AXON Hyper-processor

The most remarked-upon aspect of CORSAIR’s recent peripheral update wave has been the AXON Hyper-processor. All modern gaming mice have an on-board processor to manage button responses, assignments, complex lighting effects and sensor output; AXON turns it up a notch. Taking centre stage in the K100 RGB last year, this multi-threaded chip and underlying engineering have unlocked higher USB polling rates and greater levels of on-board lighting and key assignment profile customisation.

Its inclusion on the SABRE PRO is significant. Both NVIDIA and AMD have made reducing latency between mouse click and on-screen action a major tenant of new technologies going forward - particularly NVIDIA Reflex - and each gaming mouse manufacturer is now under a magnifying glass to get their own latency house in order. Pushing 8000Hz USB polling, similarly fast internal component polling and input prioritisation will all help to keep delays to near zero.

Nonetheless, 8000Hz USB polling isn’t free. Upping the polling rate will place a commensurate tax on your CPU due to the data load, potentially reducing frame rates in certain titles. CORSAIR recommend a minimum of Ryzen 7 (2nd Gen) or Intel i7 (9th Gen) CPU for 8000Hz USB polling, and Ryzen 5 or Intel i5 for 4000Hz polling.

QUICKSTRIKE Buttons



First seen on the KATAR PRO XT, QUICKSTRIKE buttons add tension to the main two buttons so that they rest firmly and securely on top of their respective switches. This should help the mouse maintain the consistent fast response that’s essential for competitive gaming.

PixArt PMW3392 Sensor

The sensor utilised by the SABRE PRO is a variant of PixArt’s optical offerings which have been customised to CORSAIR’s specifications. The exact model was previously used on the Dark Core RGB PRO mouse, and is capable of up to 18000 dpi and configurable in 1 dpi increments.

The combination of sensor and on-board processor also allows for calibration to the user’s mousing surface, as well as selective enabling of angle snapping and acceleration if ultimately desired.

Lightweight brained cable

A USB cable is rarely worthy of note, but that’s not the case here. The SABRE PRO is equipped with the same soft-braid cable as the KATAR PRO XT, reducing the tension and drag compared to stronger plastic weaves. It was a great inclusion there and, given the SABRE PRO’s ultra-light pretensions, this loose-looking paracord is set to be a well-judged inclusion.

On-the-fly On-Board DPI adjustment

For years gaming mice have featured on-board DPI level presets that can be cycled through at the press of a button. These preset levels are often customisable in software. But it’s a rarity to be able to modify the DPI presets using the mouse hardware alone, with no software holding your hand in the middle.



When the mouse is in Hardware Mode (i.e it’s not connected to a PC with iCUE installed) it’s possible to adjust each of the five DPI Stages independently in 50dpi increments. The process, which is laid out in the Quick Start guide, is a quick and easy means for console gamers in particular to modify their mouse preferences on-the-fly and without a PC acting as an intermediary.

Taking the software route will unlock additional options, including the ability to selectively disable stages and utilise single dpi increments. You may also change the colour of the DPI indicator LEDs which by default are red but are fully RGB (if not independent).

NVIDIA Reflex Support

NVIDIA Reflex was announced last year and hardware latency analysis tools were part of its suite of technologies. They interface with a new breed of 360Hz G-SYNC panels to uncover key game engine and frame rendering analytics with the focussed aim of reducing click-to-frame latency. Only a select few mice are natively compatible with this hardware, and yesterday NVIDIA announced that the SABRE PRO CHAMPION SERIES and SABRE RGB PRO CHAMPION SERIES have both been added to the official support list. Read more about that announcement and the underlying technology here.

NVIDIA's internal testing reports, published on github, register the SABRE PRO as the mouse family with the lowest inherent average latency of those tested (up to 609 microseconds), beating out competitors such as the ASUS ROG Chakram Core (616 microseconds), Razer Deathadder V2 (1309 microseconds) and Logitech G502 (2497 microseconds).

Reflex testing and analysis is currently limited to the SABRE PRO's 1000Hz USB polling mode.