So, the GIGABYTE Aivia Osmium is a great performer with a few very interesting features. What does that mean for our overall verdict?

We believe that no factor of the Aivia Osmium's hardware can be identified as a weak link - mechanical switches perform well and the layout is exceptional in how standard it is in these days of over the top designs. If we had one complaint it would be the finish of the keyboard housing - the rough plastic doesn't serve the aesthetics well and picks up dust fairly easily.

Feature-wise, the Osmium is exceptionally well equipped. The variety of passthrough options should be welcome for anyone who makes use of USB peripherals on a day-to-day basis or can exploit niche uses of audio-out. USB 3.0 passthrough is still very rare, but of great value to anyone running a modern motherboard in a legacy case without suitable front-panel ports.

As with many of the other mechanical keyboards we've reviewed, GIGABYTE has chosen to outfit the Osmium with Cherry MX Red switches. Moving to mechanical from membrane switches makes this ideal, but many veteran users of mechanical keyboards will be a little disappointed by the lack of alternative options such as MX Blacks which offer very slightly better dynamics for gaming.

Perhaps our one disappointment was in the GHOST software. Whilst reasonably intuitive, it's not as well appointed as others we've used, and doesn't quite feature the flexibility we like to see with macros. Still, it seems a churlish criticism given that most mechanical keyboards won't offer macro keys and multiple profiles.

Built-in macro keys them will often be a catch-22, and in the Osmium the trade-off is one of location. They're almost always a sensible inclusion, but said location is less optimal for gaming than the left side of the keyboard, which by contrast would increase the keyboard footprint. Even so, from a productivity standpoint they're a solid addition, our stated reservations notwithstanding.

Whilst some may desire a colour other than blue, the lighting is excellent. The brightness adjuster is a great addition over adding effects of lighting levels, allowing continuous adjustment from very discrete to Christmas tree. The former especially should be of note to wearers of glasses, as it will reduce glare considerably.



Constructed to be durable, the GIGABYTE Aivia Osmium nonetheless includes gaming and productivity features which you should expect at the price point including excellent backlighting and five independent gaming profiles. Although the GHOST software package would benefit from further development time, additional well thought features which should see a great deal of use in both office and gaming environments more than balance out any shortcomings. What can we say, the GIGABYTE Aivia Osmium is without doubt a Vortez Gold Award winning mechanical keyboard for the gaming market.