What's the point in changing mouse DPI?

devavictrix

Honorable
Nov 30, 2014
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I bought a new mouse about a year ago... nothing speacial - Corsair Katar. I use a 24" HD monitor.

It's got adjustable DPI, up to 8000. The pre-loaded DPIs are 400,800,2000,4000 and 6000 with 800 being the default.

800 works well for the only game I play (World of Tanks) but is a tad sluggish for Windows. After installing CUE software i've found 1000 DPI suits me well. Anything over 1000 is uncontrollable.

In World of Tanks I have to turn down the sensitivity in the game settings to make it OK to play. If I set the DPI to 8000 I have to turn the sensitivity down to almost the minimum level.

Does turning the sensitivity down in the game nullify the increase of the hardware sensitivity? From the way I understand it would increasing the hardware DPI to 8000 from 1000 only be sensible if my screen size or resolution is eight times my 24" HD monitor?

Is DPI a sales gimmick? I've read mouse reviews which say 6000 DPI is ideal for gaming, particularly FPS games but I can't see how. A 360 spin would require such a small movement how could (or do you!) aim quickly and precisely!?

I'm wondering because my mouse is now double clicking (sometimes even triple clicking) for each actuation of the left button so I need to buy a new one. I'm thinking a MS Classic Intellimouse which is 3200 DPI.

Should I be more interest in the polling rate? ie 1ms (or better, if such a thing exists).
 

Dugimodo

Distinguished
I've always found the high DPI settings unusable as well and always just play with them until I get it feeling about right and never touch them again.
Supposedly high DPI is great for fast response and greater accuracy for games requiring fast reactions, probably it's a personal thing but I always found setting it too high made it impossible to aim.