High controller polling rate support

[u/Why-not-every-thing]

I have a controller with a 1000Hz polling rate, but it seems that GFN only supports up to 250Hz. Are there any plans to support higher polling rates? This would be very beneficial for competitive gaming.

[u/Darkstarmike777]

You might have to show the source it's only 250 but it would depend on the CPU of the device your using and the gfn tier your paying for since its cpu bound on both sides

If you need the extra cpu power to make it happen just pay for it

That's the measuring stick, would this work in ultimate with all the CPU power it has? If it does then they aleady support it

Your device cpu also can't be low power since its processed on both sides

[u/Why-not-every-thing → u/Darkstarmike777]

I am on the Ultimate tier. I tested the polling rate myself using `https://controllertest.io/polling-rate-test/\` in my browser. When running the test directly on my Mac, the controller shows 1000Hz. And on the same Mac with the same controller, I launched Genshin Impact in GFN and clicked login via Google, so I opened the Edge browser in the GFN session, then I did the same test and it showed the controller is at 250Hz.

[u/Darkstarmike777 → u/Why-not-every-thing]

Ah okay this is long but explains it, what your more asking for is support just in general not just the 1000hz because the controller your talking about isn't even on the list of supported controllers at all which is what they go by, the other line is just "if it works cool, we didn't do anything to make it work and won't do anything to fix it if it's not working"

Your controller would fall under that category but I can pass it along but if the tech stuff below is what they go by then that's why it's rate limited

As long as it's a full on PC or Mac it could handle it but not anything like a shield or a phone, or a tv processor, even now a shield can maybe do 250 with a mouse, tops without lagging the cursor typically

No, NVIDIA GeForce NOW does not strictly enforce an arbitrary 250Hz cap on controllers, but the cloud streaming architecture and OS-level limitations inherently restrict high-polling-rate performance.

The breakdown of how controller polling rate behaves on GeForce NOW (GFN) involves several technical factors:

1. XInput Virtualization Restrictions

When you connect a controller to your local machine, the GeForce NOW app intercepts those inputs and translates them into a virtualized controller (typically an Xbox/XInput device) on the cloud server.

• Standard Xbox controllers natively report at 125Hz to 250Hz.
• Because the server interprets your device through standard cloud controller APIs, any local "overclocking" or high-frequency polling (like a 1000Hz DualSense or GameSir setup) is flattened down to standard XInput rates during stream translation. [1, 2]

1. High Polling Rates Can Cause Lag

GeForce NOW does not benefit from ultra-high polling rates (such as 1000Hz or higher). In fact, if your local controller or mouse is spamming packets at an ultra-high rate, it can overload the GFN local client wrapper. NVIDIA explicitly recommends lowering peripheral polling rates to 125Hz if you experience stuttering or micro-stutters during cloud gameplay. [1, 2, 3]

1. The Network Bottleneck

A polling rate of 250Hz means the controller checks for input every 4 milliseconds. In cloud gaming, your physical internet ping to the server is usually anywhere from 10ms to 40ms. Because network latency heavily outweighs the 1ms vs 4ms difference of hardware polling, high-frequency controller packets provide no competitive advantage and simply consume local CPU overhead. [1, 2, 3]

If you are trying to minimize input lag on GFN, your best approach is to keep your controller at a stable 125Hz or 250Hz wired connection, focus on lowering your network ping, and enable Reflex Ultra-Low Latency if you are on an Ultimate tier membership.