OCZ Dominatrix Laser Gaming Mouse

 Software
 
All of the software required to run the Dominatrix is supplied on the CD, and a simple auto-run menu means even the least computer literate among us can install it with ease. There were two items of software needed to utilise the mouse to its full capacity. These being the four way wheel driver and the program that allowed you to make up and assign macros to the side buttons. The driver was pretty much just that – allowing the four way scroll wheel to work. It added a little extra functionality to the mouse properties box allowing you to configure and test the wheel.
 
Wheel Control
 
The command software is pretty simple. The three sections show what commands are available (pre-fabricated, custom or downloaded) in the bottom right hand corner. The top right allows you to see what macros are already stored on the mouse, in each of its three modes. And finally the panel taking up the majority of the left hand side of the window, displays exactly what the selected command entails.
 
Software1 Software2
 
The user can shift commands around the three windows in any direction using the two little arrows displayed between each box. It’s made up to be an extremely user friendly way of writing, assigning and saving away binds that the user would want. The ability to transfer either a new macro for testing; a saved macro for a different mode or saving a bind set to your pc was child’s play really.
 
DPI
 
Clicking on the circle labelled ‘DPI’ brought up the dialogue box shown Above. This allows you to set the four on-the-fly DPI levels that the mouse switches between upon hitting the button on the top. This is an ingenious idea as people who needed an in between on the presets no longer have to compromise between what the factory set. Instead they can just select the levels they require from the software, save it away to the mouse and not have to worry.
 
 
Test Setup
 
Mice are notoriously difficult to test, simply because they are a very personal device. Each user will have a different experience with a mouse due to different hand size, sensitivity settings, surface used etc. In light of this, I can only convey what my experience with the Dominatrix lead me to conclude about it.
 
The mouse was tested on my ‘every day’ PC which consists of the following hardware:
 
Intel Xeon 3070 @ 3.6Ghz
Abit IP35 Pro
Crucial Ballistix PC-5300 2GB kit @ 900mhz
Sparkle 8800GT 512Mb
WD Raptor 150GB
Dell 2407WFP & V7 L22WD

 

 
To put the Dominatrix though its paces a few programs were called upon. These were:
 
Adobe Photoshop – Photo editing requires a steady hand and demands precision from the mouse
Mozilla Firefox – General web surfing gives an impression of how the mouse feels for casual use
Microsoft Publisher – We all have to do some Office type work at some point
Counterstrike: Source – Testing on both high speed death match situations and lower paced match environments
Painkiller – Mowing down legions of un-dead is just fun
Spore – An RTS style gaming with a twist. Here the mouse needed to be precise enough to select a single unit but fast enough to scroll over to the other side of the world in an instant
 
Flip the page to see how the Dominatrix faired …