G513 is crafted from incredibly strong and durable 5052 aluminum-magnesium alloy which allows for both a minimal design and a beautiful aesthetic. The rigidity of 5052 alloy also provides a sturdy, non-slip chassis that houses a full suite of features for an unbeatable gaming experience. The advantages of the aluminium-alloy construction go beyond style, though. The G513 is impressively stable and rigid, and this translates into a solid and planted feel when using the keyboard. No matter how hard you are typing or playing, the G513 never flexes or feels like it can’t withstand the force, even when you go harder than you would ever need to.

Personalize lighting for each individual key, customize lighting effects, and enjoy in-game integrations from a spectrum of 16. 8M colors with Logitech G hub. 1 Per-key lighting customization is available, as is a decent amount of lighting presets such as color wave, breathing, ripple effects, and a really cool animation that makes it appear like an ocean wave is lapping across the keyboard. As mentioned above, you can also create your own animations, either from scratch or by copying a pre-existing one and customizing it. Creating anything worth looking at definitely has a learning curve, but it’s kind of neat if you’re looking to make your keyboard truly stand out. The underside of the keyboard and the wristrest have a groove throughtfully built into it if you for some reason need cables to come out from there, such as a wired headset. The G512 and G513 gaming keyboards feature onboard memory to store lighting effects. This comes in handy if you need to use a computer that does not have LGS installed. At the time of release, you can only store one Freestyle, Zones or Effects (except Star Effect and Key Press) Lighting Mode layout on the keyboard’s memory. For more information, read Access On-Board lighting effects on the G512 and G513 gaming keyboard s.One of the stand out design features that set the G513 apart from the vast majority of gaming keyboards is its aircraft-grade aluminium-alloy body. This brushed finish gives the G513 a premium and sturdy feel while giving it an air of elegance usually absent from gaming keyboards. Aircraft-grade 5052 aluminum top case is anodized and brushed For a slim, premium design plus rigid durability. The wrist rest itself is one of the most luxurious and comfortable wrist rests I have ever had the pleasure of using. I will frequently take it with me for use with the G Pro keyboard, too. (I have even been known to use it while playing Xbox so that I can rest my hand on the desk in premium comfort. It’s unorthodox, but it works!) To add keys to a zone, select a zone in the Lighting Zones pane and then select a key. You can also use the + button to create additional zones.

The G513 is a very comfortable keyboard; compact, yet with a pleasing angle and a wrist rest deep enough to support even larger hands. I spent multiple hours playing PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds and never felt any wrist strain or general fatigue while using this keyboard.Like nearly all of its gaming peripherals, the G513 Carbon utilizes Logitech’s Gaming Software for lighting customization and recording macros. I used an updated version of the client to review the G513, and while there’s little in the way of changes from recent iterations of the software, it’s fairly easy to use. Most notably, the G513 takes advantage of Logitech’s LIGHTSYNC functionality, which is similar to Razer’s Chroma or Alienware’s AlienFX. This system allows for deep customization of lighting animations synced to games and other compatible Logitech devices. There’s even an applet within the software that changes the colors on the G513 in-time with on-screen color changes. The new Logitech G560 speakers use the same tech to sync lighting with in-game action. Notably absent from the mix are the dedicated macro/media keys and controls found on many gaming keyboards in this price range. An equivalent to the Corsair K95's volume roller, for one, would have been appreciated in a board at this price. As usual with Logitech’s Gaming Software, you can also assign lighting and macros—the latter using a convenient drag-and-drop setup—to specific game titles. The software will scan your PC and look for compatible games, so the setup is fairly straightforward and simple. Convenient USB pass-through port makes it a snap to plug in your mouse, Flash drive or phone for direct data transmission or charging.

We've converted this review to Test Bench 1.3, which overhauls how key input is evaluated. We've added new tests for Single Key Latency, Multi Key Latency, Data Transmission, and Chord Split. We've also introduced a new Raw Performance usage and adjusted how the Gaming and Office usage scores are calculated. You can see the full changelog here. G513 is a high-performance gaming keyboard featuring your choice of advanced GX mechanical switches. The detachable, memory-foam palmrest and premium aluminum-alloy construction make G513 full-featured and best-in-class. Complementing the aluminium design another noteworthy styling choice was made: Where you would usually find the brightly lit G logo, Logitech have opted instead to change it to a discrete, polished metal G. Though you can’t change the logo’s colour with crazy lights, it looks absolutely stunning and reinforces the clean and stylish look of the G513 Carbon.The build quality of the G513 is exceptional. The brushed aluminum top plate not only looks sleek but also feels incredibly sturdy. It gives the keyboard a premium and durable feel. The key switches may have special appeal for those who aren't satisfied by the half-dozen or so flavors of Cherry switch in common circulation. The Romer-Gs aren't for everyone; some seasoned gamers will turn up their noses at anything not made by Cherry, and I didn't find a huge difference in feel between the Tactile and Linear. But they were both quite comfortable. Another big change from the G413 is the inclusion of full RGB lighting, as opposed to the former model's single-color setup. The change has brought this keyboard in-line with other high-end mechanical boards in terms of vibrant, customizable RGB light shows. Logitech’s Romer-G switches do a great job with lighting as it only comes through the keycaps instead of from underneath the keys themselves, and the effect looks fantastic glowing through each key’s iconography.

The lighting customization options universally affect the G512 and G513 gaming keyboards by default. However, you can also configure lighting settings to be set on a per profile basis. That said, the key-lighting colors appear a bit dim versus other RGB keyboards on the market, especially the K95 RGB Platinum. Even Logitech's own G810 Orion Spectrum seems to shine brighter. While I prefer the subtlety of the G513 Carbon, some gamers tend to enjoy splashier keyboards—the more ostentatious the lighting, the better. For those folks, I'd have appreciated the option to crank up the intensity, even if I would have left the level at my review unit's default. title=More%20Expert%20Tech%20Roundups&type=articles%2Cvideos&tags=tech-roundup&count=6&columnCount=6&theme=article The keycaps on the G513 Carbon have a comfortable, soft-touch finish. Key spacing felt great while typing, and I rarely produced any errors while typing out long strings of text. Moreover, even with the floating design, the keycaps are solid and there’s no cheap-feeling, wiggling keys on the G513. Larger keycaps, like the spacebar in particular, don’t suffer from wobble when you’re hitting one side of the bar. Logitech has also included a set of replacement keycaps for the WASD keys as well as the Q, E, R, and 1 through 5 keys. The replacements have a satisfyingly deeper recess that cradled my fingers, and the WASD keys in particular are wonderful for gaming. Zones: Group keys together into color zones. You can only assign an individual key to one zone at a time.

Colors

The only slight negative I found with the G513 is that it does not have a detachable cable, and although it is not a necessity, it’s a nice feature to have if you regularly transport your keyboard around, providing more longevity to your keyboard’s life. Convenience and speed are directly within reach. The additional, dedicated USB cable connects the USB passthrough port to its own input for full power throughput and data speed. Plug in a device to charge or plug in a mouse to charge your adversaries, without missing a beat. I was, however, impressed with the RGB effects shining through those legends. I found them to be particularly vibrant, with a crisp, precise feel to each color and very little blur between wave effects. There is a little bleed around the bottom of the caps, but everything generally feels remarkably restrained yet bright. Performance One of the issues with the keyboard is a persistent bug in the Logitech G Hub software. I have both the Logitech G203 gaming mouse as well as this keyboard, and the software only appears to be able to have one or the other device have an animated RGB effect. So if I set up the keyboard with Starlight, then turn on a custom animation on the mouse, the keyboard's RGBs will freeze and the "lit" keys will pulsate. I've included a video in my review of this issue. Color Wave — Select this option to set the colors to change horizontally, vertically or from the center out. Use the slider to set the speed at which the color wave cycles.