Can an 8,000Hz Keyboard Reduce CPU Performance or Cause Game Stutters?
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MellowPine42
I recently bought a FUN60 Pro keyboard advertised with an 8,000Hz polling rate, but its software doesn't provide a way to lower that setting. I'm wondering whether such a high polling rate can noticeably increase CPU usage, reduce gaming performance, or cause stuttering. I've seen conflicting opinions, and my system uses a Ryzen 5 5600.
Answers
An 8,000Hz keyboard generally shouldn’t cause a noticeable performance drop. Keyboard input is relatively small compared with mouse input, so the CPU overhead is usually negligible. If your games feel normal, there’s probably nothing to worry about.
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The easiest way to confirm is to compare the keyboard with another one while monitoring frame times and CPU usage. Game-specific behavior matters, though—older titles may handle unusually high input rates less gracefully than newer games.
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High polling rates can be more problematic with mice because they send frequent movement updates, especially in older or poorly optimized games. Those games may stutter at very high rates, but the same issue is much less likely with a keyboard.
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MellowPine42: That makes sense. I’ll pay attention to frame-time spikes in the games where I notice any stuttering, rather than assuming the keyboard is automatically hurting performance.