The before-and-after comparison in *"Refurbishing a Keyboard That Hadn't Been Cleaned in Ten Years"* is just too shocking!

To get straight to the point, this guy doesn’t just know how to clean a keyboard—he’s basically out here keeping his bro alive in the dorm. Recently, a user in Reddit’s PC community posted before-and-after photos of a mechanical keyboard cleaning, and it left people stunned. What made it even better was that this wasn’t even his own keyboard—it belonged to his friend. People called him a “top-tier friend,” and honestly, that’s not an exaggeration at all.

The keyboard is a Corsair K70, and apparently it hadn’t been cleaned once since it was bought in 2014. Just imagine that layer of dust under a dorm desk you never want to touch—all of it packed into the gaps between the keycaps. The pre-cleaning condition looked painfully real: tons of dust, hair, and debris piled inside, with the whole keyboard looking like it was coated in a layer of old grime. The wildest part is that this level of filth actually struck a chord with a lot of people, and some even said they had the exact same model in pretty much the same condition.

And the best part this time wasn’t just how absurdly dirty it was, but the fact that it actually came back to life after cleaning. The original poster removed all the keycaps and soaked them in a mixture of hot water and dish soap. For the keyboard body itself, he used cotton swabs dipped in alcohol to remove the grime bit by bit, then wiped away the residue with wet wipes. Finally, he rinsed the keycaps and let them air-dry naturally. The whole process wasn’t complicated, but it felt a lot like panic-finishing homework right before exam week—exhausting, sure, but incredibly satisfying once it’s done.

The transformation after cleaning was the kind that makes your roommate come over and ask, “Wait, is this even the same keyboard?” One commenter said it outright: “Is this the same keyboard? The difference is insane.” I completely get that, because the before-and-after contrast is genuinely dramatic—it’s like dragging an old companion back from the edge of the trash heap. For people who game every day, a keyboard honestly affects your mood more than peripheral specs do. If it feels grimy to the touch, even queuing up with friends just doesn’t hit the same.

Another reason this blew up isn’t just because the images were so visually shocking, but because it feels so close to everyday gamer life. A lot of people obsess over switches, lighting effects, and feel when buying a keyboard, but after actually using it for a few years, cleaning is often the first thing to get ignored. PC players especially tend to snack at their desks while gaming, and over time, crumbs and dust build up like the floor of a classroom after evening study—if nobody cleans it, it only gets worse. Compared with buying a new one, giving it a proper cleaning first is actually more cost-effective and a lot more satisfying.

If your keyboard has also reached the stage of “out of sight, even more annoying,” my advice is simple: don’t put it off. If the keycaps can be removed, use this method regularly. The key steps are soaking, alcohol-dipped cotton swabs, and natural air-drying—don’t wash it and then put it back together right away. The original poster also reminded everyone to clean their gaming gear regularly: a tidy setup helps keep your mind clear too. I totally agree—when the desk is clean, even getting steamrolled in back-to-back games with your roommate feels a little easier to handle, haha.