Hardware Peripherals

[MiRai]

It was brought to my attention that we could probably use a centralized thread where people can post about the specific hardware that they've either used or have seen and thought might be useful, and what they like (or dislike) about it. Especially more exotic peripherals such as game pads, foot pedals, or X-keys-like programmable hardware which rarely have their own category when searching sites and can be difficult to find if you don't know that they exist, but feel free to post about anything you think might be useful.

[Ughmahedhurtz]

I still use the World of Warcraft Steelseries Cataclysm mouse (http://www.amazon.com/SteelSeries-World-Warcraft-Cataclysm-Gaming/dp/B004GZ2RCY) and it's been rock solid. Especially with ISBoxer supporting it natively. [edit] This thing works so well, I bought another one for work. [edit2] These have now died due to scroll wheel jumping in the wrong direction. I cleaned them up and reassembled and it helped a bit for a few weeks but returned to the bad behavior. SAD!

---------- If the below stuff is outside of the intent of this thread, lemme know and I'll edit. -----------
Just as a baseline for "system-spec"/"Will my system 5-box WoW?" questions, I am running:

Original Config:

i7-2600K @ 3.8GHz
Intel reference motherboard
12GB 2000MHz triple-channel (3x4GB)
EVGA GTX460 1GB
Dual Samsung 840 Pro 256GB in RAID0

DX-11 enabled, FSAA/etc. disabled
All 5 clients stacked at 1920x1080 with a 640x1080 dxNothing window on the side
All settings at the lowest I can set them and still see effects/puddles on the ground
foreground FPS = 60
background FPS = 12
foreground farclip = 750
background farclip = 1
New character models are disabled.

With the above, porting into Warspear(Ashran) chugs me down to 5-10fps on all clients.
Porting into Temple of the Moon (whatever the central cap city in MoP land is) stutters badly at first and then comes back up to ~25fps
Porting into Orgrimmar is similarly rough for several seconds and then comes up to ~40fps
Going through an area with a lot of smoke/fire effects tanks FPS down pretty badly depending on how much of it there is on screen.
Typical outside/instance FPS sits at 60 on the main without too much trouble except for smoke/fire areas.
If I have my browser open and watching Netflix/Youtube/etc. and a bunch of tabs, I will frequently get "Out of system resources" warnings after a few hours of play.

If I downgrade from DX-11 to DX-9 in the renderer options, my FPS is consistently up around 60 on the main with very few exceptions, and I don't get the OOM warnings.

Updated config:

i7-2600K @ 3.8GHz
Intel reference motherboard
32GB Hynix 1800MHz quad-channel (4x8GB)
EVGA GTX580 3GB
Dual Samsung 840 Pro 256GB in RAID0

Updated config 13 August 2018:

i7-6600K @ 4GHz
MSI Gaming 7 motherboard
32GB Corsair 2600MHz quad-channel (4x8GB)
EVGA 980Ti 11GB
Dual Samsung 850 Evo 256GB in RAID0

DX-12 enabled, basically Ultra enabled as a starting point
All 5 clients stacked at 1920x1080 with a 640x1080 dxNothing window on the side
All settings at roughly "High" settings
foreground FPS = 60
background FPS = 12
New character models are enabled.

Lead character macro:

/console farclip 1500
/console textureFilteringMode 4
/console projectedTextures 1
/console environmentDetail 100
/console extShadowQuality 4
/console groundEffectDist 0
/console groundEffectDensity 0
/console waterDetail 2
/console sunshafts 2
/console shadowMode 3
/console renderscale 1
Followers macro:

/console farclip 1
/console textureFilteringMode 0
/console projectedTextures 1
/console environmentDetail 0
/console extShadowQuality 0
/console groundEffectDist 0
/console groundEffectDensity 0
/console waterDetail 0
/console sunshafts 0
/console shadowMode 0
/console renderscale 0.3

With this updated config, I park at ~60fps pretty much everywhere, with dips down to ~50fps in warspear.

[rfarris]

I run Stinky Footboard (http://stinkyboard.com/) I thought that it would be more useful than it turned out, but I found that I don't really like to let my foot rest actively on the board; my leg would get tired trying to keep my foot in a special place. But still, it's a very heavy piece of gear and I like it a lot as a hotkey for vent, skype, etc.

[JohnGabriel]

I run Stinky Footboard (http://stinkyboard.com/) I thought that it would be more useful than it turned out, but I found that I don't really like to let my foot rest actively on the board; my leg would get tired trying to keep my foot in a special place. But still, it's a very heavy piece of gear and I like it a lot as a hotkey for vent, skype, etc.

Its apparently very loud too, startles my dog every time I push it.

I have slowly started using mine about the same way as yours. I have my strafe keys and a switch target key, and it allows a bit better playing over very long fights.

[MiRai]

Alright, I'm finally getting around to posting some of my experience with peripherals I've used. Some of the information is going to be kept to a minimum since I'm not looking to write a novel about these things.



Logitech G700/G700S

Pros


Good construction -- Feels solid
Your choice of wireless or wired
10 programmable buttons (not including L/R click, up/down mousewheel, or scrollwheel)
On-the-fly DPI switching (this really isn't anything new)
No longer requires the terrible SetPoint software
Tilt wheel for two extra binds on the mousewheel
Logitech sells replacement parts


Neutral


With the battery there is a bit of weight to it (I like heavier mice)
Change between a clickable scrollwheel, and a "free spin" scrollwheel


Cons


None that I can think of at the moment, but it's been retired from gaming for a few years and is just an everyday mouse for me at the moment.


Links
Video (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8cX7GQkQXdI)
Website (http://gaming.logitech.com/en-us/product/g700s-rechargeable-wireless-gaming-mouse)

Mad Catz M.M.O. 7

Pros


Pretty good construction -- Feels solid, but I definitely wouldn't drop it
12 programmable buttons (not including scrollwheel)
On-the-fly DPI switching (this really isn't anything new)
Interchangeable palm rest & right-hand side of the mouse
Adjustable thumb & palm rest
Adjustable weight system (up to 30g)
Mad Catz sells replacement parts


Neutral


With the battery there is a bit of weight to it (I like heavier mice)
Wired only
WoW add-on which I'm pretty sure is outdated and adds nothing at this point


Cons


Not every single button is programmable
Custom profile needs to be loaded on each reboot of Windows (only affects buttons, not DPI settings)
My first one began to exhibit the "double click" issue on the left mouse button (probably thanks to Clicker Heroes)
High price doesn't seem to back up the build/software quality (although I'm a sucker and have purchased two of them over the years)


Links
Video (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lncAP1SudZg)
Website (http://www.cyborggaming.com/prod/mmo.htm)

Stinky Footpedal
I own this, but have not yet used it yet. >_>

Surfaces
I moved away from traditional mousepads a long time ago.

First, I tried out some aluminum gaming surfaces that Razer had to offer -- Ironclad (http://www.razerzone.com/gaming-mouse-mats/razer-ironclad) and Manticor (http://www.razerzone.com/gaming-mouse-mats/razer-manticor). I'll say they can be fairly expensive in the realm of mouse "pads," but they're made of metal and they're huge, so it's probably warranted. I found them good enough, overall, to purchase a second after trying out the first one. They're cold on your arm/wrist in the winter time, and can become not as slick when you've got a bit of perspiration on your arm/wrist. I generally wear a wrist sweat protector thingy when gaming for reals anyway, so it wasn't really an issue. I always had a problem with a bit of dirt building up on them over time which affected the travel of the mouse, so they do require that they're kept clean. They also show a good bit of wear on the metal where you tend to use the mouse the most, which affects two things: 1) The "more worn" area becomes smoother/slicker than the rest of the metal which can affect mouse travel, and 2) it kinda ruins them if you want to resell them because they look like they've been heavily used.

After the metal surfaces I tried out the Razer Sphex (http://www.razerzone.com/gaming-mouse-mats/razer-sphex), which Razer labels as a desk "skin," and oh boy, is this thing awesome. It's paper thin with one side being textured, and the other side being sticky. It's not super sticky because you can peel it off and stick it somewhere else if you'd like, but from the feel of it, it does have a limited amount of stickiness to it. I've peeled it off my desk about three times now over the last year and a half and each time it's had no problems re-sticking to the surface. I've had no problems with any dirt build-up of any sort, and even after a year and a half, one area of it is not more worn than another. It's incredibly cheap (~$15) and as long as Razer never stops making this thing I don't think I will ever have any reason to buy another mouse pad/gaming surface ever. I even got Svpernova09 to buy one last year and he loves it.


More to possibly come in a future post.

[MiRai]

I'm just going to give this thread a little bump and point out that Mad Catz has returned to the peripheral game.

https://www.guru3d.com/news-story/mad-catz-to-launch-new-range-of-productsincluding-new-r-a-t-gaming-mice.html
http://www.madcatz.com/index.php

Now, let us hope that they bring out another MMO7 mouse that is even better than the last. :)


Also, does anyone have any experience with the Roccat Nyth? It looks like a fairly sexy mouse since you can, more-or-less, create your own side-button layout (it also has a fin button that you can tilt—similar to the Logitech tilt wheel that so many, including myself, love).

https://www.roccat.org/en-US/Products/Gaming-Mice/Nyth/

If my collection of MMO7 mice completely breaks down on me, I would be tempted to try out out. In fact, I'm sorta tempted to try one out just to maybe replace my G502 everyday driver. Hmmm...

[MiRai]

I linked this in the ISBoxer Discord a week ago, but I'll share it here, as well.

https://www.swiftpoint.com/new-mmo-mouse-for-wow

If anything, it's an interesting concept/approach to a mouse.

[Ughmahedhurtz]

I had a roccat Nyth, which I bought because it was designed for "larger hands." What they did, though was make it for people with *longer fingers.* As someone with wide hands that are normal length, that does me no good. The best mouse I ever had was the Steelseries Cataclysm mouse. Was just wide enough to fit my thumb/pinky grip comfortably and had some really good programmable buttons that weren't all clustered under the thumb. Sadly, those are now extinct.

[MiRai]

I had a roccat Nyth, which I bought because it was designed for "larger hands." What they did, though was make it for people with *longer fingers.* As someone with wide hands that are normal length, that does me no good. The best mouse I ever had was the Steelseries Cataclysm mouse. Was just wide enough to fit my thumb/pinky grip comfortably and had some really good programmable buttons that weren't all clustered under the thumb. Sadly, those are now extinct.
Well, I have a Nyth coming tomorrow, so we'll see how well it suits me. :)

If you're looking for a wide mouse, then I'll point you in the direction of the Elecom M-DUX70BK (https://smile.amazon.com/dp/B018WNIBNE). It was a lot larger than I had expected (https://i.imgur.com/FXoBTqC.jpg), and it has an obscene amount of buttons on it (which is why I bought it to begin with). However, in the end, I did fall back to my MMO7 for multiboxing.

[Chumbucket]

What's the current state of the art for gamepad, mouse and keyboard? I recently discovered that Logitech discontinued the amazing G13 Gamepad and have been struggling to find an adequate successor. Online reviews are all over the place but I was wondering what Multiboxers are using these days.

Currently I use an aging Logitech G13 Gamepad, a G600 mouse (lots of buttons) and a G510s Keyboard.

[MadMilitia]

If you were unaware, there is an easy way to the fix mechanical switches on the good mice like Razer and Logitech. No need to buy new units, no need to get good at soldering.

I'm posting this here as resurrected my left handed naga (2014) with this method.

1. Lift the feet on the mouse gently with a putty knife.
2. Locate the screws under the feet.
3. Unscrew all screws and set aside.
4. Locate the microswitch that has the double click / no click issue.
5. Using a small flatheaded screwdriver or exacto knife find the tab (either side of the upper housing) and flip the tab off using the screwdriver head. This holds the upper housing in place. Mind the small button on the microswitch so you don't lose it.
6. The switch mechanism under the housing is a very small tension band resting on the switch housing. This will be your problem item.
7. Carefully slide the band off the housing on the side it can be moved.
8. With the band in your fingers, lay it against the desk, spring side up and then using both hands, bend the spring slightly so it is raised more than it was when you set it down.
9. Now to get the band back onto the housing you need to secure both ends of the band to both sides of the housing and the spring needs to land on the small latch in the middle.
10. To do this, put the loop end of the spring on the edge of the housing to hold it. Then slide the entire band over the housing until the spring is flat against the spring bar.
11. With both ends connected and the spring flat, now use the flathead screwdriver to very carefully push the spring down to its catch. If you overshoot the catch you need to repeat steps 7-11.
12. The entire thing should now be functioning and you should hear an audible click when pressing on the band near the tension point of the spring.
13. Put the cover back on the housing with the button inside. You can do this by holding the mouse upside down so the button doesn't fall out of the housing during reassembly.
14. Reassemble the mouse. If you need new feet, corepad.de is a great site to get them at.

[Wizeowel]

@Chumbucket
Razer Tartarus v2, while it doesn't have as many keys as G13, it does have joystick and its scroll wheel can be used for extra actions.