White XD87 Build: Gateron Yellows Lubed with Krytox 205g0
·~2 min·Keyboards · Gear
This one's a build log for a keyboard I put together for my friend Christian. He wanted a tenkeyless board, landed on the XD87 from KPRepublic, and was kind enough to let me assemble it and lube all the switches. It was also a couple of firsts for me: my first time lubing switches, and the first keyboard build I ever streamed on Twitch.
THE BUILD AT A GLANCE
- Case/PCB: KPRepublic XD87, TKL tenkeyless layout, white
- Switches: Gateron Yellow linear switches, hand-lubed with Krytox 205g0
- Stabilizers: also lubed with Krytox 205g0
- Colorway: clean white build
WHY THE XD87
For a budget tenkeyless, the XD87 is a great starting point. You get a hot-swap-friendly platform, a normal TKL layout that's perfect for work and gaming, and it's cheap enough that you can put your money into the parts that actually change the feel and sound, which is the switches and stabs. Christian wanted something understated and functional, and a white XD87 nails that.
GATERON YELLOWS + KRYTOX 205G0
Gateron Yellows are kind of the legendary budget linear: smooth, light, and shockingly good for the price. Lubing them takes them from "great for the money" to genuinely premium feeling. This was my first time lubing switches, so I took my time with Krytox 205g0 on each one, and did the stabilizers as well to kill any rattle.
If you've never lubed switches before, fair warning: it's tedious on a full TKL's worth of switches. But the payoff is real. The scratchiness disappears, the travel smooths out, and the sound deepens. It's the single biggest bang-for-buck upgrade you can make to a budget board.
THE SOUND
The whole point of the video is the sound test, and lubed Gateron Yellows on the XD87 give you that satisfying, smooth, slightly deep linear sound, with no spring ping and no stabilizer rattle. For a budget build, it punches well above its price.
FINAL THOUGHTS
This was a fun one: a clean budget TKL, my first time lubing, and my first build on stream. If you're putting together your first custom and want a no-drama tenkeyless, a KPRepublic XD87 with lubed Gateron Yellows is a setup I'd happily recommend.
Thanks to Christian for trusting me with the build. If you've got questions about the XD87, lubing switches, or Gateron Yellows, drop them in the comments or join the Discord.