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Keyboard Tester | Keyboard Latency Test | Check Keyboard Scan Rate |Response Time | Keyboard Delay Test

The time taken by the keyboard during key registration is called the Keyboard Latency test. This tells us about the important metric keyboard’s input lag or delay. If the keyboard latency is higher then the response time will also be on the higher side. You may take a test with our tool to check your keyboard’s latency.

What is Keyboard Latency?

Keyboard Latency means the actual time delay occurs while registering the key press immediately after it is actually pressed on the keyboard. If there is a delay then this time delay gives keyboard input lag rise. During daily tasks like working on office files or playing movies, the input lag is unnoticeable, but during the gameplay, we can clearly notice the input lag.

Keyboard Latency is calculated according to the time when the key was actually pressed and the corresponding letter appeared on the monitor.

Let’s take a situation when we press a key, it takes 5ms to go down and come back up. The moment the key comes back, the signal gets generated and gets sent to the system which takes another 1ms (polling rate). This is how it may take another 3-5ms (system latency) to display on the monitor.

Importance of Keyboard Input Lag in Gaming

If the keyboard has latency, there may be some input lag while pressing keys. Generally, we don’t notice such a lag because of our daily life tasks as they don’t have latency issues. But if we talk about gaming, then the scene is completely different. During modern-age games, keyboard latency matters a lot. Response time can make changes to gameplay.

For example, during gameplay, if you press the button to fire, it actually fires in the game depending on the keyboard latency. If it takes more time then your target may move aside and you may miss the shot and this can affect your mood and situation.

If you’re into hardcore gaming, then you must check your keyboard’s input lag as this tells us if we need to change the keyboard.

How to test Keyboard Latency?

To check the latency of your keyboard, you need to follow the steps mentioned below:

First of all, check your keyboard latency by taking a latency test provided at the top of this page.

• You just need to start pressing your keyboard buttons to start the test.

• Every time you press any key, the “Key Press History” section will show all the response times of your key.

• The “Shortest Key Press” time and the “Estimated Scan Rate” can be seen on the top.

• During the test, every key response time will be recorded, and you can scroll through the history list to check the keyboard latency.

Features of Keyboard Latency Test

Identify Latency: You need to identify the latency your keyboard accurately: By taking this test on our website, you can check the keyboard scan rate and latency accurately. This will help you to enhance your performance in your gameplay.

Choosing Best Keyboard: If you are planning to buy a new gaming keyboard then this test can help you choose the best keyboard for your gameplay. Always, go for a keyboard with less than 15ms input lag.

Free to Use: We offer this test for absolutely free and it will always be free to use for everyone whatsoever.

You don’t need to sign up or create an account with us to just check your keyboard latency.

Factors affecting Latency: Polling Rate, Scan Rate, connection type, Response Time,

A keyboard’s latency specifically depends on four major factors – Scan Rate, Polling Rate, Response Time, and Connection type. Generally, people confuse these with one another but they have very different meanings. Let me explain each of them in detail.

Keyboard Polling Rate

The highest frequency in a keyboard is Polling where the response of the keyboard is sent to the system. Normally, the keyboard polling rate stays at 1000Hz which means in a second, the key press response is sent 1000 times to the system.

You can find some great gaming keyboards in the market having higher polling rates like 2000Hz, 4000Hz, and even 8000Hz. That’s truly fabulous!

Such keyboards with high polling rates come with really very low latency and that is why they are the favorite of gamers.

Keyboard Scan Rate

If you wonder, what’s keyboard scan rate, then please know that this is the number of times a key is pressed that the keyboard can register in 1 second. If your keyboard’s polling rate is 1000Hz, then the calculation of your keyboard scan rate is calculated by dividing 1000Hz by the shortest key press time.

Keyboard Response Time

We calculate the keyboard response time by combining the delay in the response and the polling rate. The higher keyboard response time will be dependent on the lower scan rate or polling rate. The keyboard’s response time directly contributes to the latency of the keyboard.

Connection Type

Keyboards come in two types, wired and wireless. These types (wireless and wired) affect the latency. The wired keyboards connect to the system directly and because of this, the wired keyboards have lower latency as compared to wireless keyboards. Even, the new wireless technology 5GHz has changed it a bit so the difference is not that much now. Also, USB 3.0 keyboards perform better than USB 2.0 keyboards due to better lower latency in USB 3.0.

Frequently Asked Questions