Page 3 - Subjective Performance Tests
After installing and configuring the G.Skill's software to our liking, we put the mouse through our series of revised standard tracking performance tests. This includes normal office usage in the Windows environment, as well as gaming. Graphics work is done in addition to regular office usage with Adobe Photoshop. Games we have used in this test include Sid Meier’s Civilization V, League of Legends, Dragon Nest, and Crysis 2 Maximum Edition. This spans multiple genres and allows us to get a feel as to how the mouse responds in different situations. The G.Skill Ripjaws MX780 RGB was cross-referenced with my daily driver mouse, the Func MS-2. All testing were completed on the XTracGear Carbonic XXL. Please note these are subjective tests, but we will attempt to make it as objective as possible with our cross reference testing methods.
Switching from the Func MS-2 to the G.Skill Ripjaws MX780 RGB on paper does not sound like a huge difference. Despite the Ripjaws MX780 RGB being made for different kind of grips, I do find myself going to my standard palm grip rather than anything else. However, with its wider end near the buttons, plus a greater slope on the right side of the mouse, I ended up resting three fingers on top rather than two. This in itself was actually the harder switch for me, as I was used to right clicking with my middle finger rather than my ring finger. After getting used to this, there were still some gripes in day to day comfort. For one, I found I lost grip of the mouse slightly more, and thus, I had to grip a bit tighter on the sides to keep it in control. Even with the soft-touch coating, I found the MX780 RGB to slip out of my hands more than usual.
As I have mentioned before, the side buttons were pretty good in terms of access. I think if I had a slightly longer thumb or bigger hands, this would not be as much of an issue. One thing I will say, however, is the fact the side buttons feel spongy and mushy. It was obvious only Omron switches were used on the main buttons, as the side buttons were terrible, and lacked any feedback. The DPI switch was also in an unfortunate location, as I have accidentally pressed it multiple times without noticing, until I saw cursor sensitivity change on the screen. On the other hand, the main button and scroll wheel was very nice in terms of feel. The Omron switches really prove their worth here, with great tactile and audible feedback.
Even though the weighting of the G.Skill Ripjaws MX780 RGB was adjustable, I have to say there was not a whole lot of flexibility here. A lot of mice rather have four to five weights for a wider range of weight variance. I will also say a lot of people will find a mouse at 111g minimum to be too heavy, especially for games like League of Legends or other multiplayer online battle arena games. However, considering this is more of an all-purpose gaming mouse, this is understandable. With an excellent Avago ADNS 9800 laser sensor underneath, I was happy to see the wider range of 100 to 8200 DPI. Research has shown most experienced gamers actually stick to sensitivities lower than two thousand dots per inch. Even so, the available flexibility here was nice to see. As this sensor is a laser mouse, it technically should work on glass surfaces. However, my experiences proved otherwise. Even so, most users will not be using this on clear surfaces, and I would always recommend a mousepad like the XTracGear Carbonic XXL for better performance.
As the G.Skill Ripjaws MX780 RGB is advertised as a gaming mouse, it only makes sense for us to test it out in a few games. With the only first person shooter I like, Crysis 2, I played a few levels to test out the product. First person shooters are not necessarily my favorite genre of games, but the MX780 made it more enjoyable. Tracking and movement was smooth and accurate. Next, in League of Legends, I found the MX780 to be just a tad too heavy. It was not unusable by any means, but it was still just a bit too clunky to be moved quickly. Thankfully, the extra keys did not hamper me in any way, as they were out of the way. Finally, with the online role playing game Dragon Nest, I found the mouse to perform similarly. Unfortunately, there were two things I noticed throughout my gaming tests. The first was my inability to comfortably grip the mouse. Despite all my adjustments in weight and palm rest height, I would always go back to the Func MS-2 and feel more comfortable. I think the ambidextrous nature in combination with the relatively low sloping curve was the problem here. The second was the micro-rock I noticed during my usage. Despite the bottom looking flat and consistent, I found the mouse to slightly rock back and forth. The effect was lessened by using a cloth mousepad, but some slight movement was still noticeable. This is rather unfortunate, as it really does hamper gaming accuracy and tracking.
As for graphical work, the Ripjaws MX780 RGB was definitely usable and smooth. Using Photoshop, I tried my hand at a few lasso tests with the mouse. Using the lasso tool, I tried to select a certain element in an image, and see how successful I am. Once again, these results were compared with other mice to keep it as objective as possible. With the MX780 set to several different DPI settings, I found it to be just a bit less accurate than the MS-2, and the micro-rock issue was again noticeable here. I often found the mouse would not move exactly as I expected, creating for some inaccurate lassoing. Daily office work and internet browsing was decent, but the comfort issue was again present. Otherwise, in daily use, I still miss the side scrolling capabilities found on other scroll wheels, but this was not too big of a deal.
Page Index
1. Introduction, Packaging, Specifications
2. A Closer Look - Hardware and Software
3. Subjective Performance Tests
4. Conclusion
