etc.] Ultra 8K Wobble Video Sample](https://i.rtings.com/assets/sample-images/keyboard/wobble-small.jpg?format=auto)
for pictures & test results
![Keychron V3 [V1, V5, V6, etc.] Ultra 8K Single-Key Latency Graph Sample](https://i.rtings.com/assets/sample-images/keyboard/latency-single-graph-small.jpg?format=auto)
![Keychron V3 [V1, V5, V6, etc.] Ultra 8K Multi-Key Latency Graph Sample](https://i.rtings.com/assets/sample-images/keyboard/latency-multi-graph-small.jpg?format=auto)
for pictures & test results
![Keychron V3 [V1, V5, V6, etc.] Ultra 8K Multi-Key Raw USB Sample](https://i.rtings.com/assets/sample-images/keyboard/rollover-small.jpg?format=auto)
![Keychron V3 [V1, V5, V6, etc.] Ultra 8K Chord Split Graph Sample](https://i.rtings.com/assets/sample-images/keyboard/keyboard-chordsplit-graph-small.jpg?format=auto)
for videos & test results
![Keychron V3 [V1, V5, V6, etc.] Ultra 8K Software Tour Sample](https://i.rtings.com/assets/sample-images/keyboard/software-tour-small.jpg?format=auto)