Mechanical keyboard enthusiasts are known for going a bit wild with custom-made, “artisan” keycaps, ranging from full themed keysets like my Star Trek Galaxy Class set, to tiny pieces of fan art like these Pokemon resin caps, to even more ridiculous novelties. But a new keycap that popped up in China this weekend might be of particular interest to anyone who’s been struggling to find a high-end graphics card for the last couple of years.
This apparently official Asus “Republic of Gamers” keycap looks like a teenie-tiny graphics card, sitting there where your right Shift key used to be. Taunting you. Its sculpted, anodized aluminum body is festooned with three scale cooling fans, each resting on a tiny ball bearing so they really spin around. The keycap even comes in its own GPU-style packaging, aping the new card unboxing experience in miniature.
There’s already been a few PC component-themed keycaps made by artisans, including at least one graphics card with a spinning fan. But this more elaborate, branded design seems to be mass-produced to some degree: there’s already one YouTube user showing it off.
The 2.75u-cap is currently available for purchase in China for around 400 yuan ($63), spotted by Tom’s Hardware. For a custom keycap with such elaborate construction and packaging, that’s actually pretty reasonable! We’ve reached out to an Asus representative to see if this is an officially-licensed ROG product — it certainly looks like one — and if it will be coming to wider markets. Asus already sells a set of “gaming” keycaps with a metal Escape key, so it’s not out of the question.
If we get our hands on one, we’ll see if we can somehow get it plugged into a PCIe port.
Michael is a former graphic designer who’s been building and tweaking desktop computers for longer than he cares to admit. His interests include folk music, football, science fiction, and salsa verde, in no particular order.
