USB Passthrough - alright for gaming?

[bazilwazil]

Hello Everyone,

I have a little question for you guys, I've done a couple searches I and couldn't find a definitive answer;

is plugging your keyboard and mouse into the USB passthrough present on many monitors detrimental for gaming in terms of response time?

I'm not too familiar with how the passthrough is wired, does the signal go straight from the mouse/keyboard unhindered to the computer or is there some extra processing which is involved?  

 

[DisconnectedYT]

On 5/31/2016 at 8:39 PM, bazilwazil said:

Hello Everyone,

I have a little question for you guys, I've done a couple searches I and couldn't find a definitive answer;

is plugging your keyboard and mouse into the USB passthrough present on many monitors detrimental for gaming in terms of response time?

I'm not too familiar with how the passthrough is wired, does the signal go straight from the mouse/keyboard unhindered to the computer or is there some extra processing which is involved?  

 

May add like 5ms or something but i have a wireless mouse and played Pro for 1 month and this crap about ms making you play worse is absolute Bu******!

 

[Guest]

6 minutes ago, DisconnectedYT said:

May add like 5ms or something but i have a wireless mouse and played Pro for 1 month and this crap about ms making you play worse is absolute Bu******!

 

Sorry but this statement really makes me question your abilities.

[DisconnectedYT]

Im not joking? Used a MX Master for 1 month in Local games and i saw legit no difference?

[Guest]

20 minutes ago, bazilwazil said:

Hello Everyone,

I have a little question for you guys, I've done a couple searches I and couldn't find a definitive answer;

is plugging your keyboard and mouse into the USB passthrough present on many monitors detrimental for gaming in terms of response time?

I'm not too familiar with how the passthrough is wired, does the signal go straight from the mouse/keyboard unhindered to the computer or is there some extra processing which is involved?  

 

I personally wouldn't plug my mouse into a passthrough even though i highly doubt it does affect input lag.

From my experience the passthroughs are often on the left side of the monitor and the majority of people are right handed which makes me believe manufactures dont intend people to plug their mouse into the monitor.

 

No testing has been done what im aware but i wouldn't do it.

[dalekphalm]

5 hours ago, bazilwazil said:

Hello Everyone,

I have a little question for you guys, I've done a couple searches I and couldn't find a definitive answer;

is plugging your keyboard and mouse into the USB passthrough present on many monitors detrimental for gaming in terms of response time?

I'm not too familiar with how the passthrough is wired, does the signal go straight from the mouse/keyboard unhindered to the computer or is there some extra processing which is involved?  

 

It entirely depends on how exactly the passthrough is setup.

 

For example:

1.

If the monitor has a single USB A-to-B cable that runs from your computer to the back of the monitor, then gives you MORE THEN ONE USB port on the monitor itself... well, that's not Passthrough at all. There's a USB hub inside the monitor.

 

This will cause some incredibly tiny amount of latency, and depending on how the power is supplied (via the USB cable or via the monitors power supply), there could be power issues with too many devices connected. I would advise against plugging both your keyboard and monitor into a monitor housed USB hub. You could probably get away with one or the other, but I'd advise connecting both directly to their own ports on the motherboard itself.

 

2.

If, however, your monitor has a single USB A-to-B cable that runs from your computer to the back of the monitor, then gives you a SINGLE USB port on the monitor, then this is an actual USB Passthrough. Passthrough implies that it's a direct connection to the motherboard USB port, and the monitor is simply (you guessed it!) passing the connection through. There is no internal USB hub or any additional circuitry that could cause latency.

 

In this case, you can safely use either a keyboard or a mouse without any added latency at all. However, since a true passthrough only has one USB port for each cable that runs back to the computer, in all likelihood, you're only going to have one USB port to work with, meaning that you'll have to choose which device to plug into the monitor - I would suggest the mouse, simply because in most cases, the Keyboard tends to have a longer cable, and you're moving your mouse around all over the place, which will temporarily adjust the distance the cable needs to travel.

 

With that in mind, unless you're a legit pro gamer that competes in actual national/international tournaments, you likely won't notice a difference, even if you straight up used an off-the-shelf USB hub that added actual latency.

 

5 hours ago, HydraGaming said:

Sorry but this statement really makes me question your abilities.

While I agree that the average person likely won't notice any added latency, I also agree with your statement. A, shall we call "true" pro gamer would squeeze every last millisecond of latency out to gain the utmost advantage against his or her competition. It likely wouldn't make a difference on the local or regional levels of "pro gaming", but in the national/international tournaments, even a few ms of latency could definitely put you at a disadvantage.

[bojanmk1]

I know its old but I stumbled on a quite informative youtube video on this subject.

So I'm leaving the link here for anyone that might search for this:

The short answer is no. It doesn't make a difference.