1000 Hz vs 8000 Hz polling: can you feel it?
Polling rate is how often the mouse reports to the PC. 1000 Hz means once per millisecond; 8000 Hz, eight times. Marketing says smoother. Reality is more nuanced.
What changes
Higher polling lowers the worst-case input delay between a hand movement and the game seeing it — from up to 1 ms down to ~0.125 ms. That's real, but it's a fraction of a frame even at 240 Hz.
What it costs
8000 Hz generates 8× the USB interrupts. On a CPU-bound title that can cost you frames and add stutter — the opposite of the goal. We've seen 3–7% average FPS drops on mid-range CPUs in our own runs.
Recommendation
- Most players: 1000 Hz. Set and forget.
- Strong CPU headroom and a high-refresh monitor: try 2000–4000 Hz and watch 1% lows.
- 8000 Hz: only if your frametime graph stays flat with it on.
None of this changes your sensitivity math — cm/360° is independent of polling. See the FAQ for the rest of the hardware checklist.
Found an error in the numbers? They're checked against in-game measurements, but mail hello@sensify.best if something's off.