What is Motion Latency?

Motion latency is the delay between moving your hand and seeing the crosshair move. Unlike click latency, high motion latency makes your aim feel 'floaty' or disconnected.

How it works

Your sensor takes pictures of the surface (framerate) and calculates movement. It then waits for the USB poll (Polling Rate) to send that data. A 1000Hz mouse sends data every 1ms. A 125Hz office mouse waits 8ms. This delay stacks with your monitor's refresh rate.

Sensor Smoothing

At very high DPIs (often above 3000 or 10000 depending on the sensor), mice introduce 'smoothing' or ripple control to filter out jitter. This processing adds latency. For the rawest feel, keep your DPI reasonable (under 3200 is usually safe for modern sensors).

4K and 8K Polling

Newer mice offer 4000Hz (0.25ms) and 8000Hz (0.125ms) polling. While the numeric drop in latency is small compared to 1000Hz (1ms), the motion is updated more frequently, making micro-adjustments feel smoother on high-refresh-rate monitors (240Hz+).