Gaming Mouse Roundup: Corsair Sabre RGB, G.Skill RIPJAWS MX780, SteelSeries Rival 500

by Dave Altavilla, Kurt Bugbee — Thursday, July 20, 2017, 11:51 AM EDT

Round-Up And Sizing-Up Illuminated Gaming Criters

Page 5: Round-Up And Sizing-Up Illuminated Gaming Criters

As we bring this round-up of rodentia to a close, let's talk a bit about the "DPI myth." After reading through our mostly effervescent assessment of the G.Skill RIPJAWS MX780, one might argue that it's also the lowest DPI rated mouse of the bunch. Its Avago sensor is only rated for up to 8200 DPI, while the Corsair and SteelSeries mice have resolutions up to 10K and 16K, respectively. However, before jumping to the conclusion that it's inferior, you should know that higher DPI doesn't necessarily mean better, more accurate performance for everyone. In fact, it's much more complicated than that and though we won't dive too deep into mouse sensor specifics here, be aware that very high DPI levels can actually induce a noise floor that reduces accuracy.

We must RGB all the mousey things. Find them on Amazon...

On the flip side, if you're a gaming mouse purist, you may have the opinion that laser-illuminated sensors (like the Avago sensor in the RIPJAWS) have intrinsic acceleration characteristics that you might not want. If that's your opinion, G.Skill's offering might be a non-starter for you. However, our observation in practice was that all of the mice in this round-up performed similarly, in terms of precision and responsiveness when gaming. As a result, purchase decision-making would be better placed on the criteria of features and design, versus sensor performance.

In that regard, both the Corsair Sabre RGB and G.Skill RIPJAWS MX780 come highly recommended for the average gamer, with our tendency to give the nod toward G.Skill for its flexibility, great looks, and slightly lower price. However, button placement may be a concern for you with the MX780, with its side-mounted switches potentially triggered accidentally in certain use cases. We didn't find this an issue while gaming, but more of a concern in desktop use cases where they act as navigation forward and back buttons. You can disable or potentially remap them, if this is a concern, however. Corsair's Saber RGB, on the other hand, keeps it simple with less customization and a more traditional button layout that's perhaps less prone to accidental triggers. It's a quality, value-targeted mouse as well that gets the job done with a straight-forward design and some RGB lighting for flare. It also has the best software of the bunch, if that's a criteria for you.

G.SKILL RIPJAWS MX780 - $41.37

Corsair Sabre RGB - $44.99

That leaves us with the SteelSeries Rival 500. This is a really well-built mouse and its button switches feel great. If you have a claw style grip, its highly contoured shape will feel great in the hand as well. It also has 15 programmable buttons, where the other two mice in our rodeo only have 8, along with some seriously powerful software to control and configure them with. However, all those buttons come at price, and as such, the SteelSeries feels like a more specialized tool for gamers that need that many buttons to work with. That may be a niche' audience, but if you're in that MOBA/MMO demographic, you know it and know exactly what your needs are.