Should I get a Razer Viper with 8KHz polling rate? Not for the 8KHz, no, here's why

Update: You can enable High Precision Mouse Input in Overwatch and it will work. 8000Hz feels good in there now. Thanks to BossKing in the comments!

Good news, Razer is selling the new Viper 8KHz at the same price! Bad news, I can't find games to use it in. Quake Champions is the best so far, but if you move the mouse really quickly from side to side ... even Quake Champions starts to have that issue I saw in Siege.

Seems like it's just too much for the engines to handle, so some just skip while others log the movements and then won't give you full control back until all have been executed (creating lag/or a really big smoothing feeling).

I recommend not using 8K polling rate mice until engines catch up or whatever is going on, I'm just going by what I've been told and seen in game. And even when it's perfected, it's not really that different or worth using.

1000Hz is fine for now. Hope that helps!

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[RocketJumpNinja]

UPDATE: As said in the comments, you can turn on high precision mouse input in Overwatch and it seems to work! So we'll just wait for games to update with that and we'll be good to go to 8000Hz. It does seem to feel nicer and more responsive, but it's almost 3am and I'll have to do another video when there are more updates to games.

Comment Before Edit: 8000Hz ... we're not ready for it yet. I've heard a lot of people having jerkiness issues, but some say games are fine? Quake Champions is mostly ok, but the rest weren't for me. We'll have to get more data now that it's announced. Stay tuned I guess, but I'm not that interested/keen. We were talking about putting it on my mouse but I don't think it's worth doing at this stage and probably won't be for ... years? Who knows.

[FrancisNadal]

What a hero, while other channels stretch the video to at least 10 minutes, here’s 3 minutes with just all the facts. Thank you, Zy!

[HardwareCanucks]

Hi Zy, really interesting to see the jerkiness in games at 8000Hz - I've tried CS:GO / COD:CW / even Cyberpunk all running at 8000Hz without problems. All smooth, and no changes in smoothness when lowering to 1000Hz. I'm running this with RTX 3080 / 3900XT. Gotta try Valorant and Quake soon.
-D.

[Bossking]

The reason overwatch is choppy is because there is actually something in the settings that you have to check off so that you can use your mouse native polling rate. Many overwatch streamers were already gifted the mouse so they use it on the daily. Not like it makes too much of a difference just wanted to let people know there is another game.

[OMGitsBck]

0:57 Rare sighting of the elusive Rail by Zy™

[Alltoc]

Imagine a 3min video with twice the information and insight in the topic as a 10min video by Linus Tech Tips
Imagine that
Love your channel btw uwu

[ineedyoutostop]

Funny how of the 3 channels that posted reviews for this at the same time (RJN, LTT via shortcircuit, and hardware canucks), only one tested it in multiple games, only one mentioned the issues and how a lot of games flat out don't support it, and only one said the difference is so tiny that you shouldn't get the mouse just for 8k and you should just get the best shape/weight/features and if it happens to have 8k then fine. Stuff like this happens for every enthusiast product though. Headphone reviews are terrible for it where all the mainstream reviewers give the popular headphones glowing reviews but if you go to someone who even cares a little bit about audio quality they don't recommend them.

[Movie_Games]

Just got mine today. IT'S SO SMOOTH! Tried it in Overwatch, Valorant, and Destiny 2 and works great!

[RSavageGGEz]

I love that you recorded all popular FPS games including siege (my favorite) These tests really surprised me. Wierd how different games handle or was unable to handle 8K polling rate. Thanks for a great video very interesting

[Zightz]

Pretty dissappointed that no one else seems to mention this problem. Sure, it's not a fault with the mouse but it should definitely be mentioned in a review.

[evaander]

never in my gaming journey would i thought i would hear "future proofing" a mouse

[jinx]

its quite amazing how every mouse fits people differently, I've been using a g pro wireless for over a year now and decided to give the g502 wireless a try and it was instantly more comfortable for me, i always knew i wasn't the biggest fan of lighter mice, always overshooting the target, for the longest time i thought it was just tweaks to the dpi required but all along it just didn't quite fit my hand right, every time i put my hand on it i would be grabbing it in a different way, claw sometimes, palming it others but the g502 i grab the same every time, my hand just melts away holding it, on paper the g pro wireless owns it but if something just isn't quite right with the fit for you the result is you will never play your best and that's always been your message and its a valuable one for anybody looking for a mouse.

[sivasaiabhiram]

When will reviewers get your mouse and be able to post first impressions

[amr]

the 8KHz now works with Valorant when you turn on RawInputBuffer

[benjaminduhon]

the best part of this video was finding out quake champions was free on steam.

[NightMotorcyclist]

psh, I made it through CSGO and CS 1.6 with mice that have polling rates of 125 and 500 like the original Logitech MX-518. 8K doesn't seem to offer all that much at the moment and possibly may not offer much in the future.

[TE_I]

Thanks man, couldn't figure out why my my mouse randomly started stuttering, didn't realise the 8k was too fast

[idkidc]

Waiting for boardzy to watch it on stream :)

[DerBoeseWolf]

"... I want more people to play..." sounds like a threat 😳

[metanoia.CHANGE_OF_MIND]

Here is why you do not need such high refresh rates, monitor, or mouse. Tl;dr at the end.

Do not be confused with Refresh/Polling Rate with Frame Rate.

Frame - a single picture rendered by a Graphics Processing Unit (GPU). It is determined by Frames Per Second (FPS) and Frame Time.

Refresh/Polling - they are not too different, in monitor, it is refresh where it means the process of REPLACING A FRAME created by the GPU. While Polling it is also the same thing but it is the process of REPORTING a new activity. It is determined by Hz.

Rate - determines how fast or slow.

I will go a bit technical from here on now

To determine Frame Time. 1000 divided by x where x is the number of frames generated per second.
60 frames per second is 16.7 ms. Meaning it takes 16.7 milliseconds to generate 1 frame.
This also true with Refresh Rate. 60hz is also 16.7 milliseconds to refresh a frame.

How are they different?

Refresh Rate is constant
Frame Rate is not.

If frame rate is greater than refresh rate. You can only see the same amount of frames just as much the monitor refreshes. 120fps on 60hz is still 60 frames. BUT.
the frame time is 2x faster. This is where frame time shines. No matter what is your refresh rate, if your frame rate is greater than the refresh rate, they take the latest frame generated by the GPU and display it on the monitor. Frame Rate matters because Refresh Rate makes your gameplay smooth. The higher refresh the smoother. Frame rate actually matters because of LATENCY. Lower latency matters a lot. That is why Frame Rate matters than Refresh but both combined will be better.


Yes Latency matters. But let's talk about huge numbers. 240hz, 360hz refresh rate. 8000hz polling rates. DO YOU NEED THEM? Yes and no.

If you are a seasoned FPS or MOBA player or a pro competitive esports player or just plain rich, get the best hardware.

If not, just a casual. Don't.


Latency matters but in very small numbers, they are negligible.

techincal alert.


A jump from 30FPS/hz to 60 FPS/hz is huge because in frame time, 33.3ms to 16.7ms is 16.6ms difference.
60FPS/hz to 144FPS/hz is also huge because 144FPS/hz in frame time is 6.9 (nice) ms.

144 is the sweet spot because anything greater than 144 is very slightly different unless you are a pro.
144FPS/hz vs 360FPS/hz (fastest refresh rate as of now) is slightly faster. Frametime difference is 6.9ms vs 2.7ms. 4.2 ms is not a big number but noticeable by pros not by casual gamers.

1ms frame time is 1000FPS. This is for reference.


Now lets talk about 8000hz. But not without some explanation.

500hz polling rate is enough actually but some go 1000hz which also is okay.

Polling vs Refresh. They essentially do the same thing. Reporting is what the mouse does. Updates mouse activity every second a.k.a. polling rate also determined by hz.
125hz is smooth on monitors but not on mice. That is a very bad polling rate. 8ms every update is very delayed. Because your mouse moves fast and it reports so slow, tracking is horrendous. The tracking of where your mouse is relative to the cursor is not accurate if you move very fast. They stutter. This is also true in monitors. Low FPS can lead to stuttery motion.

now 500hz is 2ms

1000hz is 1ms.

8000hz.... is 0.1ms


.9 ms is a very very small.

even a professional would not notice that delay.


Tl;dr If you have a decent gaming mouse with a total delay of less than 5 ms (accounting for debounce time and polling rate delay), no need to buy the Viper 8Khz

ZY a.k.a. Rocket Jump Ninja. Please send your mouse, I want it.