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Ask SN: Good Affordable Low-latency Keyboards?

posted by LaminatorX on Thursday March 06 2014, @08:20AM   Printer-friendly
from the satisying-clackity-clack dept.
An anonymous coward writes "Anyone know of good affordable keyboards that are low latency (preferably backed by actual stats)? Low latency is not the same as polling rate.

I had an old keyboard that was high latency (added about 30-50ms more latency when compared to a "gaming" mouse I had!) so I bought a low end "gaming" keyboard[1] which is lower latency but the keys "stick" sometimes (e.g. the system thinks keys are still being held down even though they aren't have to press the offending keys again to unstick them). I don't want to buy an expensive keyboard and find the latency to not be really much better or even worse[2]. And yes 30-50ms can be a noticeable and significant difference in games (2-3 frames).

I've done those reaction time test stuff and I get about 150-170ms using my "fastest" mouse (I have two), 170-190 with my new keyboard and 200+ms with my old keyboard. I see many people get 200+ ( see: http://cognitivefun.net/stat/1 ). At work on my employer's macbook pro I get 220+ms. So it's likely that high latency mice/keyboards[2] and screens[3] are too common. And you can appear to have 50-80ms faster reflexes just by having better equipment.

[1] an A4Tech G800V keyboard, based on one of the few less useless responses from the Other Site when I asked a similar question. Maybe it's faulty but it's going to be hard to prove since it's intermittent. FWIW I got it for half the newegg price and the place I bought it from doesn't sell A4tech mice or keyboards anymore.

[2] http://www.blackboxtoolkit.com/responsedevices.htm l
  http://www.pstnet.com/eprimedevice.cfm

[3] http://www.displaylag.com/display-database/"
 
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  • (Score: 3, Interesting) by GeminiDomino on Thursday March 06 2014, @08:58AM

    by GeminiDomino (661) on Thursday March 06 2014, @08:58AM (#11891)

    If it's gaming you're going to use your keyboard for, there's something else you didn't mention in your Ask that may very well end up being more important than latency: n-Rollover. In my experience (YMMV depending on the sort of games that you play), it's possible to need to have 4 or 5 keys held at once through the course of a game (platformers are particularly demanding, with combinations like Crouch + Jump + Forward + Strafe + Attack, all in the same move).

    Unfortunately, I don't have an answer for an inexpensive one, as I've seen the range from "pricy" to "are they kidding?"

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  • (Score: 1) by resignator on Thursday March 06 2014, @01:43PM

    by resignator (3126) on Thursday March 06 2014, @01:43PM (#12072)

    I bought my old Logitech G15 about 10 years ago and still use it everyday. It polls at 1ms/1000Hz. Added bonus...it has tons of programmable macro keys and a fancy LCD display. If you can find a new G15 version 1 I wouldnt pass it up.

    Looks like amazon has 1 new in stock!
    http://www.amazon.com/Logitech-G15-Gaming-Keyboard -Black/dp/B000UHE8YM/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=139412 7708&sr=8-1&keywords=Logitech+G15 [amazon.com]