Be Quiet’s created the quietest mechanical gaming keyboards I’ve ever used, offering the striking benefit of not annoying everyone in a five meter radius
A lot of us love a mechanical keyboard that offers a good, cacophonous clack—but a lot of us share either office or living space with those who do not share our enthusiasm for typing that sounds like a drum roll. That in mind, it’s heartening then that purveyor of slightly less percussive hardware, Be Quiet!, is turning its attention to peripherals.
Among Be Quiet’s initial foray into peripherals is not one, but two full-size keyboards, called Light Mount and Dark Mount. These are joined by a lightweight esports mouse called Dark Perk, which itself is available with either a symmetrical or ergonomic shape.
I got to grips with each bit of kit at an announcement event in Hamburg earlier this year—and trust me, there’s more to say beyond how well the keyboards’ naming convention lends itself to a particularly overplayed Always Sunny reference. Both Light Mount (uh-ah-AH!), and Dark Mount gaming keyboards not only utilise three sound dampening layers, but also deploy Be Quiet’s very own whispery mechanical switches.
Having scooped up a number of the demo products to test them in a quiet-ish corner of the event space myself, I can say these mechanical keyboards offer a much more understated clack—even the space bar is downright subtle.
Be Quiet’s switches and stabilizers are both factory-lubricated, aiming to minimise key wobble even for the most percussive email exchange. These switches are available in two flavours—linear (orange) or tactile (black)—though these aren’t your only option; both the Light Mount and Dark Mount keyboards are hot-swappable with similar 5-pin MX style switches.
The hardware team are no strangers to these stewards of silence; most recently, our Jacob spoke highly of the Shadow Base 800 FX PC case in his review, while Antony was positive about both the Light Loop 360 MM liquid cooler and Dark Rock 5 air cooler. Be Quiet’s move into peripherals has been a long time coming—at least since their parent company, Listan Group, scooped up Mountain back in 2022.
As a result, the Light Mount and Dark Mount do come with a vague sense of keeb fiend deja vu, though mercifully these boards are unburdened by Mountain’s Base Camp software. Instead, to get all of your key actuations and lighting profiles just how you like them, you’re looking at a new program called IO Center.
However, rather than saddling you with yet another peripheral-specific download, IO Center offers the option of a web-based app. Corsair recently made a similar move with its firmware updater website. In Be Quiet’s case, the web-based version of IO Center is pitched as a solution for folks wanting to add a bit of RGB-flair to their otherwise tightly controlled corporate desktop setup, but I’m sure my rig would thank me if it could for one less program haranguing it at start-up.
Once you’re aware of Mountain connection, it’s hard to look past the summit. For instance, the Dark Mount keyboard offers an intriguing modular design decidedly reminiscent of the Mountain Everest Max gaming keyboard.
While both of Be Quiet’s wireless gaming keyboards come with media controls and a full-size number pad, the Dark Mount offers hot-swappable placement; you can attach the number pad to either the left or right side of the keeb, attach the media dock along the keyboard’s top edge, or detach both for a more compact form factor. In this TKL form, it’s hard not to be reminded of the Mountain Everest 60 gaming keyboard.
The Dark Mount will debut April 17 at $255/£240/€260, while the Light Mount will release the same day for $170/£170/€170. Though not modular, the Light Mount is still a snazzy wireless gaming keyboard with per-key ARGB lighting. This mechanical keyboard also has light strips along its top and sides for an underglow effect that make me feel like I’m a confused hacker drifting out of a forgotten Fast and Furious spin-off.
Don’t worry, I wasn’t going to let the mouse squeak by. Weighing 55g, the Dark Perk wireless gaming mouse is exceptionally lightweight and glides gracefully over mouse mats.
It’s so airy that it even feels a little suspect in the hand, but I’ve been assured it’s packing some heavy duty capabilities under the hood. This includes an up to 8,000 Hz polling rate, and the PixArt PAW3950 sensor, which offers up to 32,000 DPI. On top of that, it’s also got optical Omron switches for whispery but responsive clicks. With a MSRP of $140/£130/€130, you’ll have to wait a little longer to get your mitts on Be Quiet’s mouse, as it’s set for a May release date.
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