Lowest latency keyboards for gaming (polling rate isn’t the answer!)

lowest latency gaming keyboards lowest latency gaming keyboards

Let’s talk a bit about latency in mechanical keyboards. Lower latency is ofcourse an advantage if you are playing competitively games like CS2 or Valorant and you want to have an edge over other players or at least not to be let down by the performance of your keyboard.

Most gaming keyboards should have polling rate of 1000Hz which means in theory they have 1/1000th of a second delay in input (1 ms latency). But it’s only one factor and when keypress latency is being measured in a high refresh rate monitor it usually ends up being over 1ms. In the same vein a keyboard with 8000 Hz should have 0.125ms but that almost never will be the case.

Here’s a table listing the polling rates for some of the popular gaming keyboards from the recent years. All with wired connection as this way you will achieve the lowest latency possible. 2.4GHz connection will add usually 20-100% more latency and Bluetooth is the worst – it will make 1 ms wired latency into 10 ms latency. Most of these are magnetic switch keyboards with features like rapid trigger, adjustable actuation and snap tap.

Keyboard modelReleasedConnectionPolling rateLatency (ms)Price
ATK RS62025Wired8,000 Hz0.16$139.99
LUMINKEY Magger 68 HE2024Wired8,000 Hz0.3$75
Wooting 80HE2024Wired8,000 Hz0.42$199.99
FUN60 Ultra2025Wired, wireless8,000 Hz0.5$89.99
Womier SK75 TMR2025Wired, wireless8,000 Hz0.55$119.99
Drunkdeer A75 Ultra2025Wired8,000 Hz0.6$199
Nuphy Field75 HE2024Wired8,000 Hz0.8$149.95
Nuphy Air75 HE2024Wired8,000 Hz0.88$129.95
IQUNIX EZ802025Wired8,000 Hz0.91$299.99
Nuphy Air60 HE2024Wired8,000 Hz1.0$119.95
Corsair K65 RGB MINI2021Wired1,000 Hz1.17$109.99
Razer BlackWidow V4 75%2021Wired8,000 Hz1.55$189.99
IQUNIX EZ602024Wired8,000 Hz1.7$169
Wooting 60HE2022Wired1,000 Hz1.9$174.99
Corsair K70 PRO TKL2024Wired8,000 Hz2.4$179.99
ASUS ROG Azoth2023Wired, Wireless8,000 Hz2.7$249.99
SteelSeries Apex Pro Gen 32024Wired1,000 Hz2.8$239.99
Keychron Q5 HE2024Wired1,000 Hz3.1$249
Logitech G515 Lightspeed TKL2024Wired, Wireless1,000 Hz3.3$139.99
Logitech G915 X2024Wired, Wireless1,000 Hz3.8$229.99
Logitech G PRO X TKL RAPID2024Wired1,000 Hz4.1$169.99
GLORIOUS GMMK 32024Wired1,000 Hz5.3$139.99
Data: our tests, rtings.com, eyejokerdb.com

The best value right now offers the Womier SK75 TMR I think. TMR sensor and very low latency. ATK RS6 has the best latency I recorded yet. But anything under 1-2 ms will be great for gaming.

As wireless latency goes, for instance Logitech G515 Lightspeed TKL has 3.3 ms wired latency, 3.6 ms dongle (2.4Ghz) latency and 14 ms Bluetooth latency.

For gaming you will definitely want a wired connection to ensure that low latency, because wireless connection will always add an additional layer of latency. 2.4Ghz is bad but Bluetooth is even worse.

Keep in mind that while higher polling rates can reduce input latency, the difference may not be perceptible in everyday use.

marcus gibli
Marcus Richardson
Editor-in-chief

I love testing and writing about new tech. I focus on keyboards and controllers. I'm also a gamer and an engineer. Check out my Twitter for keyboard and controller news and reviews.

1 comments
  1. To be sure, latency matters. Unfortunately, as the gaming community demonstrates, the user’s proficiency and keyboard skills are as crucial to winning. Not all of the keyboards on the list are conducive to offering the best overall typing/keyboarding experience, despite the numbers. Thank you for sharing.

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