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Once you’ve purchased or built your dream gaming PC, it’s time to figure out the best peripherals to make your rig come to life.
There are many important components to a great gaming setup. You’ll want a high-quality monitor to play all your fancy new games on. A comfortable, ergonomic gaming chair will help you play for hours without suffering from bad posture and pain. And nice mechanical keyboard will help you compete online in style. Then there are headsets, speakers, cameras and more.
But a good gaming mouse is absolutely crucial to your gaming performance and overall experience.
Fortunately, there are lots of great devices to choose from at many different price points. The following models range from as low as $13 for the very budget-conscious to six times that much for the uncompromising enthusiast. (And some of the more expensive mice on this list include onboard processors and memory, making them even more accurate.)
Lower-price mice will often have lower DPI (dots per inch) and lack some of the bells and whistles that pricier mice have, and some of these will have more customization options and buttons than others. But each mouse on this list will serve you well for most modern games.
Pictek Gaming Mouse Wired
Pictek’s basic mouse is a great choice for gamers who want to save a few bucks without sacrificing performance. For just $13, you get a 7200 DPI mouse with adjustable DPI, adjustable polling rate and seven programmable buttons. It has 16 million colors for its LED backlighting and a comfortable, ergonomic design. This isn’t going to compare with the best mice out there, but it’s a seriously great price for what you get, and it looks and feels like much more expensive options.
Redragon M711 Cobra
For just $20, the Redragon M711 Cobra is a steal. It’s an attractive, comfortable gaming mouse at a fraction of the price of some of its competitors. With 10,000 DPI and 16.8 million RGB colors, the Cobra gives you lots of functional and cosmetic customization options. Seven programmable buttons give you lots of options for various types of games, from an FPS game to MOBAs to MMOs and more.
UtechSmart Venus Gaming Mouse
If you like gaming mice with lots and lots (and lots!) of buttons, the UtechSmart Venus is a great affordable choice. At $30, this is still a great price for such a capable mouse. Its 16,400 DPI makes this a much more precise option than the previous two models, and the 18 programmable buttons make it a fantastic choice for complex games like MMOs, where accessing multiple powers or skills on the fly is paramount.
Logitech G502 Proteus Spectrum
The Logitech G502 Proteus Spectrum is the mouse I’m using right this minute as I type. I love this mouse. It’s relatively inexpensive ($35) and it has all the bells and whistles you’d ever need. One thing I really like about this mouse is the wheel. You can adjust it so that it clicks with every turn, or spins smoothly without any feedback. It also feels great in my hand—a very comfortable ride, if you will. Add to that on-the-fly adjustable DPI shifting topping out at 12,000 DPI, 11 adjustable buttons and adjustable weights, this is just an all-around great mouse at a great price. Even the cable feels premium.
Razer DeathAdder Elite Gaming Mouse
This is another great gaming mouse—and I have the Overwatch version in my office. I love how simple and elegant it is. This is the opposite of those clunky, button-bristling mice that are so great for MMOs and MOBAs. Instead, Razer’s DeathAdder Elite is a great mouse for games like Call of Duty or CS:GO—shooters, action games and the like. With 16,000 DPI, mechanical switches and very comfortable rubber grips, this is a great choice for anyone who wants a high-quality build and a classy aesthetic along with high performance and accuracy.
Logitech G MX518
The Logitech MX518 was a classic—a beloved mouse of an earlier generation of PC gamers. Logitech has rebooted the mouse, bringing back the same design with much more advanced tech inside. The HERO 16k sensor is Logitech’s most accurate at 16,000 DPI. The mouse also comes with an internal processor and memory as well as eight programmable buttons. That internal processor makes the MX518 incredibly responsive, no matter how fast you click, and the internal memory allows you to store multiple game profiles so that you can program the mouse to fit five different types of games. Incredibly elegant looking, it’s one of the most exceptional mice on the market. It’s pricey, but not so pricey that budget-minded gamers can’t splurge a little.
Roccat Kone Aimo
The German-designed Roccat Kone Aimo is a true enthusiast gaming mouse, an expensive but expertly designed choice for gamers with a little extra to spend. This is probably the prettiest of all these mice when it comes to the colors, with lots of RGB customization options that can really light up your gaming space. Meanwhile, the Owl-Eye optical sensor is a terrific 12,000 DPI sensor that’s incredibly accurate. Onboard processor, memory, a braided cable and much more make this a fantastic premium choice for enthusiasts who need speed and accuracy but also want an attractive, well-built mouse that’s guaranteed for 50 million clicks.
