How Mouse DPI and Sensitivity Work

Your mouse and your game each scale your hand movement, and the combination sets how fast you turn.

DPI: the hardware side

DPI is dots per inch: how many counts your mouse sensor reports for one inch of movement. At 800 DPI, moving one inch reports 800 counts. Higher DPI means the mouse reports finer steps, not necessarily faster turning — that depends on the game setting too.

Sensitivity: the software side

In-game sensitivity multiplies those counts. At sensitivity 2.0, each count turns you twice as far as at 1.0. That is why DPI and sensitivity are interchangeable within one game: doubling one and halving the other gives the same turn speed.

Why players still choose a DPI

Very low DPI can make movement feel steppy in some games, and very high DPI can run into sensor or operating-system quirks. Many players settle on 400, 800 or 1600 DPI and then tune sensitivity to taste, because eDPI — not DPI alone — is what they actually feel.

Try it: Mouse DPI Calculator · cm/360 Calculator