One of the major features of the Gigabyte Ghost GM-M8000X mouse is the ability to assign macro functions to the programmable buttons. In other words, a single click of a button can be pre-programmed to do multiple things in one go.

Once a series of macro steps has been recorded and assigned to a button, a single click will execute the entire sequence at your command. This functionality can be very helpful for gamers who play complex real-time strategy games and want to bind complicated unit selection or building queue plans to a single button, rather than waste precious time digging through directories.

Of course, macro keys and buttons aren't a particularly new technology, but they've always been a real hassle to use and set up on mice. The nice thing about Gigabyte's GHOST software is that setting it up is incredibly easy. You just drag and drop the commands from a list of key presses or mouse actions on the left hand panel in the order that you want buttons pressed. The macro scripts can then be saved and assigned to the mouse in the main software panel.

Gigabyte also includes a number of pre-programmed functions for the M8000X that bind common computer functions to the M8000X's programmable buttons. There's a pretty extensive array of commands, so this menu can be useful if you don't want to go digging through the macro functions yourself.

Movement sensitivity can be adjusted on the fly or set through the GHOST software panel. It's also possible to adjust the USB reporting rate, although for maximum smoothness it's best to leave it at 1000 reports/second.

Scrolling sensitivity can also be set in the GHOST control panel. Setting the scroll sensitivity simply increases the amount of lines the scroll wheel skips at a time, so at its highest setting it will skip entire pages at a time. Next, our first hand thoughts on gaming with the Ghost M8000X mouse.