[SOLVED] Do mice perform worse at higher DPI ?

[Oxicoi]

I know this may seem like a dumb question, but a part of me feels like some mice can't handle higher DPI. I know some will say they're rated for up to X amount of DPI, but does it even work correctly?

Speaking of DPI literally, it is dots-per-inch, which I guess "dots" could be replaced with "pixels"? I understand more DPI helps with higher resolutions, but what is the correct DPI for these resolutions anyway?

Yes, whatever you choose is what you can be comfortable with, but that isn't the point. What would be the DPI that you should have with a 1080p screen at like 24" or 27"? Is there a way to measure it correctly?

For gaming at 1080p in general, what would be the best overall DPI to set?

Apologies in advance if none of this makes any sense.

 

[Aeacus]

DPI setting is individual and based on if you want to have sensitive control (high DPI) or when you want to move your mouse all across the table (low DPI).

Now, it doesn't matter if you have 24" or 27" monitor when using single reso, since on bigger monitor, the same reso is just more stretched out. It doesn't increase pixel count.

E.g i'm using 24", 1080p monitor and since i like my mouse to be sensitive, i'm using 3000 DPI as my norm. Since with it, i can only move my palm from side to side, while resting my wrist on mouse pad, for mouse cursor to make from one edge of the screen to another. With 3000 DPI, i don't have to move my hand at all, just the palm, up from wrist.
Now, i have Corsair Nightsword RGB mouse, and with it, i can adjust DPI from 100 to 18.000. It also has 4 DPI profiles i've set manually: 6000, 3000, 1500 and 400. The 6000 DPI profile is useful in some games that have slow mouse movement speed (e.g Farming Simulator 2019). 3000 DPI is my norm, 1500 DPI is good for more precise movements and i often use 400 DPI as well, for very accurate movements (great in photo editing, that i do as a hobby).

Before, i had Corsair Sabre RGB mouse, that had 6 DPI profiles with a lot less of a DPI range, 100-10.000. It was a great mouse, until it's left click button developed a double- and triple-click issue, twice (original and for the one i got for RMA). So, i went with Nightsword instead. My missus also has Sabre RGB mouse and her mouse developed the same double- and triple-click issue. And for her, i've also bought a new mouse. Nightsowrd RGB, just like i have it.

I know people who like to move their entire hand to move the mouse, and for them, 2000 DPI or even 1000 DPI is better suited. The 10.000+ DPI, in my opinion, is for hardcore gamers, who have trained their hand to make very slight movements and who play on 4K or even 8K resolutions.

 

[BFG-9000]

Mouse sensors do perform best at their native resolution, as any sensitivity setting lower or higher than it must necessarily discard or interpolate the data from it according to some algorithm, which obviously results in some jitter given the output must be in discrete, digital steps. The exception is if the native DPI is a clean multiple of the lower DPI you set--for example if you have a 1600DPI MX518 and you set DPI at 800, then it's clear that exactly half the data is thrown out which should feel perfectly smooth (and in fact is the default setting on the MX518).

DPI truly is one of those preference things as at that resolution there are both "fast twitch" gamers that prefer 4000+DPI as well as "low-sens" ones that use 400DPI (which is why there are actually counterfeit 5-button MS Optical Intellimice now. Those are the ones from 20 years ago with the red taillamp, and the counterfeits are definitely not native 400DPI). For office use something in-between around 1000 would likely be most comfortable.

I would suggest looking up the native DPI of the sensor in your present mouse and seeing if that, 1/2 or 1/4 the DPI is suitable for you. If not I would suggest looking for another mouse. That's because setting the DPI higher than native means making up data that isn't there, which is just about guaranteed to give you jerky feeling movement even if the multiple is exactly 2x.

Native DPI is simply the smallest movement that can be registered by the sensor. which is indeed measured in inches. For example 2000DPI is 1/2000 of an inch. You can see the problem if you set the DPI higher than the sensor can detect. Even though you can move the pointer farther with less movement, the dots get further apart so you can no longer put the pointer in-between them.

Note that there has long been a marketing war in who can offer a mouse with the most DPI--but more isn't better (especially when it's not native). It's similar to the great megapixel race with cameras, where the smaller pixels are less sensitive to low light so take worse pictures at night, at least without some heroic efforts by software noise reduction algorithms which take quite a bit more CPU and battery. But the marketers like a bigger number on the box because that sells.

 

[Oxicoi]

Mouse sensors do perform best at their native resolution, as any sensitivity setting lower or higher than it must necessarily discard or interpolate the data from it according to some algorithm, which obviously results in some jitter given the output must be in discrete, digital steps. The exception is if the native DPI is a clean multiple of the lower DPI you set--for example if you have a 1600DPI MX518 and you set DPI at 800, then it's clear that exactly half the data is thrown out which should feel perfectly smooth (and in fact is the default setting on the MX518).

DPI truly is one of those preference things as at that resolution there are both "fast twitch" gamers that prefer 4000+DPI as well as "low-sens" ones that use 400DPI (which is why there are actually counterfeit 5-button MS Optical Intellimice now. Those are the ones from 20 years ago with the red taillamp, and the counterfeits are definitely not native 400DPI). For office use something in-between around 1000 would likely be most comfortable.

I would suggest looking up the native DPI of the sensor in your present mouse and seeing if that, 1/2 or 1/4 the DPI is suitable for you. If not I would suggest looking for another mouse. That's because setting the DPI higher than native means making up data that isn't there, which is just about guaranteed to give you jerky feeling movement even if the multiple is exactly 2x.

Native DPI is simply the smallest movement that can be registered by the sensor. which is indeed measured in inches. For example 2000DPI is 1/2000 of an inch. You can see the problem if you set the DPI higher than the sensor can detect. Even though you can move the pointer farther with less movement, the dots get further apart so you can no longer put the pointer in-between them.

Note that there has long been a marketing war in who can offer a mouse with the most DPI--but more isn't better (especially when it's not native). It's similar to the great megapixel race with cameras, where the smaller pixels are less sensitive to low light so take worse pictures at night, at least without some heroic efforts by software noise reduction algorithms which take quite a bit more CPU and battery. But the marketers like a bigger number on the box because that sells.

This is the exact response I was looking for.

I'm glad you suggested to look at the specifications of whatever mouse I'm using because I would have never taken the time to do that, so that is very appreciated.

I also had a slight feeling that it would be worse, even if it is next to nothing of a difference. Making up data, I can see that. Thanks.

DPI setting is individual and based on if you want to have sensitive control (high DPI) or when you want to move your mouse all across the table (low DPI).

Now, it doesn't matter if you have 24" or 27" monitor when using single reso, since on bigger monitor, the same reso is just more stretched out. It doesn't increase pixel count.

E.g i'm using 24", 1080p monitor and since i like my mouse to be sensitive, i'm using 3000 DPI as my norm. Since with it, i can only move my palm from side to side, while resting my wrist on mouse pad, for mouse cursor to make from one edge of the screen to another. With 3000 DPI, i don't have to move my hand at all, just the palm, up from wrist.
Now, i have Corsair Nightsword RGB mouse, and with it, i can adjust DPI from 100 to 18.000. It also has 4 DPI profiles i've set manually: 6000, 3000, 1500 and 400. The 6000 DPI profile is useful in some games that have slow mouse movement speed (e.g Farming Simulator 2019). 3000 DPI is my norm, 1500 DPI is good for more precise movements and i often use 400 DPI as well, for very accurate movements (great in photo editing, that i do as a hobby).

Before, i had Corsair Sabre RGB mouse, that had 6 DPI profiles with a lot less of a DPI range, 100-10.000. It was a great mouse, until it's left click button developed a double- and triple-click issue, twice (original and for the one i got for RMA). So, i went with Nightsword instead. My missus also has Sabre RGB mouse and her mouse developed the same double- and triple-click issue. And for her, i've also bought a new mouse. Nightsowrd RGB, just like i have it.

I know people who like to move their entire hand to move the mouse, and for them, 2000 DPI or even 1000 DPI is better suited. The 10.000+ DPI, in my opinion, is for hardcore gamers, who have trained their hand to make very slight movements and who play on 4K or even 8K resolutions.

I can see your experience and the troubles it can cause. That's sort of what I'm going through right now. I will have to take the suggestion BFG gave and find the native DPI of my mouse and increase game sensitivity for those that support it and make a sacrifice of increasing the DPI for games that do not.

Thank you for your side of the story!

 

[Karadjgne]

My mouse has different profiles. Works great for some games like CSGO, I switch from 3000 dpi to 600 dpi when sniping. Means more mouse travel for the snipe, which translates to slower, smaller, more accurate movements.

Moving upto 6k dpi, you barely twitch the mouse and the cursor just blinked to the other side of the screen. Accuracy goes way out the window and down the street, but is quite good for games where swinging a sword or golf club is driven by mouse movement. Couple twitches and you slash like crazy or just hit the ball super fast without exaggerated movement.

Most ppl stay in the 1600-2400 dpi range for daily use where accuracy in the mouse pointer (photoshop and excel etc) is better and easier to work with. At 1080p.

Mice don't realistically perform worse at higher dpi, the user does, unless acclimated to the higher dpi.

 

[hotaru.hino]

I know this may seem like a dumb question, but a part of me feels like some mice can't handle higher DPI. I know some will say they're rated for up to X amount of DPI, but does it even work correctly?

Whether or not a mice works properly depends more on the surface you're using it on (glossy surfaces, featureless surfaces tend to perform worse), the USB polling rate, whether the illumination element is an infrared LED or a laser, among other things.

Speaking of DPI literally, it is dots-per-inch, which I guess "dots" could be replaced with "pixels"? I understand more DPI helps with higher resolutions, but what is the correct DPI for these resolutions anyway?

Yes, whatever you choose is what you can be comfortable with, but that isn't the point. What would be the DPI that you should have with a 1080p screen at like 24" or 27"? Is there a way to measure it correctly?

For gaming at 1080p in general, what would be the best overall DPI to set?

First thing, you can't replace "dots" with "pixels", because mice aren't looking at pixels. And while optical mice do use camera sensors with discrete bits, you can't really say these are pixels because well, to be technical, it's not looking at a picture. The mice is looking at an array of light sensing elements and making a determination of how it moved around based on how the sensors reacted. The DPI rating is also simply how sensitive the mice is to picking up details on the surface it's on. However, after that, it doesn't really matter what the mice sends, because the OS and applications can adjust how much to move something based on mouse input.

Basically, the mouse simply generates a signal to the computer that it moved. A higher DPI setting will give a "stronger" signal at the cost that the mouse will be extremely sensitive to any movement. A lower DPI setting will give a "weaker" signal, but is less prone to causing movement on the computer side at the slightest provocation.