PadPoll

A simple application to test polling rate of controllers on Windows and Linux. It relies on low-level APIs provided by the operating systems to get the most accurate polling rate possible. On Windows it uses GameInput API and on Linux it uses evdev.

Note

The metrics provided by this application are intended as high-quality references rather than absolute laboratory values. Results may vary based on factors like OS scheduling and system load. However, because PadPoll utilizes the same low-level APIs used by modern games and engines to process controller input, these measurements provide a realistic representation of the latency you can expect during actual gameplay.

Usage

Windows

Important

As PadPoll currently relies on the GameInput API, it is only compatible with Windows 10 19H1 or later including all Windows 11 versions.

1. Ensure you have installed the Microsoft GameInput API, you can install it by executing:

winget install Microsoft.GameInput

2. Download and extract the latest Windows ZIP file from the releases page.
3. Run the executable and follow the on-screen instructions to test your controller's polling rate.

Linux

1. Download and extract the latest Linux TAR file from the releases page.
2. Ensure the file is executable:

chmod +x padpoll

3. Run the executable and follow the on-screen instructions to test your controller's polling rate.

Understand Metrics

PadPoll calculates and displays the following metrics:

• Test Duration: The total time taken to complete the polling test.
• Collected Samples: The total number of input samples collected during the test.

Polling Rate

• Average Hz: The average polling rate in Hertz.
• Peak Hz: The highest polling rate recorded during the test.
• Accuracy (%): The ratio between the measured average Hertz and the user-defined expected rate. This metric is calculated only when the user specifies an expected polling rate.
• Consistency (%): The percentage of samples that arrived within a tight timing window of the expected interval. Higher values indicate a stable, predictable input stream (e.g., An input each 16ms for 60-Hz controller means 100% consistency). This metric is calculated only when the user specifies an expected polling rate.

Latency

• Average: The average latency in milliseconds.
• Minimum: The minimum latency recorded during the test in milliseconds.
• Maximum: The maximum latency recorded during the test in milliseconds.
• 1% Lows Average: The average of the worst 1% of latency samples in milliseconds, indicating the typical worst-case latency you can expect during gameplay.
• Jitter (Standard Deviation): Calculated as the standard deviation of latency samples. It represents the overall stability of the input timing; a lower value indicates that input delivery is tightly clustered around the average. Measured in milliseconds.

License

This project is open source and available under the MIT License.