Sensor and Performance

The Corsair Sabre RGB Pro Wireless is equipped with the Marksman sensor, which is a PixArt PAW3393-T4QU. According to specifications, the Marksman is capable of up to 26,000 CPI, as well as a maximum tracking speed of 650 IPS, which equals 16.51 m/s. Out of the box, five pre-defined CPI steps are available: 400, 800, 1200, 1600, and 3200.

All testing was done on the latest firmware. As such, results obtained on earlier firmware versions may differ from those presented hereafter.

CPI Accuracy

"CPI" (short for counts per inch) describes the number of counts registered by the mouse if it is moved exactly an inch. There are several factors (firmware, mounting height of the sensor not meeting specifications, mouse feet thickness, mousing surface, among others) which may contribute to nominal CPI not matching actual CPI. It is impossible to always achieve a perfect match, but ideally, nominal and actual CPI should differ as little as possible. In this test, I'm determining whether this is the case or not. However, please keep in mind that said variance will still differ from unit to unit, so your mileage may vary.


I've restricted my testing to the four most common CPI steps, which are 400, 800, 1600, and 3200. As you can see, there is no deviation at all, which is a perfect result.

2000 Hz USB Polling: Does it work?

Corsair promises a USB polling rate of 2000 Hz on the Sabre RGB Pro Wireless, both in wired and 2.4 GHz mode. Now, the question is: Does it work? The short answer is no. First of all, the Sabre RGB Pro Wireless is detected as a full-speed device, which already calls the ability to deliver actual 2000 Hz polling into question. Looking at an interval plot then removes any remaining doubt:


As you can see, the mouse simply sends two identical updates in every packet, both in wired and 2.4 GHz mode. Doing so serves no purpose other than faking readings. In actuality, no additional data is submitted, thus rendering the 2000 Hz polling functionally equivalent to 1000 Hz polling. For comparison, this is how things look on Corsair's own M65 RGB Ultra, a high-speed device capable of true 2000 Hz polling:


The difference is palpable to where no further discussion is necessary. Accordingly, I'll stick with 1000 Hz for the remainder of my testing.

Motion Delay

"Motion delay" encompasses all kinds of sensor lag. Any further sources of input delay will not be recorded in this test. The main thing I'll be looking for in this test is sensor smoothing, which describes an averaging of motion data across several capture frames in order to reduce jitter at higher CPI values, increasing motion delay along with it. The goal here is to have as little smoothing as possible. As there is no way to accurately measure motion delay absolutely, it can only be done by comparison with a control subject that has been determined to have the lowest possible motion delay. In this case, the control subject is a G403, whose 3366 has no visible smoothing across the entire CPI range. Note that the G403 is moved first and thus receives a slight head start.

Testing is restricted to 2.4 GHz mode as Bluetooth is not suitable for non-casual gaming applications.

Wired testing

First, I'm looking at two xCounts plots—generated at 1600 and 26,000 CPI—to quickly gauge whether there is any smoothing, which would be indicated by any visible "kinks." As you can see, no such kinks are visible, which strongly suggests there is no smoothing across the entire CPI range. We can also see high SPI timing jitter.


In order to determine motion delay, I'm looking at xSum plots generated at 1600 and 26000 CPI. The line further to the left denotes the sensor with less motion delay. Neither 1600 nor 26,000 CPI show any motion delay differential, which confirms that there is indeed no smoothing.

Wireless testing

Not much changes when running the Sabre RGB Pro Wireless in wireless mode, as SPI timing jitter and general tracking are virtually on the same (somewhat messy) level as when wired.


Keeping the motion delay differential in wired mode established above in mind, I can measure a wireless delay of roughly 1 ms, which is nothing short of excellent, especially given the lack of a wireless extender.

Speed-related Accuracy Variance (SRAV)

What people typically mean when they talk about "acceleration" is speed-related accuracy variance (or short SRAV). It's not about the mouse having a set amount of inherent positive or negative acceleration, but about the cursor not traveling the same distance if the mouse is moved the same physical distance at different speeds. The easiest way to test this is by comparison with a control subject that is known to have very low SRAV, which in this case is the G403. As you can see from the plot, no displacement between the two cursor paths can be observed, which confirms that SRAV is very low.

Perfect Control Speed

Perfect Control Speed (or PCS for short) is the maximum speed up to which the mouse and its sensor can be moved without the sensor malfunctioning in any way. I've only managed to hit a measly 4.5 m/s (which is within the proclaimed PCS range), at which no sign of the sensor malfunctioning can be observed.

Polling Rate Stability

Considering the Sabre RGB Pro Wireless is usable as a wired mouse as well, I'll be testing polling rate stability for both wired and wireless use.

Wired testing


All four available polling rates (125/250/500/1000 Hz) look nice and stable. Polling stability is unaffected by any RGB lighting effect.

Wireless testing
For wired mice, polling rate stability merely concerns the wired connection between the mouse (SPI communication) and USB. For wireless mice, another device that needs to be kept in sync between the first two is added to the mix: the wireless dongle/wireless receiver. I'm unable to measure all stages of the entire end-to-end signal chain individually, so testing polling-rate stability at the endpoint (the USB) has to suffice here.


First, I'm testing whether SPI, wireless, and USB communication are synchronized. Any of these being out of sync would be indicated by at least one 2 ms report, which would be the result of any desynchronization drift accumulated over time. I'm unable to detect any periodic off-period polls that would be indicative of a desynchronization drift.



Second, I'm testing the general polling-rate stability of the individual polling rates in wireless mode. Running the Sabre RGB Pro Wireless at a lower polling rate can have the benefit of extending battery life. All polling rates look and perform fine, and polling stability is unaffected by any RGB lighting effect.

Paint Test

This test is used to indicate any potential issues with angle snapping (non-native straightening of linear motion) and jitter, along with any sensor lens rattle. As you can see, no issues with angle snapping can be observed. No jitter is visible at 1600 CPI. 10,000 CPI shows minor to moderate jitter. Major jitter is visible at 20,000 CPI, reaching excessive levels at 26,000 CPI. This in line with what to expect from a sensor lacking smoothing altogether. Lastly, there is no sensor lens movement.

Lift-off Distance

The Sabre RGB Pro Wireless offers three pre-defined LOD levels to choose from. At the default "low" setting, the sensor does not track at a height of 1 DVD (<1.2 mm). Using either the "medium" or "high" setting, the sensor does track at a height of 1 DVD, but not at a height of 2 DVDs (1.2<x<2.4 mm; x=LOD height). Furthermore, one can perform a surface calibration, which may lower LOD beyond the lowest level. Keep in mind that LOD may vary slightly depending on the mousing surface (pad) it is being used on.

Click Latency

Since mechanical switches are being used for the buttons in most computer mice, debouncing is required in order to avoid unintended double clicks. Debouncing typically adds a delay (along with any potential processing delay), which shall be referred to as click latency. As there is no way to measure said delay directly, it has to be done by comparing it to a control subject, which in this case is the Logitech G203. With BRO (Button Response Optimization) set to off (default), click latency has been measured to be roughly -1.1 ms when compared to the SteelSeries Ikari, which is considered as the baseline with 0 ms, with standard deviation being 0.54 ms. With BRO set to on, click latency has been measured to be roughly +2.8 ms, with standard deviation being 0.54 ms. Please keep in mind that the measured value is not the absolute click latency. Comparison data comes from this thread as well as my own testing, using qsxcv's program.

The main button switches were measured to be running at 1.929 V. I'm not aware of the voltage specifications of the Omron D2FC-F-K (50 M) (China) switches, but I find this voltage to be rather low.