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With the advent of HD monitors, terms like input lags have become common. Nevertheless, if you are looking to buy a new monitor, whether 60Hz, 120Hz, 144Hz, or even 240Hz, you would have definitely crossed your paths with input lag and response time.
Now, if you are mind is crowded with thoughts like what is input lag and how you can reduce that, well, you are in the right place. Here, in this guide, we will tell you everything you need to know in regards to display lag.
Table of Contents
What is Input Lag?
Technical speaking, Input lag is referred to the delay between inputting a command and the action occurring on-screen. In order words, input lag is the amount of time taken to pass a frame from the GPU to the monitor and the monitor actually displaying that frame.
It is wise to say that input lag is a crucial aspect for gaming and gaming monitors. Besides, for gaming, the preferred input lag is 15ms [Mili-seconds]; the lesser, the better.
Moreover, input lag is the time it takes for a monitor to display your commands or anything you do on a keyboard, mouse, or handheld controller. Besides, the includes processing of images like upconverting, scaling, frame interpolation and HDR [High Dynamic Ranging], etc.
As discussed earlier, the effect of input lag is massive on gaming because of the scaling and rendering factor. Suppose you play a high pace FPS like counter-strike; it would be difficult to analyze the difference between a gunshot and the death of an opponent if your monitor has high input lag.
Therefore, if you are buying a monitor, especially for gaming, a response rate below 15 milliseconds is always preferable.
How to Reduce Input Lag
If input lag stands between you and perfect gaming, it would be the best idea to reduce that. Now, let’s look at the ways of reducing input lag.
The first way to reduce input lag in your monitor is probably changing the monitor you currently have. Consequently, if you are here, most likely you are suffering from input lag issues, or maybe you are in need of a new monitor. So if you are buying a new monitor, watch out for high refresh rate monitors.
If you already have a monitor and are experiencing input lags, turn on game mode if your monitor supports it. Further, disable all power saver settings and ambient screen dimming effects.
In case you are experiencing input lags in specific situations, look out for your network connection. It might be slow. Also, you need to check out your cable adapters. If you are using VGA cables, switch to HDMI for better results.
Moreover, use lower latency products like wired gaming keyboards and mouses. Besides, play games in full-screen mode. In case none of these work or apply in your case, lower down the game or application settings in which you are experiencing input lags.
Input Lag vs. Response Time
Response time is the time it takes to change from one color to another. High input lag and slow response time can ruin your overall experience. Moreover, too much input lag can prove disastrous. Therefore, firstly, you have to make sure that is input lag of the display is bearable. After that, you can look out for a faster response time.
Nevertheless, both input lag and response time matter when considering gaming scenarios. For a smooth gaming experience, you have to consider both of these factors are in the middle. Interestingly, the latest gaming monitors offer low input lag and quick response time, making it the best of two worlds.
For the sake of calculation, the higher the refresh rate, the lower the input lag will be. Thus, a display with a 120Hz refresh rate will have half the input lag of a display with a 60Hz refresh rate. So it would help if you focus on refresh rate along with response time for your perfect monitor.
Conclusion
Here we have explained everything you need to know about input lag. If you are willing to purchase a new monitor, and that would be special for your gaming needs, you must consider a monitor with a higher refresh rate.
Besides, we have also discussed some troubleshooting tips that will help you overcome your high input lag issues if you are already facing them. That’s all we have for you with input lag and how you can reduce it. We hope this guide helped you.
