Steelseries Rival 100 sensor review: native DPI, acceleration, polling rate, datasheet specs

The Rival 100 gaming mouse is a great budget solution for those looking to maximize gaming sensor technology with proprietary software, a sturdy build, and an overall well-polished "entry-level" gaming mouse.

Because the Rival 100 uses a SteelSeries SDNS-3059-SS optical sensor it's guaranteed to reduce jitter, and increase performance response, precision, and works up to 4,000 CPI - although not a recommended setting for most games. It is set by default at 2,000CPI, and in reality, the majority of gamers don't need to actually use a 4,000-8,000 CPI sensor.
The previous decision of Steelseries using the A3060 and it's performance as well as popularity among serious gamers has led to it now relying on the A3059. And at 1,000Hz it definitely outshines much of the competition for gaming mice. Ultimately, users are very satisfied with the Rival 100 Gaming Mouse's ability to work up to 127 counts per poll, while the biggest challenge is ultimately with the bandwidth, not sensor technology.

It also works well as far as a jitter test and cursor stability go up to around 500CPI or more, but, once you attempt to plow this gaming sensor into anything higher than 1000CPI you'll experience some struggles with game-play performance, response, and reliability. So again, a great “basic” gaming mouse, and relatively premium gaming mouse sensor technology. For those that desire a zero hardware acceleration this is also a great choice, as it's responsive in mea
suring physical distance, may it be static or lifting (LOD) the sensor off of a surface.