This ASUS keycap looks like a ROG GPU with spinning fans

(Image credit: Asus)

Novelty keycaps are one of the purest and truest joys of the PC gaming world. Whether you’re just changing up your colours or you want your escape key to be a Pokémon's rear end, the granular customisation level of keycaps can make for some truly unique and fun designs.

According to Tom’s Hardware, Asus has joined the game with a wonderfully ridiculous ROG Strix branded GPU style keycap, though we’ve only seen them on sale in China. The cap is a pretty excellent copy of a ROG GPU, complete with the triple fan setup with angry gamer eye logos. The packaging is quite nice too like a real GPU but for borrowers. You can get a good look at it in the video below. Just a classy little key package. It replaces a standard right shift key using MX crosspoint and clones fitting, and is going for about the equivalent of $63 USD on the Chinese zFrontier store.

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I’ve definitely spied GPU styled keycaps before, but these Asus ones go the extra mile with ball-bearing fans that actually spin. It’s a neat novelty touch, and I can wager most people’s right little fingers would definitely spend some time playing with them, especially while waiting for games to load. Or perhaps waiting to be able to buy an actual GPU.

Usually you can find a range of these shenanigans handmade by folks with artisan expertise, but sometimes the brands get involved. Though usually it’s in more practical ways like G.Skill’s caps that let more RGB light shine through. Etsy is also a hotspot for people creating all sorts of wonderful and wacky keyboard enhancements because that’s a rabbit-hole you need to fall down today.

An official keycap from a GPU manufacturer is a pretty cool little nod to the hardware inside your PC. Almost like having the fancy keys that match a new car. I used to put the stickers from my GPU on my desk as a little bit of hardware pride bling, and this seems like a much nicer touch. If Asus brings the caps to a wider market it could be a cool inclusion when buying a graphics card, or just something aspirational while saving up and waiting for supply.

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Hope’s been writing about games for about a decade, starting out way back when on the Australian Nintendo fan site Vooks.net. Since then, she’s talked far too much about games and tech for publications such as Techlife, Byteside, IGN, and GameSpot. Of course there’s also here at PC Gamer, where she gets to indulge her inner hardware nerd with news and reviews. You can usually find Hope fawning over some art, tech, or likely a wonderful combination of them both and where relevant she’ll share them with you here. When she’s not writing about the amazing creations of others, she’s working on what she hopes will one day be her own. You can find her fictional chill out ambient far future sci-fi radio show/album/listening experience podcast right here.

No, she’s not kidding.