What is the DualShock 4 polling rate on PC?
250 Hz over USB, and up to 1000 Hz over Bluetooth, where the rate is set by software on the PC rather than fixed by the controller. On Windows, gamepadla measured a stock DualShock 4 at 728 Hz over Bluetooth and 4.38 ms average button latency, against 10.94 ms on the cable. Stock for stock, Bluetooth is the faster link.
A DualShock 4 polls at 250 Hz over USB on a PC. Over Bluetooth the rate is not fixed: the host sets it, anywhere up to 1000 Hz. On Windows 11, gamepadla measured a stock DualShock 4 at 728.33 Hz over Bluetooth, with average button latency of 4.38 ms against 10.94 ms on the cable. If you play a stock pad, Bluetooth is the faster link by about 6.5 ms.
Why two answers circulate
One answer says the DualShock 4 is a 250 Hz controller. The other says it does 1000 Hz over Bluetooth. Both are true of different software. The controller's Bluetooth report interval is a field the PC writes. The Linux driver's own comment lists the values: 1 ms, 2 ms and so on up to 62 ms, with one value that disables reports. In 2015 a kernel patch fixed a setting that had "capped the rate to only 20.83 Hz", replacing it with one that "enables the full 1000 Hz peak reporting rate that the controller is capable of".
The current Linux driver no longer uses 1000 Hz. In mainline hid-playstation.c, read today, the default is "4ms poll interval, which is same as USB (not adjustable)". SDL 3, the cross-platform input library, does the same: its PS4 Bluetooth report interval defaults to 4 ms, chosen to "match the behavior over USB" and to be "more friendly to other Bluetooth devices and older Bluetooth hardware". So a Linux player and a Windows player can hold the same pad over the same link and get 250 Hz and 728 Hz.
DualShock 4 against DualSense, measured
Gamepadla's Prometheus 82 tests give average latency and polling rate for each link. Both Sony pads are on the table because the comparison answers the question most DualShock 4 owners ask next. The mean polling delay column is ours, half the report interval, the same rule we use for mouse polling rate.
| Controller and link | Polling (Hz) | Mean polling delay (ms) | Buttons (ms) | Sticks (ms) | Worst button (ms) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| DualShock 4, USB stock | 249.94 | 2.00 | 10.94 | 10.7 | 12.88 |
| DualShock 4, Bluetooth | 728.33 | 0.69 | 4.38 | 3.84 | 20.04 |
| DualSense, USB stock | 250 | 2.00 | 8.27 | 7.41 | 10.32 |
| DualSense, Bluetooth | 798.72 | 0.63 | 5.96 | 5.01 | 17.11 |
| DualSense, USB overclocked | 1000 | 0.50 | 3.93 | 2.85 | 4.68 |
Three things stand out. Over Bluetooth the DualShock 4 was the quicker of the two Sony pads in these tests, 4.38 ms against 5.96 ms on buttons. On a stock cable it was the slower, 10.94 ms against 8.27 ms, even though both cables ran at 250 Hz, so polling rate alone does not explain the gap. And Bluetooth paid for its average with consistency: 3.21 ms of button jitter against 1.12 ms on the cable, and a worst press of 20.04 ms.
The full DualSense picture, including the Edge and the measured effect of overclocking, is in our DualSense polling rate guide.
How to set the Bluetooth rate
On Windows, DS4Windows exposes it as BT Poll Rate in the Profile Editor's Other tab, for DualShock 4 and DualSense. Its documentation gives the DualShock 4's usual input delay as 4 ms on default settings and 1.5 ms with the rate at maximum, while warning those figures come from what DS4Windows reports rather than from "major technical experiments". It also says the opposite move is the fix for trouble: if you have latency issues, "specially with multiple controllers connected, try setting this value to 10ms or more".
That warning matters because the rate is not free. DS4Windows explains that a DualShock 4 first connects in a basic PC mode, and that DS4Windows or Steam switch it to the full PlayStation mode, which raises "the volume and the frequency of data being sent". A weak adapter that coped before can then lag or drop. Its fixes include a dedicated adapter rather than an integrated one, a test with Wi-Fi fully disabled, and trying another USB port, because USB 3.0 ports "can be a source of radio noise", the problem we measure in USB 3.0 wireless interference.
On Linux, mainline offers no switch. A 2025 patch proposed a bt_poll_interval setting, restoring an option lost when DualShock 4 support moved into hid-playstation in kernel 6.2, but the mainline source read today still says "not adjustable". In SDL 3 games, the hint SDL_HINT_JOYSTICK_HIDAPI_PS4_REPORT_INTERVAL accepts 1, 2 or 4 ms, and takes effect only when extended input reports are enabled.
If you play wired
A stock cable is the slowest way to run a DualShock 4 on a PC. The wired route to 1000 Hz is SweetLow's hidusbf filter driver, which Battle Beaver distributes and says is "tested and working on Playstation 4 and DualSense controllers". Windows 11 users must set Memory Integrity, under Core isolation, to off. We found no measured latency for an overclocked DualShock 4. On a DualSense, the same overclock cut buttons from 8.27 ms to 3.93 ms, about three times what the 1.5 ms of polling arithmetic predicts.
Where this stops applying
The DualShock 4 figures are one tester's unit on one day, with no firmware or hardware revision recorded. Gamepadla's stock-cable DualSense tests ranged from 7.81 to 11.27 ms on buttons, so read any single figure as a point in a range. Bluetooth results depend on the adapter, the interference around it and how many devices share it. Everything here is PC. And polling says nothing about stick wear. The DualShock 4 uses potentiometer sticks, and a drifting stick needs a bigger deadzone that no polling rate wins back.
What to do
- Stock pad on Windows: use Bluetooth. Gamepadla measured 4.38 ms against 10.94 ms on the cable.
- If Bluetooth stutters, lower BT Poll Rate in DS4Windows or fix the adapter before blaming the pad.
- On Linux or in SDL 3 games, expect 250 Hz over Bluetooth unless the game sets the interval lower.
- Wired and competitive: overclock with hidusbf, accepting Memory Integrity off.
Frequently asked questions
What is the DualShock 4 polling rate over USB?
250 Hz, a 4 ms report interval. Gamepadla measured 249.94 Hz on a wired DualShock 4 under Windows 11, and the Linux driver describes its Bluetooth default as "4ms poll interval, which is same as USB".
Is the DualShock 4 1000 Hz over Bluetooth?
It can be. The Bluetooth report interval is set by the host in a range from 1 ms to 62 ms, and the Linux kernel described 1000 Hz as "the full 1000 Hz peak reporting rate that the controller is capable of". What you get depends on the software: gamepadla measured 728.33 Hz on Windows, while Linux and SDL 3 default to 4 ms, which is 250 Hz.
Is DualShock 4 Bluetooth faster than wired?
On average, yes, against a stock cable: 4.38 ms against 10.94 ms for buttons and 3.84 ms against 10.7 ms for sticks in gamepadla's tests. Bluetooth was less consistent, with 3.21 ms of button jitter and a worst press of 20.04 ms, against 1.12 ms and 12.88 ms on the cable.
Is there a latency difference between DualShock 4 v1 and v2?
DS4Windows' documentation says "v1 and v2 don't have major latency differences", while noting its latency figures were not obtained by any major technical experiment. Gamepadla's test page does not record which revision was tested.
Can I overclock a wired DualShock 4 to 1000 Hz?
Yes, with the hidusbf filter driver that Battle Beaver distributes, which it says is "tested and working on Playstation 4 and DualSense controllers". On Windows 11 it requires Memory Integrity to be switched off. We found no measured latency for an overclocked DualShock 4.