Razer’s new Viper 8K promises the fastest performance of any gaming mouse

Razer’s Viper 8K is an update to the real 2019 ambidextrous Viper. For the most part, it is identical and is now available for the same asking price of $ 79, but it has some important upgrades for competitive players who hope the technology can help them to gain an advantage over your opponents.

First, Razer now includes the Focus Plus 20,000DPI sensor used in many of its other 2020 mice, along with the latest generation of optical switches that have a more tactile click feel, according to the company (although it doesn’t stand out) as noticeable to me when I tested the mouse). The biggest news is that, according to Razer, the newly revised Viper can achieve the fastest scan rate of any mouse available today: up to 8,000 Hz – much higher than the industry standard of 1,000 Hz.

The search rate measures the frequency per second the mouse tells the computer where it is located on the screen. The more frequent the poll, the smoother the mouse tracking can be. In the case of Razer’s new Viper 8K, a search rate of 8,000 Hz can deliver an incredible 8,000 pings to your PC per second, while reducing the response time of these pings from one millisecond to just one eighth of a millisecond. On paper, it looks really impressive.

Image: Razer

But why, exactly, would anyone need such a high voting rate? Razer says this is an update that you won’t necessarily feel or notice right away, as this improvement cuts out mere millisecond fractions of response time – something I bet most people couldn’t outline. However, according to Razer, it can help make your movement and aim more responsive, and players who play fast games, such as first-person shooter games, are more likely to benefit from using this mouse – even that they don’t realize. happening.

Frankly, I didn’t notice a big difference in gameplay during the test Ghostrunner, a first-person title that depends on quick reflexes. (I failed much, but honestly, this is nothing new.) Next, I tried to put Razer’s 8,000 Hz search rate statement to the test with some sites that track this metric. Tools made by Mouse Insider and Zowie recorded an average search rate of 4,700 Hz for this mouse. There were a few times that it peaked at 5,000 Hz, so it looks like it could go higher if it was physically possible for me to move my hand faster.

Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge

Your PC hardware can also play an important role. Razer requested that the press that would test the mouse have access to PCs with at least an Intel Core i5-8600K or AMD Ryzen 5 3600 processor, an Nvidia GTX 1080 or AMD Radeon RX 5700 or higher graphics processor and a high graphics processor update rate monitor at 144 Hz or more. Fortunately, you don’t need such an advanced PC to use this mouse. Razer’s Synapse software allows you to revert the search rate to 125, 500, 1,000, 2,000, or 4,000 Hz. However, as the main purpose of the Viper 8K is to make your experience smoother with its high search rate, you’ll get more out of specifications of this mouse if you have at least a medium-sized system with a high update rate monitor and powerful hardware.

I hope that other peripheral companies will launch similar mice with high research rates, although if you feel that your needs are being met with current technology, you probably don’t need to be very excited about this feature yet. But if you need a new mouse, this is not a bad choice. I like to use this mouse as much as I liked the original Viper. And fast search rate technology won’t cost you anything more to obtain, since the Viper 8K is priced the same as its predecessor.