Input lag is the delay between a physical input — pressing a key, clicking a mouse, moving a stick — and the corresponding action appearing on screen. At a competitive level, 10ms of unnecessary input lag is the difference between hitting a shot and missing it. On a well-tuned system, total input lag from mouse click to pixel update should be under 20ms. Most stock Windows gaming setups are nowhere near that out of the box.
This guide covers every setting and adjustment that meaningfully reduces input lag on a Windows 10 or Windows 11 gaming PC, ranked by impact. Skip the YouTube rabbit holes — these are the changes that actually work.
Enable exclusive fullscreen mode in your games
This is the single highest-impact change you can make. Running a game in borderless windowed mode adds a compositor layer between the game and your display, which introduces additional latency. Exclusive fullscreen bypasses the Windows desktop compositor and lets the game output frames directly to your monitor.
In most games, switch the display mode from Borderless Windowed to Fullscreen in the video settings. On Windows 11, you can also check if your game supports “hardware-composed independent flip” — a newer feature that allows low-latency output in borderless mode on supported hardware. But when in doubt, exclusive fullscreen wins.
Set a frame rate cap slightly below your monitor’s refresh rate
This one surprises people. Capping your frame rate at 3 to 5 fps below your monitor’s maximum refresh rate dramatically reduces input lag compared to running uncapped or using V-Sync. The reason: an uncapped frame rate leads to frames queuing in the render pipeline. A cap keeps the GPU working just below its ceiling, reducing render queue depth and the latency that comes with it.
If your monitor runs at 144Hz, cap your game at 138 to 141 fps. At 240Hz, cap at 233 to 237 fps. Use the in-game frame limiter or NVIDIA/AMD frame pacing tools rather than V-Sync, which introduces its own latency penalty.
Disable V-Sync and use NVIDIA Reflex or AMD Anti-Lag instead
Traditional V-Sync adds one to three frames of latency by synchronizing the GPU output to the display’s refresh cycle. On a 60Hz monitor, that can mean 33ms+ of added delay. Turn it off in-game and in your GPU control panel.
NVIDIA Reflex (available in most major competitive titles) is the replacement. It minimizes the render queue at the driver level, typically reducing system latency by 30 to 50 percent in supported games. Enable it in the game settings — the “Enabled + Boost” mode is usually safe on modern hardware.
AMD Anti-Lag 2 does the same for Radeon users. It works at the driver level and is enabled through Radeon Software. The latency reduction is comparable to Reflex in supported titles.
Windows settings that reduce input lag
Several Windows settings have a direct impact on system-level latency. These apply to both Windows 10 and Windows 11:
- Power plan: High Performance or Ultimate Performance — prevents the CPU from downclocking between inputs, reducing the latency spike when the system needs to respond quickly
- Disable Hardware-Accelerated GPU Scheduling (HAGS) if you have an older GPU — HAGS reduces latency on RTX 30 series and newer, but can increase it on older cards
- Disable Xbox Game Bar — Settings > Gaming > Xbox Game Bar > Off. Background overlay processes add CPU interrupts
- Set monitor to its native highest refresh rate — check Display Settings > Advanced Display. Some monitors default to 60Hz even if capable of more
- Enable G-Sync or FreeSync — variable refresh rate with a frame cap eliminates tearing without the latency penalty of V-Sync
Mouse and polling rate settings
Your mouse polling rate determines how often per second the mouse reports its position to the OS. The standard is 1000Hz (once per millisecond). Many modern gaming mice now support 4000Hz, 8000Hz, or higher polling rates, which reduces the interval between position updates and measurably cuts input latency at high sensitivity settings.
Check your mouse software (Logitech G Hub, Razer Synapse, SteelSeries GG) and set the polling rate to the maximum your mouse supports. At 8000Hz, the latency from mouse movement to OS detection is under 0.125ms. The gain over 1000Hz is small but measurable in competitive play.
Also disable mouse acceleration in Windows settings (Mouse > Additional mouse settings > Pointer Options > Enhance pointer precision — uncheck it). Mouse acceleration adds unpredictability to cursor movement and makes consistent aim harder. If you want the best input device for minimizing latency, our guide on the best gaming mouse in 2026 covers the top options including polling rate performance.
GPU driver settings for lower latency
In NVIDIA Control Panel, set “Low Latency Mode” to Ultra (this is the manual override for what Reflex does automatically in supported games). Set “Power Management Mode” to Prefer Maximum Performance. These prevent the GPU from entering low-power states mid-game.
For AMD users, in Radeon Software set the graphics profile to Gaming, enable Anti-Lag 2 where available, and set Radeon Chill off if it is on (it introduces a frame cap that may conflict with your target fps).
Monitor settings: the display chain
Input lag does not end at the GPU. Monitor processing can add 1 to 15ms depending on the panel and settings. Almost all modern gaming monitors have a “Game Mode” or similar preset that disables post-processing and lowers panel latency. Enable it.
Check your monitor’s response time setting. “Fastest” or “Extreme” modes on some panels can introduce overshoot artifacts, but “Fast” is usually the right balance between ghosting and latency. Aim for a total display input lag below 5ms — most gaming monitors designed for competitive play hit 1 to 3ms in Game Mode.
Summary: the checklist
- Use exclusive fullscreen mode in-game
- Cap fps at 3 to 5 below max refresh rate
- Disable V-Sync, enable NVIDIA Reflex or AMD Anti-Lag 2
- Set power plan to High Performance
- Disable Xbox Game Bar
- Set polling rate to maximum in mouse software
- Disable enhance pointer precision in Windows
- Enable G-Sync or FreeSync with a frame cap
- Set monitor to Game Mode
- Set GPU to maximum performance mode in driver settings
Combined, these changes can reduce total system input lag by 30 to 60 percent from a stock setup. For competitive play, that is a genuine improvement you will feel — not just measure.
FAQ
What is a good input lag for gaming?
For competitive gaming, total system input lag under 20ms is the target. This includes GPU render latency, display latency, and mouse latency combined. Well-tuned gaming setups at 240Hz can achieve 7 to 15ms total.
Does higher fps reduce input lag?
Yes, directly. Higher fps means more frames generated per second, which reduces the time between rendered frames and the one displayed. At 60fps, each frame represents ~16ms. At 240fps, it drops to ~4ms. This is why higher refresh rate monitors and higher fps matter for competitive responsiveness.
Does NVIDIA Reflex actually work?
Yes, and it is measurable. NVIDIA’s own data and third-party testing consistently show 30 to 50 percent latency reductions in supported games. It works by minimizing the CPU-to-GPU render queue depth, which is one of the main sources of system latency.