Razer Viper Review: Your Next FPS Mouse?

The Razer Viper competes in a heavily saturated market of low-weight gaming mice with competitive prices. Razer delivers excellent performance alongside a shape that has allowed the Viper to become a very popular option.

Let’s take a closer look at the Razer Viper and see if it could be the right mouse for you.

The Verdict

Razer viper front view

Rating: 5 out of 5.

The Razer Viper is a gaming mouse featuring a lightweight, accurate sensor, and popular shape among many gamers.

Its shape and weight make it very popular for those who game often, especially those who play FPS titles. The light weight makes flicks easy with the shape with an ergonomic design that is friendly for claw and fingertip grips, grips often used for gaming.

The mouse features RGB, friendly software, and onboard memory to store presets. This makes the software customization pretty easy.

There are no major downsides with this mouse but the price is occasionally overpriced for a wired mouse. Paying $80 or over may not be worth it if you do care about wireless connectivity. Also, it is worth mentioning that due to the side buttons being on both sides you may find that distracting and have to adjust to it.

Overall Razer delivers a fantastic option for gamers if you think this mouse suits you then check out the Razer Viper on amazon.

In The Box

  • Manual: This tells you everything that you need to know to use the mouse and in case you run into any issues.
  • Razer Stickers: The stickers have the razer chroma lighting and look like something you would get with a CPU.
  • The Mouse: The mouse is packaged nicely with the cable tied to keep it all neat in the box.

Build Quality

Angled view of Razer Viper on wooden desk.

The Razer Viper has an exceptional, lightweight build, coming in at 69 grams. This is very light for a gaming mouse and it does so even without having holes. There are some slightly lighter options but those do have holes in their frame. So, if that bothers you, this is one of the best choices.

Mice with honeycomb shells often have issues in the long term with cleanliness as dust and dirt can get in and although no super common, can cause issues. It is nice to see that Razer didn’t opt for the honeycomb design.

The shell is made of high-quality black plastic with rubber for the sides providing additional grip. Mine has a little rattle when shook, however, I’ve owned mine for a long time. Although I have this issue it is common with many mice. This is because scroll wheels will often move around a bit.

The Viper has an amazing flexible cable that doesn’t slow the mouse down. It also has great feet with a smooth glide.

Overall the build is quite nice and delivers a standard experience among many high quality gaming mice.

Shape and Comfort

Razer Viper mouse on a deskpad.

The Viper is a medium-sized mouse with an ambidextrous shape. It is ideal for a fingertip grip as well as a claw grip. Palm grip works as well if you have smaller hands however, ambidextrous designs are better suited for the other grip styles.

The great compatibility with claw and palm grips makes this mouse a great option for gamers.

The sides have a rubber texture and are indented quite a bit making them easy to grip and it has a fairly large hump that does not get in the way when claw or figure gripping it but is comfortable when palm gripping. The shape works well for FPS games which require very precise aim.

Advertisements

Switches and Scroll Wheel

The Razer Viper has optical switches that have a nice and satisfying click. Razer claims that these switches have lower actuation times and longer life spans. Also, they are meant to eliminate double clicking issues. In my experience, these are amazing switches but there has not been a perceivable difference compared to ordinary switches so I would not recommend buying this mouse based solely on that.

It also possesses side buttons on each side allowing you to use this mouse with either hand. These are smaller than most to avoid accidental clicks. I’ve gotten used to them however, I still prefer bigger side buttons on one side.

The scroll wheel also is top-notch with nice, tactile steps.

Additionally, to avoid accidental clicks, the DPI button is on the bottom. There is a light on the bottom of the mouse which changes color based on the sensitivity.

Sensor and Polling Rate

The Razer Viper utilizes the Razer 5G optical sensor with a DPI range of 16,000. You can change the DPI in increments of 50. Most people use a DPI of 1200 or lower, but the high range shows the great accuracy of this mouse.

The sensor is one of the most accurate ones in any gaming mouse at the moment. During my use, I have encountered no issues. It is very light too and helps the mouse achieve such a low weight.

As for the polling rate, the Viper supports the standard 1000Hz and you can change it for whatever reason in the software.

Advertisements

Chroma RGB Lighting

One feature that the Razer Viper supports is their Chroma RGB lighting. The Razer logo lights up with decently bright RGB lighting. It also features a lot of customization.

It is quite bright, and you can choose the color and effect. The effects include breathing, spectrum cycling, reactive, audiometer, and static. Additionally, there are more advanced effects in Chroma Studio which allows you to customize the RGB more in-depth.

Useful Razer Synapse

Razer Synapse software being used to control Razer Viper mouse.

The Razer Viper utilizes Razer synapse which provides a deep level of customization. You can change the lighting of the Razer logo on the back, edit button mappings, change the sensitivity, and more.

The DPI can be changed be in increments of 50. Things like polling rate can be changed too.

Buttons can be remapped to do various functions. If you want to remap the side buttons to have different functions you have the option to do so. There are a total of 8 buttons and all remapabble.

You can set all your settings to various profiles. These changes will save to your system as well as the onboard memory of the mouse. If you make a synapse account, your profiles get saved to it so if you log in on another computer they will transfer. This is very useful if you use your mouse on multiple devices.

Advertisements

Onboard Memory

The Razer Viper has onboard profiles that will allow you to save specific settings like lighting, sensitivity, and button mappings to the mouse.

The onboard memory is helpful if you use your device with multiple devices or take your mouse to different places. It also enables you to keep all of your settings without Synapse running.

If you don’t like to use software this is nice because you can quickly save your profiles and then uninstall or not run it in the background.

Conclusion: Is It Good For Gaming?

Front view of the Razer Viper

The Razer Viper is one of the mice for gaming, especially if you are interested in FPS games, requiring high precision. Its accurate sensor and responsive switches paired with its low weight and comfortable shape make this mouse solid in all kinds of gaming.

Even though the mouse may not be wireless, the cable is very light and flexible making it not have issues. The Viper also features things like RGB lighting, onboard memory, and Razer’s powerful synapse software.

The only issue that I faced was that the buttons are a bit small and are on both sides so that takes some time to get used to. Aside from that, the original price was a bit high but it has been on sale for quite some time, anywhere from 25 to 50% off.

If you think the Razer Viper suits what you want and the games you play, check it out for a great price on Amazon.

Advertisements

Optimizing Windows 10 For Gaming

Minecraft with shader graphics.

Do you guys game on Windows 10? It’s a great experience that can get even better!

Windows 10 is one of the most feature-packed operating systems ever and it’s great for gamers. It has more games than any of its competition. If you want to eek a bit more performance out of your Windows system you can optimize it to give you those higher frame rates.

Below are several tips that will help you enjoy gaming on your Windows 10 device to the fullest.

1. Power Plans

Power Plans are a very easy way to get extra performance out of your laptop or PC.

Power options tab on windows

Power Plans are exactly what it sounds like. They manage where the power goes when you are using your computer. There are many options and I will show which is the best option for your rig.

Now to reach this page you will want to open your power plan settings by going to the bottom right of your desktop, right-click on the windows icon, and click power options.

List of Windows apps.

After clicking this you will have a settings tab open on your desktop that will look like this.

Windows Power and Sleep settings.

You haven’t quite reached the final destination yet as now you will have to click on “Additional Power Settings”

Additional power settings option circled in Windows settings

Now when you click this you will be at the final destination.

Ultimate power performance option in Windows power options.

You may not see all these options as only Ryzen users the AMD options. You will see a balanced, power saver, and high performance. You will want to select “High Performance”. As the description says this will use more power but will yield more performance for your gaming and resourceful tasks.

Although this will affect your power consumption so if you are on a laptop and cant be connected to the power supply then I would recommend staying on balanced. But as a side note not having your charger in your laptop whilst gaming will give your performance a serious hit.

Benchmarks

I tested Rainbow 6 Siege on a Ryzen 5 3600 and a 2060 Super. Below are the before and after results.

Benchmarks in Rainbow Six Siege after optimizations
As seen above the optimized version yields a slight FPS increase
Advertisements

2. Performance Settings

Windows 10 is packed with eye candy that makes the OS so pleasing to use. But these animations can cause your PC to work overtime which can take a toll on your hardware while gaming.

One thing you can do is change the performance settings of your device to disable options that make Windows look a little bit more appealing.

To do this you will want to open control panel. And click on system and security.

Windows Control Panel app.

Then you will want to click on system

System and Security tab in Windows Control Panel

When you click this it will take you to a settings page.

Advanced settings list in Windows

Then you will want to click Advanced System Settings. This will take you to another menu where you will click Performance settings.

Advanced system settings in Windows

After you click settings you will reach a page with many checkboxes.

Visual effect settings in Windows

Uncheck all the checkmarks for best performance. But you are free to experiment with what you would like and tailor these settings to your preference.

Benchmarks

I tested Rainbow 6 Siege on a Ryzen 5 3600 and an Nvidia 2060 Super FE. Below are the before and after results.

Benchmarks in Rainbow Six Siege after optimizations
The optimizations provide a 17 FPS diffrence
Advertisements

3. Windows Game Mode

Windows Game Mode is a nifty setting that can be found in the gaming setting but is it actually good?

Game mode enabled in Windows

This setting is a nice addition by windows developers. In short, it limits background tasks while gaming.

To turn it on you want to open settings.

Microsoft Settings app

From here you need to click Gaming.

Xbox Game Bar setting on Windows

Then click Game Mode and the setting will be the only toggle on that page.

Now, lets find out if this setting actually yields a benefit.

Benchmarks

Game mode yields a very slight benefit in Rainbow Six Siege. It has a 3 FPS difference. Nothing too crazy but still very easy to do.

As we can see it is a bit useful and although the improvement is not game changing, it all adds up in the long run.

Benchmarks in Rainbow Six Siege after optimizations
3 FPS Gain
Advertisements

4. Timer Resolution

Timer Resolution is a free application to change the resolution of the default windows timer. It is shown to lower latency and increase fps. This application changes the resolution of the timer from 15-25 seconds to 1. This can reduce latency and stuttering. Please note that this application is completely safe as it has no permissions to change system files or settings and will not be flagged by Windows Defender.

You can download it here.

Time Resolution Settings on Windows

Once you open the program you can click Maximum when you start gaming which will provide the least latency and more FPS.

Benchmarks

This also yields a very small impact but the game felt more snappy and my movements where more responsive.

Benchmarks in Rainbow Six Siege after optimizations
2 FPS Gain

5. Task Manager Optimizations

Task Manager is one of the best tool that’s packed into Windows. It is great for closing windows when they aren’t responding. But can it be used for more than that?

Simplified list of background tasks on Windows Task Manager

But, did you know that you can make optimizations within task manager?

We will be disabling startup programs which can lead your computer to slow down. To do this open task manager and hit more details in the bottom left.

Different processes in Windows Task Manager

From here click startup at the top.

Startup options in Windows Task Manager

From here you will want to disable everyone one of the programs. This will make sure that no programs will start up when you load up into Windows so your device will be faster.

Many apps that start up are not needed at most times and hog precious system resources.

If you still want some apps to start when you load into Windows you can keep some enabled but disabling all apps or as many as possible is the best way to improve the initial start-up time and improve overall system speed as much as possible.

This will yield a slight improvement on your FPS but more so how fast your PC startups and functions in daily use.

Advertisements

Conclusion

These tips all provide a very nice benefit to your gaming experience. We hope this helps you to get that little extra juice out of your high or low-end gaming PC.

If you need more help please refer to the /r/lowendgaming Reddit here or our Discord here for more details or particular questions regarding your system specs or how to optimize for specific games.

That’s all for now. Stay tuned for more in depth tips, reviews , and guides.

Advertisements

Create a website or blog at WordPress.com

Up ↑