The upgrade order
This is the site's central argument. Most gear spending goes to the bottom half of this list because the bottom half is what gets reviewed. The top half is mostly free, mostly boring, and where nearly all the available improvement actually is.
How the list is ordered
By effect size per pound spent, with free changes ranked above paid ones at equal effect. That means the list is dominated at the top by configuration rather than hardware, which is an uncomfortable result for anyone who enjoys buying things, including us.
Each entry states what it fixes and roughly what it costs, so you can skip anything already true of your setup.
The order
1. Settle your sensitivity and stop moving it. Free.
Nothing else in this list compounds. Aim is a trained association between a physical distance and an angle, and every change to that association restarts a portion of the training. A mediocre sensitivity used for a year beats a perfect one adopted last week, and that is not close.
If you have changed your sensitivity in the last month, this is your entire to-do list. See how to find your sensitivity.
2. Give yourself the desk space your sensitivity needs. Low cost.
A sensitivity you cannot physically execute is not a sensitivity, it is a plan that fails during fights. If you run out of pad mid-engagement, every subsequent correction starts from a hand position you did not choose.
The fix is usually a larger pad, occasionally a smaller keyboard, occasionally moving the keyboard left and rotating it. All three are cheaper than any other item on this list. See the pad size calculator.
3. Kill your render queue. Free.
The single largest latency term in most setups, frequently 20 to 50 ms, and it is a checkbox. Enable Reflex or Anti-Lag, or cap your framerate a few frames below what your GPU sustains. This routinely removes more delay than every peripheral upgrade a person is considering, combined. See Reflex and Anti-Lag.
4. Set polling to 1000 Hz and check your input path. Free.
125 Hz to 1000 Hz removes 3.5 ms. While you are there: Windows pointer speed at 6/11, enhance pointer precision off, raw input on, in-game acceleration off. Five minutes of work, and it also makes every calculation on this site actually apply to your machine.
5. Fix your desk and chair height. Free.
If your desk is too high, your shoulder is elevated and your forearm has no support, which makes every movement less repeatable and produces the aches people misattribute to their mouse. Elbow at roughly 90 degrees, forearm supported, shoulder relaxed. See desk height and posture.
6. Match the mouse shape to your hand and grip. Medium cost.
The first item that costs real money, and the one that matters most among things that do. Shape fit changes consistency more than sensor, weight and polling rate combined, and it is the specification nobody publishes a fitting guide for. See the mouse size finder.
7. Fix your audio chain and in-game sound settings. Low cost.
Your monitor tells you about 45 degrees. Your headphones tell you about the other 315. Stereo output, engine HRTF on, music off, dynamic range compression on, and a headphone that is not bass-boosted into masking the frequencies footsteps live in. See EQ for competitive play.
8. Raise your framerate. Variable cost.
Framerate shrinks two latency terms at once (input sampling and render queue) and improves motion clarity. It is usually reachable by lowering settings that do not carry information, starting with resolution and post-processing rather than shadows or effects. See frame time and 1% lows.
9. Raise refresh rate, once framerate can feed it. High cost.
Real and substantial up to about 240 Hz, and heavily dependent on your framerate actually reaching it. Buying 480 Hz on a machine that renders 140 fps in a fight is buying refreshes that repeat frames you have already seen. See refresh rate.
10. Everything else.
Mouse weight below 80 g, sensor model, polling above 1000 Hz, switch technology, keycap material, panel technology at equal response speed. All of these are real and all of them are small. Buy them because you enjoy them, which is a perfectly good reason, but do not expect them to change your results.
The list as a table
| # | Change | Cost | Fixes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Settle sensitivity | Free | Loss of accumulated training |
| 2 | Desk space for your sensitivity | Low | Repositioning during fights |
| 3 | Kill the render queue | Free | 20 to 50 ms of latency |
| 4 | 1000 Hz polling, clean input path | Free | 3.5 ms, plus hidden input scaling |
| 5 | Desk and chair height | Free | Movement repeatability, discomfort |
| 6 | Mouse shape fit | Medium | Grip pressure variability |
| 7 | Audio chain and settings | Low | Information you are currently not receiving |
| 8 | Framerate | Variable | Two latency terms and motion clarity |
| 9 | Refresh rate | High | Scan-out wait and motion clarity |
| 10 | Everything else | Variable | Small, real improvements |
Where this ranking does not apply
A framework that never admits exceptions is not a framework, it is a slogan. Here are the cases where we would reorder it.
- You are in pain. Ergonomics moves to first, unconditionally. A setup that hurts is not a setup you can practise on.
- Your mouse double-clicks. Replace or repair it immediately. A failing switch is a random input, and random inputs cannot be trained around.
- You are still on 60 Hz. Move the display to position three. The 60 to 144 Hz step is the largest perceptual improvement in PC gaming and it dwarfs the free items below it.
- You play on Wi-Fi. Ethernet moves to position two. Network variance is harder to play around than any local latency.
- Your mouse does not fit your hand at all. Move shape fit to position two. A mouse you have to grip hard to control is producing a different movement every session.
- You are content and just enjoy the hobby. Then ignore the list entirely and buy what you like. Not everything has to be an optimisation.
Related reading
- Item 1, in detail.
- Item 3, in detail.
- Item 6, with a calculator.
- Check which latency item applies to you.
- The settings checklist: items 3, 4 and 7 as a single twenty minute pass.
- Aim training, which amplifies whatever system it is applied to, including a broken one.
Frequently asked questions
What single change improves aim the most?
Settling on a sensitivity and not changing it. It is free, it is the least discussed option, and it compounds: every hour on a stable mapping is deposited, and every change spends the balance. Nothing you can buy has an effect of comparable size.
Is a better mouse worth it?
If your current one does not fit your hand, yes, and it is high on this list. If it fits and weighs under about 80 grams, a new one is near the bottom. Fit is the specification that matters; weight, sensor and polling rate are largely solved problems in the current market.
Should I upgrade my monitor or my GPU?
Check your 1% low framerate first. If it is below your current refresh rate, the GPU (or CPU, or settings) is your constraint and a faster panel will show you repeated frames. If your 1% low is comfortably above your refresh rate, the panel is the constraint.
Does expensive gear actually help?
At the margins, yes, and the margins are smaller than the price differences suggest. The difference between a fifty pound and a two hundred pound mouse of the same shape and weight class is small. The difference between a mouse that fits your hand and one that does not is large, and it is uncorrelated with price.
What is the cheapest meaningful upgrade?
Three candidates, all under about twenty pounds: grip tape for a mouse you grip too hard, new skates for a mouse whose glide has degraded, and a larger mousepad if your sensitivity does not fit your current one. All three address real, identifiable problems.