Everything You Need to Know About Polling Rate

Polling rate is how many times a second your mouse reports its position to your computer.

So if your mouse has a polling rate of 500 that means it reports its position to your computer 500 times every second.

Or every 2 milliseconds (ms).

The available polling rates are usually 125, 250, 500 and 1000 and here is a table showing polling rate vs report time:

As you can see, the higher your polling rate the less time it takes for your mouse to report its position to your computer.

To learn more about mouse polling rate you can watch this video.

Or continue reading this post if you prefer.

What is the best polling for Fortnite?

Using data from prosettings.com I was able to analyze the polling rate of more than 150 Fortnite pro players.

I discovered that more than 95% of Fortnite pro players use a polling rate of 1000.

Look at the chart above and you’ll see that Fortnite pro players choose between only two polling rates: 500 and 1000.

Of course, the overwhelming majority use 1000.

And that makes sense, right?

As you know, when you use a higher polling rate your mouse reports its position to your computer more often. In other words, your mouse movements will feel more responsive.

Obviously you want the least amount of lag possible when gaming.

So it makes sense to use the highest polling rate available to you.

How to check your mouse polling rate

Some gaming mice let you adjust your polling rate using the software. Logitech is a popular brand and their mice use the Logitech gaming software.

And other mice, like my Zowie S2, have a button at the bottom to change the polling rate.

But if you have an older mouse then you can use this free online mouse rate checker tool from Zowie.

All you need to do is click on the screen and start moving your mouse and your polling rate will be shown on the screen.

It’s important you constantly move your mouse or the tool will not be able to check for a response from your mouse.

When I was using this tool my polling rate sometimes dropped slightly below 1000. But overall it was very accurate, even when testing different polling rates.

Conclusion

In summary, the higher your polling rate the less lag there is between your mouse movements and when that movement shows up on your screen.

Therefore, a higher polling rate is better. Especially for a fast-paced competitive shooter such as Fortnite.

Of course, polling rate is not to be confused with DPI. Because a higher DPI isn’t necessarily better.

One thing to note, however, is that high polling rates can put stress on your CPU. But generally, polling rates up to 1000 are fine with modern hardware.

Also, a high polling rate can affect the power consumption if you’re using a wireless mouse. So if you’re looking to conserve battery then setting your polling rate lower can help.

Finally, you know 1000 polling rate is the best. But don’t worry if your mouse only has a maximum polling rate of 500 because the difference between 500 and 1000 is only 1ms. In other words, it’s not noticeable.

What polling rate do you use?

Leave a comment down below!