Do you know that your mouse can genuinely affect gaming performance? Invest in the best gaming mouse if you like computer games and want to improve your score.
There are tons of products made for gamers. It offers many features, including button placement, ergonomics, and RGB lighting. While these are important, you can note one detail in the packaging. Mice have a DPI, which stands for “dots per inch.”
What is a DPI?
A DPI, also known as counts per inch (CPI) and mickeys per second, measures the number of pixels the cursor moves for every inch the mouse moves. Simply put, it refers to mouse sensitivity. However, sensitive and precise are different, so the two are distinct.
Each point relates to one pixel on the screen. So if your game has a resolution of 1080p and you have a 1000 DPI mouse that moves 1 inch vertically, that means your mouse has moved 1000 pixels to almost reach the top of the display. But if you have a 2000 DPI mouse, you can go from bottom to top in half an inch.
Is 3200 DPI Good for Gaming?
If you want something cheap, you end up with a mouse with a DPI of 3200. Compared to a regular mouse, it’s pretty good. If you try to use a low DPI mouse in your game, the cursor may jerk when you move the mouse.
For a 3200 DPI, it’s far from the max of 16000, so if your game requires higher sensitivity, investing in a better one is a good idea.
Is a higher DPI better for gaming in 2024?
The higher the DPI, the more significant the difference. For most gaming mice, the polling rate is the distance traveled about 1,000 times per second. Performance and accuracy remain on the table if the player uses a lower DPI than the number of times the mouse checks for movement.
The higher the DPI, the more the mouse will check whenever it can update itself on the screen. It will be. Here’s an easy way to get an idea of how DPI affects the accuracy of a mouse.
For example, two gamers are playing a first-person shooter. A player checks his radar 1000 times per second. Other players check themselves 400 times per second. The second player missed 600 updates to the radar, checking the radar much less often than the first.
If an enemy appears and retreats quickly, players checking the radar will likely catch the enemy passing by. The same goes for DPI.
Does the mouse sensor type change DPI?
Modern gaming mice are essentially cameras. It combines a light source with an image sensor that captures images of the surface beneath the mouse. These images are processed very rapidly (gaming mice typically update at least 1000Hz or 1000 times per second), and the result tells the PC where to move the cursor.
There were once differences between the light sources used. Optical mice used LEDs (usually red in first-generation optical mice), and laser mice used lasers. However, the competition between these technologies has disappeared, and the two have effectively merged. Most gaming mice state that they have optical sensors, but they benefit from older laser sensors. The DPI of modern optical sensors can reach over 25,000 DPI, which is higher than laser sensors claimed in their heyday.
Which DPI setting should I use?
The ideal DPI setting depends on the game genre, personal preference, and even the resolution of the monitor you’re using. But broadly speaking, DPI settings between 400 and 3600 cover almost every player.
People who enjoy first-person shooters will appreciate the higher DPI, allowing quick and responsive cursor movement. High DPI settings of up to 3600 and above are helpful for fast flick-and-fire actions and trick shots. However, this can also reduce consistency and precision in ranges. Most professional esports players use surprisingly low DPI settings like 400 or 800 DPI while moving their entire arm in a wide arc for mouse movement.
Moderate DPI settings are suitable for MOBAs and MMOs as they balance cursor speed and precision. This allows players to interact with game interface elements that are typically larger and more static than the heads of enemies moving between the windows of a farmhouse 500 meters away in a game like PUBG. Most fans of these genres prefer settings between 800 and 2400, but some may like up to 3600 DPI.
Civilization IV and Stellaris are popular games that can be frustrating to play on high DPI settings. It has a compact, icon-filled interface, and the mouse controls map scrolling. Players can also scroll through options using the old-school scrollbar. Overshooting the buttons along the edge of the screen can cause the camera to fly across the map or the menu to flash between options quickly. Most fans of this game will want to stick with around 400 to 1600 DPI.
These recommendations are vague and broad, but they share one thing. That’s well below the maximum DPI settings most modern gaming mice advertised. Does that mean very high DPI settings are useless? Yes, that’s right.
Most modern gaming mice have max DPI settings much higher than what gamers want to use daily. Very high settings can be fun for trick shots or odd situations, but DPI settings up to 3200 are usually good enough for most players. Almost any modern gaming mouse can handle it. For example, even low-end gaming mice like the $20 Razer DeathAdder Essential offer up to 6400 DPI.
What does a 3200 DPI mouse mean?
DPI stands for dots per inch or pixels per inch in gaming terms. DPI determines how far the cursor moves for each inch of mouse movement. 400 DPI = 1-inch mouse movement, moves the cursor 400 pixels. The lower the DPI, the less sensitive the mouse is.
What DPI is suitable for a mouse?
For precise shooting at FPS, the recommended DPI for gaming is in the low range of 400-800.
Is 3200 DPI fast?
The higher the DPI count, the higher the mouse sensitivity and the faster the pointer speed.” In many videos and tests, people claim that higher DPI reduces overall system input lag. Generally, 1600DPI-3200DPI is the best sensitivity.
