Razer continues to push the boundaries of what gamers are willing to buy to gain the edge over their opponents. Starting today, fans of the Razer Viper V2 Pro wireless gaming mouse can get the luxury of a higher polling rate than the other guy with the $30 Razer HyperPolling dongle. Currently only compatible with the Viper V2 Pro, this dongle exists for the sole purpose of giving you an almost imperceptible edge over your competition by providing the wireless mouse with a polling rate of 4000 Hz.
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A device’s polling rate refers to the number of times a mouse or other peripheral sends its information to your desktop. The typical polling rate for wired or wireless peripherals is about 1000 Hz, meaning your desktop will receive updates from your mouse every millisecond. Not to be outdone, manufacturers like Razer have started making peripherals that offer polling rates of up to 8000 Hz. While maintaining a polling rate of 4000 Hz over a wireless connection is absolutely impressive, it’s hard to say how much it will affect a player’s performance, given that today’s high-end gaming monitors have a top speed of 500 Hz.
Just as peripheral manufacturers were racing to equip their mice with more powerful sensors, it seems polling rate has become the new benchmark used to measure the effectiveness of mice in the gaming landscape. While there is empirical data to support the claim that a higher polling rate results in less latency with your input, it is still questionable whether this makes you a better player. Razer seems to think so and believes you will pay for the privilege.