Which Graphical Settings Cause Input Lag?

[Seijuro808]

Input Lag, the evil of all evils.

 

I've watched Linus and Slick say in one of the live streams that V-Sync adds a lot of input lag, and I can confirm that it really does. They also stated that anti-aliasing also affects input lag.

 

But my question is, what other graphical settings cause input lag? 

 

Going down the BF3 settings as an example:

Ambient Occlusion

Anisotropic Filtering

Anti-aliasing Deferred

Anti-aliasing Post

 

Another thing I read a little about was triple buffering in the nvidia console menu, but I've read mixed reviews on it. Some people claiming that it helps REDUCE input lag, while other people claim that it ADDS input lag.

 

Do you guys have a concrete understanding on this subject? I'm a seasoned Street Fighter player, and even ONE FRAME of input lag completely throws my game off, as there are commands/inputs/combos that require the correct input to be done within exactly 1 frame of the game, that runs at a native 60fps. 

 

I know it may not be that big a deal for FPS and RTS games, but I'd still like to know THE BEST settings for THE LOWEST amount of input lag.

 

Thanks in advance for your input, guys. 

[Godlygamer23]

V-sync is one setting. If possible, turn V-sync off or use Adaptive V-sync.

[Askew]

In nvidia settings set max pre rendered frames to 1, vsync force off, triple buffer off, all forms of AA off, anisotropic is OK. In the desktop size and resolution tab, set it to Display, No scaling.

Use a mouse with a high polling rate, don't have the USB controller busy while you game, turn off windows aero, turn off any monitoring software that polls the CPU constantly, turn off any overdrive your monitor might be using, for instance if its a 60hz panel and offers any pixel response time of less than 5ms turn off the feature it increases display latency.

You can experiment with frame caps and what not, I tend to leave mine uncapped, but if the frame rate fluctuates wildly I will cap it. Some screen tearing is inevitable but in games like counter strike the frame rate is so high and close together that the tearing is hardly perceptible.

[Askew]

Just a word of warning, when you find people talking about DPC latency and whether or not the HPET should be on or off, it has gone beyond what is reasonable to achieve with a 60hz LCD ;)

 

Please be aware that different Driver versions have different levels of latency in different games for different reasons.

 

If you want to take your monitor to the next level, I'd like to know what you are using now, but this is a nice piece of kit http://bit.ly/17W17GN

It happens to be an IPS with frighteningly low pixel response and latency

 

PRAD.de reviewed it, http://bit.ly/17guWfV 0.8ms signal delay.

[Seijuro808]

I'm using a standard 24 inch TN panel from Asus; VW246H

It's been tested by the fighting game community as a sub-1 frame input lag monitor. I've been using it since the end of 2009.

 

Another rule that the FGC goes by is "Response time IS NOT the same as INPUT LAG". 

 

Thanks for your input guys. Gonna dial them in right now.

[Askew]

"Response time IS NOT the same as INPUT LAG".

 

Correct, this is a very common misconception.

[N7_Zer0]

Vsync and AA are the two I've confirmed can cause input lag but it only affects my mouse. Games I play with an 360 gamepad have no lag at all, including SF4.

[Minjon]

Vsync, MSAA