Gigabyte Force M7 Thor Gaming Mouse Review

By Jeremy Miller

Manufacturer: Gigabyte
Product Name: Force M7 Thor Laser Gaming Mouse
Model Number: GM-FORCE M7 THOR
UPC: 818313015891 EAN: 4719331547196
Price As Tested: $29.99 (Amazon / NewEgg)

Full Disclosure: The product sample used in this article has been self-supplied.

When you first think about Gigabyte’s line of quality products, more than likely a gaming mouse doesn’t come to mind. However, they have a created a budget mouse targeted at the hardcore gaming crowd that is worthy of praise. The Gigabyte Force M7 Thor Laser Gaming Mouse comes in at an impressive price point (~$30) and packs quite a few high end features. The real question is how does it fare against the stiff competition in the gaming peripheral realm? In this article Benchmark Reviews goes in depth to find out what makes the Force M7 Thor a great budget gaming buying decision!

At first glance, the mouse really shows a beauty that will appear to most gamers. The matte black finish embellished with the large “THOR” and flashy lightning bolts make it easy on the eyes, yet not over the top to where it would turn off some people. The laser sensor on the Force M7 Thor is rated at 6,000 dpi which is very high end for such a bargain mouse. With a reinforced rubberized cable, an awesome ergonomic shape, and large are glide pads this mouse has all the bells and whistles you could hope for.

I have used this mouse exclusively for the last month, and have used it in both my everyday applications and extensive gaming sessions. I will detail and outline how it performed as well as show you a few different testing results. Let the games begin!

• 6,000 dpi Advanced Gaming Laser Sensor
• 3-Stage DPI Adjustment
• Ultra Durable USB Cable
• 5 Programmable Buttons
• Non-Slick Coating
• Gaming Grade Feet Pads

At first glance you can’t help but notice the subtle yet beautiful graphics on the palm of the Force M7 Thor. The bold font face and the outstretching lightning bolts are in a beautiful black gloss that contrasts well with the matte black finish.

The DPI switch is the other very dominant feature on the top of the mouse. It is a gloss black, and the blue LED indicator lights are vibrant yet not too overpowering. The lights look really great in a dark environment, and are bright enough to be seen well in daylight hours as well.

On the left side of the mouse you will see two programmable thumb buttons. Once again they are made of the shiny black plastic. The contrast between the plastic buttons and rubberized grip sides lets your hand settle nicely on the buttons and reduces the chances of missing a click. The rubber sides offer superior grip, but there is one downfall. The sides attract fingerprints very easily and are very noticeable.

The right side of the mouse is empty. There are no pinky button or thumb buttons for left handed gamers. If you are left handed, the mouse will work for you, but the thumb buttons will be inaccessible. The black rubber side grip is present on the right as well, and attracts just as many fingerprints as the other side.

Lastly, we have the bottom of the mouse. It sports a very nice 6,000 dpi laser that should suit even the most hardcore enthusiast. In addition to this you have three large gaming grade feet pads. The pads offer an extremely smooth experience, free from any hitches or hiccups in both daily use and gaming sessions.

In the packaging, the Force M7 Thor has no manual or driver CD. However, if you head over to Gigabyte’s website you will be able to download a software program specifically for the mouse. It is not the most feature packed software for a gaming mouse, but it is very simple to use and does it’s job very well.

The top section of the software is where you map your 5 buttons to certain keybinds and actions. The left click is not able to change, however all the other buttons are. You can choose to set actions to the buttons such as copy, paste, forward, back, and scrolling up or down. However, most gamers will want to use the custom keybinding option. This allows you to do things like set one of the thumb buttons to “R” so that you will be able to quickly reload in FPS games. This comes in very handy, and is always nice to have.

The lower half of the software is dedicated to setting custom DPI values to your 3 levels of selections. You can go as low as 400 dpi and all the way up to 6,000 dpi on the high side. The values increase by 400 dpi, so you can adjust the settings to fit your various playing/working styles. Want to have a speedy dpi setting for running and gunning and a much lower, more precise dpi setting for sniping. This software allows you to do exactly that.

The Force M7 Thor’s polling rate is set at 1000Mhz. Below you can see my results of testing this rate, and how well the mouse performs compared to the stated specs.

Next, we are going to take a look at how well the mouse performed in gaming and desktop applications.

The Gigabyte Force M7 Thor is squarely aimed at hardcore PC gamers. Since the target audience is the gamers, the best test we could do to the mouse is play some games! I used it in other applications as well, and will recount my experiences with you out of the gaming environment as well.

• Battlefield 3
• Battlefield 4 beta
• Diablo III
• Smite
• Google Chrome
• Adobe Photoshop

• Motherboard: Gigabyte H67MA-USB3-B3
• System Memory: 12 Gb Kingston DDR3 1333 Mhz
• Processor: Intel i3 2100 3.10 Ghz
• Audio: Realtek High Definition
• Video: 2x AMD HD 6870 1 Gb
• Disk Drive 1: Seagate 1 TB 7,200 RPM 64 Mb cache
• Optical Drive: Lite-On IHAS124-04 Internal DVD Writer
• Enclosure: Thermaltake V3 Black Edition
• PSU: Apevia ATX-AS680W-BL 680W
• Monitor: Sony 98078 24” 3D LED monitor
• Operating System: Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit

Gaming: I gave the Gigabyte Force M7 Thor a real workout in a variety of games. I wanted to really test its limits, and it passed with flying colors! Other than a few quirky missteps the mouse was very fun to use. The mouse features a very smooth glide thanks to the gaming grade pads, and the laser is super responsive. Never once did I have as much as a stutter or hiccup.

In FPS games, I bound the reload key to the back thumb button and the melee to the front thumb button. This made reloading and knifing pesky snipers a breeze. The amazing laser sensor was nearly flawless, improving my accuracy and cutting down on the lost one on one gun battles. There was one minor drawback that needs to be noted. The scroll wheel tends to stop in between notches at times, causing it to slip into another slot when you are not expecting it. This only happened a handful of times, but was a bit annoying. Other than that, I have absolutely no complaints!

In Diablo III and Smite the mouse performed admirably again. With the laser still going strong and steady, my accuracy in Smite with a ranged class character (Cupid) was outstanding. It is definitely a great mouse for nailing those skill shots that set the great players apart from the rest. Diablo III gameplay was good as well, with the left and right clicks having a very tactile feel and nice click as well. Spamming the buttons lets out a symphony of gaming awesomeness.

Desktop Applications: In using the mouse everyday for over a month, it was definitely more of a friend than enemy in my day to day tasks. With the smooth scrolling action, the tactile clicks, and useful thumb buttons, the Force M7 Thor worked admirably for surfing the internet.

Browsing the internet was not the only thing that the mouse excelled at. It was an extremely good performer in Adobe Photoshop. I currently use CS6, and I couldn’t be happier with the performance. The smoothness and precision of the laser helps this mouse be an adequate choice for graphic designers and web developers as well.

Comfort: This is the area that it usually takes awhile to get right. The Force M7 Thor felt tiny in my hand compared to my mouse of choice (Microsoft Intellimouse Explorer), but after a few days my hands settled in nicely and I was back in the game. My scores improved and I felt like I was my old self again. The rubber grips on the sides of the mouse provide an excellent feel, and the smooth scroll wheel works much better than I anticipated. The thumb buttons are placed very well, and I never felt I was reaching to engage them. Overall the comfort of the mouse is outstanding after the initial “breaking in.”

The Force M7 Thor has a few minor issues, but overall I would say it is an extremely nice mouse for the price. They obviously skimped on a few features in order to reach this small of a price tag (such as a braided cord, extra lighting effects, and a weight system), but the performance and overall feel of the mouse is superb. While there are gaming mice on the market that trump this one, you will be hard pressed to find one with this many features and solid performance for $29.99 (Amazon / NewEgg).

The Force M7 Thor can rival any mid-range gaming mouse on the market in terms of performance. I was extremely impressed with almost all facets of the peripheral from the incredibly solid performing laser to the tactile feel of the left and right clicks.

Another place where the Gigabyte Force M7 Thor excels is in the looks department. As far as appearance it is sleek and sexy with the beautiful black on black design. The logo and lightning bolts add a little bit of eye candy for those that want to stand out from the crowd.

The mouse is generally pretty sturdy, however I would not trust knocking it off my desk too may times. It has quite a few plastic parts, and the rubberized coating helps with the grip but will not do much if abused. The gaming grade glide pads on the bottom seem to be very well made and are holding up extremely well. The left and right clicks both feel very solid with a tactile click every time pressed.

The functionality of the Force M7 Thor, while not top of the line, are sufficient even for hardcore gamers. The software that can be downloaded from the Gigabyte website offers numerous key bindings for the 5 programmable buttons. The on the fly dpi switching works flawlessly.

The value department is where the Gigabyte Force M7 Thor really shines. Gigabyte has managed to cram tons of features into a mouse that is available for a bargain price of $29.99 (Amazon / NewEgg). They cut corners in some areas, but none of the main features were skimped on. The mouse is a spectacular buy for this price.

I would not hesitate to recommend the Gigabyte Force M7 Thor to anyone, no matter what the need, especially if they are on a budget. The sheer amount of bang for the buck is what puts this mouse over the top. Stepping up to the plate against the juggernauts in the gaming peripheral market is no small feat, and Gigabyte has proven they belong in the ring with the big boys!

+ Responsive 6,000 dpi laser
+ Great gaming performance
+ Stellar looks
+ Feels nice in the hand
+ Extremely high bang for the buck

– Semi-unreliable scroll wheel
– No weight system for customization
– Not many programmable buttons

• Performance: 8.50
• Appearance: 8.00
• Construction: 7.50
• Functionality: 8.00
• Value: 9.50

COMMENT QUESTION: What is your budget for a gaming mouse?