# Mouse Polling Rate of 500Hz vs 1000Hz.  Is there a discernible difference?



## EastCoasthandle (Oct 28, 2009)

*Changing the mouse's polling rate from 500Hz to 1000Hz.  Is there an notice impact on how you game?​*
I've been trying for a good while to see if there is a discernible difference between 500Hz and 1000Hz and I get the impression that 1000Hz is just marketing talk.  I am not seeing a difference at all.  I have used both dimr.exe and dx_mouse_timer_dialog.exe (one at a time) to verify the usb rate of the mouse between 500Hz and 1000Hz and honestly haven't seen any difference what so ever.  I tried BF2, COD4, COD:WAW and none of them provided any difference in how well I aim or am able to get the cross hair/iron sight to where I wanted to aim at.  Movement and strafing remained the same.  Also, at desktop there is no noticeable difference in how the cursor navigates.  

So, if some of you believe there is a difference in competitive play I ask that you provide a youtube video on the difference between 500Hz and 1000Hz.  And, explain what difference is suppose to be observed (perhaps I am not looking at the wrong thing)?  Because the only real noticable difference I've seen so far between 500Hz and 1000Hz is that CPU activity has increased.


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## twicksisted (Oct 28, 2009)

Im sure that a higher polling rate will mean a better more advanced sensor in the mouse... but like all things I guess it comes down to personal preference and the quality and comfort of the mouse in the first place and whether or not you can actually benefit from it without having superhuman reflexes.

the cynic in me says marketing bullshit 
(mind you i have a 1000hz mouse myself lol)


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## EastCoasthandle (Oct 28, 2009)

Thanks for the input twicksisted.  I am beginning to wonder if there is a point of diminishing returns on how much of delay you will notice between your mouse on the desk and the cursor on the screen.  I also ponder on the idea if it may depend on the input lag of the monitor itself.  IE: You cannot decrease any input lag from a device beyond what the monitor input lag is.  These are just hypothetical ideas right now as I haven't found any real discussion on this issue.  

But if there is suppose to be a difference between 2ms and 1ms input time I'm not seeing it.


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## EastCoasthandle (Oct 29, 2009)

Can anyone offer any additional insight on this? Some of you who can switch between 500Hz and 1000Hz are you noticing any difference?


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## AsRock (Oct 29, 2009)

I tried it a few years ago with a Razer Diamondback and had to use modified USB files to do it.  And i did not notice any thing better about it.  How ever i did notice next time i came to try my old TIR 3 it was failing to work and seemed like it fucked it up so be careful as not all hardware can handle it.


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## Zubasa (Oct 29, 2009)

A polling rate of 500Hz is more than enough for even those crazy Korean Starcraft Pro-Gamers.
I mean even those guys cannot chuck out 500+ actions per second.


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## department76 (Oct 29, 2009)

i doubt it's noticible.  i remember in the old days when optical mice were still pretty new, >100hz meant you were in the clear.  if my memory serves me well that is


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