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Keyboard latency

danluu.com

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Re: Keyboard latency

#21

Post by [deleted] »

bastijn wrote: post #17
korethr wrote: post #2

IMO, a better measure would be from activation of the switch, as opposed to the beginning of key travel. I don't start waiting for the character to appear on my screen from the moment I begin to press down. My anticipation begins when I feel the tactile feedback of the switch activating (or the switch bottoming out on switches that don't offer tactile feedback). On a keyboard with good tactile feedback, I might not m…

Didn’t watch good enough. There are mechanical keyboards in the review as mentioned below. My bad. Original comment below for future reference. —- original comment —- True gaming keyboards have mechanical switches which activate on first key press, not on full key down. Bit disappointed no mechanical keyboard was tested as they are perceived to be the ultimate keyboards when speed matters.

[deleted]

Re: Keyboard latency

#22

Post by eikenberry »

bastijn wrote: post #17
korethr wrote: post #2

IMO, a better measure would be from activation of the switch, as opposed to the beginning of key travel. I don't start waiting for the character to appear on my screen from the moment I begin to press down. My anticipation begins when I feel the tactile feedback of the switch activating (or the switch bottoming out on switches that don't offer tactile feedback). On a keyboard with good tactile feedback, I might not m…

Didn’t watch good enough. There are mechanical keyboards in the review as mentioned below. My bad. Original comment below for future reference. —- original comment —- True gaming keyboards have mechanical switches which activate on first key press, not on full key down. Bit disappointed no mechanical keyboard was tested as they are perceived to be the ultimate keyboards when speed matters.

Mechanical key switching activate differently based on the switch. Most with feedback activate on the feedback, ie. when you hear/feel the click. So it isn't first press or full key down, but somewhere in the middle.

Re: Keyboard latency

#23

Post by ghusbands »

SebiH wrote: post #6
yathern wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For what it's worth, that answer is now 8 years old - I'm curious if this has changed since then.

A more recent video claims that the PS/2 advantages are negligible even for serious gamers (around 3:40) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AWkvzycD5PE

The message therein directly states that latency isn't noticeable for those keyboards and hence, according to the article, is simply uninformed.

Re: Keyboard latency

#24

Post by andyfleming »

Nition wrote: post #11
korethr wrote: post #2

IMO, a better measure would be from activation of the switch, as opposed to the beginning of key travel. I don't start waiting for the character to appear on my screen from the moment I begin to press down. My anticipation begins when I feel the tactile feedback of the switch activating (or the switch bottoming out on switches that don't offer tactile feedback). On a keyboard with good tactile feedback, I might not m…

I wouldn't be surprised if the Apple keyboard is the fastest just because it has very shallow keys.

That's fine though. It's about the experience end-to-end. I love the apple keyboards. I still type faster on them than other keyboards, including high-end mechanical keyboards. The short keys and actuation feel responsive, yet I've never felt like I've accidentally triggered a key.

Re: Keyboard latency

#25

Post by vith »

bastijn wrote: post #17
korethr wrote: post #2

IMO, a better measure would be from activation of the switch, as opposed to the beginning of key travel. I don't start waiting for the character to appear on my screen from the moment I begin to press down. My anticipation begins when I feel the tactile feedback of the switch activating (or the switch bottoming out on switches that don't offer tactile feedback). On a keyboard with good tactile feedback, I might not m…

Didn’t watch good enough. There are mechanical keyboards in the review as mentioned below. My bad. Original comment below for future reference. —- original comment —- True gaming keyboards have mechanical switches which activate on first key press, not on full key down. Bit disappointed no mechanical keyboard was tested as they are perceived to be the ultimate keyboards when speed matters.

The most common key switch for gaming oriented mechanical keyboards is probably the Cherry MX Red. Its actuation point is around 50% of the way through the key travel.

Buckling spring switches, membrane domes, topre (membrane dome + spring), etc. all have actuation points somewhere in the middle of the key travel, not at the start or end.

Re: Keyboard latency

#27

Post by DeepYogurt »

korethr wrote: post #2

IMO, a better measure would be from activation of the switch, as opposed to the beginning of key travel. I don't start waiting for the character to appear on my screen from the moment I begin to press down. My anticipation begins when I feel the tactile feedback of the switch activating (or the switch bottoming out on switches that don't offer tactile feedback). On a keyboard with good tactile feedback, I might not m…

Further those gaming keyboards have longer than normal key travel.

Re: Keyboard latency

#28

Post by sp332 »

matthavener wrote: post #3

PS/2 keyboards are used by serious gamers because the scan rate is higher than USB. See https://superuser.com/questions/16893/do-usb-or-ps-2-keyboar...

The PS/2 protocol is incredibly slow. Just sending two bytes over the wire via PS/2 takes 1.3 ms.

Re: Keyboard latency

#29

Post by Stenzel »

Compare with musical keyboards where not only key number but also the velocity matters, so each key has two electrical contacts, and the whole thing is usually scanned around 10kHz for proper velocity measurement. Although key contacts are arranged in a diode matrix, the latency is usually below 2 ms, even with good old MIDI.

So neither the keyboard matrix nor the debouncing justify a latency of 10 ms or above.

It is nice to see that latency is an issue in gaming now, similar to realtime audio, where most operating systems are still not very usable - with the exception of OS X.

Re: Keyboard latency

#30

Post by cjbprime »

andyfleming wrote: post #24
Nition wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I wouldn't be surprised if the Apple keyboard is the fastest just because it has very shallow keys.

That's fine though. It's about the experience end-to-end. I love the apple keyboards. I still type faster on them than other keyboards, including high-end mechanical keyboards. The short keys and actuation feel responsive, yet I've never felt like I've accidentally triggered a key.

Same -- I like doing speed typing on typeracer, and after going through mech keyboards and different switch types for a few years, I'm consistently fastest on a non-mechanical ThinkPad USB chiclet keyboard.
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