At first we would like to thank Cougar and CaseKing.de for offering us a sample of the ATTACK X3 RGB Gaming Keyboard for testing and reviewing.

 

 

 

 

About Cougar:

 

“Created in 2007 by a group of engineers, COUGAR has been devoted since its first day to a single objective: to endow every single product with a superb quality, a rich functionality and a distinctive design. This aspiration moved us during our first years in the PC case, PSU and fan market. Our efforts bore their fruits in the form of user satisfaction, many praising reviews and prestigious design awards such as the 2010 design & innovation award, organized by iF at Computex Taipei 2010.”

 

About CaseKing.de:

 

“Caseking is a leading European distributor of exclusive top brands and a renowned online-retailer for unique and extravagant computer hardware and accessories, founded in 2003 and continuously growing. Headquartered in Berlin, Caseking’s base of operation is a vast modern logistics centre of 10.000m² storage area in the Charlottenburg district.

 

As the name Caseking suggests, a plethora of the eponymous PC enclosures in varying forms and fashions play a central role in Caseking’s product range, which is supplemented by a large array of modding items for individualisation purposes and personal design.”

 

Product Features:

 

On-Board Memory

 

The on-board memory allows you to store up to 3 full configuration profiles on the keyboard itself. This allows you to preserve your configuration even if you bring your keyboard to another computer.

 

Up to 30 Macros

 

On-Board memory allow you to record up to 30 macros, and bring macro arsenal anywhere you go!

 

Media Shortcut Keys

 

Quick control over your music and videos!

 

1000Hz Polling Rate

 

COUGAR ATTACK X3 RGB's 1000 Hz Polling Rate brings you a 1ms Response Rate.

 

Anti-Slip Rubber Feet

 

The keyboard base remains stable even during intense gaming sessions.

 

On-the-fly Mode Switch

 

Convenient key combinations allow you to switch easily between the three configuration modes on the keyboard.

 

 

Product Specifications:

 

 

 

 

Following their original ATTACK X3 model, Cougar has released another version featuring Cherry MX RGB switches; the mechanical keyboard is available with Cherry MX RGB Black, Red, Blue or Brown switches for covering the typing preferences of the majority of gamers. The product is shipped inside a slim, medium-sized cardboard enclosure, with a central photo of the X3 RGB in the middle:

 

 

 

Some of the main product highlights are also present on the top cover:

 

 

 

 

On one of the box sides, the manufacturer does inform the user what type of switch the ATTACK X3 RGB keyboard ships with (our sample was equipped with the Cherry MX RGB Red switches), but we also get a list of system requirements along with the package contents:

 

 

 

Nearby, we will also get to see the technical specifications:

 

 

 

On the backside of the box, the manufacturer does explain the keyboard functionality in even more detail:

 

 

 

After unsealing the box and lifting the top cover, we will get to see the keyboard surrounded by protective foam, but also wrapped inside a transparent plastic bag:

 

 

 

As listed on the box as a bundle component, the keyboard does also ship with a User Manual:

 

 

 

Here the manufacturer will list the hardware installation procedure, along with instructions on how to download the software resources:

 

 

 

ATTACK X3 RGB does have a plastic chassis, but is reinforced by a brushed aluminum top plate, which also reflects the LED lighting beautifully:

 

 

 

Thanks to the on-board memory, the keyboard can switch between three full-configuration profiles. The switching procedure is possible via the first three function keys, which must be actuated with “Fn”; F4 also acts as a LED mode-switching key, each mode having three LED operating profiles stored on it:

 

 

 

The multimedia keys are available from F5 to F12:

 

 

 

 

By using the ScrLk/Pause keys, we can adjust the Rollover between 6-key or N-key (as we would have been using the product on the PS/2 bus); the later allows an unlimited amount of simultaneous key presses:

 

 

 

PageUp/PageDown keys also allow the user to adjust the LED lighting intensity:

 

 

 

While on the Cougar ATTACK X3 non-RGB we had some extra multimedia keys in the top right corner, with the RGB version we do receive a more classic design, with the usual function LEDs:

 

 

 

ATTACK X3 RGB is using large, easy to read fonts on the keycaps:

 

 

 

 

The aluminum cover does also extend on the sides:

 

 

 

The top plastic frame of the keyboard does also include the manufacturer logo:

 

 

 

Here is also a look from the frontal area of the keyboard:

 

 

 

The bottom area of the ATTACK X3 RGB does feature a central sticker that contains the product power rating along with the serial number:

 

 

 

The kickstands of the keyboard do also feature a very welcome rubber tip:

 

 

 

 

On the opposite areas, two smaller rubber feet can be seen; even spots for connecting a wrist rest are available, but it was not included in the original packaging:

 

 

 

Cougar ATTACK X3 RGB does come with a fully-braided USB cable with a total length of 1.8m:

 

 

 

The cable ends up with not one but two USB connectors, which are gold plated; the secondary port is thought to supply extra power to the keyboard, in case one is not enough. We have seen a similar power delivery design with Corsair RGB keyboards:

 

 

 

After connecting the keyboard to a spare USB port, the LED light show will begin:

 

 

 

After downloading the appropriate UIX software from the Cougar website, we will also get to see that the utility makes sure that the latest firmware is installed on the keyboard:

 

 

 

Those who have checked out our Cougar Revenger Gaming Mouse review, are already familiar with the UIX system interface; the software is modular, so we will use the exact same application for configuring supported Cougar hardware. The application will open in the Key Assignment mode, where we can set different other functions for the programmable keys:

 

 

 

We just have to drag-and-drop one of the pre-defined functions, which are located on the right side of the interface and we are set:

 

 

 

 

Here are the pre-defined modes that are available on the drop-down menu:

 

 

 

Mode Switch

 

 

 

Ins. Mode Switch

 

 

 

Launch Program

 

 

 

Mouse Function

 

 

 

Media Function

 

 

 

Of course that more advanced configuration options are available via Macros; before defining an actual Macro, we will have to initialize a Macro Group:

 

 

 

The Macro setup menu will open up in a new window, which holds many additional options:

 

 

 

 

The Macro we have just created will be shown in a square, which can be dragged and dropped to the desired key, as we have done with the pre-defined functions:

 

 

 

 

The interface does also have a Profile manager we can work with:

 

 

 

The Performance tab of the UIX System GUI does allow adjustment of the Polling Rate, Repeat Delay, N-key Rollover function but we do also have a Repeat Rate Test section for trying out the modifications:

 

 

 

The Lighting Control area does allow us to work with three different modes per profile. The operation mode is similar to the Key Assignment area, with drag-and-drop motions to each tip of the shown triangle:

 

 

 

Here are the preset modes we can work with:

 

 

 

Cycle

 

 

 

Reactive

 

 

 

Arrow

 

 

 

Ripple

 

 

 

Wave

 

 

 

Rainbow

 

 

 

An Advanced mode (similar to Macro area) is also available here, so we can define our own LED lighting setups:

 

 

 

All starts by defining a group:

 

 

 

A new window will appear for the custom LED lighting mode, allowing us to select one of the LED lighting effects, effect speed or we can also work with different layers:

 

 

 

The colors can be defined per-key and we do have 16.8 million color combinations available:

 

 

 

The newly defined mode will appear with a circle pictogram and can be dropped to any of the pre-existing modes of the triangle:

 

 

 

With the ATTACK X3 RGB, Cougar is introducing another affordable peripheral to the market which houses the reliable Cherry MX RGB switches and we have additional flexibility of choice between four different types: Black, Brown, Blue and Red. The keyboard is quite light for a mechanical model at just 0.9 Kg and features a 1.8m long braided USB cable with gold-plated USB ports, as we have seem with other high-end peripherals. Thanks to the brushed aluminum top plate, the chassis of the ATTACK X3 RGB is reinforced, but also thanks to this layer, the LED lighting reflection looks even better.

 

The keyboard is backed by the unified Cougar software, UIX System, which permits custom key mapping but also customization of the LED lighting effects, per key. The onboard memory can store up to three different profiles, which can be accessed on-the-fly thanks to the available function keys. By saving the settings to the hardware of the keyboard, the modifications will remain even if we do move the keyboard to another computer and use it without a software.

 

The Cougar ATTACK X3 RGB keyboard can be found online for about 111 Euros.

Cougar ATTACK X3 RGB Gaming Keyboard is Recommended for:

 

 

We would like to thank again to Cougar and CaseKing.de for making this review possible!