Guides/Input
How to reduce input lag in games: the settings that matter
Input lag is the time between your click and the result on screen. It adds up from the mouse, the game, the graphics card's queue and the monitor. A few settings remove most of the avoidable part.
Quick answerTurn on NVIDIA Reflex or AMD Anti-Lag 2 in the game, avoid a fully loaded graphics card (cap the frame rate or let Reflex do it), turn V-Sync off or use G-Sync/FreeSync with a cap below the refresh rate, use fullscreen, and run the monitor at its highest refresh rate.
Where the delay comes from#
- The render queue: when the graphics card is at 99% load, the processor prepares frames ahead and they wait in line. This is often the biggest avoidable part.
- V-Sync: waits for the monitor's refresh, adding up to a full refresh or more.
- Frame rate and refresh rate: at 60 FPS each frame takes 16.7 ms, at 240 FPS 4.2 ms.
- The monitor: processing and pixel response add a few milliseconds.
- The mouse: polling and the click itself add a little.
The settings, by impact#
- Reflex or Anti-Lag 2: in supported games, the single best setting: it keeps the render queue empty. In games without them, NVIDIA's Low Latency Mode or AMD's Radeon Anti-Lag in the driver does part of the job.
- Don't max out the graphics card: a frame rate cap slightly below what the card manages keeps the queue empty. How to cap.
- V-Sync off, or G-Sync/FreeSync with V-Sync in the driver and a cap below the refresh rate. The right settings.
- Fullscreen where available. Fullscreen vs borderless.
- Highest refresh rate in Windows and in the game. Check the refresh rate.
Questions#
Does higher FPS reduce input lag?
Yes, each frame takes less time. But a fully loaded graphics card can add more delay than the higher frame rate removes; that's what Reflex and a cap fix.
Should I use NVIDIA Low Latency Mode Ultra?
In games without Reflex, when the graphics card is fully loaded. With Reflex in the game, use Reflex instead.
Check it automatically
Get Frametide →Frametide has the driver's low latency, V-Sync and frame limit settings under Tweaks and switches them and back with one click (some need Premium). Its scan checks that the monitor runs at its highest refresh rate.