At some point in our life we all have thought that wireless gaming mice will replace the wired gaming mouse, but we might not be at that point now, but we have high hopes to eliminate cables from our life and get the freedom of using our mouse from a distance, but right now we have to differentiate between wired and wireless mouse and discuss pros and cons of wired and wireless mouse, so you can make a good decision before buying a gaming mouse.

I have written this post to make it easy for you to buy a mouse whether you like gaming or you just like to use a computer casually.

What is the difference between a wired gaming mouse and a wireless gaming mouse?

The main difference between a wired and wireless gaming mouse is the cord that connects a computer with a mouse. A wired mouse has a cord with USB 3.0 to connect it to a PC, whereas a wireless mouse uses Bluetooth or Radiofrequency to connect with the PC and share the cursor position with the CPU.

How wired mouse work?

The wired mouse uses a cord that connects the mouse to the computer using USB 3.0. It is generally thought to be more precise and consistent because it is directly attached to the computer. A wired mouse has less latency than a wireless mouse.

The most obvious advantage of wired over wireless gaming mouse is the power because it draws power from the host device with the help of a wire.  

How wireless mouse work?

A Wireless mouse uses a wireless connection with the host computer to send and receive data. It is thought to be less accurate and may have some latency, however; with the advancement of technology wireless technology is becoming more and more accurate and we might see wireless technology being dominant in the future.

The major advantage of a wireless mouse over a wired mouse is portability and compatibility because it can be attached to any device which has a specific wireless connection and can be carried around easily and doesn’t require any cable management.

Types of wireless gaming mouse

Wireless technology is changing very fast, and many huge brands are investing in this technology because the era demands to make things wireless. Therefore, we have 2 types of wireless technologies mostly used in wireless mice nowadays.

1. Bluetooth

Bluetooth wireless mouse is a no match with today’s wired mouse as it has some latency issues, however; it has some advantages over a wired mouse as it can transmit signal within the range of 33 feet and has no interference with other radio frequency devices.

2. RF Mouse

Another widely used wireless mouse is RF Mouse (Radio Frequency mouse). It is a newer technology and has the capabilities to compete with a wired mouse, as it has less latency as compared to a Bluetooth mouse, but it requires a USB dongle to use it.

The RF mouse can communicate with the host device with the help of an RF transmitter to send and receive signals and track the cursor’s whereabouts on the screen.

Wireless vs Wired gaming Mouse comparison

The latency of an RF mouse is approximately equal to a wired mouse. Therefore, we can compete for a wireless mouse with a wired mouse in many different cases as discussed in the table below.

What are the pros and cons of a wired and wireless gaming mouse?

Not everything is perfect, therefore, I have created a small list of the pros and cons of wireless and wired mice.

Pros and cons of a wired gaming mouse

Pros and cons of wireless gaming mouse

Is wired better than a wireless mouse for gaming?

The best mouse for gaming depends on your needs, a wireless mouse can provide a tangled free clean environment, and a wired mouse can provide a constant power supply without worrying about the remaining charge.

The majority of gamers prefer wired mice over wireless mice when it comes to gaming, especially in fast-paced games like Risk of rain 2, CSGO, Fortnite, PUBG, etc. The reason behind it is that a wired mouse has little to no lag and most wired mice are now overpowered with a polling rate of 8000 Hz and DPI counts of 16000 DPI (That can be adjusted easily).

We have also seen some wireless mice that are as competitive as a wired mice when it comes to gaming. In the past wireless mouse had very high latency but now thanks to RF technology, wireless mice are comparable with wired mice.

Some pros use wireless mice for gaming because they are now providing all the specs that a wired mouse has but without a cable and high battery life.  

However, the wired mouse is preferred when it comes to gaming because they provide low latency without any interference, and you don’t ever have to worry about charging it.

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Polling rate is an important stat to consider before buying a gaming mouse. A lot of people don’t know about this stat therefore they end up buying the wrong mice, however; we have provided every information that you need about the mouse polling rate before buying a gaming mouse.

Gaming mouse manufacturers are constantly advertising this stat, and we are seeing high polling rates with every generation of the mouse. The highest polling rate till now is 8000 Hz but the question arises, do we need high polling rates?

The optimal polling rate depends on the frame rate of your screen and should be adjusted accordingly. Polling rate with screen refresh rate and total delay chart is discussed later in this post.

What is a mouse polling rate? (aka Report Rate)

The polling rate is the frequency at which a mouse signals the computer about its position on the screen. It is measured in the unit of frequency (Hz) and can go from 125 Hz to 8000 Hz depending on the model of the mouse.

With a polling rate of 125 Hz, your mouse will communicate with your CPU 125 times in one second about its position on the screen. Theoretically, High polling rates provide smooth cursor movement as compared to low polling rates. Here we have a table of polling rates with total expected time delay.

What is the best polling rate for a mouse?

Having a high polling rate means that your mouse will refresh faster in one second but you will have some load on your CPU and a low mouse polling rate means that your mouse will refresh slower in one second but there will be a little to no load on your CPU.

You may also see some bottlenecks when using a high polling rate on a screen with a low refresh rate because your screen is refreshing slower than your mouse is updating its whereabouts in a second.

When using a low polling rate setting you might see some latency. It is not noticeable to the human eye but it is essential while playing fast games.

So, what is the goldilocks zone for your mouse polling rate?

The optimal polling rate settings for a mouse are 500 Hz and 1000 Hz. If you see any bottleneck on 1000 Hz you can lower your settings to 500 Hz and if you notice latency in your mouse cursor then you can update your settings to 1000 Hz.

Here are the best polling rate and screen combinations to lower the bottleneck.

500 Vs 1000 Polling rate

The difference between 500 Hz and 1000 Hz polling rates is a 1 ms delay. It is not noticeable with the human eye, but it makes a difference while playing fast-paced eSports titles like Risk of Rain 2, CSGO, Valorant, and many others.

It is more important to be overpowered than underpowered while playing games, Hence, the higher the polling rate the more you get a chance to shoot your enemy first.

Is a high polling rate better?

Yes, a high polling rate will decrease latency and your mouse will move faster on the screen. The high polling rate can improve gameplay, but it can cause a bottleneck if you use a low refresh rate screen.

Do we need to keep an eye on polling rates?

Yes, keeping an eye on polling rate matters but that doesn’t mean that you need a high polling rate for best performance because the difference between 500 Hz and 1000 Hz is only 1 ms so it’s not noticeable by a human eye, however; high polling rate gives you an advantage over your enemy.

Another situation where you need to configure your mouse polling rate is when your screen’s refresh rate is lower than your polling rate. In this situation, you will see a slight amount of bottleneck with your mouse and your screen because your mouse is Constantly updating its position, but your screen doesn’t have enough refresh rate to keep up with the mouse polling rate.

Difference between Mouse polling rate VS Mouse DPI

Mouse polling rate and mouse DPI feel the same, but they are different stats and are measured in different units.

How to change your mouse polling rate?

There are generally two methods to change the mouse polling rate.

Method#1— Dedicated software

You can change your mouse polling rate with the help of manufacturing software. You can download this software through the manufacturer’s website. By default, the polling rate is set to 125 Hz but you can increase it from the software to 500 Hz or even 1000 Hz according to your preference.

Method#2 – Without Manufactures software

Unplug your mouse, then reconnect and press the following key combinations simultaneously.

Conclusion

Congratulations, you have learned everything there is about the mouse polling rate. Now you can make an educated decision before buying a gaming mouse with the best polling rate.

The post What is a mouse polling rate? (Report Rate) and what is the best polling rate? appeared first on Techmazia.

Gaming mice have an enormous amount of DPI these days. It has now become a trend and companies are competing on the ability to provide a high amount of DPI stat, but how much DPI do you really need? why do pros need it to improve gaming?

What is a mouse DPI?

A mouse DPI stands for “Dots per linear inch”. It defines the movement of your mouse across the screen. Higher DPI means your cursor will move more as compared to your physical effort and lower DPI means your cursor will move less as compared to your physical effort.

Another term for DPI is CPI (counts per inches) and MPS (Mickeys per second) but all of them translate to just one term “mouse sensitivity”.

DPI is a virtual representation of Counts per inch. In other words, DPI is a further division of your mouse’s counts per inch. Therefore the precise stat is Counts per Inch but the Dots per Inch is the most used one in the gaming industry.

In general, DPI means the speed of your cursor; low DPI means slow cursor movement and High DPI means fast cursor movement and vice versa.

Everything you need to know about gaming mouse DPI (Infographic)

How does DPI work?

Whenever you move a mouse, a signal is sent to the computer. Based on this signal your mouse moves across the screen. DPI defines the speed of the cursor movement across the screen.

It measures how sensitive your mouse is as compared to one-inch physical movement.

If your mouse DPI is set to 100 and you move your mouse 1 inch from the current position then your mouse will move 100 pixels across the screen.

Every mouse has a DPI count, some mice let you alter DPI on the go with the help of a DPI dedicated button on the mice. Most regular mice have a DPI count from 800 to 1600.

DPI has become a competitive stat in the gaming mouse industry, therefore the more the DPI the more expensive the mice will be.

Does DPI affect performance in gaming?

Yes, it affects the performance depending upon the type of users. If you are a standard computer user then you will be fine with a DPI of 800 or lower.

High DPI is generally used by gamers and people with high-resolution screens and who need to move their mouse quickly across the screen.

High mouse DPI lowers precision and low mouse DPI gives the best accuracy.

If you are someone who requires high precision like drawing with a mouse or using a sniper rifle, then you may need to lower your DPI settings.

But if you are playing a game where you need to move your player quickly like in most FPS games then you need to increase your DPI.

How much DPI you need also depends on your screen resolution. High-resolution screens have more pixels and thus require a high DPI to get the desired movement.

In either case, a high mice DPI always comes in handy because it’s good to be overpowered than to be underpowered.

How does mouse DPI improve Gameplay?

Mouse DPI is considered very important while gaming. It can save you a lot of time and energy while playing a game. There is no doubt that DPI improves gameplay as many pros in the gaming industry use it.

With an adjusted setting, you can do a 360-degree turn without lifting your hand. It mainly comes in handy while playing FPS games.

In games like Dota 2, Overwatch, Risk of Rain 2, etc. you need speed rather than accuracy, therefore you can increase your DPI and adjust it according to your preference. It is important to note that by increasing your mouse DPI you will lower your precision.

On the other hand, in games like PUBG, Call of duty, and Counter-Strike, you can lower your DPI setting to increase your crosshair accuracy to eliminate your enemies with a single sniper headshot.

What is a recommended DPI?

There is no single answer to this question, and it can be simply concluded by your requirement, usage, screen resolution, and your preferences.

If you are a standard user then a DPI up to 2000 will be enough for you and you don’t need to worry about your DPI settings, but if you have a high-resolution large screen then you may need a higher DPI than that.

However, if you are a gamer, you need a mouse with a DPI of 2000, 2400, 3200, 5000, or more.

On the other hand, if you are a graphic designer or have a job that has something to do with accuracy then you may have to consider a lower DPI(less than 2000 will be enough).

For gaming, you can use different DPI calculators to get your personalized DPI setting based on your screen resolution and DPI settings used in previous games.

Does mouse DPI affect High Resolution and Large Screens?

Mouse DPI does not affect large screens with the same resolution as the small screen, However, the resolution of the screen matters when considering changes in DPI settings.

For example, if you have a DPI of 600 to go from top to bottom of your screen by moving your mouse 2 inches with the 800 x 600 pixels screen, and you upgrade your screen to 1600 x 1200 pixels then you will need to use 1200 dpi settings to move from top to bottom of the screen by moving your mouse 2 inches.

Difference between mouse DPI and Mouse Sensitivity

Mouse DPI is different from mouse sensitivity. As mouse sensitivity multiplies or divides your current mouse DPI.

For example, if you are using a mouse DPI of 3600 and a sensitivity of 2/10 will function the same as 600 DPI and sensitivity of 10/10.

But increasing mouse sensitivity and lowering mouse DPI will decrease accuracy and a trembling cursor.

Increasing mouse sensitivity will move the mouse faster but makes it difficult to click on small objects.

Decreasing mouse sensitivity will move the cursor slower but makes it easy to click on the small object due to slow movement.

We can achieve extraordinary results with the combination of Mouse’s DPI and Sensitivity.

How to adjust mouse DPI?

Many newer mouses have a dedicated button to adjust DPI, however, we can also adjust mouse DPI with the help of dedicated software that comes with the mouse.

Both Mac and Windows give setting to adjust mouse DPI.

It is not recommended to artificially increase mouse DPI because it sends a signal to your computer to further multiply the available DPI, resulting in a shaky mouse experience.

In Summary

• DPI stands for “Dots per inches”, used to adjust the sensitivity of a mouse. Another widely used term is CPI, which stands for “Counts per inches”.
• DPI is a stat that measures and adjusts your mouse’s sensitivity in dots (pixels) in correspondence to the physical movement of the mouse in a real-life inch.
• High DPI doesn’t mean a good mouse, because pros use DPI less than 3000, however, it’s good to be overpowered than to be underpowered
• Mouse DPI gives a competitive advantage to Companies to distinguish their product from others in the market.
• Mouse DPI does improve gameplay, it helps to control certain objects precisely and more effectively while playing the game.
• There is no single number recommended for DPI it all depends on your usage, gamers require more DPI and graphic designers require less DPI.
• Mouse DPI is independent on Large Screens, but it depends on screen resolution because higher resolutions have more pixels per inch.
• Mouse DPI is different from mouse sensitivity as mouse sensitivity multiplies or divides current mouse DPI.

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