What port is best for the mouse to be on, USB or PS2
 

Hey,

Im just curious as to be best port for my mouse.

Its currently on USB and i can't complain, but ive heard stories of ps2 being better for various reasons. Can anyone give me a straight answer.

I was on Win98 before and my PS2 mouse gave me 40Hz but i could speed it up to 200Hz and when i switched to usb it was giving me 120Hz, but to be honest, the returns above 80Hz arent really noticible.

now im on WinXP and was just curious as to any difference between them

As far as I know, its pretty much a personal choice. I have two machines running PS/2 (KVM switch) and another that is USB, and I cant tell the difference between them.

It matters not. I have a USB mouse because my preferred mouse is a Microsoft Intellimouse Explorer 3.0. Most are USB nowadays anyways.

For gaming USB is generally better because it has a higher polling rate which translates into smoother mouse motion. I prefer the smoother motion in general usage.

PS/2 is capable of polling at higher rates, but doesn't by default, you have to get a hack for it.

What are you using to measure the polling rate?

It's been my experience on a wide array of computers that USB works at random whenever it feels like it and cause all kinds of BS problems, whereas the old ports just friggin' work. The weirdest problem is an HP machine at the office that will not POST if a USB keyboard is plugged into it. Usually. Every now and then it will, but after that it's a total crap-shoot as to whether or not the keyboard will respond.

Therefore I use the adapters to plug my USB peripherals into the old-fashioned but CONSISTENTLY FUNCTIONAL ports. No noticeable difference, aside from not having to worry about whether or not my keyboard and mouse will work.

I haven't noticed a difference between USB and PS/2 mice, but irseg is right -- some PC's won't even turn on without a PS/2 mouse plugged in to them.

The more important question to me is whether optical mice or ball mice are better in which I can answer very confidently: ball is better. :) I can't stand playing games with optical mice...it may be smoother in general usage, but in games, the absolutely control you have over the ball does it for me. I'd use optical, but it's almost too sensitive. You can pick the mouse up like .5 CM off the pad and it still works...that's bad for gaming due to the fact that precice movements are harder to make with a mouse that works even off of the pad.

-Lasereth

There really isn't much of a difference if you use either one.

I think the major decision should be which one is more convenient to use. If you have a lot of USB peripherals, you may want to keep the USB slots free and just use the PS/2 connection. On the other hand, if you don't care, just use either.

You're the first gamer I've heard say that :)

I used to hate it when in a critical moment in a game I would find out that my mouse ball rollers were dirty. Just hated it with passion.
When I went to optical there was no turning back. Hassle free game playing. I've had more problems with ball mouses than I would ever have with a optical usb mouse.

Although I did miss the "spinning" effect you can only do with ball mouses for that on the fly move :D

Oh and I perfer usb just because ;)

Yeah, I hate roller mice. Cleaning the things out every few weeks is no fun.

I ditched my roller mouse long time ago for doing graphics editing type stuff. The roller was pretty good for accuracy, but inevitably a clump of something would wind up in there are make drawing details impossibly difficult.

I just recently got fed up with my Wireless Optical Intellimouse. It sucked batteries, and the precision was embarassing in computer games. I didn't really realize how bad my accuracy was off until I purchased a nice PS/2 ball mouse with a wheel. It was like Goku in DBZ training in 100 times gravity :) I SLAUGHTERED the competition when I went back to a ball mouse. I will never use opitical mice again, much less wireless. The wireless aspect works fine; the optical is what makes games a joke.

The worst part about optical besides accuracy (aiming, etc.) is driving vehicles in certain games (i.e. BF1942, UT2k4, etc.). I can rotate turrets 2x faster now, and actually FLY the jets in Desert Combat with my new ball mouse :)

Navigating through Windows is freakishly fast as well; the optical just didn't let me do what I wanted as fast as I wanted (yes I'm a freak).

And don't even get me started on Photoshop :)

I donno guys, have all of you that prefer a Ball mouse over optical used a high quality version of both mice? Back when optical first came out, yeah there was a huge difference. But now only the Razor Boomslang can rival the presision of a MX500 or an Intellimouse Explorer v3.0. I used to swear by my old Logitech Ball mouse, but when I made the switch to the Logitech Dual Optical (and then the MX500 when it was released), I will now never go back to Ball. The biggest problem with optical is getting the correct surface to use it on. Oh and BTW Redjake, I am 99% sure that it was the Wireless causing you your problems, and not the Optical fact. I have used both Wireless and Wired, and I can say for a fact that wireless gives you a very nasty "choppy" feel in games, especially FPS.

Lasereth: I am suprised that the mouse you used did this. Mine (MX500) may do this a couple mm above the pad, but nothing more, and this is less then if I had to lift the ball mouse up and move it (cuz the ball usually falls down a few mm when lifted).

For me, I believe it is personal preferance, and not that one is more presice or anything. Some people do prefer the "feel" of the ball mouse theres something about the resistance of the ball moving on the pad that gives you a sort of feel I know. Anyway I digress. And to put my 2cents in about the PS/2 or USB thing,

I always use USB, mainly because I can remove the mouse and plug a new one in without much hassle. USB uses a tiny bit of system resources, but it shouldn't be noticable at all. I would say that until mice for USB 2.0 come out with insaine presision, either or will suffice quite nicely.

I hate bent pins, so I use a USB Optical Logitec mouse.

i had a problem getting the PS/2 port to work on my laptop. Even had to call Tech Support! Basically, the only reason I can think that PS/2 is better than USB is that it doesn't use a USB port.

PS/2 is on the way out, anyway. Don't be suprised if there are USB only machines being designed out there. If you want forward compaitbility, go USB

I use a ps/2 keyboard, and usb mouse. I really don't give a shit as far as 'precision' because I seem to do fine using my "laser" mouse. I really disliked the cleaning of the ball mice but other then that, there is no real reason that I am using a "laser" mouse now, cept for the neat little red light that tells me that my computer is on, as if I couldn't hear the noisy mother from down the block anyways.

Well, it's not supposed to boot unless it detects a keyboard. That's not the fault of a USB port, it's how BIOS used to be built!
Computers used to to a check to ensure at least a keyboard was hooked up to a ps/2 port. If not, you get some beeps.

Realizing that today many people have USB mice and keyboards, the BIOS writers have had to make changes skipping this check, thus allowing the computer to boot "without" a keyboard.

My mobo is two years old, it has the capability to boot with nothing in the ps/2 ports. That's good, 'cuase there's nothing in there!

Suffice it to say: if the box don't boot with a USB keyboard, it's likely not SUPPOSED to, so don't blame USB for it.

i switched to optical and put my sensitivity down on all games, now im gaming like a pro :D

I prefer PS/2 for mice, mainly because peripherals are all going USB these days, and I don't feel like buying a hub to be able to run my mouse, joystick, wheel, scanner, and printer.

as for ball vs optical, I have yet to find a new mouse that's as comfortable as my old Logitech Mouseman Wheel - until I do, I'm stickin' with my old ball mouse no matter how much i might want optical ;)

I use the PS/2 port. What else is it there for? You've got two, one is for the keyboard...so, it makes no sense to use a USB port for a mouse, in my opinion.

I've actually got both, a wireless optical intellimouse (with 5 buttons no less), and a scrolling ball mouse. I can use the wireless for when I'm just messing about, but when it's game time, it's time for ball mouse. Then pwnage on a large scale begins. If only I could find a wireless ball mouse, and it had the same instantaneous response time of a wired ball mouse, ahhh, that would be insane.

I have both, a Belkin wireless (but roller) mouse and a (bleh) microsoft (/bleh) Optical Trackball. X is configured to use both (or was at one point) but I find myself using the USB Optical Trackball more often, simply becase a) I'm used to it and b) I can be more pointer-accurate with it than any desk-style mouse will ever be, even in the hands of a brain surgeon.

eh, I like optical on PS/2 for my win98 machine and i have a $20 5 button trackball that i LOVE for my xp machine. It's USB but in a ps/2 slot with an adapter. I don't like tying up a USB port and I often have bad luck with USB ports..