I have an automated clicker that's bounded at a click every 10 milliseconds. Is there a limit to how often clicks get processed by the OS? Or if not the OS, is there a hardware dependency?
4 Answers
The standard polling frequency for USB devices (including mice) is 125hz. However, it is possible to increase this frequency all the way up to 1000hz, so it may be possible to process clicks at that rate (Which would be every 1 ms).
It depends on two factors - the polling rate of your mouse and the clicking speed. Polling rate is the frequency at which the mouse pings the computer about its position. In general its around 120 Hz that means every second it can register 125 pings. So, technically the computer can register 125 clicks per second (insane!).
BUT.. practically no one can click 125 times in a second. The highest manual value is around 15 CPS; that too when you are a pro gamer! If you literally want to test how much clicks the computer can process, you need to use an auto clicker. And, keep increasing the amount of clicks untill you reach the max limit.
I'd say that 10ms is quite fast enough already. We've all experienced a computer that's thrashing, paging, or just plain slow. If there is a hardware-imposed limit, or an OS-imposed limit, you'll probably never reach it.
The speed at which clicks get processed will vary depending on what else the computer is doing at the time.
I recollect seeing "polling frequency" in PS/2 mouse driver settings tab a few years ago, and it was 100 per second (i.e. every 10ms). That was related to mouse movement tracking, and not clicks.
The highest theoretical limit would be the frequency of the carrier signal - USB or PS/2, or indeed a polling interval "at that end of the wire". However, I do not know what are the exact numbers.
