The G.Skill Ripjaws MX780 gaming mouse has a lot to offer for a very affordable price tag. It gives you 10 customizable buttons, software that lets you control everything from the LED colors to DPI, and a 6 foot cord that makes it easy to use for any setup.
I’ll start by being completely honest and saying I’ve actually never owned a gaming mouse. I’ve invested a little extra money into buying large, ergonomic mice for my big-ish hands, but this is the first gaming mouse I’ve used. While that in and of itself isn’t a big deal, it does mean that my benchmarks are a little different than some players.
That said, let’s talk about this bad boy.
Unboxing the Ripjaws MX780
When I opened up the box, I didn’t really know what I was looking at. Sure, there was the mouse and the USB cable attached to it — that’s easy.
But what were these little plastic black things? And the heavy magnetic circles? And this weird thing that looks like it’d be in my wife’s sewing kit?
Well after looking through the instructions and taking another look at the box (and playing with it for a few minutes,) I finally figured it out. The circles are weights to help you make the mouse heavier, while the plastic pieces are adjustable side grips.
And the sewing kit-looking thing? That’s a little screwdriver to adjust the height of the mouse.
So we’re off to an okay start. I wish the mouse had come with a little more instruction on how to use these extra pieces so I wouldn’t have wasted time trying to figure it out.
Functionality
Buttons
The Ripjaws MX780 comes with 8 different buttons:
- Left and right click
- Two left shoulder buttons
- Two right shoulder buttons
- Scroll wheel
- DPI button
Each button is customizable with the software. You have a range of things you can program, from Windows shortcuts or commands from your keyboard to macros or text.
So instead of typing out “Shut up n00b,” all the time, I can just program it to a button to save me the effort.
You can even adjust the scroll wheel, which I thought was interesting. Since it essentially has three functions (scroll up, click,and scroll down,) you essentially get up to 10 customizable functions on this mouse.
Since I’ve never had a DPI mouse button, I had to resort to my friend Google to figure it out. DPI is basically a measure of how sensitive the mouse performs. You can use this button to cycle through various DPI settings without having to step away from your game.
Software
The MX780 comes with free software you can download from the G.Skill website. You don’t have to, but considering you’re probably buying a gaming mouse for the extra customization, it’s silly not to.
The software gives you lot of options to customize the mouse just the way you want. Here are a few things you can do:
- Change the LED lightning colors (or turn them off)
- Customize button setup
- Adjust DPI
- Add/change macros
- Fiddle with the polling range, wheel scroll speed, and liftoff range
I will say that, just like the extra hardware that came with the mouse, it took me a few minutes to figure out the software. Namely the lighting part. The process isn’t exactly complicated, but I just didn’t realize I had to click each part of the mouse one more time to apply the lightning profile I’d set.
Cable
I prefer wireless mice, because I’m not such a hardcore gamer that I worry about the tiny latency issue that can result from a wireless device. The same goes with my PS4 controllers — I don’t keep them connected to the device for a miniscule improvement in response time.
The MX780 has a six foot wire, which seems to be long enough to accommodate most desktop setups. If not… well, hopefully you can move a few things around to make it fit.
The Ripjaws MX780 Comfort
As I mentioned earlier, I have large-ish hands. This mouse is plenty big enough though — especially after adjusting the height a bit. I found that helps a lot with comfort.
I also like the adjustable side grips (now that I know how to use them). One set has a wider bottom, which is especially nice because it lets my thumb and pinky fingers rest on the mouse. Most of the time they are just dragging on the table, which I’d never realized until this mouse gave an alternative.
The main comfort issue with me is using the right shoulder buttons. I use mice with my right hand, so my thumb can reach the left shoulders just fine. But clicking the ones on the right is a bit tricky and will take some practice — if I decide to use them at all.
Also being able to adjust the weight of the mouse is nice. I’ve never thought about a mouse’s weight much before, but I felt like the mouse was a little too light without those additional weights, so it was nice to have that option.
In terms of materials, the plastic that makes up most of the mouse feels okay. I kinda like the more polished, smoother plastic of my Logitech M510, but I’m not really gonna be paying much attention to it when I’m sending waves of skeletons toward baddies in Diablo 2.
…yes, I just started replaying that 16 year old game.
Verdict
As someone without much experience with gaming mice, this mouse had a little bit of a learning curve. Once I started tinkering around with things, such as the LED lighting, height and side grips, it was nice to customize the mouse to my liking.
If you’re in the market for an affordable gaming mouse, the G.Skill Ripjaws MX780 is a good choice. I know I’m going to be using it from now on, as it will make my ARPGs like Diablo 2 and Grim Dawn a little easier to play.
You can pick it up on Amazon for about $60.
Note: The writer was provided a review unit for this article.
Published: Aug 8, 2016 08:01 am