InputLag
Mouse Smoothness Benchmark

Mouse Latency Test

Visualize your mouse tracking smoothness and measure polling jitter in real time.

Mouse latency isn't just about polling rate — it's about how consistently and smoothly position data is delivered to the game engine. This test captures your mouse movement path, analyzes velocity variance, and computes a smoothness score that directly correlates with aiming precision in competitive titles.

RESPONSIVENESS LABBrowser-based · No download required
Gaming Responsiveness Lab

Test Your System
Responsiveness

Interactive smoothness and responsiveness tests designed for gamers.
No downloads, no installs — runs entirely in your browser.

4 interactive testsBrowser-basedShareable results

Mouse Smoothness

Move your mouse freely across the canvas. The trail visualizes your movement consistency in real time.

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Move mouse here
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Smoothness
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Consistency
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Quality
Movement Jitter
lower is better

Measures relative movement variance in the browser. Not equivalent to hardware polling rate or actual input lag.

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What This Test Measures

Movement Jitter

Tracks velocity variance between consecutive position reports. High jitter appears as erratic cursor motion and correlates directly with aiming inconsistency.

Smoothness Score

Aggregates position consistency over a 30-sample window into a 0–100 score. 85+ is Smooth; 70–84 is Stable; below 55 indicates detectable tracking irregularities.

Real-Time Trail

Visualizes your mouse path with color intensity proportional to report density — revealing polling gaps, acceleration curves, and movement dead zones.

What Affects Your Score

Mouse Sensor Quality

Modern optical sensors (PixArt PMW3370, Hero 25K) deliver near-perfect linearity. Older or budget sensors introduce systematic tracking errors.

high

Mouse Acceleration

Windows 'Enhance Pointer Precision' adds speed-based scaling that creates jitter artifacts. Disable it for linear tracking.

high

Polling Rate Consistency

Irregular polling intervals (caused by USB congestion or driver bugs) create velocity spikes that appear as jitter even with a perfect sensor.

high

Mousepad Surface

Worn or dirty mousepads increase optical sensor read errors. Consistent surface texture ensures clean position reporting.

medium

DPI Setting

Very high DPI (above 1600) magnifies sensor noise. 400–800 DPI is optimal for most competitive playstyles.

low

Score Reference

Responsiveness Score Ranges

Elite85–100Hardware-optimized setup. Sub-15 ms total pipeline latency.
Pro70–84Well-tuned. Minor latency sources remain addressable.
Competitive50–69Noticeable inconsistency. OS settings likely not optimized.
Needs Tuning0–49Significant latency present. Multiple improvements available.

How to Improve Your Score

1

Disable Enhance Pointer Precision

Control Panel → Mouse → Pointer Options → uncheck 'Enhance pointer precision'. This removes Windows mouse acceleration entirely, giving you linear 1:1 tracking.

2

Set polling rate to 1000 Hz

Use manufacturer software to set 1000 Hz. Higher rates (4000–8000 Hz) further reduce worst-case interval variation but require a capable USB controller.

3

Enable raw input in your game

Raw mouse input bypasses Windows pointer processing entirely, delivering HID data directly to the game engine with minimal processing overhead.

4

Clean your mousepad and sensor

Dust on the sensor lens or deteriorated mousepad surface introduces tracking irregularities that appear as smoothness score drops.

5

Use a dedicated USB 3.0 port

Shared USB bandwidth on hubs causes polling jitter. A dedicated motherboard USB port provides consistent interrupt latency.

Optimize With the Desktop App

Apply all optimizations automatically. InputLag's desktop app manages power plans, GPU settings, and timer resolution persistently — no manual tweaking.

Related Tests

Click Consistency TestReaction Time TestFrame Stability Test

Frequently Asked Questions

What does mouse jitter actually mean for gaming?

Mouse jitter is irregular, unintended micro-movements in the cursor caused by polling inconsistency, low-quality sensors, or Windows mouse acceleration. In competitive gaming, jitter manifests as inaccurate micro-adjustments during aiming — particularly damaging for flick shots and small target tracking.

What's the difference between mouse smoothness and DPI?

DPI (dots per inch) controls cursor movement speed — how far the cursor moves per inch of physical movement. Smoothness measures how consistently and evenly that movement is reported. A high-DPI mouse can still have poor smoothness if its sensor or USB connection reports positions irregularly.

Does mouse acceleration affect the smoothness score?

Yes. Windows Enhance Pointer Precision (mouse acceleration) varies cursor speed based on movement speed, creating non-linear tracking that registers as inconsistency in this test. Disable it in Control Panel → Mouse → Pointer Options.

Why does my score vary between test sessions?

Background CPU load, USB interrupt scheduling, and thermal state all affect polling consistency. For best baseline results, close non-essential applications before testing.