What is a good polling rate for gaming?

1,000 Hz (a report every 1 ms) is the long-standing standard. 4,000–8,000 Hz trims that further, but the difference is small next to the game, the monitor and human reaction time.

The delay between your action — a click, a key press — and the result appearing on screen. It's measured in milliseconds and builds up across the device, the game and the display.

Can people feel 1 ms of latency?

Rarely. Research cited in the PixProofs finds people reliably notice delays above about 20–30 ms.

▸ EXPLAINER

What are input latency and polling rate?

By PixPause Editorial · Updated September 26, 2026 · 3 sources

SHORT ANSWER

Input latency is the delay between pressing a key or clicking and seeing the result on screen, usually measured in milliseconds. Polling rate is how often a mouse or keyboard reports to the computer — 1,000 Hz means every 1 ms, 8,000 Hz every 0.125 ms. Gaming gear competes on shaving fractions of a millisecond, but the device is only one link in the chain.

EXPLAIN IT LIKE I'M 5

Polling rate is how often a teacher asks the class "any questions?" Asking every minute instead of every eight minutes helps a little — but not if the answer then has to walk across the whole school to reach the headteacher.

Where the delay comes from

You pressThe switch or sensor registers it
Device reportsAt its polling rate, over USB or wireless
Game processesOn its next frame
Screen shows itOn the monitor's next refresh

A faster mouse or keyboard trims only the first two steps.

Latency is a chain

Every input passes through several steps: the switch or sensor registers the press, the device reports it over USB or wireless, the game processes it on its next frame, and the monitor draws the result. Lag in games is measured in milliseconds, and it adds up across the chain — the mouse or keyboard is only one part.

What polling rate does

Polling is how often the computer checks a device for new input. A standard gaming mouse or keyboard reports 1,000 times a second; newer "8K" devices report 8,000 times a second, cutting the wait between reports from 1 ms to 0.125 ms. Some keyboards only raise the USB report rate; the PixProof below shows one that scans every key that fast.

Can you feel it?

Research summarised by keyboard-latency guides finds people reliably notice input delays above roughly 20–30 ms, while natural reaction time varies by 20–50 ms. Sub-millisecond gains are real engineering, but hard to feel. And "fastest ever" figures are only comparable when every device is measured the same way by someone neutral.

▸ THE HYPE VS WHAT WE FOUND

Real claims involving this term, each checked in a PixProof with linked sources.

Time between reports vs what people can notice

Delay people reliably notice20–30 ms

Standard 1,000 Hz polling1 ms

8,000 Hz polling0.125 ms

Polling intervals follow from the rate (1,000 Hz vs 8,000 Hz); the noticeable-delay range is the perception research cited in the Wooting 80HE PixProof.

Data: Wooting 80HE PixProof

"0.125 ms input latency with "true" 8kHz polling."The 8kHz per-key polling is real and confirmed by PC Gamer; the 0.125 ms figure hasn't been re-measured by a neutral lab, and gains that small are likely imperceptible.QUESTION ITWooting 80HE PixProof →"The fastest click latency ever measured: 223 microseconds."Measured only on Finalmouse's own tester using a pre-production sample; no independent lab had verified it or tested rivals the same way.QUESTION ITFinalmouse Starlight X (SLX) PixProof →"FrameSync syncs the mouse sensor to the polling cycle."Holds up: independent testing confirmed it works as Razer describes, with only minor timing irregularities.BUYRazer Viper V3 Pro PixProof →

▸ PIXPROOFS THAT USE THIS TERM (6)

Wooting 80HE · QUESTION IT · Wooting
Finalmouse Starlight X (SLX) · QUESTION IT · Finalmouse
Razer Viper V3 Pro · BUY · Razer
Corsair K100 RGB · BYE · Corsair
Logitech G Pro X Superlight · BUY · Logitech
Nintendo Switch 2 · QUESTION IT · Nintendo

▸ COMPANIES BEHIND IT

Razer Inc.

Logitech International S.A.

Corsair Gaming, Inc.

SteelSeries

HYPE OR REAL?

"The Wooting 80HE really scans every key 8,000 times a second."

▸ QUICK QUESTIONS

What is a good polling rate for gaming?: 1,000 Hz (a report every 1 ms) is the long-standing standard. 4,000–8,000 Hz trims that further, but the difference is small next to the game, the monitor and human reaction time.
What is input lag?: The delay between your action — a click, a key press — and the result appearing on screen. It's measured in milliseconds and builds up across the device, the game and the display.
Can people feel 1 ms of latency?: Rarely. Research cited in the PixProofs finds people reliably notice delays above about 20–30 ms.

▸ SOURCES

Spot something wrong? Tell us — corrections are logged, see methodology.

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