Gadgetory

go try to shop for a gaming mouse and you'll often have someone try to sell you on based on how many dpi it's rated at but this is actually one of the most overused overhyped words in the gaming peripheral industry but before we get into that I should probably explain what dpi actually means dpi is a misnomer when referring to mouse sensitivity it stands for dots per inch meaning the number of dots that can fit in a straight line which is one inch in length on a screen or printed image the proper name for measurement of mouse sensitivity is actually CPI or counts per inch this is the number of counts or virtual pixels that the mouse sensor will be able to display and register on a surface in 1 inch of physical space optical sensors have a maximum native resolution or native CPI based on the size contraint sub a mouse usually somewhere between 800 and 1600 CPI so in order to raise the CPI beyond that level manufacturers actually have to split each virtual representation of a pixel into four or more virtual pixels which is why dpi technically CPI measurements given by manufacturers are usually in multiples of 800 well split away you might be saying higher CPI must always be better and let's not go that far splitting these virtual pixels actually causes some significant issues with sensor accuracy as having more virtual pixels creates more noise or interference and therefore more errors when reading mouse movements the main message here is that just because your mouse has 80,000 c-p-r does not mean that it's actually able to read more information than a mouse with 800 CPI CPI is only a measurement of the relationship between how far your mouse moves on the surface and how far your cursor moves on the screen not a measurement of precision or accuracy so then why do mouse manufacturers insist on releasing these mice with monstrous dpi numbers attached to them the main reason is as usual marketing and branding being able to say our brands new Mouse now featuring a 10 billion dpi sensor sounds much more impressive than you know our new Mouse with like you know better quality switches inside there any number of other features that might actually make a difference and it's not helped by the fact that the industry created hype around this then gamers created hype around it thinking it was good in this creates a positive feedback loop around this feature that doesn't actually improve the product necessarily and in some cases even makes it less accurate the second reason is that there are some people out there who enjoy using their mouse at some ridiculous high sensitivity whether they use very high resolution displays they move their mouse with little micro movements or they just like to whip the mouse cursor around on a screen faster than most people's eyes can even move and third there are some people who legitimately do believe that they are more accurate and shooters in other games while using an extremely high hardware CPI and lowering their sensitivity and software but as I mentioned before a higher CPI usually leads to more noise and a higher error rate for mouse movements so let's just say the jury is still out on that last one all right so it's conclusion time is there a proper or best dpi the short answer is no as is the case with most computer peripherals it's going to come down to personal preference so there isn't necessarily a CPI that is better than the rest the good news is that most mice come with adjustable CPI so all you need to do is experiment with a few different ones play around with your software sensitivity and cursor speed and find out what works for you what we can say for sure is that for the foreseeable future we've pretty much reached the top end of what we need in terms of CPI so it's time for Mouse manufacturers to work on features that will actually improve the user experience something some of them are actually starting to do these days speaking of improving experiences Josh from fractal design seems to feel like the best way for me to improve the experience that you're having watching this video you know rather than listening to me talk about you know how they've got you know great cases and power supplies and cooling products and all that stuff you know some kind of sales pitch about their fractal design scandinavian design would be to instead show you guys my debut performance of milkshake while wearing this ridiculous wig so here it is My milkshake brings all the boys to the yard and they're like it's better than yours and damn right it's better than yours I could teach you but I have to charge alright Josh are you happy now do you see what you've done to me I'm a grown man I'm a grown man with children and I wear this wig because you make me do this anyway sure the boys in the yard enjoyed it so good for them guys be sure to check out the fractal design link in the video description of to give them some kind of thanks for sponsoring us although I'm not sure that I want you to like this video if you liked it dislike it if you disliked it leave a comment letting me know if you have suggestions for future fast as possible episodes we really do read them and as always don't forget to subscribe for more videos just like this one