takes one wholesome to know wholesome.

thanks to you both for broadening EC field/reach.

I'm not you so I don't know if 45g will give you the feedback and bottom out you're seeking. See if you can go to a keyboard meetup in your area to try other boards/switch types so you can figure out what experience you'd prefer. Otherwise, picking up a 45g board on the aftermarket may be your move if budget allows. Sales do come up around the holidays so you might get lucky on a deal.

>The $99 board I mentioned in OP has a very satisfying feeling when bottoming out. If it's not the doubleshot caps I can't put a finger on what else it could be.
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>Then I'm really not sure why the board with the reds feel better bottoming out than the topre ones, could it be the spring on the switch itself?

Are you a heavy or forceful typer? You may prefer the 45g variant then. 30g is very light and linear for a lot of people, especially those who prefer the tactility of higher dome weights . But it looks like you like linear switches on steel plates (Durgod). 30g won't be making the same sound or feel--it will be a lot more pillowy or squishy even for some people. I happen to like that, but I also like pounding away on 55g domes (usually in Realforce TKLs) or u can find aftermarket domes by Deskeys in more weights (but they have a different sound signature.)

As for the case build/chassis...only the Heavy-9 by Norbauer exists for 980C at the moment, but who knows what else may appear. You can't really beat Leopold caps or case quality tbh. It's ok to prefer a smoother texture though, if you like that. And having owned a Durgod full size before, I did not have any complaints about its case whatsoever.