MSI G-Series Gaming Motherboard to Pack High-Polling USB

News
By Niels Broekhuijsen
published

Rumor has it MSI is working on a lineup of gaming motherboards that will be called the MSI G Series. Presently, MSI only has a G-Series lineup with gaming laptops.

Earlier we reported that MSI will be using Killer network cards in a select number of laptops and motherboards. MSI's new G-Series of motherboards will include the Killer E2200 high-performance network chip.

Ted Hung, VP of MSi's motherboard division said, "We are truly excited to cooperate with Qualcomm on the implementation of their unique technology on our soon-to-be announced gaming motherboards. This puts MSI in the driver’s seat for gaming motherboards with a balanced line-up that hits all critical price-points for gamers."

Beyond the Killer network cards MSI will also use MSI's Gaming Device Port, which gives mice a polling rate of 500 Hz to 1000 Hz, thus reducing the response time of USB mice and keyboards from 8 ms to 1 ms. Moreover, MSI will use a 3x gold plating on these ports to prevent oxidation and lengthen the motherboards lifetime. To identify these ports just look for the red plated casing.

Stay tuned for more information during CeBIT 2013.

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Niels Broekhuijsen
Niels Broekhuijsen

Niels Broekhuijsen is a Contributing Writer for Tom's Hardware US. He reviews cases, water cooling and pc builds.

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17 Comments Comment from the forums
  • samuelspark
    Copying the "Fatal1ty" port on Asrock boards.
    Reply
  • TheBigTroll
    high polling usb ports dont really affect your gaming performance much if any. just like how people have 8200 dpi mice but never use more than 3000dpi.

    and if you are talking about gold content, id suggest you have more gold content in the CPU socket. my cousin had one of their boards and it failed from oxidation . also, improve your vrm components. that should be your main focus
    Reply
  • nukemaster
    Can usb not already do 500-1000hz
    Reply
  • razor512
    the polling rate of a USB port is determined by the device and software, up to a limit of around 7.5 billion Hz (depending on available bandwidth) (large packets of data will obviously lower your max polling rate)

    Also you cannot really force a higher polling rate out of a device since the max possible polling rate is really limited by the USB devices processing ability. (that laser sensor or optical sensor can only update so fast, and the mouse or keyboard can only process the data from it's key pad or sensor so fast.

    that is why you will see logitech marketing products such as the Logitech G700 with a 1000hz polling rate.

    the only good thing that is not marketing BS is the gold plating which which can make the part last longer (more physical connects and disconnects)

    Reply
  • alextheblue
    TheBigTrollhigh polling usb ports dont really affect your gaming performance much if any. just like how people have 8200 dpi mice but never use more than 3000dpi.and if you are talking about gold content, id suggest you have more gold content in the CPU socket. my cousin had one of their boards and it failed from oxidation . also, improve your vrm components. that should be your main focusI have never heard of a CPU socket failing due to oxidation. I can't see it, unless someone spilled something in there, got paste in it, etc. Anyway even if you did get a little oxidation, putting a CPU in the socket and throwing the lever a few times would probably be enough to make good contact. If not, some electrical connector cleaner.

    Anyway, if you think 8ms input delay is OK (default USB polling rate is 125hz and MOST mice/drivers don't alter this) then great for you. Would you like an 8ms monitor to game on too, when better models are out there? I guess that's good for Farmville, combined with the free Dell optical mouse! :D I wouldn't say that high polling rates, and things like high-end mice and keyboards, don't affect the gaming experience.

    Now with that said, most modern systems can handle rates of at least 250Hz+ without needing anything special (although your mouse and drivers have to play along nicely too). But having some gaming boards available that are factory guaranteed for high rates (1000Hz) with long-term reliability is not necessarily a bad thing, either.
    Reply
  • cRACKmONKEY421
    500Hz and 1000Hz polling rates can be obtained either by USB hardware/drivers or mouse (and keyboard) hardware/drivers.

    Also, polling rate is different from delay. Just because it's checking for change every 8ms, doesn't exactly mean there is 8ms delay between every instance of changed position. If the change in position happened less than 1ms before the mouse is checked for positional changes, then the delay in that instance is less than 1ms. The actual result probably feels more like a 4ms delay and definitely more choppiness in the mouse's movement. It is very detectable and noticeable right away if you're at all serious about FPS gaming.

    Seems to me like this motherboard's USB ports will force 500Hz or 1000Hz polling via the USB ports themselves without any special mouse drivers or USB hacks. Please correct me if that is wrong. In Windows 7 and previous versions, you could force a USB port to do the same thing, but it's kind of hacky. That method doesn't exist (yet) for Windows 8 (that I know of). So if you're in Windows 8 or if you don't want to use hacky unsigned drivers, you either need a mouse that can do higher polling rates with it's hardware/drivers, or you need a motherboard with one of these high polling ports. Not a huge audience will be effected by that feature since most hard core gamers don't care about hacky drivers, don't use Windows 8, and/or already have a nice gaming mouse with adjustable polling rates.

    Now USB3 gaming mice without polling rates might be the next big thing in gaming mice. Though just like DPI above 2000 didn't change the game much, getting rid of polling might not make a huge difference when polling rates are 1000Hz. We shall see.
    Reply
  • jigawatt
    3x gold plating? This doesn't mean a thing to me, because all it is, is a marketing gimmick. What's the REAL value in µ inch, please?
    Reply
  • bnot
    If I wanted high mouse polling rates, with tangible effect, I'd use the ps/2 port.
    Reply
  • cRACKmONKEY421
    PS/2 only does 200Hz polling rate max. That's why gaming mice don't come in ps/2.
    Reply
  • Cons29
    i doubt most will notice anything. mostly marketing if you ask me
    Reply