eDPI Calculator

What eDPI means, and when the number is useful

eDPI is effective dots per inch, and it takes one multiplication: mouse DPI times in-game sensitivity. An 800 DPI mouse at 0.35 sensitivity gives 280 eDPI. A 1600 DPI mouse at 0.175 gives the same 280, and inside one game those two setups turn the view at the same speed.

The number earns its place because it folds two settings into one that can be compared. Threads full of players arguing about 400 against 1600 DPI are often comparing different eDPI values without noticing. Reduce both setups to eDPI and the argument becomes about turn distance, which is what the hand feels.

What eDPI does not do is travel between games. Each engine has its own yaw, the number of degrees the view rotates per mouse count, so the same 280 eDPI turns the camera at different speeds in different titles. The definition of dots per inch covers the hardware side, and the engine decides the rest.

Worked example: 800 DPI at 0.35 sensitivity

Multiply 800 by 0.35 and the answer is 280 eDPI. That is the whole calculation, and it is the number to note down before you change hardware.

To turn it into a distance, use the game's yaw. Valorant and CS2 both rotate 0.022 degrees per count, so a full 360 needs 360 / 0.022 = 16,364 counts. At 280 effective counts per inch that is 16,364 / 280 = 58.4 inches of mouse travel, or 148.4 cm.

Double the DPI to 1600, halve the sensitivity to 0.175, and every figure stays put: 280 eDPI, 16,364 counts, 58.4 inches. The mouse reports twice as many counts per inch and the game applies half the turn to each one, which is why the physical distance does not move.

Try a third setup: 400 DPI at 0.70. The multiplication still gives 280, and the 148.4 cm still holds. Three mice, three DPI settings, one turn distance.

Turning eDPI into centimeters per 360

The general formula: cm per 360 = 2.54 x 360 / (eDPI x yaw). Drop the 2.54 and you have inches per 360. Counts per 360 is 360 / yaw, a number that depends only on the game, never on the mouse.

Overwatch 2 uses a much smaller yaw, so the same eDPI covers more than three times the distance: 494.8 cm against 148.4 cm. That is why an Overwatch player quoting 4,000 eDPI and a Valorant player quoting 280 can be at a similar turn speed.

Matching sensitivity when you change DPI

Keep eDPI fixed and solve for the new sensitivity: new sensitivity = (old DPI x old sensitivity) / new DPI. Moving from 800 DPI at 0.35 to 1600 DPI gives 280 / 1600 = 0.175. Moving down to 400 DPI gives 280 / 400 = 0.70.

Round only at the end. A jump to 3200 DPI produces 280 / 3200 = 0.0875, and most sliders hold 0.088, which is 281.6 eDPI. The difference is 0.6% and no player will feel it, so do not hunt for a fourth decimal place.

Two settings sit outside this math. Windows pointer speed and any mouse acceleration should stay at the default and off, because acceleration multiplies movement by hand speed and no DPI figure can compensate for it. Aim-down-sights multipliers are separate values per scope, so a conversion that only matches hip fire leaves those alone.

Watch for games that store sensitivity on a different scale. A few titles use a 0 to 10 slider or a percentage, and a conversion copied from a friend's screenshot will land in the wrong place. The check is always the same: note the DPI and sensitivity you had, note the DPI and sensitivity you typed, and confirm that both pairs multiply to the same eDPI. If the game shows a sensitivity number next to the slider, use that one.

A quick bench test settles the rest. Pick a wall corner or a fixed landmark, spin a full 360 from a standstill, and mark where your hand ends. Do it three times at the old setting, change DPI, apply the converted sensitivity, and do it three times again. If the marks drift, the game's slider or a driver setting is scaling something the math does not know about.

Typical eDPI ranges by game

The ranges below are rough, drawn from settings that show up in pro and community configs. Treat them as a starting point for testing rather than a target to hit.

Those centimeter figures explain the ranges better than the eDPI numbers do. Valorant rewards a slow turn because targets appear at head height across long angles, while Apex and Overwatch ask for quick turns during close movement. A player who moves from Valorant to Apex and keeps 280 eDPI keeps the same 148.4 cm, which will feel sluggish in a close fight.

What eDPI cannot tell you

Three things live outside the number. The first is yaw, covered above. The second is field of view: a wider FOV compresses the image at the edges, so one centimeter of mouse travel sweeps a different arc across the screen, and titles with FOV sliders feel different at each setting. The Valve notes on field of view describe how that projection is built.

The third is the sensor and the surface. A 26,000 DPI sensor at 400 DPI and a 12,000 DPI sensor at 400 DPI can produce the same eDPI, and the higher spec is not more accurate. Consistency comes from a distance your hand can repeat, which is measured in centimeters per 360, not in DPI.

One myth worth retiring: the idea that low DPI causes pixel skipping. Modern engines read raw counts and apply sensitivity as a floating point multiplier, so 400 DPI at 0.70 and 1600 DPI at 0.175 both turn 148.4 cm and both move the crosshair in steps smaller than a pixel.

Where the sensor does matter is count quality at extreme settings. Some sensors interpolate above a threshold, which means the extra counts are manufactured rather than measured, and aim can stutter. Staying in the 400 to 3200 DPI band keeps you on measured counts for every mainstream sensor, and any turn distance you want is reachable through the sensitivity on top of it.