The world of competitive gaming is quite an intense one, people are always searching for the latest route to get an edge on their opponents, not only through just breakneck speeds and response but for response and comfort that meets their needs as well. In the gaming market there are only a handful of real hardware producers that can deliver technology that pushes the industry forward. Today we focus on one of them, Razer, possibly one of the most well regarded gaming hardware companies around.
The DeathAdder is the latest mouse by the company making many waves in the marketplace, for obvious reasons really, moving to an IR sensor, using a polling rate of 1000MHz as well as 1800dpi of precision. While many mice are touting 2000dpi out of laser counterparts we'll see how well things end up when it all comes down to a 200dpi barrier between the two technologies.
Packaging is quite simple in the DeathAdder:
1x DeathAdder Mouse
1x Driver Disc
Instructions / Manual
It's basically everything you need to get the product going and straight into massive frags.
For reference the test setup used:
ASUS A8N-SLI Deluxe
AMD Athlon X2 4200+
1.5GB Corsair XMS PC3200
ATI Radeon X1800XT 512MB
Creative X-Fi XtremeMusic
Windows XP SP2
Logitech G5
Razer DeathAdder
Logitech Driver:
Setpoint 3.10
Razer Driver:
DeathAdder 1.03
Battlefield 2 is an amazing test of tolerance and precision, many gamers I've known to be capped at USB 1.1 or just using inferior mice often find themselves at their limits trying to fight their battles be it a dogfight or attempting to play the role of sniper. In these cases high DPI mice with ultra precision are key to making things work. Personally I've been unable to live in BF2 without at least something around 1200 - 2000DPI.
With that said the challenge was set, man the toughest positions in the game and do it well with the DeathAdder mouse, from the jets to the sniper shots to the attack copter as pilot and co-pilot.
First up: Sniper (L96A1) - The initial settings on the DeathAdder seemed just right for the game, upping the sensitivity in game though sent the response levels flying off the charts, after returning those down things leveled, with a higher polling rate things did seem a bit more *fine tuned* in precision shots but it wasn't a consistent result. Across multiple maps the mouse retained a high level of precision aiming, allowing for many shots to take off without trouble. After the break in the G5 was hooked up and put to the test being an equally ergonomic based mouse unlike it's brother the G3.
In response testing the G5 seemed to carry some slightly higher levels of precision but the overall steady control of it seemed to be lacking even if caused by the feet on the mouse, generally noticed in the area of actual scope position to mouse jitter while clicking. The DeathAdder was able to defy the dpi gap and still perform at a level of precision needed and retain steady control of the mouse in more situations when compared to the G5. When playing with the DPI and Polling Rate things didn't change up much. Overall the DeathAdder came out on top though even if just by design choice, The mouse delivers 3 top buttons and two thumb buttons restoring what for me is a large feature missing from the G5 but found on it's little brother the MX518
J-10 Control - Being one of the fastest and most hated planes in the game at times the J-10 is certainly a candidate for testing, in the focus I played a controlled environment of Gulf of Oman using a dedicated host server on 64 man level settings for maximum space.
The difference here became a little bit of an interesting situation, generally when flying for maximum response I leave the sensitivity level at peak (10.0) as well as the other settings. As a result I've grown used to the general response from the G5 and G3 technologies in their performance, in the testing I think the most noticeable difference in the gaming was the DeathAdder response levels when performing quick changes in direction or just rolling the plane in general for a consistent response in performance. The G3 and G5 did perform well in this but it suffered some slight hiccups in the process. In jet performance it seemed the DeathAdder allowed for last minute changes in flight path giving a slight edge in any possible dogfight scenarios against other mouse players, against flight stick players, that might be another story and it's certainly a different technology.
Day of Defeat is a personal return for me, most maps and weapons are easily recognized and the hitbox system at times seems like total chaos at best, either way it's always interesting as a test of accuracy for mice, how close the cross-hair lines up and how well things are executed when it comes to making that critical shot.
Class Choice: Rocket, Sniper
DoD presents simple maps with fast action and lots of targets if you get on a heavy traffic server. In the case of testing we take on the classic roles of the Rocket support man and the sniper, personally I love the rocket way more and so this is going to focus on the art of the bazooka sniper.
The DeathAdder is first up on this test of might, using full settings in software and default ratings in Source we take off into the battle, the speed of the DeathAdder is just impressive, given all the time I've spent with 2000dpi G5's and G3's it feels like I haven't skipped a beat when stepping into the IR powered 1800dpi beast. dod_flash is the map of choice, taking up the rocket and hitting the center firefight is always a good marker for how things are going. Using the classic axis spot I went prone, dug back towards the hotel and then lined up my shots one after another into the exposed hole in the opposing allied room which generally plays home to an MG, even stretched shots hitting down the hallway connected were hitting with high precision. The DeathAdder was fluid and fast, the extra buttons on the DeathAdder were a must for me for reload and drop weapon, overall accuracy was high with minimal lag / jumping.
The G5 returned to the battlefield, a veteran when it comes to the game it still holds up well even after time, reflecting often what was seen in the past, the problem that came up into a head to head comparison was that the G5 just didn't do it when it came to button options, while the tilt is an interesting twist on a design, the extra thumb buttons are just a must have feature for many gamers. Overall I was still satisfied even when presented with the DeathAdder's options. They serve their designed goals through their own style. If I had to lean for a victor though, I would have to call the DeathAdder simply based on the layout of the mouse and options for the gamer to use without having to adapt themselves too far.
I have to say, given the leaps made in input technology over the past few years things have been quite impressive, this release of the DeathAdder marks yet another avenue to explore in technology, I have to say that Razer has brought a heavily refined product to the marketplace for a first generation attempt. The DeathAdder brings heavy precision and a comfortable design that brought me back to ergonomic styling after spending so much time on the Logitech G3 which I could say I pretty much held as the absolute standard for my gaming.
This isn't to say that the review went absolutely perfect though, as with all product reviews for gaming mice I prefer to test the compatible surfaces, just like with the G5 when it was reviewed it had some issues on surfaces that lacked diverse variation while other mice like the MX518 performed fine. The DeathAdder seems to have an interesting issue that we ran across, in use on high contrast surfaces using the color red, the mouse would stutter or skip completely until another color was brought into the mix, this happened across a Konami mouse pad for Enthusia as well as other surfaces making use of high amounts of red. In other color instances things stayed pretty fair but this was an interesting twist of response times, extra time was devoted to experiment with combinations of red papers, shades of red and so on but really it was only in pure hue levels that we picked up this item. Outside of that, things went smooth even using it on open glass surfaces which was quite a suprise to say the least.
Razer has done a lot with the DeathAdder and their products in general, raising the bar so that average gamers can get their hands on technology just like the professionals and higher end gamers even if they'll never actually take it to the full potential. The DeathAdder brings precision and killer looks to the PC gaming realm in a way that only Razer would be able to do it. For me personally, upgrading to the DeathAdder has been a treat, it's almost like Razer tapped into my mind and dug out the key features I would die to have in a single mouse and they physically manifested it into this piece of hardware, and if they did such a thing, I take my hat off to them.
Coming in at $59.99 at many retailers the DeathAdder is quite a deal, in the battlegrounds for future reviews the DeathAdder will be taking the throne that the G3 once held.
http://www.neoseeker.com/Articles/Hardware/Reviews/deathadder_r/5.html
