Input Lag Visualizer

Calculate your system's exact input delay in milliseconds and visualize rendering overhead.

Hardware Input (Raw)
Display Output (Rendered)
0 ms
0 ms
0 px
-- Hz
Simulate Lag:
💡 Did you know? While "0ms" lag is physically impossible, high-end esports setups average around 12-18ms of total system latency. Using the simulator above, you can feel exactly how detrimental adding just 30ms of lag is to your tracking accuracy.

What is Input Lag?

Input Lag (or System Latency) is the delay between a physical action (like moving your mouse) and the result actually appearing on your screen. It is measured in milliseconds (ms).

Total System Latency = Mouse Processing Time + PC Render Time + Display Response Time.

Understanding the Visualizer

This high-performance Canvas tool visualizes the "disconnect" caused by lag:

  • Hardware Input (Green): This marker is drawn instantly at the raw coordinate provided by your operating system's USB polling.
  • Display Output (Purple): This marker trails behind. It is drawn only when the browser/monitor actually paints the next frame.
  • Elastic Connector: The line between them represents your exact input lag. The tool calculates your velocity to convert this pixel separation into an accurate millisecond (ms) delay estimate.

How to Reduce Input Lag

To minimize delay for competitive gaming, you need to optimize the entire render pipeline:

  • Turn VSync OFF in games and GPU drivers. Vsync forces the GPU to wait for the monitor, causing massive latency.
  • Use Exclusive Fullscreen mode rather than Windowed Borderless to bypass Windows DWM composition lag.
  • Maximize your Frame Rate (FPS). Higher FPS means fresher data is sent to the monitor sooner.
  • Use a high polling rate mouse (1000Hz or higher).
  • Enable NVIDIA Reflex or AMD Anti-Lag if available in your game's settings.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is VSync causing my lag?

Yes. Standard Double-buffered VSync adds considerable input lag because it forces the game engine to wait for the monitor's refresh cycle before preparing a new frame.

What is a good input lag for gaming?

Pro esports players aim for under 15-20ms of total system latency. Casual gamers usually play around 30-50ms without noticing significant delay.

What is the difference between Response Time and Input Lag?

Response Time (e.g., 1ms GtG) is how fast a physical pixel can change color to reduce ghosting. Input Lag is the total delay between your physical click and the action appearing on screen. They are entirely different metrics.