The time this takes is called the pixel response time. Once the frame has been processed, the final step is the updating the pixels to display the correct color for the new frame. An input lag below 30 ms is generally considered unnoticeable in a television. Image processing (such as upscaling, motion smoothing, or edge smoothing) takes time and therefore adds some degree of input lag.
This is the lag caused by the television or monitor (which is also called "input lag" by the first definition above, but "output lag' by the second definition). This exacerbates input lag, especially at low frame rates. Game engines often make use of pipelining architectures to process multiple frames concurrently, allowing for a more efficient use of the underlying hardware. Individual frames need not be finished within the interval of a screen refresh to output at an equivalent rate. In situations where the CPU and/or GPU load is high, FPS can drop below the monitor's refresh rate.
The monitor is usually the bottleneck for the theoretical maximum FPS, since there is no point in rendering more frames than the monitor can display per second (unless trying to gain advantage on some pc titles). Using common 60 Hz monitor as an example, the maximum theoretical frame rate is 60 FPS (frames per second), which means the minimum theoretical input lag for the overall system is approximately 16.67 ms (1 frame/60 FPS). The amount of frames rendered per second (on average) is called the frame rate. Console/PC processes next frame Ī videogame console or PC will send out a new frame once it has finished performing the necessary calculations to create it. Some people claim to notice extra lag when using a wireless controller, while other people claim that the 4–8 milliseconds of lag is negligible. For wireless controllers, opinions vary as to the significance of this lag.
Each step in the process increases "input lag", however the net result may be unnoticeable if the overall "input lag" is low enough.Ĭontroller sends signal to console įor wired controllers, this lag is negligible. The potential causes for "input lag"- according to the second definition- are described below (steps which have negligible contributions to the input lag have been omitted). Potential causes of delay from pressing a button to the game reacting 1 Potential causes of delay from pressing a button to the game reacting.