Mice like the Corsair Scimitar RGB Elite are longer with a bigger palm rest and are meant for a full-handed palm grip where a lot more of your movement comes from your arm and would require a lower DPI value. A shorter, rounder mouse like the Razer Viper 8K is meant to be held in a claw grip and moved primarily with fine finger and wrist movements and therefore will sport much higher maximum DPI options. Part of this is because different mice are designed to be used differently. This comes down to preference and you’ll hear a lot of arguments on both sides of the fence about high vs low DPI for use in the same exact game. In both applications, a high DPI value will give you more accuracy with smaller movements and allow you to make very quick maneuvers in games like first-person shooters or real-time strategy titles. Where you tend to see real-world applications of high DPI values are in precision graphical editing on very high resolution and refresh rate monitors and for fast-paced gaming. However, the frequent, fine wrist adjustments needed for use with a high DPI mouse might be difficult or even painful for some people to put up with over extended periods. Slightly higher DPI might also work better for people with limited desk space. People who like a heavy mouse might benefit from a higher DPI. This can be a big factor if your mouse also comes with adjustable weights, which give the option for more resistance when pushed but would make frequent lifting an annoyance. A less sensitive mouse uses more desk space to move across the screen and would require either more pick-up and put-downs of the mouse or more arm movement. To a large degree, your comfort and physical capabilities should dictate your DPI. A higher polling rate is probably always best, but not if you’re running a low-end machine or if you need to be especially power conscious on a laptop or wireless mouse’s battery.Ĭorsair Scimitar RGB Elite (Image credit: Laptop Mag) Some mice may advertise high DPI numbers which do indicate a very capable (and probably pricey) mouse but bigger numbers aren’t always better and you should know when you should adjust these values and when you shouldn’t.Ī very high DPI value creates issues with control, a slight flick would send the cursor off even the widest screen at values approaching the high thousands. The polling rate for most mice is 125 Hz with the typical high performance or gaming mouse capable of 1000 Hz, up to 8,000 on current high-end models. This value can be lowered usually to 100 or raised upwards of 26,000 in the best gaming mice. What DPI or polling rate should I use? Is higher always better?Ī typical DPI range is somewhere around 400 to 800 DPI. A quick check of the manufacturer’s website should pull up the resources you need to get this done.
800 DPI HOW TO CHANGE SOFTWARE
Many of the best mice come with physical buttons and on-board software that let you change the DPI directly from the mouse. Most Logitech mice are compatible with software tools like Logitech Options that allow these kinds of adjustments. How do you change mouse DPI or polling rate?Īny true adjustment of a mouse’s DPI or polling rate can only be done in software designed to work with that mouse.