# Beat that mouse lag! coz windows wont-USB polling rate



## mandelore (Aug 23, 2006)

*Beat that mouse lag! coz windows wont-Mouse polling rate*

Hi all, just thought Id share with you some knowledge on the subject of (usb) mouse polling rates and how they can affect YOUR online gaming (well, they wouldnt affect anyone elses now would they)

Windows xp, being pretty trashy as it is, by default sets the windows usb polling rate at *125MHz* thats an 8ms response time to me and you. What does this mean, well, this equates to LAG!! the bane of all counterstrike and alike players, and generally all good fps games. Now, what can we do about this, 

well, interestingly enough we can, depending on the quality of your USB mouse (I have a razer diamondback) you can increase the responsiveness significantly.

The basics are, the polling rate determins the time it takes for an action performed on the mouse to be transmitted to your computer and thusly to the game/software your using, so this incorporates a slight delay (lag) into your responses within the game. This becomes more prenounced while playing online games where pings/latencies and rates also effect your lag or responsivness. This can mean the difference between a shotty between the eyes and getting that "God-like" voice sounding off in the background 

Is I stated earlier the default polling rate is 125Mhz (8ms) and so naturally we get quite used to this when playing games, but wouldnt it be far greater to eliminate as best as possible this delay in sending mouse commands to your games to give a more fluid and responsive control over your gaming? id say hell yeah! 

Right, there are a few different ranges you can use, and all are totally dependant upon your mouse's abilities, but none should harm your mouse (best have a ps2 mouse at hand incase yours aint up for the higher rate so u can change back to default)

Firstly: we have 
*125Mhz @8ms response time (default)*

*250Mhz @4ms response time*

*500Mhz @2ms response time*

and the highest so far:

*1000Mhz @**1ms** response time!!!*

Right, I currently use a Razer Diamondback usb mouse, and have the polling rate set for 1000Mhz, the actual polling rate is often fractionally lower than stated but pretty damn good. I have personally noticed improvements in the sensitivity and responsivness in my mouse, especially when playing online fps games. But there is an improvement to be had when playing singleplayer fps games and other games alike.

I am providing a link to the software I used to patch my USB polling rate, and included is also  a mouse polling rate detector to tell you your current response time. See the screenies. Just a note though. Once you change your polling rate you must restart windows for the changes to take affect. This can make games more enjoyable especially the online games, but it could also be that you just dont notice the difference, as in the case that your mouse only supports a marginally higher response time. 

But anything which reduces the amount of lag gamers suffer can only be a good thing. I will amend the post if i have missed something, but I think i got everything  on here. 

As you can see from the screen shot the razer diamondback performs VERY well, often over 1000Mhz, less than 1ms, but on average its more like between 700-900Mhz, still a damn good improvement over 125...

Here is a link to both the current mouse polling rate detector and the USB polling rate patch, neither created by me so I claim no glory here, other than I zipped them together in one handy package 


Get the download here http://www.filefactory.com/file/388c1b/


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## mandelore (Aug 23, 2006)

BTW, is this posted under the correct forum subsection??? or should it be under articles or summit else


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## Alec§taar (Aug 23, 2006)

So far, so good!

I ran it, & it patched my OS, I rebooted, & NO PROBLEMS!



* So far, looks to be alright!

APK

P.S.=> The mouse I use, in case anybody else does as well & is wondering if this will work w/ THEIR mouse, is:

Microsoft Intellimouse Explorer 3.0 USB/PS2 (lasermouse/optical) type

I went from 250mhz, to 500mhz thusfar, no trouble!

apk


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## mandelore (Aug 23, 2006)

Hey nice1, just thought id post coz most peeps could have a more responsive mouse compared to what windows defaults ya with. Lemmi know if u notice any improvements when u play  a game or two

Mand


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## Mas0ne (Jun 26, 2008)

*Howto Increase Windows Vista 32/64 mousepolling rate*

If anyone still have problems with increasing the mousepolling rate in Windows Vista look no further. I have written up a basic howto with pics and included the files you need here


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## CyberDruid (Jun 26, 2008)

First Post and a Hijack Attempt! Cool. Welcome


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## Mas0ne (Jun 26, 2008)

CyberDruid said:


> First Post and a Hijack Attempt! Cool. Welcome



 

thanks


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## btarunr (Jun 26, 2008)

Is there anything you can't OC Mandy? 

good one.

EDIT: oops....been watching too much archeology on the National Geographic.


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## hat (Jun 26, 2008)

link in the OP is dead and I want this :/


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## Mas0ne (Jun 26, 2008)

hat said:


> link in the OP is dead and I want this :/



Read this then, all programs included


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## mullered07 (Jun 26, 2008)

Mas0ne said:


> Read this then, all programs included



doesnt work in vista x64 anyway, driver seems old and only for win98/2000 and maybe xp


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## Mas0ne (Jun 26, 2008)

mullered07 said:


> doesnt work in vista x64 anyway, driver seems old and only for win98/2000 and maybe xp



?? 
??!
The howto is *AIMED* for Vista x64 users, The howto/guide also applies to Vista 32-bit, Windows XP SP2 & SP3, however there are even simpler methods to change the polling rate for those OS's

Did you read the howto? I posted it yesterday, wrote it 1 week ago and everything you need to successfully change the polling rate is included in the article, near the bottom you can see which mouses I have successfully tested the method on.


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## hat (Jun 26, 2008)

well the program works... I got my mouse to 500, just makes the mouse move slower? :/


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## Mas0ne (Jun 26, 2008)

hat said:


> well the program works... I got my mouse to 500, just makes the mouse move slower? :/



The idea is that it becomes more responsive, what do you mean with slower? DPI(CPI), acceleration and pointer speed controls the velocity not the polling rate


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## das müffin mann (Jun 26, 2008)

btw mandalore your link is dead file has been removed


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## Black Panther (Jun 26, 2008)

I think one must read this here in MasOne's linky:



> Target audience:
> 
> This guide applies to everyone who uses a computer mouse without drivers or where the drivers doesn't provide the option to change the polling rate or you don't want to use the drivers provided for some reason.



I take that to mean that if you are using a mouse which includes a driver (like my Lachesis for example) which enables changing dpi, polling rate etc... then this is not for you.

(Also note that this thread was resurrected from 2 years ago... things have progressed by far since then!  )


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## hat (Jun 26, 2008)

Mas0ne said:


> The idea is that it becomes more responsive, what do you mean with slower? DPI(CPI), acceleration and pointer speed controls the velocity not the polling rate



I dunno the pointer just seems to move slower :/


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## Mas0ne (Jun 26, 2008)

Black Panther said:


> I think one must read this here in MasOne's linky:
> 
> 
> 
> ...



You are correct, you probably won't need to use anything but the official drivers if you are satisfied 

But: for example there was a bug with the Razer DeathAdder drivers a few versions back that made your view skip straight up in the clouds whenever you clicked the mouse wheel and some people still claim that using the drivers from Razer with the DeathAdder makes the primary mousebuttons respond a little slower than without the official drivers.

Not to mention the MS herd of mouse, IME3.0, IMO1.1 and WMO which are underperforming to say the least at 125hz (default)


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## Mas0ne (Jun 26, 2008)

hat said:


> I dunno the pointer just seems to move slower :/



Ok, which mouse is it?


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## leventp (Jun 26, 2008)

Mandelore, those values are not MHz, they are Hz (Hertz)...


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## mullered07 (Jun 26, 2008)

Mas0ne said:


> ??
> ??!
> The howto is *AIMED* for Vista x64 users, The howto/guide also applies to Vista 32-bit, Windows XP SP2 & SP3, however there are even simpler methods to change the polling rate for those OS's
> 
> Did you read the howto? I posted it yesterday, wrote it 1 week ago and everything you need to successfully change the polling rate is included in the article, near the bottom you can see which mouses I have successfully tested the method on.



yea i did, i dont just run any old software on my pc and hope for the best, i read the thread liked it, followed the instructions 3 times (including restarts) and no joy, but nothing lost anyway, might just work with some i guess. 

my mouse was reading 125mhz avg with the mouse rate checker, but tbh i dont have a problem in games anyway, just thought id give it a bash and see if i could tell any difference.


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## Mas0ne (Jun 26, 2008)

mullered07 said:


> yea i did, i dont just run any old software on my pc and hope for the best, i read the thread liked it, followed the instructions 3 times (including restarts) and no joy, but nothing lost anyway, might just work with some i guess.
> 
> my mouse was reading 125mhz avg with the mouse rate checker, but tbh i dont have a problem in games anyway, just thought id give it a bash and see if i could tell any difference.



Very strange, I don't want to sound rude, but did you disable UAC? You can reenable it after you've signed the custom mouse driver.


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## mullered07 (Jun 26, 2008)

Mas0ne said:


> Very strange, I don't want to sound rude, but did you disable UAC? You can reenable it after you've signed the custom mouse driver.



done that when i first installed vista lol  like i said maybe just dont like my mouse, either way nothing lost anyway im sure it does have its advantages when it does work


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## Mas0ne (Jun 26, 2008)

mullered07 said:


> done that when i first installed vista lol  like i said maybe just dont like my mouse, either way nothing lost anyway im sure it does have its advantages when it does work



Yes well, I've been thru the process with a bunch of mouses and maybe your mouse just won't accept the new polling rate. 

A well this method sure beats the risk of disabling your usb ports with the reboot-into-safe-mode-copy-paste usbport.sys procedure.


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## mullered07 (Jun 26, 2008)

tried with all polling rates


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## hat (Jun 27, 2008)

ah its a generic $15 logitec I found at walmart


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