Whats the point of a high dpi gaming mouse?

Modboxx

Gawd
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Nov 6, 2008
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So i bought the Razer Lahesis and i love it, but when i plugged it in and installed all the software. I was a little confused as to why i need 4000dpi, i tried to play bfbdc2 and it was unplayable in at 4000dpi, unless i lowered in game sensitivity to very low. I just dont understand why I need this? Am I doing something wrong?
 
Maybe you're not just used to it. The point of high dpi for me is that you move your hand less. That's important if you don't have a lot of space on your desk.
 
The higher the DPI..the farther the mouse goes without a lot of movement for the wrist. No way in hell would I use 4k DPI but I use around 2k I think.

I am a twitch gamer when it comes to FPS so the faster it is for me to turn around, the better. Took me a bit to get used to the higher DPI setting but once you do get used to it, its awesome.
 
There is a difference between a low-DPI, high in-game sens, and a high-DPI, low in-game sens. Make sure your windows pointer is setup correctly too - no acceleration ('enhance pointer precision'), pointer speed set halfway. Then set the DPI as high as possible along with highest USB polling rate your driver allows (1000). Finally, change your in-game sens to something you can use. The pointer should now be nice and smooth.
 
There is a difference between a low-DPI, high in-game sens, and a high-DPI, low in-game sens. Make sure your windows pointer is setup correctly too - no acceleration ('enhance pointer precision'), pointer speed set halfway. Then set the DPI as high as possible along with highest USB polling rate your driver allows (1000). Finally, change your in-game sens to something you can use. The pointer should now be nice and smooth.


Agreed.

Having a really high DPI and a low sensitivity can help in more things than just gaming. With a low DPI mouse, I always found it hard to make very fine movements with the cursor for Photoshop work. I have a G500 now, which tops at 5700 DPI. Coupled with a low cursor sensitivity, the 5700 DPI lets the mouse capture even the smallest movements I make. It really helps when you need pixel precision while doing graphics work.
 
There is a difference between a low-DPI, high in-game sens, and a high-DPI, low in-game sens. Make sure your windows pointer is setup correctly too - no acceleration ('enhance pointer precision'), pointer speed set halfway. Then set the DPI as high as possible along with highest USB polling rate your driver allows (1000). Finally, change your in-game sens to something you can use. The pointer should now be nice and smooth.

Thanks Buddy,
Going to test when i get home from work. Right now i'm running at 2000dpi and 500 polling.
 
You really can't tell the difference to be honest. I use the claw grip, meaning i normally move my mouse within a 1 inch area.

For those that need an example, i can enter an unknown area, and instantly scan 360 degrees while limiting my hand motion to within 1.5inches and be accurate enough to instantly aim at someone's head peeking around a distant pillar.

You need really high resolutions to do that but i could do it even with a regular 800dpi mouse. My previous mouse was 4,000DPI and it really didn't help me at all, so when it broke down, i simply switched back to the regular office mouse.

I *have* felt the difference when mouse technology progressed and resolutions became higher (It's harder to aim at a distant target with a claw grip if your DPI isn't high enough; your crosshair would skip several pixels and probably an entire head). But it reached a plateu when it hit the 800dpi mark.

edit: spelling
 
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DPI is an advertising gimmick. There is absolutely no advantage of 3000 dpi over 800 dpi. And 99.9% of players do not need a DPI over 1800.
 
Diminishing returns, yes. You are trying to get the closest thing to a smooth, accurate pointer as possible. At some point it gets pretty damn close and adding more precision is splitting hairs. Other things matter just as much or more like sensor type, shape, poll rate, frame rate, refresh rate, etc. Having a responsive mouse is useless if your frame rate is crappy.

Gimmick, not really. This isnt like monitor contrast ratios (1,000,000 to 1!!! Oh the actual ratio? 900 to 1). Raising the DPI actually does something. Whether you can benefit from it or not is another thing; it depends on the game and the gamer.
 
I love dpi switching. I have a G5 and for BF2 it allows me to be more versitile. I have it cranked up when I'm driving vehicles so that I can aim large guns/turrets quickly, and I crank the setting very low for accuracy shots like sniping. Right now I'm ranked 13th in the US for accuracy according to BF2S (user: bigbadgreen70). I was as high as 8th but haven't been playing lately to boost my accuracy and people have passed me by.
 
DPI is an advertising gimmick. There is absolutely no advantage of 3000 dpi over 800 dpi. And 99.9% of players do not need a DPI over 1800.

I just can not agree with that, try running something like even a g5 (2000 dpi) and then try and see if you can use something like an mx500 (800 dpi). I bet you either won't be able too or you'll have to crank up mouse sensitivity
 
DPI is an advertising gimmick. There is absolutely no advantage of 3000 dpi over 800 dpi. And 99.9% of players do not need a DPI over 1800.

Can't agree with you. Perhaps 3,000 is a bit excessive but there are serious advantages of using a DPI over 800. I use a 1400 DPI in Modern Warfare 2 and switch between 1800 and 1400 on the fly in Bad Company 2. I couldn't possibly live with anything less.

Increased DPI with lower ingame sensitivity makes for very accurate aiming and a significant increase in dead zombies/aliens.
http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1485232
 
I have noticed a higher DPI helps on higher resolutions. If I use 800 on a 1920x1080 screen I can see the mouse skip dots. However if I use 3200 its a lot more accurate.
 
trust me, there is plenty of us who use our mice at very high sensitivies. I, for instance, use a sidewinder x8 @ 4000DPI and pointer speed turned all the way up in options. There are a few reasons for this. First, I sit in a recliner. It is important that I don't have to move my hand a great deal. Second, I game on my 46in tv. With a screen that large, it makes things a ton easier if it is extremely sensitive. Third, I like it. With 3 on-the-fly DPI buttons on the X8, I can use it @ 4000DPI for those very quick, twitch movements and whenever I need extra percision for sniping, I click it down to 750DPI and explode some heads.

So there are many reasons why someone would game at 4000DPI. My suggestion is, do whatever feels comfortable to you.

P.S. I hope you like your lachesis better than I did. I liked the accuracy of it but the ergonomics where kind of wacky. Regardless of my sentiments, it died after 4 months of gaming. I wish you the best of luck with it though.
 
Speaking if high dpi mice, my G5 just died on me after 3-4 years and i'm looking for a replacement. I was never fully satisfied with the g5's form factor, so im wondering if anyone has any suggestions?
 
I tried 800 DPI last night to remind myself how bad it was. In QuakeLive and most other games, you can set the sensitivity via console. I use 5 sensitivity at 5000DPI on my G9X mouse at 1920x1080.

Dropping down to 800DPI via the mouse switch, if you don't adjust the in-game sensitivity it will also slow down the cursor, so you have to adjust the sens to get similar movement distances.

Whipping out my math skills...this also works in reverse btw if you upgrade DPI or just want to try a higher one:
(5000 old DPI * 5 old sensitivity) / 800 new DPI = 31.25 new sens ; This is assuming you already set 1:1 pixel precision via windows and/or your mouse driver.

Down at 800 DPI and 31.25 sens, it moves the same amount I was used to so I didnt have to adjust my playstyle any. Only difference is the DPI, and damn it didn't feel right at all, I move my mouse very small distances and with 800 it was noticeably choppy. Definitely something worth trying if you can borrow a high-DPI mouse or whatever.
 
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I have noticed a higher DPI helps on higher resolutions. If I use 800 on a 1920x1080 screen I can see the mouse skip dots. However if I use 3200 its a lot more accurate.

This! Higher DPIs are more noticeable on higher res screens so if you have a laptop with a low res lcd, you won't need a 3000DPI mouse for it. (wouldn't be able to tell the difference).
 
Theres no right or wrong answer here. It your own opinion . For me Dpi doesnt matter as much I can play the same skill level on some old mx300 . Thats just me though.
 
Speaking if high dpi mice, my G5 just died on me after 3-4 years and i'm looking for a replacement. I was never fully satisfied with the g5's form factor, so im wondering if anyone has any suggestions?

The G7.

my G5 died after a couple years too. The right mouse button stopped working, I think the switch needed to be resoldered but It would have been a pain to do, so I went with the G7. It's nice not having to deal with that stiff cloth cable. After about 6 months of use I haven't had any problems with the G7 or the 2 batteries. On average one battery last about 12-24hrs.
 
I have noticed a higher DPI helps on higher resolutions. If I use 800 on a 1920x1080 screen I can see the mouse skip dots.

This. This is the reason why you need high DPI in gaming mice. If you are a sniper in a few games, you'll notice that its hard as hell to aim with an older, shittier mouse. The crosshair will skip pixels and you'll find out that you can only aim to the left, or to the right of an enemy. But aiming in the middle, no, the mouse just doesn't have as fine of a tune to put it in the middle.

The second reason why you need a mouse with switchable DPI settings is so you can change mouse sensitivity on the fly, in game. Why? because when you use a tank in Battlefield 2, the gun turret left / right movement is gimped, and they slow you down so you can't move the tank turret as fast, thus affecting your aim. If you switch your mouse to move very fast in game, the turret moves fast as hell. Call it cheap if you want, but its an advantage in-game. Therefore, thats why its a gaming mouse (I use a logitech G5).

DPI is an advertising gimmick. There is absolutely no advantage of 3000 dpi over 800 dpi. And 99.9% of players do not need a DPI over 1800.

I thought it was a gimmick about higher, switchable DPI levels, but if you actually play games, and know the advantages of switchable mouse sensitivity, you'll want to have those features. Its not a gimmick. Damn, it feels good to be in that .1 percentile :rolleyes:
 
Adjustable sensitivity FTW....though I usually top out at ~800 DPI. Then again I am full arm style gamer with a 13x11 mouse pad and I use then entire pad.
 
Just imho anything above 2k dpi is marketing gimmick.
Then again i just bough one of microsoft 400 dpi ones and love it for notebook usage.
 
Adjustable sensitivity FTW....though I usually top out at ~800 DPI. Then again I am full arm style gamer with a 13x11 mouse pad and I use then entire pad.

What games do you play and what sort of in game sensitivity do you use? 800 is way too low for me.
 
What games do you play and what sort of in game sensitivity do you use? 800 is way too low for me.

800DPI Mouse
Claw Grip. *Never* move the mouse more than 1 inch in any direction.

All my games sensitivities are set so that a 1 inch swipe will let me do a full 180. I can do both quick turns, and fine aiming for sniping, but the requirement to get that kind of stability within a 1 inch square, is that my wrist must NEVER leave the mousepad. It might as well be glued in place.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g1FA4gumURM
(At that range you're not a sniper if you can't consistently do headshots =P )
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q-LQ-cRoXq0
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CwgkFLvNElY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sAkhRVOjw7c

The trick is that when i need fine aiming, my thumb and pinkie drops down into the mousepad to add more resistance. If i need to move in smaller increments, i press down harder. Pressing against the spongy tissue (I have thin fingers FYI) is enough travel to aim at someone's head. That's why when i get shot in the back, if it doesn't kill me, i can do an instant 180, drop down, and snipe him from across the map. This also works on large maps, the sniping games take about an hour tho and rather boring so i never got around to recording those.

One good side effect is that i don't have callouses on my wrist like my other friends ^_^ You can usually tell when someone is an FPS gamer by looking at their wrists, that doesn't apply to me tho :p

What game are you playing that an 800DPI mouse didn't work?
 
800DPI Mouse
Claw Grip. *Never* move the mouse more than 1 inch in any direction.

All my games sensitivities are set so that a 1 inch swipe will let me do a full 180. I can do both quick turns, and fine aiming for sniping, but the requirement to get that kind of stability within a 1 inch square, is that my wrist must NEVER leave the mousepad. It might as well be glued in place.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g1FA4gumURM
(At that range you're not a sniper if you can't consistently do headshots =P )
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q-LQ-cRoXq0
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CwgkFLvNElY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sAkhRVOjw7c

The trick is that when i need fine aiming, my thumb and pinkie drops down into the mousepad to add more resistance. If i need to move in smaller increments, i press down harder. Pressing against the spongy tissue (I have thin fingers FYI) is enough travel to aim at someone's head. That's why when i get shot in the back, if it doesn't kill me, i can do an instant 180, drop down, and snipe him from across the map. This also works on large maps, the sniping games take about an hour tho and rather boring so i never got around to recording those.

One good side effect is that i don't have callouses on my wrist like my other friends ^_^ You can usually tell when someone is an FPS gamer by looking at their wrists, that doesn't apply to me tho :p

What game are you playing that an 800DPI mouse didn't work?

Modern Warfare 2 mostly nowadays. One inch for a 180 seems awfully quick. I've never measured my hand movement. Maybe I'm set up like that. Never really paid attention to that. I just find a sweet spot. I usually do well in FPS games though.
 
no point at all. bigger numbers sell better, only reason. I'm on 900 dpi on the desktop (6/11 and acceleration disabled of course) and I only use 1.1 sens in CS:S. At 1800 dpi I would have to lower windows sensitivity and introduce interpolation, otherwise I would have a very hard time hitting little things on the first try and the sensitivity slider in most games probably wouldn't even go low enough. If I didn't have dual monitors I would lower it to 450.
 
Modern Warfare 2 mostly nowadays. One inch for a 180 seems awfully quick. I've never measured my hand movement. Maybe I'm set up like that. Never really paid attention to that. I just find a sweet spot. I usually do well in FPS games though.
Omg my 180 is at least 10"
 
I use an Intellimouse Explorer 3.0 that's 400 DPI and set my sensitivity to 0.5-1 in most games I play. This works well most of the time, but in BC2 vehicles I probably have to move the mouse 15"-20" to turn 180'
 
Once the DPI of your mouse is high enough to hit each individual pixel of your LCD, what is the benefit?
 
in reality it serves little more purpose than to act as a sensitivity multiplier / divider.
 
Once the DPI of your mouse is high enough to hit each individual pixel of your LCD, what is the benefit?

But at what sensitivity? Any mouse can hit all pixels on your screen with a low enough sensitivity, and this is heart of the issue.

Some people like very sensitive mice so you can do 180 or 360 degree turns in a very small movement like 1-2 inches, I did a formula for this a while back to work out a minimum DPI you need for your desired sensitivity and to maintain per pixel aiming at a given resolution.

hR = horizontal resolution
hF = horizontal FOV

So essentially the number of pixels locations, or visible sub division you have in a 360 degree turn is (hR/hF * 360)

Your target sensitivity is best measured in number of inches of the mouse moved to obtain a 360 degree turns in game, always use this as a raw measurement of sensitivity since the sensitivity sliders/values in game are effected by both your mouse DPI to begin with, and also quite often the windows slider is a multiplier.

S = Sensitivity in inches to rotate 360 degrees
DPI = CPI of the mouse (counts per inch)

DPI = (hR/hF * 360)/S

Lets put some figures in, I have a 2560x1600 screen so hR is 2560, I use an hFOV of about 100 degrees, I'm a "claw" gamer so I like high sensitivity so I'd say maybe 2" to rotate 360 degrees.

DPI = ((2560/100 * 360)/2)
DPI = 4,608

If the mouse is any less accurate than that it will start to skip pixels, plug in your own values and see what you get.
 
Omg my 180 is at least 10"

Good lord. :D Dont blame palm grip on that, I palm it and do the same kind of movement that Sly described above (at 5000 DPI).

As for 800 dpi for the 1 inch 180...what, are you playing at 1024 resolution? If not, thats the sort of movement that will benefit most from higher DPI. Makes me wonder what sensitivity you use in windows and shooters to compensate for the low DPI.

The thing people seem to forget is that DPI is about pointer smoothness, not speed. Higher DPI smooths out your input just like higher refresh rates smooth out what you see. If you use an adjustable-DPI mouse and adjust your game sensitivity between each DPI switch (new sens = old DPI * old sens / new DPI), you can compare them and it is pretty obvious what the benefits are.
 
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I've got a death adder. I use 450dpi and a very low sensitivity. If I swipe my hand all the way across my puretrak which is roughly 18/19", I do about a 200 degree turn. No accel, No prediction and I wouldn't have it any other way.

I normally have it so all the way across my pads a 180 but I got this in the middle of the cs season and I don't like changing anything up until after. I still have everything setup like it was on my QCK heavy hence the 200 degree turn. :D
 
As for 800 dpi for the 1 inch 180...what, are you playing at 1024 resolution? If not, thats the sort of movement that will benefit most from higher DPI. Makes me wonder what sensitivity you use in windows and shooters to compensate for the low DPI.

I'm using a 22" 1680x1050. I don't actually check what my sensitivity settings are (Most games don't even show the value), i just keep the full 360 from my fingers extreme left, to the extreme right (About 2 inches total for a 360, i don't exactly have a ruler).

Back in the early days, i really felt the difference between an optomechanical and an optical mouse, when it hit 800dpi, that's when the resolution stopped mattering.
 
I STILL can't get the webcam to record! It stops recording both in the Hamcap and in the TVTuner application when i switch to the game!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qo5_sdAyH1w

Well, here's the video of the game anyway. Each of those turns is done in one swipe, you'll see it slow down mid swipe when i put my thumb and pinkies down once i'm done with the quick turn and start aiming. It's the same thing you see me doing in the game videos i put up. Fingers up when scanning for enemies, fingers down when aiming. The first part is with an MP5 for close range, the second is with an M4 for long range.

It's from the same game as this one:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sAkhRVOjw7c

There're really a few ways of holding it that lets you adjust how fine or how fast you turn.

The thing i have to be careful is that if i press my finger down too hard, the mouse ends up running it over and getting lifted. I think it happened a few times in the video.

If i were to look really carefully, the crosshair really would skip a pixel, but that's within the guns margin of error. These days, bullets don't go straight anymore, even in single fire, the bullet will always skew to the side, maybe that's why i don't notice the difference in my game.
 
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