Mouse DPI Explained: What Setting to Use

The short answer

DPI (dots per inch) is a mouse's sensitivity: how far the cursor moves on screen for each inch the mouse moves on your desk. SteelSeries, which calls the same figure CPI (counts per inch), gives this example: at 800, one inch of mouse movement moves the cursor 800 pixels. Double the DPI and the same hand movement covers twice the distance.

A higher DPI is not better by itself. It only changes the ratio between your hand and the cursor, and you choose the setting that feels right.

What DPI is good for gaming

SteelSeries suggests starting at 800 DPI and adjusting from there. It says most settings fall between 400 and 3,600, and most gamers land between 800 and 2,400:

Shooters lean low. SteelSeries lists 400 to 800 DPI for Counter-Strike 2 and Rainbow Six Siege and 400 to 1,600 for Valorant. Low DPI means bigger arm movements for small, controlled cursor moves.

SteelSeries also names screen resolution as a factor: on a higher resolution monitor the cursor has more pixels to cross. You do not have to pick one value. Logitech's G900 software, for example, stores up to five levels from 200 to 12,000 in steps of 50, and buttons on the mouse switch between them.

Maximum DPI on the box

Maximum DPI is the top of the range, not a setting you need to use. Razer rates its DeathAdder V4 Pro at up to 45,000 DPI, yet it ships with stages of 400, 800, 1,600, 3,200 and 6,400, with 1,600 as the default.

Of the 532 mice listed on Wiki Shopping on October 26, 2026, 220 state a maximum DPI:

DPI vs polling rate

They measure different things:

• DPI is distance: how far the cursor moves per inch of hand movement.
• Polling rate (Logitech calls it report rate) is time: how often the mouse sends its position to the computer, in hertz.

Logitech's G900 settings run from 125 reports per second (8 ms between reports) to 1,000 per second (1 ms). Logitech notes that a higher rate makes the mouse more responsive while a lower one uses less processor time, and it suggests 500 for most PCs. Newer gaming mice go further: Razer lists an 8,000 Hz polling rate for the DeathAdder V4 Pro.

How we count

Maximum DPI is read from each mouse's store listing and grouped into the ranges above. Mice that do not state it are left out of that count. The counts change as listings are added or removed.

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Sources

1. steelseries.com: what does dpi cpi mean 773
2. steelseries.com: best dpi for gaming settings equipment 1093
3. support.logi.com: articles
4. razer.com: razer deathadder v4 pro