Gigabyte XM300 Xtreme Gaming Mouse

Introduction & Specifications

A mouse. We all need one, whether it be used to simply navigate the web or to play online games, it is a vital part of anyone’s setup. Today I shall be taking a look at the Gigabyte Xtreme Gaming, XM300. Is this the new mouse you’ve been looking for?

First off, we’ll take a look at the features that come with this mouse along with its specs:

• 6400 DPI Optical Sensor (Pixart 3988)
• RGB Lighting (up to 16.8 Million Colours)
• 1000Hz Polling Rate
• Omron Switches (20 Million Clicks)
• 6 Programmable Buttons
• Xtreme Gaming Engine Software
• DPI Indication LED’s
• Removable Thumb Grip
• 8m Cable (Non-Braided)
• Right Handed Ergonomic Palm Grip
• Gold Plated USB Connector
• 101g weight
• Teflon Mouse Feet

Packaging

Next, we’ll have a look at the box. Overall the box is very clean looking and follows Gigabyte’s black and orange theme. The front shows a large picture of the mouse itself alongside the name and a few features. A flap sealed by Velcro exposes the interior view, where inside you’ll find a plastic cover holding the mouse in place and some motivational words from Gigabyte themselves! Make your way to the back of the box and you’ll be greeted with a table full of the specs, along with a further view of the mouse.

Inside the box, there is nothing but the mouse and some replacement Teflon feet which are expected from a mouse at this price.

Aesthetics and Functions

Here you can see the mouse in all its glory, I must say, it’s very appealing and the overall shape reminds me of the Razer Death Adder. The scroll wheel to start off with is very satisfying to use and its surface is one ring of rubber with grips that resemble that of a tyre.

Above the scroll wheel are 2 buttons, the “on-the-fly” DPI changing buttons. As you’d think, upon clicking, these buttons change between 4 DPI profiles that can be customised within the Xtreme Gaming Engine. One thing I do have to say is whilst using the scroll wheel some of the scrolls wouldn’t register, not a massive deal whilst doing things such as browsing the web but if you are a gamer like me this can be quite frustrating at times.

To the left side of the mouse, you can see the 2 programmable buttons, the removable thumb grip and the DPI indication leds. The buttons are very easy to press whilst gaming and have a very nice clicking sound, the grip is very comfortable and I think the LED indicator is a nice touch too.

The right side of the mouse reveals nothing more than another grip, although this one is irremovable.

Around the back of the mouse, there is an illuminated Gigabyte logo which is fully customizable (up to 16.8 million colours) in the Xtreme Gaming Engine. These LED’s are very bright so you can easily see them, whether it’s day or night!

There’s not much to see underneath apart from the 6400 DPI sensor and the 3 Teflon feet (replacements are included if you wear them down).

Software

Although you’re not obligated to download the Xtreme Gaming Engine, it is very useful and I would recommend you download it if you do indeed purchase this mouse. There are 5 tabs inside the Xtreme Gaming Engine, LED, Buttons, Macro, Pointer and others. The LED tab, as it implies, is where you customise the leds on the mouse. There are 4 modes you can select, Static, Breathing, Cycling and Off. After selecting a mode, you can choose a brightness and a colour! Once you have finished you can save it as a profile and then create another lighting effect if you’d like!

To change what any of the buttons on the mouse do you’d want to head over to the Buttons tab. On this tab, you can choose any one of the 6 programmable buttons and make it do things such as open an application or act as a keyboard key. Next is the Macro tab, this is where you create macros. Once you’ve created a macro you can go back over to the buttons tab and assign the macro you’ve just created to any of the buttons on the mouse. If you feel like changing the sensitivity of the mouse you’d need to head over to the pointer tab. This is the tab where you can change the DPI of the mouse. You can set 4 different DPI’s for the 4 different profiles and then use the DPI buttons on the top of the mouse to switch between them whilst in a game. The white LED’s on the side of the mouse indicate which DPI profile is active by having either 1, 2, 3 or 4 lights glowing.

Finally the Others tab. On this tab, all you can do is check for updates for both the software and firmware. Overall I had a very good experience with the Xtreme Gaming Engine with no lag, bugs or lack of functionality, everything that I could ever want to customise on the mouse was possible with the Xtreme Gaming Engine!

Performance

From using this mouse for a week, I can tell you it has been a real pleasure. As a predominately FPS player, I can say this mouse is very accurate and is very easy to click fast with, due to the short activation distance. I have been able to get very accurate with shooting in games such as CS: isGO and been able to click up to 3 times more per second than my old mouse (Roccat Kova) which may not sound like a lot but can make a whole lot of difference in a competitive game. However as mentioned earlier there is an issue with the scroll wheel, sometimes when the wheel is scrolled it does not register. Whether it is due to the software or my mouse I am unsure but at times this can be extremely frustrating.

Conclusion

So now we come to the conclusion…the part you’ve all been waiting for! Well, to start with I have to say that this mouse (in my opinion) is beautiful. The overall shape and size is relatively perfect and both the LED logo and the DPI indicator just complete the overall look of the mouse. As stated earlier, the Gigabyte XM300’s style is like that of the Razer Death Adder, which is no bad thing at all. The only gripe that some people may complain about is the cable, in that it isn’t braided. This doesn’t really bother me too much, although it might others. Although the life of the mouse may be shortened I personally prefer the non-braided cable.

Performance wise the XM300 is great, for the most part. The side buttons are easy to use, with both the LMB and RMB having a very short activation distance and the sensor being pretty accurate. The one thing letting the performance rating of this mouse down is the scroll wheel. Although I do like the feel of the it, at times I would scroll either up or down and it just wouldn’t register. Not necessarily a deal breaker but definitely something to keep in mind, especially if you play competitively.

Although it’s not amazing, the software accompanying the mouse does exactly what it says on the tin. It may not be up there with other peripheral companion applications, but it gets the job done. If I want to change the LED’s…I can do it, if I want to change the DPI…I can do it, if I want to change what the buttons do…I can do it. All of this is expected from the accompanying software however, and nothing in the Xtreme Gaming Engine really blew me away. There isn’t anything wrong with the software, I’d just like it to be a bit more polished and have features in it other peripheral applications don’t.

Although I have only used the Gigabyte XM300 for a week, I’ve really enjoyed my time with it. This mouse does come with its flaws, but for less than £35, you can’t really complain. The mouse is ergonomic, aesthetically pleasing, well performing and cheap! If you are in the market for a new mouse, I would definitely consider this one!

Huge thanks to Gigabyte for sending the mouse in for review. Click HERE for their official page on the Xtreme Gaming XM300.

Pros:

– Good aesthetic design
– RGB Led’s
– 7 fully programmable buttons

Cons:

– Scroll wheel occasionally unresponsive
– Removable thumb grip could be more secure