ASUS ROG Chakram Core Gaming Mouse Review

Performance

Plug the Chakram Core in, and you’ll be treated to a lovely RGB light show. There are two LED zones, one in the scroll wheel and another at the rear, showcasing the logo. It’s nothing much, but it’s enough to add some customisation and also to identify your profiles or DPI levels.

The colours are nice and vibrant, and of a standard that you would expect from a premium brand like ASUS.

No that’s not my camera that’s out of focus, but the warm and fuzzy glow of the ASUS eye logo hiding behind the plastic. It’s actually a transparent cover, but heavily tinted. It creates this cool diffused light look.

I rather like it, but as seems to be the case with this mouse, there’s more to it!

The mouse is held together by strong magnetic mounts. Pull at the top panel and it’ll come away, revealing that sexy interior. Seriously, look how tidy it is! What’s really cool is that ASUS logo is a puck that can be removed.

Fancy a quick run on a 3D printer? Your name here!

While you’re here, you can add the extra weight in here. It’s not a huge adjustment, but hey, if it makes the mouse feel right to you, then go for it!

What I do love as those two spring loaded cylinders and rods. It may be one of the coolest mouse trigger springs I’ve ever seen.

It’s like the suspension on a car, but what’s clever is that they’re magnetic too. The whole thing comes away in one piece so you can adjust the switches below them.

Here you can see them removed, and seriously, how does this mouse still look great when it is in bits?!

Grab your ROG tweezers, pluck that sucker out.

It’s an Omron D2FC-F-K(50M) switch, which are a few quid to replace should one wear out. Of course, you can get really interesting and drop in any compatible switch you desire.

The ergonomics on this mouse are really spot on, and that added wing on the side certainly makes it more comfortable for my large hands. I can comfortably reach the analogue stick at all times too, it just feels natural to leave my thumb there.

It can be set in D-pad mode, giving it the function of 4 hotkeys, or analogue, which can be used in any game. Control a gun turret, camera, etc.

The stick can be removed too, just pull at it with the ol’ tweezers.

Then you can either install a longer stick with more throw on it, which I think feels even better.

Or if you want to ignore it, there’s a cap to cover over it and disable the feature.