Sensor and Performance

The SteelSeries Rival 5 is equipped with the TrueMove Air sensor, which I believe to be based on the PixArt PAW3335 (custom SROM). According to specifications, the TrueMove Air is capable of up to 18,000 CPI, as well as a maximum tracking speed of 400 IPS, which equals 10.16 m/s. Out of the box, five pre-defined CPI steps are available: 400, 800, 1200, 2400, and 3200.

CPI Accuracy

"CPI" (short for counts per inch) describes the number of counts registered by the mouse if it is moved exactly an inch. There are several factors (firmware, mounting height of the sensor not meeting specifications, mouse feet thickness, mousing surface, among others) which may contribute to nominal CPI not matching actual CPI. It is impossible to always achieve a perfect match, but ideally, nominal and actual CPI should differ as little as possible. In this test, I'm determining whether this is the case or not. However, please keep in mind that said variance will still differ from unit to unit, so your mileage may vary.


I've restricted my testing to the four most common CPI steps, which are 400, 800, 1600, and 3200. As you can see, deviation is exclusively positive, inconsistent, and significantly large. A below average result overall. In order to account for the measured deviation, adjusted steps of 400, 800, 1600, and 3100 CPI have been used for testing.

Motion Delay

"Motion delay" encompasses all kinds of sensor lag. Any further sources of input delay will not be recorded in this test. The main thing I'll be looking for in this test is sensor smoothing, which describes an averaging of motion data across several capture frames in order to reduce jitter at higher CPI values, increasing motion delay along with it. The goal here is to have as little smoothing as possible. As there is no way to accurately measure motion delay absolutely, it can only be done by comparison with a control subject that has been determined to have the lowest possible motion delay. In this case, the control subject is a G403, whose 3366 has no visible smoothing across the entire CPI range. Note that the G403 is moved first and thus receives a slight head start.


First, I'm looking at two xCounts plots—generated at 1600 and 18,000 CPI—to quickly gauge whether there is any smoothing, which would be indicated by any visible "kinks." As you can see, such kinks are plainly on display in the second plot, which indicates that there is indeed smoothing. In order to determine the exact amount, we'll have to take a look at xSum plots.



In order to determine motion delay, I'm looking at xSum plots generated at 1600, 6200, 11,700, and 18,000 CPI. The line further to the left denotes the sensor with less motion delay. Much like on other 3335 implementations, motion delay isn't constant across the entire motion. Instead, the differential is greatest at the onset of motion and progressively gets smaller towards the end of it. The first row of plots shows the start, end, and overview of the same motion. On top of that, a base motion delay of 1.5–2 ms is present no matter what. As a result, I can measure a motion delay differential of roughly 1.5–2 ms at 1600 CPI towards the end of the motion. At 6200 CPI, the first level of smoothing is applied, resulting in a differential of roughly 4.5–5 ms. 11,700 CPI then has the second level of smoothing, resulting in a motion delay differential of roughly 8 ms, which holds true all the way up to 18,000 CPI.

Speed-related Accuracy Variance (SRAV)

What people typically mean when they talk about "acceleration" is speed-related accuracy variance (or short SRAV). It's not about the mouse having a set amount of inherent positive or negative acceleration, but about the cursor not traveling the same distance if the mouse is moved the same physical distance at different speeds. The easiest way to test this is by comparison with a control subject that is known to have very low SRAV, which in this case is the G403. As you can see from the plot, no displacement between the two cursor paths can be observed, which confirms that SRAV is very low.

Perfect Control Speed

Perfect Control Speed (or PCS for short) is the maximum speed up to which the mouse and its sensor can be moved without the sensor malfunctioning in any way. I've only managed to hit a measly 4.5 m/s (which is within the proclaimed PCS range), at which no sign of the sensor malfunctioning can be observed.

Polling Rate Stability

Of the available polling rate settings (125, 250, 500, and 1000 Hz), 1000 Hz is the only one not showing outliers and looking and performing fine. Polling stability is unaffected by any of the available RGB lighting effects.

Paint Test

This test is used to indicate any potential issues with angle snapping (non-native straightening of linear motion) and jitter, along with any sensor lens rattle. As you can see, no issues with angle snapping can be observed. No jitter is visible at 1600 CPI. 6200 CPI is the first step with smoothing applied and shows minor jitter. 11,700 CPI has the second level of smoothing applied and displays significant jitter, which is further amplified at 18,000 CPI. Lastly, there is some lens movement.

Lift-off Distance

The Rival 5 does not offer any LOD adjustment options. This is unfortunate as the PAW3335 would be fully capable of it. By default, the sensor does not track at a height of 1 DVD (<1.2 mm). Keep in mind that LOD may vary slightly depending on the mousing surface (pad) it is being used on.

Click Latency

Since mechanical switches are being used for the buttons in most computer mice, debouncing is required in order to avoid unintended double clicks. Debouncing typically adds a delay (along with any potential processing delay), which shall be referred to as click latency. As there is no way to measure said delay directly, it has to be done by comparing it to a control subject, which in this case is the Logitech G203. Click latency has been measured to be roughly +9.5 ms when compared to the SteelSeries Ikari, which is considered as the baseline with 0 ms, with standard deviation being 0.79 ms. Please keep in mind that the measured value is not the absolute click latency. Comparison data comes from this thread as well as my own testing, using qsxcv's program.