If you’re a gamer or recently got into gaming, you must have heard about the anti ghosting feature in gaming keyboards. When considering buying a good keyboard for gaming, this is one of the features that will be highlighted in the specifications. But what do anti ghosting keys mean? Let’s understand this technology and how it works through this blog.
But before you understand the term Anti Ghosting, you must know what ghosting is. Here’s a brief explanation of what keyboard ghosting is.
What Is Keyboard Ghosting?
Keyboard Ghosting is a term used when a keypress does not register on your PC. This usually happens when you press multiple keys at the same time. To test this among yourself, you can press multiple keys on your keyboard to see how many of them are getting registered. Generally, keyboards come with 6KRO, that is six key rollover.
So if you press one key additionally, no response will be registered. No character will be seen on the screen as you have crossed the maximum permissible limit for a 6KRO keyboard. This lost input is called Ghosting. When you’re typing, it does not become a big issue. But if you’re gaming, you might need to press multiple keys simultaneously.
There are multiple reasons behind this lost input. It can happen because of hardware incompatibility or because the software simply does not support multiple keypresses. But how to overcome this issue? That’s when anti ghosting keys come into the picture.
What Is Anti Ghosting Keys Technology?
The anti-ghosting feature simply ensures that all key presses are sent without error and registered in the order they’re pressed. Keyboards with anti-ghosting technology will register all keys pressed at the same time without “ghosting” any input. These keyboards have extra wires that ensure that each key creates unique signals so that you don’t experience ghosting.
How To Fix The Problem Of Ghosting?
There are several ways in which you can fix the ghosting problems. Listed below are a few methods that you can follow.
Switching To An Anti-Ghosting Keyboard
To solve the ghosting issue while gaming, you simply switch to a keyboard with anti ghosting keys. All the latest gaming keyboards in the market have this feature. For most simple anti-ghosting keyboards they will have a different arrangement of wires to resolve the issue for the most common combination of keystrokes. These keyboards have a separate diode that will allow every key to register no matter what the combination is.
Remapping Your Keyboard
The only real workaround is to remap your keyboard so that the key combination you want to use is one that your keyboard is able to register. Remapping your keyboard means adding new actions or functionalities to existing keys.
Advantages Of Anti-Ghosting Keyboard
Being a gamer having a keyboard with a specific key rollover won’t help; you must have a keyboard with anti ghosting keys. For example, if you have a keyboard with 3KRO, you won’t be able to play games that require more keys to operate in commands. So to play games with commands requiring more key combinations, N-key rollover keyboards or anti-ghosting keyboards are extremely helpful.
So to play a game with commands that require multiple key presses, you must get yourself an N- rollover keyboard. These keyboards give gamers a push to perform better as there are no limitations.
Conclusion
So if you require a keyboard that is high performing for gaming or even typing faster, one with anti-ghosting keys is the one for you. These keyboards allow users to perform multiple simultaneous inputs without compromising gameplay or typing.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q1. Are anti ghosting keys good?
Anti-ghosting keyboards are suitable for users who are gamers and require to use multiple keys simultaneously for adding input or typists for faster writing.
Q2. How do you check key ghosting?
Press the AWSD keys and some other gaming keys to see if the input you want is executed. If not, try releasing one of the AWSD keys to see if the other pressed vital works.
Q3. How do I know if my keyboard is anti-ghosting?
There are multiple tests online that you can take to check if your keyboard is anti-ghosting or not.
Q.4 How important is anti-ghosting?
Anti ghosting is important as it recognises each keypress individually when multiple keys are pressed at the same time, allowing gamers to play games with complex commands.
Q.5 How many anti-ghosting keys are there?
All the keys are featured with anti ghosting technology in an anti ghosting keyboard. Hence all the keys can be recognised individually.
