What wireless keyboard latency is

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Wireless keyboard latency is the wait on the link the board is using. A cable, a 2.4 GHz dongle, and Bluetooth are three different links. A rate printed for one of them stays on that link. 1000 Hz is a 1 ms gap between reports. 125 Hz is 8 ms. Those numbers are the polling interval, not a grade for the switch and not the time until the picture moves.

I play left-handed on UHJK with a Logitech PRO 2 LIGHTSPEED at 1200 DPI. Pick the layout and switches first (see the best gaming keyboards), then check the wireless link. More keyboard guides.

You are playing on the 2.4 GHz dongle.

Cable2.4 GHz dongleBluetooth

The dongle can be the match. The listing has to print 1000 Hz on that dongle. That is a 1 ms gap between reports. The picture still waits on the game and the screen.

Boards worth a look

• Printed rates on both radios: Logitech G613. Official support sheet: Logitech G 2.4 GHz LIGHTSPEED and Bluetooth low energy, USB report rate 1 ms (1000 Hz), report rate in Bluetooth 8 ms (125 Hz). Software support is listed as Logitech Gaming Software, LIGHTSPEED only. Battery life up to 18 months. G613 technical specifications. Amazon search for G613 LIGHTSPEED
• Modern LIGHTSPEED TKL at 1 ms: Logitech G PRO X TKL LIGHTSPEED. Official support sheet: LIGHTSPEED wireless technology, USB report rate max 1 ms, wireless range up to 10 meters, rechargeable battery up to 50 hours, GX-style tactile / clicky / linear. Official US shop listed $189.99 against $219.99. That sheet does not list Bluetooth. PRO X TKL specification. Logitech G shop. Amazon search for PRO X TKL LIGHTSPEED
• 4000 Hz HyperSpeed plus Bluetooth: Razer BlackWidow V4 Pro 75%. Official US page: Razer HyperSpeed Wireless (2.4 GHz), Bluetooth 5.1, or Type-C, true 4000 Hz wireless polling, toggle between 3 Bluetooth devices, starting from US$299.99. Support sheet: polling rate up to 4000 Hz ultrapolling, mode switch BT / wired / 2.4 GHz, Power Saving Mode on Fn + Esc. Razer US page. Razer support. Amazon search for BlackWidow V4 Pro 75%

The short version: play on the cable or the 2.4 GHz dongle, and read 1000 Hz on that link. Bluetooth is typing. UHJK still exists on a TKL and on a 75%. A 60% drops the F-row, which I care about more in WoW than in Overwatch — the Naga already holds consumables.

What 1 ms means on a wireless box

How keyboard latency works is the rest of the chain: travel until the key counts, the board accepting that count, then the game and the picture. The number on a wireless box, when it says 1 ms, is the same arithmetic as on a cable. 1000 divided by the hertz is the gap. 1000 Hz leaves 1 millisecond. 125 Hz leaves 8 milliseconds. 4000 Hz leaves 0.25 milliseconds. 8000 Hz leaves 0.125 milliseconds. Each of those is the gap between packets on the link that rate belongs to. The screen still draws on its own schedule after the report arrives. I play on a 1080p 240 Hz and a 1440p 155 Hz monitor. I do not add those waits into one total.

A scan rate, how often the controller looks at the keys inside the board, can be a large number while the dongle still reports at a low rate. The number that reaches the PC is the polling rate of the connection you left on. If the listing prints a huge scan and stays quiet about USB or wireless hertz, it advertised the inside of the keyboard.

LIGHTSPEED and HyperSpeed are the 2.4 GHz names

Logitech G calls its 2.4 GHz path LIGHTSPEED. The LIGHTSPEED page calls it an end-to-end wireless solution that delivers low-latency and reliable performance, and it markets the radio as able to beat most competitors’ wired connections. That is Logitech’s claim. It is not a millisecond I measured on a board I own. The support sheets are the part you can check: G613 prints 1 ms (1000 Hz) on USB next to LIGHTSPEED, and the PRO X TKL prints max 1 ms.

Razer calls the 2.4 GHz keyboard path HyperSpeed Wireless. Razer HyperPolling defines polling rate as how often data is communicated from the device to the PC, and says a higher rate sends data more frequently. It prints the usual 1000 Hz as a 1 ms gap and 8000 Hz as 0.125 ms. On keyboards, that page says compatible HyperSpeed wireless boards now deliver a 4000 Hz polling rate. The BlackWidow V4 Pro 75% is the named 4000 Hz wireless keyboard on Razer’s current shop page.

A button that cycles cable, 2.4 GHz, and Bluetooth only changes which link is awake. It does not copy the cable’s rate onto Bluetooth. Open the software while that link is the one connected, and read the hertz next to it. On the G613, Logitech says the gaming software is LIGHTSPEED only. Bluetooth on that board is still a radio. It is not the software’s match mode.

Bluetooth is a different report

Bluetooth is the link for typing and for a second computer. Official keyboard sheets that bother to print a Bluetooth rate print a slower one. The G613 is the clean example: 8 ms (125 Hz) in Bluetooth against 1 ms (1000 Hz) on the USB / LIGHTSPEED line. Eight milliseconds is eight times the 1000 Hz gap. That is the official split on one SKU.

Many newer tri-mode pages list Bluetooth as a feature and stay quiet about its hertz. The G915 X LIGHTSPEED support sheet lists connection type as dongle, Bluetooth 5.0, and USB, and still prints USB report rate max 1 ms — not a Bluetooth report rate. The V4 Pro 75% lists Bluetooth 5.1 so you can connect and toggle three devices. The 4000 Hz line on that page sits next to HyperSpeed and HyperPolling, not next to those three phones. If the page never prints 1000 Hz next to Bluetooth, Bluetooth is not the match link.

Wireless mouse latency is the same split on a different device. The PRO 2 LIGHTSPEED I actually play Overwatch with is a dongle mouse. I do not play that match on Bluetooth. A keyboard is not a mouse, so don’t copy a mouse number onto a board.

4000 Hz and 8000 Hz are smaller steps

The jump people argue about after 1000 Hz is a fraction of a millisecond. 4000 Hz leaves 0.25 ms between reports. 8000 Hz leaves 0.125 ms. Razer’s HyperPolling page writes that 8000 Hz reports up to eight times more data per second than 1000 Hz and shrinks that input-delay figure from 1 ms to 0.125 ms. On wireless keyboards the same page names 4000 Hz, and it prints its own lab averages for HyperSpeed wireless keyboards: 1.30 ms at 4000 Hz and 2.43 ms at 1000 Hz, against 2.97 ms for the non-Razer 1000 Hz keyboards in that chart. Those are Razer’s controlled-environment numbers.

The same page also says some game engines cannot handle a high polling rate well, and it tells you to drop to 4000 or 2000 Hz if the machine stutters. A higher printed rate is optional. Keep it only if you can tell it on the dongle you play on. A cable’s 8000 Hz line stays on the cable.

Where the dongle sits

The receiver is part of the link. Razer’s HyperPolling best-practice list wants a wireless dongle in line of sight, within 30 cm, and as far as possible from active USB 3 hubs, which it says can generate 2.4 GHz signal noise. It also wants other nearby radios on 5 GHz or on a cable so the 2.4 GHz band is less busy. Plug the receiver into the PC itself. An unpowered hub, or the USB port on a monitor, is a different path.

The PRO X TKL sheet prints a wireless range of up to 10 meters. That’s the best case. Keep the dongle close and in line of sight. If the timing jumps when you hide the receiver and steadies when you put it on the desk with an extension, the port was the suspect.

Lights, the battery, and a rate that has to stay on

A wireless board is also a battery. The hour count on the box belongs to a setting the page should name, often with the lights down. The PRO X TKL lists up to 50 hours. The G613 lists up to 18 months on two AA cells and has no backlighting on that spec sheet. The V4 Pro 75% names a 4200 mAh battery and a Power Saving Mode. A match rate on the dongle uses the radio harder than typing on Bluetooth. Turn the lights down when the long hour figure required that.

The 1000 Hz setting has to survive closing the app. If the rate lives only while the software is open, the dongle falls back when that app is closed, including on a PC that never had the app. Onboard memory is the line that keeps the rate on the board. The V4 Pro 75% support sheet lists hybrid on-board storage for up to five profiles. If the first key after a pause is the late one, look for the power-saving toggle the maker actually printed.

What the radio leaves alone

The feel of the switch is still linear, tactile, or clicky. A smooth key does not report more often than a bumpy one. Hall effect and optical skip the metal leaf and the bounce that leaf needs. They still report at the rate of the link. Rapid trigger shortens the lift before the next press counts. The packet still leaves when the dongle or the cable is next allowed to speak. The actuation point is how far the key travels before it counts. That distance is not a hertz.

N-key rollover decides how many keys fit in one report. A listing that prints NKRO on HyperSpeed and stays quiet about Bluetooth has not promised the large report on Bluetooth. Test the link you play on. The width of the board never was the delay. TKL versus 60 versus full-size is the size page. UHJK already lives on the right side of ANSI. Latency does not move those letters.

How to choose, and the usual mistakes

Choose the link first, then the layout. If the listing prints 1000 Hz on LIGHTSPEED, HyperSpeed, or another named 2.4 GHz dongle, that dongle can be the match. If it only prints 1000 Hz next to the cable, the wireless line is still unknown. If it prints Bluetooth and no rate, Bluetooth is for email. A 4000 Hz or 8000 Hz badge is a smaller step after that. I would not buy a 60% as the only WoW board without the Naga grid. Overwatch on Zarya cares less about the F-row than an Evoker bar does.

Mistakes I keep seeing on listings, not on a board I timed:

• Playing the match on Bluetooth because the board is “wireless.” Wireless on the G613 is two rates. Only one of them is 1000 Hz.
• Trusting a 1 ms badge that never says which link. 1 ms is 1000 Hz on the connection that owns it.
• Leaving the dongle in a USB 3 cluster behind the case, then blaming the radio.
• Treating Hall, optical, or rapid trigger as a polling upgrade.
• Changing the rate in software on Bluetooth, then wondering why the match still feels late. The G613 sheet already told you the software is LIGHTSPEED only.

Play on the cable, or on the 2.4 GHz dongle, and read 1000 Hz on that link. Leave Bluetooth for typing and for a second computer. Put the receiver in a port on the PC, where the board can see it. If the first key after a pause is the late one, look at the power setting. If the timing is steady and a key still feels late, the next place is how far the key travels, or the screen. Another keyboard that prints the same 1000 Hz on the same kind of link repeats the same gap.

Decision rule: the match is the dongle or the cable at 1000 Hz. Bluetooth is the other radio. Back to keyboard guides.

Common questions

What is wireless keyboard latency?

It's the delay added by the wireless connection. A 2.4 GHz dongle at 1000 Hz reports every 1 ms, while Bluetooth is often 125 Hz, or 8 ms between reports.

Is a wireless keyboard slower than a wired one?

Not with a good 2.4 GHz dongle. A 1000 Hz wireless gaming keyboard like the Logitech PRO X TKL LIGHTSPEED reports as often as a 1000 Hz cable.

Is a Bluetooth keyboard good for gaming?

Not really. Bluetooth often runs at 125 Hz, which adds a few milliseconds, so use it for typing and switch to the 2.4 GHz dongle or cable for games.

Does a 4000 Hz or 8000 Hz wireless keyboard matter?

Only slightly. 8000 Hz reports every 0.125 ms and 4000 Hz every 0.25 ms, compared with 1 ms at 1000 Hz, which most players won't notice.

Why does my wireless keyboard miss the first keypress?

It's probably waking up from power-saving mode. Turn that mode off in the keyboard software, or use the cable during games.

Do wireless Hall effect keyboards report faster?

No. Hall effect switches change how keys are detected, not the polling rate; the wireless connection's rate is what matters.

Where should I plug in my wireless keyboard dongle?

Plug it into a port on your PC with a clear line of sight, ideally within 30 cm of the keyboard. Keep it away from busy USB 3 ports and hubs, which can cause interference.

How do I check my wireless keyboard's polling rate?

Open the keyboard's software while connected through the dongle and look at the polling or report rate setting. The cable, dongle and Bluetooth can each have different rates.

Is Logitech LIGHTSPEED the same as Bluetooth?

No. LIGHTSPEED is Logitech's low-latency 2.4 GHz connection, and Bluetooth is a separate, slower connection on keyboards that offer both.