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 bu 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 (1ms 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.
| Keyboard Model | Release Year | Connection Type | Polling Rate | Single Key Wired Latency |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wooting 80HE | 2024 | Wired | 8,000 Hz | 0.4 ms |
| Corsair K65 RGB MINI | 2021 | Wired | 1,000 Hz | 1.1 ms |
| Razer BlackWidow V4 75% | 2021 | Wired | 8,000 Hz | 1.6 ms |
| ASUS ROG Azoth | 2023 | Wired, wireless | 1,000 Hz | 2.7 ms |
| SteelSeries Apex Pro Gen 3 | 2024 | Wired | 1,000 Hz | 2.8 ms |
| Nuphy Field75 HE | 2024 | Wired | 8,000 Hz | 0.8 ms |
| Wooting 60HE | 2022 | Wired | 1,000 Hz | 1.9 ms |
| Nuphy Air60 HE | 2024 | Wired | 8,000 Hz | 1.0 ms |
| Logitech G915 X | 2024 | Wired, wireless | 1,000 Hz | 3.8 ms |
| GLORIOUS GMMK 3 | 2024 | Wired | 1,000 Hz | 5.3 ms |
| Corsair K70 PRO TKL | 2024 | Wired | 8,000 Hz | 2.4 ms |
| Logitech G515 Lightspeed TKL | 2024 | Wired, wireless | 1,000 Hz | 3.3 ms |
| Drunkdeer A75 Ultra | 2025 | Wired | 8,000 Hz | 0.5 ms |
| Logitech G PRO X TKL RAPID | 2024 | Wired | 1,000 Hz | 4.1 ms |
| Keychron Q5 HE | 2024 | Wired | 1,000 Hz | 3.1 ms |
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.
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.
