Razer Viper 8KHz Promises Eight Times Faster Polling Rate

There has been a lot of focus on fast rates in the tech industry of late, from the usual clock speeds of CPUs and GPUs to a seeming obsession over screen refresh rates. In contrast, Razer says that gaming mice makers are still stuck at improving accuracy and responsiveness, particularly with DPI numbers. That isn't the only important figure, though, the gaming company says, and it is trying to prove its point with the new Razer Viper 8KHz with HyperPolling technology.

In addition to mouse sensitivity measure in dots per inch or DPI, there is also such a thing as polling rate or how many times a device, such as a mouse, reports its data to the computer's OS. Even for gaming mice, the standard has been 1000 Hz (1KHz) or polling 1,000 times per second. Razer's new HyperPolling, however, multiplies that by eight.

HyperPolling is the marketing term Razer is giving the Viper 8KHz's capability to poll at 8,000 times per second or 8KHz, hence the name. Naturally, it isn't sharing how it accomplishes that magic other than using a high-speed USB controller to achieve such speeds. In theory, that reduces input delay from 1ms to 1/8th of a millisecond, claims the company.

In practice, this should help reduce the micro stutters or sudden jumps in cursor position that some gamers experience because their screens and their mice don't easily sync their rates. In fact, Razer says that HyperPolling technology is a better match for monitors with high refresh rates than even the 1KHz standard gaming mice.

In addition to HyperPolling, the Razer Viper 8KHz also has the staples of the company's gaming mice, like Optical Mouse switches and Focus+ Optical Sensor. With Razer Synapse 3, users can also customize the eight programmable buttons to whatever they wish. The Razer Viper 8KHz is now available from Razer.com and authorized resellers for $79.99.