discussion Gigabyte Ghost GM-M8000 Gaming Mouse Review

[AkG]

Gigabyte Ghost GM-M8000 Gaming Mouse Review
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Manufactures Product Page: GIGABYTE - GM-M8000
TechWiki: Gigabyte Ghost - GM-M8000 Mouse
Availability: Limited
Price: Approx. $50 USD


No matter how new, no matter how expensive, no matter whether is an OEM PC, custom build PC....or even a MAC, your computer is next to useless without an essential peripheral: the good old mouse. Without a good mouse, your shiny new system is nothing more than a fancy object d’art which will sit there collecting dust. It’s funny, but even though they are such crucial pieces of any system, most people overlook their importance and buy whatever mouse is cheapest or closest at hand. There is nothing wrong with being frugal with one’s money and in today’s hard economic times it’s a darn near essential survival trait; however there is a big difference between “cheap” and “inexpensive”. Before we go on though, let us make one thing clear: paying a premium for a good unit isn't throwing money out the window since everyone from gamers to graphic artists can benefit from a properly designed mouse. It all comes down to ergonomics and ease of use.

Today we will be looking at an item which may not be considered inexpensive by many but doesn’t cost an arm and a leg when compared to other enthusiast-grade mice on the maket. To be specific, we will be looking the Gigabyte GM-M8000 “Ghost” laser mouse. While Gigabyte isn't the the first company to come to mind when people talk about peripherals, they are making some headway in this category and the Ghost is a prime example of this.

Being geared towards gamers, this product boasts some pretty impressive features including 1ms polling, 4000DPI laser engine and even onboard memory. While not widely available from retailers or e-tailers yet this will soon change. It’s MSRP is about $50 USD and like we said, the Ghost is not exactly what you would call a low-cost, bargain-basement mouse but it isnt' in the $80 plus category like most manufactures’ mice which boast similar features.

Will this mouse prove to be worth its price tag, or is going to be just another “high priced, low value” item? We intend to find out and see if Gigabyte can have as much success in the peripheral marketplace as they have had in the motherboard business.

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[AkG]

Specifications

Specifications

<img src="http://images.hardwarecanucks.com/image/akg/Mouse/M8000/specs.jpg" border="0" alt="" />
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[AkG]

Packaging and Accessories

Packaging and Accessories

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This box screams “gamer” at the top of its lungs and is not ashamed to be marketed to this highly demanding niche. While it may be bold and exuberant, we don’t think it crosses the line into garish.

Helping to temper its boyish exuberance is the wealth of information Gigabyte has included; there is so much data and details that they needed to make the back of the box fold out to hold it all.

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The internal protection scheme is a bit of an oxymoron as the clear plastic shell for the mouse is clearly on the outside of the box due to the extra large cutout. We are usually not fond lovers of this setup but it does give you a clear picture of the mouse and also allows you to “palm” it without ever taking it from its protective case.

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When it comes to the list of accessories words like overflowing, impressive and the like are perfect descriptions for this goodie bag. All in all, you get a CD with software and drivers, an owners manual / pamphlet and a set of weights for customization. These weights consist of three 6 gram weights and a monster 20 gram big’un allowing for combinations ranging from 0 (no weights added) all the way up to 38grams of added weight. We personally like our gaming mice to be light for twitch-style games, but for precision detail work you can’t beat slow and heavy; and this mouse appears to give you the best of all possible worlds.

 

[AkG]

Up Close and Personal

Up Close and Personal

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The Ghost is not technically a true ambidextrous mouse and while most right handed people will find it a very comfortable fit, the same may not be for all lefties. However with that being said, it is fairly close to an ambidextrous design and many left handers will not find fault with the fit.

Regardless of which hand you use, and for all you palm grippers out there, the graceful arch on the top will fit your palm like a second glove. Even if you have a large hand like I do you will still find it an extremely comfortable grip. Also on the positive side, if you do use a palm grip hold, the long rubber inserts on both sides of the mouse for both thumb and little finger combined with that nice graceful arch should allow for minimal hand fatigue over extended gaming sessions.

Interestingly enough, if you prefer a more finger or claw grip you too will find the Ghost quite ergonomic in its structure and feel. This mouse really is designed from the ground up for long term gaming comfort and it shows.

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As with darn near any mouse out there, the M8000 has the ubiquitous wheel (with horizontal and vertical scrolling) as well as two buttons on the left side which are positioned for easy thumb access. These are features we all have come to expect from any mouse; however, this mouse is designed and marketed as a gaming mouse (technically a "professional" gaming mouse) and as such has many interesting tweaks usually only found on more expensive products.

The biggest of these features is on the fly DPI changing via a perfectly placed center button. This button is located far enough back from the wheel that you will not accidentally hit it, yet is far enough forward that your palm or base of a finger won't accidentally knock it either. This is actually a dual-use button since pushing it forward will increase the DPI and moving it to the back will decrease the DPI setting. This is a simple, easy implementation and even in the heat of an RPG battle you will not be confused and increase the DPI when you wanted to decrease it (and vice versa).

Even if the software is not installed there are 4 preset levels of precision allowing for out of the box customizability. This is nice, as we hate losing a bunch of key features just because we have taken it to a new system and haven’t had time to install some piece of bloatware.

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While on the fly DPI changing is great, as are the 4 DPI presets, the inclusion of a clear status indicator takes it from a nice feature to one sweet setup. The front left edge of the M8000 has four orange LEDs that light up to show which preset is engaged. If you are at the lowest setting only 1 LED will light up and if you are at the max 4000DPI ALL will be glowing. Elegantly simple, simply elegant.

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On the front right hand side is another lone button. This button will allow you to instantly change from profile to profile. In all you can have three separate and distinct profiles, allowing any of the buttons to act completely differently (or even run a custom macro) with just a click of this button.

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Just by looking at the top of the M8000 you can tell which of the 3 profiles you are in, as the Gigabyte logo will glow BLUE, RED or GREEN.

 

[AkG]

Up Close and Personal con't

Up Close and Personal con't

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Taking these customizable features to the next level is the built in memory, which can store not only the 3 profiles but also a bunch of macros which YOU can create. You will have to install the light weight, bloat free software to change any of the settings, create said macros or even customize the built in 3 profiles (which are all set to the same default setting) but you do not have to keep said software running (or even installed) when you are finished. Everything is stored on board the mouse and where ever the mouse is…so too are your customizations. We will look into this with more detail in the software section but on a cursory glance, we are impressed.

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While this is NOT a wireless mouse it has one of the best cables we have come across in this mid-teir price range in a long while. The cable is not only long at 1.8 Meters, and not only is there a low ferrous choke to reduce external noise messing up the signal but the whole length of the cable is finished in a tight and slick feeling material braid. Without a doubt, this is one elegant and yet simple solution to “cord snag”.

Overall, the Ghost is shaping up to be one easy to use mouse with a ton of features, all of which have been properly executed AND at a price which is starting to become amazingly low.

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Flipping the mouse over, we can see that Gigabyte included two large ultra low friction feet; one at the front of the mouse and the back. While they are large and more than enough to get the job done we really wish they had included a third (and preferable fourth) foot for cover side to side motion to prevent the mouse from digging in when being used in a hot and heavy manner on a neoprene backed cloth mouse pad. If you use a HWC Custom Surface 1030 Archetype this is not a problem…but not everyone is advanced in their gaming setup and some actually prefer a more old school “feel”. Even on some of the more "advanced" gaming surfaces, the additional feet could prove to be beneficial.

Smack dead center on the long axis of the mouse lays the little hole which hides the eye of the 4000DPI sensor and laser. While 4000 dpi is not the highest we have seen from a laser mouse, it is right up there with some of the best in the industry. Heck, most people are not going to be gaming at 4000 dpi as it requires a level of precision and fast twitch muscles, combined with endless hours of “training” (usually a favorite FPS) that most casual gamers just don't have the time to develop.

Honestly though, it doesn't matter if you will spend most of your time at 400 dpi or 4000 dpi is beside the point. As we have said in the past: there is no such thing as overkill, so having "too much" precision is a good thing as it is better than "not enough". This setting is something that isn't available with most lower priced mice. So, whether or not you are a professional gamer is immaterial since as long as you take your play seriously nothing can be more frustrating that hitting an artificial wall created by inferior tech. This is not something you will have to worry about with the Ghost.

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Moving on to the back end of the mouse, we come to the large weight area door. With a simple twist this door pops off allowing you customize the weight and thus feel of the Ghost. As we said in the accessories section, you get three 6 gram weights and one large 20 gram weight, allowing for a heck of a lot of possibilities. To our way of thinking this extra touch really was great to see and was impressive as it is usually only found on much more costly mice. After all, not everyone prefers the same weight to their mouse so why should you have to accommodate yourself to your mouse and not the other way around.

Personally, a light weight mouse with high DPI for fast FPS games is perfection, but when it comes to photo editing where precision is paramount, the slowest, heaviest mouse rules. To this end, I found one 6 gram weight in the center (with 3200DPI) was perfect for FPS (just enough weight to remove a sense of whippiness to this lightweight mouse), and all slots filled for Photoshop (at 800DPI) was the secret to long lasting happiness.

In the end, this weight customization perfectly sums up the philosophy behind the Ghost. Gigabyte really does seem to have gone out of their way to include every possible tweak you can think of and then some. Everything from on the fly DPI changing, to one-click customized mouse button settings, to quick weight lose / gains is blended seamlessly into a package that should be very comfortable for most people. If this mouse was in the $80+ range we would very pleased with it, the fact all this comes in at a price which is a lot less…..is impressive indeed.

 

[AkG]

Mouse Software Overview

Mouse Software Overview

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Installing the software is simplicity itself, as all you need to do is load the included CD and follow the onscreen instructions. When this painless operation is completed, you will notice a new icon on your desktop, and the fact you didn’t have to reboot. This software is simply a way of interfacing with the hardware on the mouse and a way of telling it what you want and how you want it to react to the various mouse commands. More importantly it is not a program which has to be running for you to have access to the advanced features of the mouse. This is unlike most manufacturer's mice as usually the mouse is a "dumb" which means that it needs a running program to interpret the various mouse actions and relay that information unto the Operating System.

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You really only need the software to reprogram the 3 mouse profiles and various settings and then you can uninstall it, or even use the mouse on a different system without the need of any more messing around. The onboard memory really is that powerful and the onboard hardware and software really is that good at its job.

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Easy installation or no, the interface and ease of use of said software is what makes or breaks a mouse. In the case of the M8000, the software is not only extremely lightweight on system resources but also quite user friendly while at the same time not being limited in its abilities. To get the ease of use part of the equation, many manufacturers release their software with such a limited interface that it looks like it was designed for OS X. This certainly is not the case with this little guy as it may be simple and lightweight but the customization offered in the macro editing is extremely flexible AND robust.

Each button is given its own list of options which cover most normal day to day tasks; however when one of them does not fit your needs, simply selecting edit macro causes a window to pop up where you can quickly and easily make an extremely complex (or simple) macro.

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While the macro editor allows for up to 254 actions, it is limited to 127 keystroke/ mouse click commands as each click is registered as a depression and then as a separate release (to allow for multiple keystroke commands like Cntrl+Alt+Delete for example), this should be good enough for darn near anyone. Even better is the fact it appears you are not limited in the number of these macros you can create.

You are of course limited to using a max of 15 macros at a time as the GM-M8000 only has 5 buttons and “only” enough onboard storage for 3 profiles. To our way of thinking, this is definitely not a hardship and if you need more than that we recommend combining this mouse with a keyboard which also has macros. For everyone else, the Ghost should cover all the bases.

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Moving onto the second of the four tab options, we come to the sensitivity settings. As with any good mouse you can not only set the X and Y axis independently but you can also increase the polling speed / report rate above the standard rate. In this instance, you can go all the way to 1000Hz or 1ms. We will be checking this claim latter in the review with a simple handy dandy program which reports the polling speed in real time of a mouse (Aptly named DX_Mouse_Timer).

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The third tab consists of tweaking the wheel scroll speeds. You can set the vertical and horizontal speeds in precise fashion. It would have been nice if Gigabyte had gone above and beyond this typical setup and had included a drop down box or some other means of selecting how many lines, paragraphs, pages, etc one wheel click would equal. Also on the disappointing side is that to get horizontal scrolling you have to install (on ALL systems this mouse will be used on) a separate small piece of software. In many ways this does take away from the freedom the mouse affords; however as this limitation is only for horizontal scrolling it is a minor annoyance and not one which hamstrings the whole philosophy of zero installation freedom.

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The last tab is not really a tab per say as it opens the default Windows mouse properties pop up. This was not unexpected as it is labeled “Windows” and so at least Gigabyte is being honest about it. However, what this tab really does is allow you to set the Ghost to MS Inteli-Mouse compatibility mode. It also allows for more precise scroll adjustment. All in all this last tab does add an extra layer of polish to this setup as some systems, no matter how powerful, do not play nice with all new products. For Gigabyte to not only recognize this sad fact but to take steps to ensure that THIS mouse WILL work says a lot about their underlying commitment to service and customer satisfaction.

Overall the tweakability we saw with the layout and design of this mouse has certainly carried over to the software end of things. While there are a few minor areas for improvement, the fact all this power is wrapped up in such a light weight (resource wise) package which doesn’t even need to be resident to work is impressive to say the least. Over the years we have used many a mouse which while good was quickly discarded due to bad, buggy or bloated software which had to be running at all times. This seems to be the Achilles heel of many companies’ products, and has caused many of these self same products to fall short of our (admittedly high) levels of expectation. Bravo Gigabyte for getting the hardware AND the software right. We are impressed.

 

[AkG]

Performance Results

Subjective Impressions and Testing

General, Everyday Usage

Unless you are an extremely hardcore gamer, a paid professional or a WOW addict, the majority of any peripherals' daily usage rouine will consist of more mundane things than saving the world / yourself / princess from zombies/ aliens / armies etc. To this end mouse made for gaming also has to be comfortable for long-term “normal” uses like surfing the Internet, manipulating photos in Photoshop and even more general “boring” tasks like manipulating your on screen pointer. Over the course of two weeks, this mouse was used as the lone human interface device (i.e. mouse) and this is what we found.

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In daily tasks, installing all three 6 gram weights to the base of the unit and using a setting of 1200-1500 dpi seemed to be darn near perfect. It was just as comfortable at the end of a marathon Photoshop and excel chart making session (3 different HWC reviews and about 45 charts) as it was at the beginning. While we would usually use more weight than this for Photoshop, the combination of CS3 and Excel 2007 required a compromise for increased speed. The three distinct profiles really made things a lot quicker as it was extremely easy to switch between a Photoshop macro laden profile and an Excel profile laden with the most used formulas keyed to the different buttons all the while leaving the third preset as a mundane mouse setup.

When it came to Internet usage it did become apparent that three profiles is really not enough as it setting up a fourth profile meant dropping one of the others. For long term surfing (for example while researching the latest technology to come down the pipe and has been vaguely mentioned to me by our editor) setting the mouse at a 45° left leaning angle and remapping the “left mouse button” to COPY and using the remapped right as the left button made research note taking easy. This setup may sound odd but when you have mild Carpal Tunnel Syndrome, changing the repetitive motions even slightly can have huge gains in pain levels at the end of the day. It also repositions a normal “palm grip” into a more relaxed hand position without resorting to lackluster oddities marketed as CTS-friendly mice. The rubber side grips with a nice mid hump make for a very comfortable and pain free hand position.

Gaming Impressions

General usage is all well and fine but for a product labeled, marked and designed as a “gaming mouse", it just doesn't cut the mustard. So, with unrestrained glee we let loose the hounds of war…so to speak and subjected the Ghost to everything from a 12 hours Crysis marathon (an oldie but a goodie when played with much of the eye candy turned on), to opening up the classic version of StarCraft and getting our Zerg killing on.

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In the end, we walked away fairly impressed with this moderately priced mouse. The side rubber grips work well no matter how sticky, sweaty or slick our hands got…BUT the top two mice buttons' slick plastic did make us miss a few alien SOBs in later levels of Crysis. We would be almost inclined to purchase high friction tape, scuff the hell out of it so it doesn’t remove layers of skin and apply it to the bottom half of these crucial buttons.

On the positive side, on the fly DPI changes for quick transitions from (low DPI) long range head shots to (higher DPI) mêlée fast twitching was a breeze. Regardless of how fast you like your mouse….this can handle it and leave you wanting more.

Response Rate Testing

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This mouse claims response times as low as 1ms, and while it does not come set to this out of the box we did want to investigate just how fast this wee beastie can be. To this end we used the extremely small and resource light program call DX_Mouse_Timer. With the Ghost engine set to it’s max of 1000 we actually were able to get BETTER than 1ms response times from the M8000. We got a peak response of 0.96ms or 1043Hz. Wow…simply wow. We have to admit that we had a sneaking suspicion that this was going to be a case of the PR department writing cheques the hardware department could not cash. However, we are proud to admit that we were not only wrong but that Gigabyte may have been conservative in their numbers.

 

[AkG]

Conclusion

Conclusion

As you could tell throughout this review, we thoroughly enjoyed testing, using and all around torturing the Gigabyte GM-M8000 mouse. When we first heard that we were going to be reviewing it, we admit there were some hesitations. While the occasional diamond in the rough shows up, it has been our experience that most “gaming mice” might be the best thing since sliced bread in their main niche but they usually disappoint us when it comes to day to day usage. We have probably used most mice out there at one time or another and for the most part we have found many gaming mice to be generally lacking the niceties which hold them back from being good cross over peripherals. At any one time my main rig has at least two (sometimes more) mice attached and a trackball. This is not out of some elite snobbery but out of simple necessity. One is usually set up with macros and a lowered DPI for Photoshop work, another for general usage and another for when I want to get my game on.

Will this mouse replace all the others on my main rig? No, it will not. I have spent too much time and effort on that setup to change it now and a while there are some compelling arguments for this mouse there are a few issues which negate some or all of them. Let's tackle these issues one by one.

One of the greatest attributes the Ghost has is its well implemented ergonomic design making it easy to use and thus should be pleasing to a wide range of consumers. Sadly, while it is comfortable it is not as comfortable as a true claw or palm-style mouse would be. This would be perfectly acceptable in a “multi-media” or general purpose mouse, but we have to remember that Gigabyte is trying to cater to a specific niche market (one in which perfection is the name of the game) and this mouse may turn many gaming enthusiasts off.

The Ghost also has and amazingly low sub 1ms response time and built in profiles. We really have no issue with the first feature, other than the fact that it should be set right out of the box to this speed and should not require any tweaking to get it. This is most likely to allow for a wider range of capability with older systems. That being, said it still offers an amazing lag free gaming experience and one we don’t mind having to mess with a great software program like the one Gigabyte includes. The second feature is not so cut and dry. We really like the idea of having profiles built into the mouse and thinks it’s a GREAT idea but unfortunately this mouse either needs more buttons or more profiles…or maybe even both. As we saw in testing, it was relatively easy to hit this extremely low limit of 3 profiles. Mitigating this is the software which is good enough that other companies should take note of this and get to work trimming the fat from their own bloated software.

The last big positive attribute of this mouse is its weight customizability. This really does allow you to fine-tune its feel for a better fit. However, the addition of the weights does feel clunky and heavy handed in its approach where there is only two sizes of weights available: medium and huge. A small weight or two which is half the size of the medium weight would have really allowed for some fine tuning. As it is, this is a good approach…but once again not great.

As you can see, the Gigabyte GM-M8000 does have a lot going for it and it does make for one heck of a versatile mouse. The one thing which really snatched defeat from the jaws of victory was the fact that this mouse breaks the cardinal rule of gaming equipment: at no time should the product slow down, impeded or impair your gaming experience….EVER. Unfortunately, for all the great things this mouse has going for it this crucial area; this is where the Ghost mouse fails. During testing, the main left and right buttons got down right slippery and it cost us big time in some tough situations. This is something which is not acceptable in a gaming mouse and is the biggest disappointment with this product.

If you want a good all round general purpose mouse for darn near any category but AND don’t want to spend an arm and a leg on it, this mouse should be right up there at the top of your list. However, if you are like most humans and your palms sweat, prepare for some serious frustration. We hate to come down like this on a product we like so much since the GM-M8000 really does do a lot of things well and we think even with the above caveats it proves to be a wise purchasing decision. However, if you are looking for a hardcore gaming mouse, then you may be disappointed in the Ghost. Hopefully, a future revision will have a rubberized grip, dimpled buttons or tweak which will invalidate our criticism of it.


Pros

- Comfortable
- on the fly DPI change
- sub 1ms polling rate
- 4000DPI sensor
- 3 onboard profiles
- 4 built in sensitivity settings
- Horizontal and Vertical Scroll
- No software required to USE the 3 onboard profiles
- Lightweight software interface program
- Powerful customizations options
- Adjustable weights


Cons

- Horizontal Scrolling requires software to be installed
- Weights only come in 2 sizes (really need a third, 3gram size)
- Slippery left and right buttons
- Wheel did develop a squeal later on
- Polling rate is NOT set to 1000Hz “out of the box”
- only 3 profiles can be stored in onboard memory
- Needs more and bigger low friction feet