Question Questions about the razer huntsman v2.. usb2/3 "polling rates" ?

nelska

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Oct 29, 2022
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I've had this keyboard for about a year now and have always used it through a usb 2.0 port with an adapter it comes with because I cant see the difference between it and the usb 3.0 port. It seems to do the exact same thing. I've even seen a few notifications when you install it that say it doesn't work right in 2.0 but I downloaded a few software programs and tested it as rated for usb 2.0. I think it's a scam. Or a lie or something all the features work. I am worried though about the polling rate being 8k in a usb 2.0 slot. I am aware that usb 2.0 supports that polling rate? 8k?
 

nelska

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Oct 29, 2022
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8K on a keyboard isn't required and you won't se e any real difference. This was even noted in Tom's Hardware's review Razer Huntsman V2 8,000 Hz Keyboard Review: . There are move benefits in the mouse world than in the keyboard world for 8K. I think you'll be fine running on USB 2.0 versus USB 3.0.

What many consider the best pure gaming keyboard, Wooting 60he only has a 1K polling rate.
I talked to tech support the analog version. the one i have is only 1k which im happy about because i didnt want to upgrade my mouse lol
 
That's not a USB 3.0 to 2.0 adapter but simply a Type-C to Type-A adapter. There are plenty of blue USB 3.0 Type-A ports around.

It should make no difference because even if you're the world's fastest typist there's not a lot of data being transferred. And no matter how quickly the USB controller watches for changes, when it does notice a change it has to interrupt the CPU to let it know, and then things depend on the speed of the CPU (that review showed up to 17% CPU load at 8,000Hz)

You'd expect it'd be like ethernet where faster speeds mean less latency, but USB is definitely not like that because it's limited by the software driver stack, making 5, 10, 20 or 40Gbit have no less measurable latency than 480Mbit. This is also why high-polling rate keyboards are not much better than 125Hz or even slow 100MHz PS/2, and in fact PS/2 has way more consistent latency because it doesn't slow down when the CPU gets busy (at least too busy to dedicate 17% of its computing power to babysitting a keyboard).

Save the high polling rate for your mouse, where pointer latency is more noticeable so the CPU hit may actually be worthwhile
 

nelska

Prominent
Oct 29, 2022
79
2
535
That's not a USB 3.0 to 2.0 adapter but simply a Type-C to Type-A adapter. There are plenty of blue USB 3.0 Type-A ports around.

It should make no difference because even if you're the world's fastest typist there's not a lot of data being transferred. And no matter how quickly the USB controller watches for changes, when it does notice a change it has to interrupt the CPU to let it know, and then things depend on the speed of the CPU (that review showed up to 17% CPU load at 8,000Hz)

You'd expect it'd be like ethernet where faster speeds mean less latency, but USB is definitely not like that because it's limited by the software driver stack, making 5, 10, 20 or 40Gbit have no less measurable latency than 480Mbit. This is also why high-polling rate keyboards are not much better than 125Hz or even slow 100MHz PS/2, and in fact PS/2 has way more consistent latency because it doesn't slow down when the CPU gets busy (at least too busy to dedicate 17% of its computing power to babysitting a keyboard).

Save the high polling rate for your mouse, where pointer latency is more noticeable so the CPU hit may actually be worthwhile

yeh, usb 2 can do up to 8k hz so the keyboards gunna work the same in either type of usb port. I am astonished they are allowed to advertise it as a usb 3.0 keyboard just because it has a passthrough on the side of it thats a usb 3.0 port. I ran some usb software through it and it claimed that the keyboard itself is usb 2.0. which kind of takes the advertising on the box and tosses it right out a window. It's for sure 1000hz polilng rate and you can tell that instantly as soon as you plug a gaming keyboard into it and turn it up 1 knotch from 125hz to 500hz or 1000hz. IMO if your gunna use 1000hz mouse. the 1000hz keyboards the other half of the pb and j sandwich. Thats why I was considering trying to find a laptop that comes with a decent keyboard because suprisingly even tho they all come with gpus now a days they still expect you to plug in an external keyboard as well as an external mouse. which is just absurd.