Let’s say you are playing a really competitive game and that too in a very competitive game mode. Take, for instance, Fortnite’s Arena mode or the Solo Cash Cup mode. Now, if you have the slightest knowledge about competitive e-sport gaming, you must be knowing what’s a mouse’s dpi and how to check mouse dpi. Now even if you don’t, then don’t worry. We will look at all the basics and only then proceed forward.
Coming back to our situation, if you make the slightest error while aiming at the opponent’s head, it could cost you the entire match, or the entire tournament, and loads of prize money. To avoid that, you must carefully tune your mouse DPI. And if you haven’t the slightest idea of how to do that, then worry not, because, in this article, we are going to tell you how to check mouse DPI. Just keep reading to know more!
Check out – How to use OBS [A Beginners Guide].
What is DPI?
Before diving deep into the topic of how to check mouse DPI, let’s just wait for a second and try to understand what this DPI thing is. DPI stands for Dips Per Inch and is one of the many characteristic properties of a computer mouse, especially the dedicated gaming ones. DPI basically deals with the sensitivity of your mouse, to say the least. The higher the DPI, the faster your mouse pointer moves.
- Mouse DPI
It also relates to your mouse’s accuracy. You must have heard that professional e-sport gamers use extremely low DPIs. Well, their sole purpose of doing so is to achieve remarkably high precision and accuracy, so that each shot they fire lands on their opponent’s head. Also, if you have a pretty big monitor like an ultra-wide series one or a monitor which has an extremely high resolution, the mouse DPI is a pretty useful property that you can tweak around to reach the far edges of your screen without taking the mouse out of your table’s top!
Now that you know what the basic meaning of DPI is let us start with the process of checking it. In doing so, we may adopt several approaches. Let’s look at the best ones out of them.
Check Mouse DPI and Specifications
The most obvious way to check your mouse DPI is by having a look at the box in which it came (if you still have not transferred it to the bin!). For most cheap mice, the DPI value is mentioned right on the side of the box.
If in case you do not have the box, you may search the web for the same. Just type in your mouse’s company and model number (both of which can be usually found under your mouse), followed by the phrase ‘specifications.’ After having a look at a few datasheets, you will be pretty sure of what your mouse DPI is.
Through the Driver Software
This section is for those who own premium mice dedicated to gaming and productivity-related jobs. Logitech’s G102, G402, G502, Glorious Model O, Corsair Harpoon, HyperX Cloud, etc., come under this category. They have the peculiar property of having a very wide range of DPI settings. For example, the Logitech G502 supports DPIs as low as 400 and as high as 16000!
The developers took care of the task of finding the mouse DPI so that you do not spend much time on such a simple process. If you have not installed the mouse drivers yet, first do so by following these steps:
- Update Drivers
- Open up your browser.
- In the search bar, type in the model name of your mouse, followed by the phrase ‘drivers download.’
- Click on the first link that pops up.
- Download the drivers from the website.
- Install and launch the driver application.
Now, inside the application, it becomes pretty clear what your mouse DPI is currently set to. For instance, you can find this under the Pointer Settings Panel of all Logitech Mouse driver applications. If you wish, you can change the value according to your specific need.
Using an Online DPI Calculator
If you tried all the above methods but were unsuccessful, then don’t be disheartened, because we bring to you yet another way for how to find mouse DPI.
To use it, you first go into Windows’ Mouse Settings Panel. For this, follow along:
- Online DPI Calculator
- Open up the Start Menu and click on the Control Panel.
- Now go into the Hardware and Sound section.
- Click on the Mouse option and open up the Pointer Options tab in the submenu that pops up.
Over here, uncheck the ‘Enhance pointer precision’ field as this acceleration will render the measurement meaningless because of faulty readings.
After that, measure the distance roughly that you would need to move your mouse to make the pointer go from the extreme left side of the screen to the extreme right. Using a ruler can be of great help. This step is essential because you must enter the distance in the ‘Target distance’ textbox on the DPI calculator website.
We begin with the actual process now. For that click on the red crosshair-like figure, you see at the bottom of the page and drag it to the right, moving your mouse approximately the same distance you specified in the Target distance field.
As soon as you let go of the button, a numerical value will be in front of the ‘Actual DPI’ field. This gives you an idea of the approximate DPI value that your mouse is currently set to.
Conclusion
So that’s how you find out the mouse’s DPI. We tried to keep the tutorial as simple as possible for you to get working or gaming without much fiddling around. If you have any queries related to this topic feel free to drop a comment. I will try to solve all your problems.
So what are you waiting for? Go and do some hardcore gaming!
