Gaming hardware specialist Razer has expanded the portfolio of its mice that can utilise its HyperPolling technology. With a simple firmware update, you’ll be able to set the polling rate to anywhere between 125 and 8,000Hz, and enjoy ultra smooth mouse motion in Windows and games.
Peripherals such as keyboards and mice don’t constantly tell your PC what they’re doing. Instead, the operating system will routinely check the devices for any new input data and the frequency at which this is done is called the polling rate. For fast-paced games running at very high frame rates, using a low mouse polling rate can result in small microstutters in how the game interprets the inputs.
Not every game, of course, as it depends on how frequently the game’s engine will cycle through an input check. But let’s say that your favourite shooter does this 60 times every second or 60Hz. That’s a gap of just under 17 milliseconds between each check.
The default polling rate for most wired and wireless mice that are not intended for gaming is 125Hz, which means there’s a period of roughly 8 milliseconds between every polling of the mouse. This means there’s always a chance that every so often a game input update won’t register the very latest mouse information.
In competitive gaming, where a missed mouse click could mess up a match, the standard polling rate is just not high enough. This is why the best gaming mice typically boast 1000Hz rates, which equates to the mouse being polled every millisecond. Few, if any, games are going to be updating input information that frequently but at that polling rate, the chance of missing anything is greatly reduced.
Modern USB ports can manage really high polling rates, which is why Razer introduced its 8,000Hz HyperPolling system to the wired Viper 8K mouse in 2021. A year later, it brought the same tech over to its wireless products, albeit at 4,000Hz, before finally getting the full speed to work with its Viper Mini Signature Edition mouse earlier this year.
Now, five more mice will be able to use it, and if you already own one of them, all you need to do is use the latest version of Razer’s Synapse software to update the mouse’s firmware. The specific models receiving the special treatment are the Viper V2 Pro, DeathAdder V3 Pro, Cobra Pro, Basilisk V3 Pro, and Viper V3 HyperSpeed.
You don’t have to set the polling rate to 8,000Hz but it’s nice to know that Razer is actively pushing its latest developments out to products that could already be in use. You can download the most recent version of Razer Synapse from here and if you have one of the HyperPolling capable mice, then you should see the option to update its firmware or you can get it directly from here.
www.pcgamer.com