[HN Gopher] Inputlag.science - Repository of knowledge about inp...
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Inputlag.science - Repository of knowledge about input lag in
gaming
Author : akyuu
Score : 49 points
Date : 2026-02-21 19:41 UTC (3 hours ago)
(HTM) web link (inputlag.science)
(TXT) w3m dump (inputlag.science)
| wa008 wrote:
| Input lag is one of those things you feel before you can explain
| it. Good to finally have a resource that breaks down the full
| chain -- controller, engine, display -- instead of just blaming
| the monitor like everyone does
|
| The engine section is the part most developers seem to ignore. A
| locked 60fps doesn't mean 16ms latency, and that gap make me
| surprise
| tadfisher wrote:
| I used to get into arguments all the time about how triple-
| buffering reduces latency, and I think it's because we lacked
| resources like this; people assume it adds the additional back
| buffer to a queue, when the traditional implementation "renders
| ahead" and swaps the most recently-completed back buffer. It's
| a subtle difference but significantly reduces the worst-case
| latency vs. a simple queue.
|
| I think most people get their information from help blurbs in
| settings menus for PC games, which are often hilariously vague
| or incorrect.
| hoten wrote:
| One area of focus missing here is game streaming / remote play
| (Steam Link, Moonlight, etc. over a local network).
|
| I've come to accept input lag, but mostly play games where it
| doesn't matter (simple platformers, turn-based games, etc). I
| know steam link from my home desktop to my ~5 year smart TV is
| adding latency to my inputs - though I can't tell if it's from my
| router, desktop, or TV - but I've come to accept it for the
| convenience of playing on the couch (usually with someone
| watching next to me).
|
| I know some blame is on the TV, as often if I just hard-reset the
| worst of the lag spikes go away (clearly some background task is
| hogging CPU). And sometimes the sound system glitches and repeats
| the same tone until I reset that. Still worth putting up with for
| the couch.
| iknowstuff wrote:
| Build an sffpc, have it by the tv :)
| iknowstuff wrote:
| quite a few syntactical errors on this website. I'd suggest
| running it through an LLM and telling it to fix the mistakes
| without altering anything else!
| NonHyloMorph wrote:
| Good to know it's human written
| nickjj wrote:
| I wish they included the window compositor as something that can
| introduce latency because I'd like to learn more about it.
|
| When I switched from Windows to Linux on the same hardware I
| noticed a lot of keyboard input latency when playing games, at
| least 150ms. This only happens to me with niri, KDE Plasma
| (Wayland) feels identical to Windows. So did Hyprland. I'm able
| to reproduce it on multiple systems when I have a 4k display
| running at 1:1 native scaling. On AMD cards, turning off v-sync
| helped reduce it but it didn't remove it. With an NVIDIA card,
| turning off v-sync made no difference. I believe it's semi-
| related to that 4k display because when I unplug that display and
| use my 2560x1440 monitor, it's much less noticeable despite
| getting a solid 60 FPS with both monitors. All that to say,
| there's certainly a lot more than your input device, GPU and
| display playing a role.
|
| If anyone played Quake on a dial-up connection with client side
| prediction turned off, that is the exact same feeling. It's
| pressing a key and then seeing the screen update X ms afterwards.
| bluescrn wrote:
| 'Input lag' should really be called 'Output lag', as most of it
| usually comes from the display device and/or graphics pipeline,
| not input devices
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(page generated 2026-02-21 23:00 UTC)