Why are 500hz and 1000hz mouse polling rates leading to lag?
Why are 500hz and 1000hz mouse polling rates leading to lag?
I have used corsair harpoon mouse and experienced significant FPS drops in some games (like battlefield 5 and cod warzone) when the polling rate is set to 500 hz or 1000 hz in Icue software. When dragging the mouse (using CPU Z), the window becomes sluggish. I've tried various solutions such as updating drivers, completely uninstalling and reinstalling them, changing USB ports, and even reinstalling the operating system. The issue first appeared two years ago but I didn't pay much attention. Recently, after accidentally unplugging the mouse and switching to a touchpad, performance improved to 30 FPS. Using another mouse resolved the problem. I recalled the "polling rate" setting in Icue and found many users facing similar issues. I adjusted it to 500 hz, which still causes lag but is better than before. Changing it to 250 hz gives a smoother experience, while 125 hz feels very responsive. However, it looks poor. I'm unsure what's causing the problem—possibly the software or drivers. With modern CPUs at 1000 hz, performance should be sufficient. I also checked Task Manager and HWInfo, but no higher CPU usage was observed when using 1000 hz.
Full system specifications?
What version of iCUE are you using?
Here’s something worth trying:
1. In iCUE, adjust the mouse polling rate to 1000 Hz. You can verify this by visiting: https://cmagile.com/mouse-rate-checker/
(Reminder: To see the test results, move your mouse cursor extremely quickly—very fast—to register close to or exactly at 1000 Hz. No need to keep moving for several minutes; as long as you hit the target, it works.)
2. Close iCUE completely. This means stopping it entirely, not just reducing its activity and hiding it in the system tray.
(Note: When iCUE is closed, all your Corsair RGB profiles revert to their default settings.)
3. Re-test the mouse polling rate and confirm it stays near or matches 1000 Hz. It should.
4. Play a game with iCUE turned off and check if your FPS returns.
By the way, I also use a Corsair Sabre RGB mouse at 1000 Hz, and I confirmed the polling rate test there. With iCUE running, the maximum I achieved was 1000 Hz. When iCUE is off, it reached up to 1012 Hz. That’s interesting.
If you achieve around 1000 Hz with iCUE off and your FPS returns, here’s another suggestion to try.
Full specs:
Lenovo y520
i7 7700hq
gtx 1060 max q
16gb ram
1 I tried this before and it functions at 250 max around 250, 500-500, 1000-1000
2 I performed the same action previously with no alterations, driver version 4.11.274, mouse driver - likely version 3.08
3 -||-
4 no modifications
It could be the mouse issue though. And without testing with another Corsair Harpoon, nothing conclusive can be said.
Another option, not ideal though, is to remove all other USB devices from the PC and try again. If the issue goes away, you can look towards MoBo.
So on Acer Nitro 5 (no icon) I discovered the mouse still runs at 1000Hz, which is much smoother, but in my mouse there’s no default mode—everything is saved on the onboard memory except RGB modes. When I plug the mouse directly into the Acer, it drops to 250Hz, so I changed the current profile on Lenovo to 1000Hz and then connected again to Acer, but it remains laggy.
When the same mouse behaves differently on two separate PCs, it's reasonable to suspect a mouse-related problem. This is confirmed because using another mouse didn't cause any issues.