MSI Clutch GM70

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MSI Clutch GM70

I am genuine of the opinion that a good gaming mouse is, quite simply, a necessity for a proper experience when gaming on a PC. Sure, you could certainly get away with any £5 bargain bin deal (and, to be clear, I have done), but there is something very neat about a high-quality gaming mouse. To be clear, that does not mean that you need to spend $100+, or even $50. There are plenty of good options at the more budget end of the market, for around 20-30 USD. However, that is not what we have here. MSI has targeted the high end with this product, with it's MSRP coming in at $108.43 (Amazon US), or a staggering 145.90 EUR (on Amazon DE, though I suspect this may be a stock/demand or pricing issue). Even for the former price, this mouse has to put in a truly excellent showing across the board, then.

The GM70 is, essentially, your fairly standard 'gamers' mouse. Connectivity comes in the form of a braided (and gold plated) Micro-USB to USB-A cable, or wirelessly with a dongle. As it is 2018, and the GM70 is a top of the line product, the mouse also has numerous fully addressable RGB zones which can be manipulated through their MSI Mystic Light and MSI Gaming Centre software. Again, more on this later. Wireless mice are becoming more common of late, with companies like Corsair offering wireless charging mats as well (as seen in our review of the relatively new Corsair Dark Core, linked here). This is not one of those products, but wireless it certainly is. Polling rates of up to 3000Hz are achievable with the mouse wired in, or 1000Hz with it in wireless mode. Polling rate, for those not in the know, is simply how many times per second the mouse 'reports' what it is doing back to the connected computer. 1000Hz is fairly standard for even high-end mice, so 3000 might be seen as overkill, depending on who you talk to. For those in pursuit of the ultimate 'feedback,' I guess more is better.

The GM70 goes top of the line for its optical sensor (as it should), featuring Pixart's excellent PMW3360, with the aim of providing the best tracking possible. This is, to be fair, a feature that a lot of higher end (and even mid-range) mice go for, so it's inclusion in the GM70 should really be seen as expected, rather than a bonus. With up to 18,000 DPI on offer, this rarely makes sense for anyone rocking your standard 1080p 24-inch monitor. However, for those using ultra-high resolution and/or larger displays, higher than reasonable DPI values start to make sense. The values can be adjusted in software in increments of 100, and 4 different values can be stored. For gaming, however, most seem to recommend a low DPI with high(er) in-game sensitivity. This works well enough for me, so I'll recommend the same. MSI is quick to advertise the GM70's modularity. Whilst there is a massive amount of customization on offer here, there is the ability to swap out a variety of magnet mounted sidebars in order to make the mouse 'feel' as you want it to. Companies who design mice inevitably have to face up to the fact that there will almost never be a mouse design that can accommodate 100% of hand sizes and shapes around the world. If there was. likely it would be the most boring and generic looking 'mouse' that ever existed. Therefore, do you design a mouse to be as 'universal' as possible? Do you aim for those using an all hand 'palm' grip? What about the 'claw' grippers? It's a lottery, and sadly I wasn't able to find a combination of sidebars that totally suited my hand with the GM70. I will cover this in more detail later, and why that came to be.

Let's tackle the elephant in the room, shall we? The RGB. MSI is a company with their own brand of RGB software, dubbed 'Mystic Light.' As before stated, I have used this software for a short time during my brief ownership of an MSI Gaming X GTX 1070 (which was, I have to say, an exceptionally good card). I'll be tackling the software later. For now, however, we will take a look at the mouse's lighting objectively. Zones wise, it's a good showing. The GM70 offers RGB lighting for the MSI dragon logo and sidebar lights. Lighting is an area where this mouse excels, it must be said. The clarity is excellent, and - strange as it may sound - it isn't overdone, with even the sidebars offering 'gentle' illumination that isn't overly garish. Given the plain black color scheme, I think the GM70 looks surprisingly understated, RGB or not. This, of course, maybe a disappointment to those looking for blazing bright RGB lighting, so again we are back to subjectivity. I appreciate the presence of the lighting, but like the fact, it isn't overwhelming or overdone.

Before I go on with this review, I need to emphasize one thing. Mice are, perhaps, the most subjective things that we cover at Guru3D, and anywhere. Our hands are different shapes, sizes, and dimensions. We use different grips. We each play different games. There are more factors, but once you had three levels of subjectivity into covering a product for the masses, you absolutely have to take what you read in the following pages with a huge grain of salt! Overleaf, we'll go through the features and specifications of this mouse, though anybody reasonably familiar with the gaming mouse scene will be familiar with what's on offer here.