Whether you’re an enthusiastic gamer, a professional graphics designer, or simply an avid PC user, knowing how to modify your DPI on the go will greatly enhance your overall experience.
Not sure what mouse DPI you have or where to change it? Worry not, as this thorough guide will explain everything you need to know about changing your mouse DPI on Windows 10 & 11.
Without further ado, let’s get into it.
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What Is Mouse DPI?
The DPI acronym stands for Dots per Inch – The standard way of measuring mouse sensitivity.
For example, having set a lower DPI setting means you’ll have to drag your mouse a greater distance for your cursor to move from point A to point B, as opposed to a much shorter distance when using a higher DPI.
The greater your DPI, the faster your cursor moves on the screen when you physically move your mouse on the mousepad.
To simplify, if your mouse is set to 1200 DPI, moving it one inch (2.54 centimeters) on your mousepad will make the cursor cover a distance of 1200 pixels on your screen.
How To Change DPI On Mouse
Changing the DPI on your mouse is easy. Some devices have a dedicated DPI button which is usually located right under the scroll wheel, along with a few pre-set profiles you can switch between by pressing it.
If your device has a dedicated DPI button, you can use it to quickly switch between different DPI profiles. You can modify these profiles to include values that specifically match your needs within your device’s software.
For example, if you have a Logitech G403 mouse, the DPI button is right below the scroll wheel, and you can install the G-Hub software to create and modify your DPI pre-sets with custom values.
Most brands have their own gaming software that you’ll need to install to be able to do these changes, though there are some very popular gaming mice, such as the ones from Zowie that can switch between different DPI settings without the user having to install any software.
However, mice that aren’t designed for gaming or simply meant for office/general-purpose use may not come with the feature to manually adjust the DPI value. In such a case, the user is “stuck” with a fixed DPI, and can only adjust the sensitivity (make the mouse pointer move slower or faster) within Windows settings.
To do this, follow the steps below:
- Press Windows + S simultaneously on your keyboard to open the Windows Search Box.
- Type in Mouse Settings and press Enter on your keyboard.
- Adjust the Cursor Speed slider to match your desired value. You can move your cursor on the screen after each change to see if the value matches your needs.
Once you determine that your cursor moves at the right speed, you can close the window and the modifications will be automatically saved. No need to click a confirmation button.
Now you’ve successfully changed the mouse speed, but this has nothing to do with DPI. So, if you’re a competitive gamer, for example, or your work consists of creating digital art during which precision to the very last pixel is important, you still have to at least know what DPI you’re currently using.
Take a look at the next section where we elaborate more on this.
How To Check Mouse DPI
As mentioned above, most general purpose/office mice don’t allow the user to change the DPI. Also, they don’t have dedicated software, so you cannot really know what settings or DPI profile you’re currently on.
If you’re using such a mouse, you have two options:
- Turn the mouse over and find the model name, then Google it by adding the word “DPI” next to the search phrase. Hopefully, the brand has some information published about the settings of that specific device.
- Use a DPI analyzer tool such as the one available at Mouse-Sensitivity. (You must disable the “Enhance Pointer Precision” setting in Windows for this test to be accurate, as that’s the built-in Windows mouse acceleration feature, which will lead to great inconsistency if it’s set to be active during your tests)
This should help you find the DPI setting your mouse is currently set to, even if it doesn’t have dedicated software or a dedicated physical DPI button like most gaming mice do.
It’s also worth nothing there’s no mouse dpi changer software available that will allow you to change the DPI on mouse if the device is simply built without that feature.
Why Should I Change Mouse DPI?
It’s important to know your current DPI mouse settings and how to change them based on your needs.
If you are about to do delicate work that requires you to carefully go over pixels, you’ll need to reduce the DPI on your mouse to ensure maximum precision. But, you must then know exactly which settings to go back to once you’re done with that task so that your muscle memory in other games, software, and daily computer activities doesn’t suffer.
This is easy to do with a gaming mouse that allows you to create multiple DPI profiles, but as we already mentioned, not every mouse has this feature available.
What Is eDPI? – Useful For Competitive Gamers
Now that you know how to find dpi of mouse, it’s important to learn what eDPI is.
eDPI stands for “Effective DPI” and is the value you get by multiplying your in-game sensitivity and your DPI.
So, if you know that your mouse is set to 400 DPI, and you know that your preferred in-game sensitivity, for let’s say, Valorant, is 2, that means your eDPI is 800.
Knowing your preferred eDPI is very important for when you need to use another mouse with a fixed DPI value.
For example, if you must play on a mouse that has a fixed DPI of 800, to ensure you have the same eDPI in Valorant that you usually play with, set the in-game sensitivity to 1.
This will ensure your muscle memory doesn’t suffer and you’ll remain consistent in your gameplay even when having to play on different computers with unfamiliar peripherals and limited DPI profile options (Very common on LAN tournaments that use Zowie mice).
Frequently Asked Questions & Answers
Here are some commonly asked questions we often come across from users seeking to understand how to adjust DPI settings on Windows 10 and 11.
You can find the DPI of your mouse by downloading and installing the software for that specific brand. If it’s an office or a general-purpose mouse, it likely doesn’t come with a software, so the solution here is to Google search the exact model and try to find information about its fixed DPI settings published by the manufacturer, likely on their official website.
Windows 10 or 11 doesn’t allow you to directly check your mouse DPI, as the operating system itself doesn’t have such a tool built into it. You can only do that within the software dedicated for that specific device (such as G-Hub for Logitech devices, or Razer Synapse for Razer devices), or by using the DPI Analyzer Tool.
Windows 10 and 11 only allow you to change mouse sensitivity, as mentioned in the guide above. The operating system itself doesn’t have a setting that allows you to change the DPI of your mouse. You can only do that in the software dedicated to modify the device’s driver.
Changing the DPI of your mouse means adjusting how many pixels the cursor on your screen covers when you physically move your mouse from point A to point B. A lower DPI means the cursor will travel less pixels, and a higher DPI means the cursor will travel more pixels.
Conclusion
That includes everything one needs to understand regarding altering your DPI on Windows 10 & 11. Hopefully, this information will be helpful when adjusting the rate at which your mouse moves while using the computer for work or playing video games.
