DPI and Polling Rates + Sensitivity

[shuin_exe]

Hi, I have a few questions that I was keeping for a while and can't find my answer on my own. I need someone to fill me with this:

1. Is DPI and sensitivity are same?

2. if you have a almost high-end desktop does increasing Polling Rate good?

3. Does maxing your mouse to 5600dpi and Polling Rate to 1000mz will make your mouse move more smoother? I have Naga hex and so far I'm not really get used to it. While my deathadder has 3500dpi and 1000mz polling rate I'm really get used to it.

 

[banned4xyet]

shuin_exe,

1.

DPI stands for dots per inch. It determines how much movement you have make with the mouse to get the mouse to send a signal to your computer. 100 DPI then means that your mouse will tell the computer it has moved when you covered a distance of 1/100 of an inch.

Sensitivity determines the relation between the amount of distance covered with the mouse and the amount of distance covered on your monitor.

2.

Now the polling rate, which is a little harder to understand.
The first thing you have to understand is that the polling rate is inversely proportional to the response time. In the following example we'll be looking at a set-up with a 1000 Hz polling rate and a 60 Hz screen refresh rate in an FPS. Let's say there is a time at which you get to see a specific frame in which a target is moving from left to right. Before the next frame is shown, the target has already moved. During the time in between those frames you can move the mouse to track the target in which direction it is going to move. Even though your monitor is not displaying this movement, this movement will be recorded 1000 / 60 = 16 times before the next frame is shown. What this eventually means is that you can respond faster, without the monitor displaying your actual responses. When your mouse has a lower polling rate, let's say 250, it will take 4 milliseconds instead of 1 millisecond to react. This 3 milliseconds can sometimes give you the upper hand over your opponent.

But given the fact that humans can not respond within 4ms, the previous are all irrelevant, theoretical speculations. You might feel that the mouse does not respond fast enough, but changing the polling rate of your mouse does not help in a practical way, other than removing the sluggish feeling. The fastest human reactions are no faster than 10 milliseconds. This means that changing your polling rate can only help if it is a 100 Hz or lower (100 Hz is once every 10 milliseconds).
Another given fact is that most servers buff your polling rate to 30 Hz (is once every 33,3 ms). This means nobody actually has an advantage, unless someone has a polling rate lower than 30 Hz.

I hope that this is clearing it up for you. I have a R.A.T. 7 Contagion mouse. I personally use a polling rate of a 1000 Hz, only to make quick movements in the game look smoother. My DPI is 800 for the X-axle and 1000 for the Y-axle. I don't feel like I need more. Your sensitivity comes down to your own preference.

3.

Improving your polling rate improves smoothness. I think 5600 DPI is overkill, but it doesn't hurt if you put it on 5600.
About getting used to mouses: don't buy Razer. It's commercial trash. If you do wish to use Razer mouses, just practice a lot and you will get used to it eventually.

Gijs

 

[banned4xyet]

shuin_exe,

I read through my post and I saw that I did not conclude point (2 properly, so here it is: Increasing your polling rate makes gameplay smoother, but not better in terms of stats.

Gijs