What the Mouse Polling Rate Test Measures
The test records pointer event timing and calculates frequency from the intervals between usable samples. A one-second window shows the current estimate; longer movement offers a better comparison than one brief swipe.
Where supported, raw pointer updates or coalesced samples can expose more movement events. Browser support, display refresh, CPU load and operating-system scheduling still affect the result.
How to Use the Mouse Polling Rate Test
- 1Close heavy background activity if possible.
- 2Move the mouse steadily across the test area for several seconds.
- 3Read the average and median after enough samples have arrived.
- 4Repeat with the same browser and movement pattern when comparing settings.
How to Interpret the Result
A result below the configured mouse setting does not prove the device is sending fewer USB reports. The browser can merge or schedule movement events.
Compare repeated runs and sample quality. A single peak is less useful than a stable median and modest interval variation.
Understanding Mouse Hz and Variation
Hz means observed events per second in this page. Interval variation (median absolute deviation, or MAD) describes how far individual gaps depart from the median gap; it is not a hardware accuracy grade.
When comparing 125, 500, 1000 or higher settings, keep the same browser, pointer path and system conditions. Compare several runs instead of selecting the highest instantaneous value.
How to Compare 125, 500, 1000 and Higher Hz Settings
Change one device setting at a time, then move the pointer through a similar path for at least a few seconds. The current one-second estimate reacts quickly to movement, while the median helps dampen individual unusually short or long intervals. Peak Hz is based on a short rolling window rather than a single fastest gap.
Sample Quality describes how many usable events arrived and how long movement continued. A Good label does not mean the displayed rate matches a firmware value. If two runs differ, repeat them under a similar CPU load and browser window state, and compare average, median and interval jitter together.
Why Browser-Observed Hz Can Change
Pointer events can be coalesced, scheduled in batches or limited by how often the browser dispatches movement. The screen refresh rate and operating-system pointer path may also influence the stream seen by a page. Stopping movement leaves no new events to measure, so the live rate becomes unavailable rather than steadily falling to zero.
A 4000 Hz or 8000 Hz setting is especially hard to verify from a normal web page. InputMetric can reveal differences in event delivery across settings, but it cannot certify a USB report configuration.
Browser Limitations
A web page cannot read the device's USB report frequency or firmware setting. Stopping movement supplies no new event intervals, so idle time must not be treated as fresh low-Hz samples. Very high-Hz devices can exceed what a browser visibly dispatches.