Gaming is a recent addition to the online community and has grown more significant than ever. The gaming industry has surpassed the popularity of both cinema and music.

The advent of mobile games has increased the demand for gaming with more and more people entering the world of gaming, although the love for gaming is still a mystery that is yet to be solved.

The gaming world seems to be a thing that only attracts adolescent males, but the research proves it wrong. A study based in the UK suggested that a vast majority of gamers were female, and the appeal of gaming is spread among every age group (6-64).

The diverse age group found today is mostly due to easy accessibility online and on mobile phones making the games extremely accessible for all age groups and making it open for a large variety of people.

Now the gaming industry has two types of self-proclaimed gamers, the casual gamers who play games on their phones and the real players who play games on consoles and PC. Now all these gadgets can help you achieve different levels of experience in the gaming world.

If you want a pro-level experience, then like most pros’ PC is the right choice to make, although consoles now days are also extraordinary too.

For beginners in the gaming world, it might get intimidating as there are many things in PC gaming that need to be fine-tuned to enhance the gaming experience. In the online gaming world, both skill and the fine-tuning the hardware matters as no setting is arbitrary, and anything can help you get an edge over your competitors.

Now, if you’re a professional gamer or are even a beginner, the first thing that you need to see about your devices is the keyboard, monitor, and mice. When the fine-tuning of these components, many small things get overlooked.

So, when you have considered that, let us focus on the article’s focal point, the mice. They have one major thing that is instantly noticeable but yet is mostly neglected. That is the DPI.

Now DPI is something that will rouse multiple questions like:

  • What is DPI?
  • How high or low DPI should be? What do you need?
  • Do you require DPI when gaming?

And more. These are the few questions this article will divulge in to help create a gaming experience that you are looking for.

What is DPI?

Dpi Mouse

First of all, to understand more about gaming levels, we need to know a bit about DPI. DPI stands for Dot per Inch. When the words are applied practically to the mouse, it means that if a mouse is 1600 DPI, moving the mouse, one inch physically will cause a movement of 1600 pixels of the cursor.

So, this means the higher the DPI, the more sensitive the cursor will be. A tiny physical change will cause a great cursor movement if the mouse has a higher DPI.

The mice today have 1200-1600 DPI, while in the 2000’s mice usually had 800 DPI. The DPI of a mouse determines its sensitivity to physical movement.

This signifies just sensitivity, not accuracy, as they are two separate terms when it comes to gaming. A mouse that has higher sensitivity will not instantaneously make it an accurate one.

To correlate this terminology with gaming can be confusing so to understand it better an example or two are given, that is:

  • If a person is playing a game in 1080 pixels. While using a cursor off 1000 DPI. One-inch physical vertical movement of the mouse will move the cursor 1000 pixels that are almost its full height. While if a cursor of 2000 DPI will move the same distance in pixels with half an inch movement of the cursor.
  • To elaborate further, a gaming reference can help clarify if one is playing a game of counter-strike, a popular game. In counter-strike, the sniper is very sensitive, and small movements are required by the animation to get accurate shots.
  • If the sniper needs to adjust the weapon by 800 pixels to get a clear target, that means with a higher DPI mouse such as 2400DPI, the movement of the mouse should be 1/3rd of an inch and even minute changes will cause you to win or lose in the game. So, to achieve maximum accuracy with this kind of game, you require to have a lower DPI.

These two examples suggest that the DPI requirements changes with the game. Some require greater precision, while others require more movement. But the requirements of gaming mice have evolved in 2021. DPI as high as 16000 is available.

How high or low the DPI should be? What do you need?

Now, as we have evaluated, the requirements of DPI are ever-evolving, and figuring out the best DPI for your gaming experience can be difficult, but it is not impossible.

As we see today, the monitor displays that most gamers use are 1080 pixels or 1440 pixels, and even if they use 4K, a mouse that is 8000 DPI or above is overkill and unnecessary. So, is there a point of this ultra-sensitive mouse?

So here comes the secret behind this ultra-sensitive mouse. They have an advantage, and they are adjustable. All these gaming mice come with a switch that controls the sensitivity settings of the mice, giving the user full control of the sensitivity.

The button is placed above the scroll wheel, giving the user the complete control of adjusting the DPI on the fly.

This feature helps the user immensely as it gives the user full control over the sensitivity of the mouse. As the mouse becomes adjustable, the user can easily shift between DPI’s while playing different games. They can have low DPI’s if they require high accuracy and high DPI’s if they require high sensitivity.

So, when the basics are out of the picture now comes the point worth fussing over is what should be the minimum DPI a person should aim for. Looking at everything, the minimum DPI should be according to the horizontal resolution of your display.

The minimum horizontal resolution seen is around 1900 pixels, which might be worrying, but it is not as even the cheapest mouse have the DPI of 2400-3200.

In DPI, there is no such thing that can put a limit to the maximum DPI as more sensitivity doesn’t hurt anyone. But that doesn’t mean that gaming requires extra sensitivity; they also need control and accuracy.

Do I require DPI?

Now comes the major question that needs to be answered. Is it required? If a standard DPI mouse can help give us an enjoyable gaming experience, why to fuss about it?

If you are not careful with the DPI of the mouse, you might pair a low DPI mouse with high sensitivity software that will cause jerky cursor movements when you move it. While if you pair it with a high DPI mouse, the transition will become smooth.

To eradicate such problems, you can check the mouse DPI beforehand, most companies provide with their software, and if not, alternates are available online.

After solving the main issues comes the point what DPI is suites for what game The best mouse DPI suggested for some popular genre games are as follows:

  • MMOs and RPGs Games require 1000 DPI – 1600 DPI
  • FPS and Other Shooters (including Fortnight) Games require 400 DPI – 1000 DPI
  • MOBA Games need 400 DPI – 800 DPI
  • Real-Time Strategy Games need 1000 DPI – 1200 DPI

These show a small range of DPI that lies between 400 DPI to 1600 DPI suggesting that lower DPI is better for games as it helps you get better accuracy.

Most professional gamers recommend lower DPIs as they help them improve their efficiency, although that does mean that a larger mouse pad will be required too.

But after all that choosing a DPI depends on you and your personal preference, if a higher DPI is something that you want, then you should go for it. But keep in mind that a higher DPI will not help in increasing your accuracy.

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