Wirebook › Glossary › Polling rate
What is polling rate (125 Hz vs 1000 Hz)?
In one sentence: How many times a second a controller, mouse or keyboard sends a fresh report of its buttons and sticks, such as 125, 250 or 1,000 times (Hz).
A little more
A controller, mouse or keyboard doesn't wait for something to happen and then shout. It sends a fresh report on a steady timetable, and the polling rate is how many of those reports arrive each second, measured in hertz (Hz). 125 Hz means one every 8 milliseconds, 250 Hz one every 4, and 1,000 Hz one every millisecond. On a USB cable the console or computer does the asking (it polls), which is where the name comes from; wireless controllers send on a similar schedule.
Each report is a snapshot of everything: every button, both sticks and the triggers. So a higher polling rate means a press is noticed a little sooner and more steadily, but the saving is small: going from 125 Hz to 1,000 Hz cuts the average wait by about 3.5 milliseconds. A game that runs at 60 frames a second only reads the newest report once per frame and ignores the rest, so the screen and the frame rate usually matter far more.
See it in action
- BonusHow does a game controller talk to a console?Your controller fires tiny paper darts at the console hundreds of times a second, each one a snapshot of every button and stick.8 min · interactive
- BonusDoes the app keep peeking, or does the website ring a doorbell?How does a news app know a new lesson appeared? Race a peeker, a messenger who waits at the door and a doorbell through a pretend day, count the wasted trips, be the peeker yourself, and peek at this site's real feed to see a 304 Not Modified.6 min · interactive
Do it for real
Free grown-up tools and guides on Tooltern, our sister site. They work in your browser and nothing is uploaded.