In my first thread I talked about how buying a new PSU seemed to fix my input lag and “floaty” mouse feeling. For a few days it felt amazing: Valorant was crisp, flicks felt natural, and even moving the mouse on the Windows desktop looked super sharp.
But after turning the PC on and off over the next week, the bad feeling slowly came back. Each day it felt a bit worse, almost like the PSU was struggling more and more. My (non-expert) theory is that the PSU capacitors were gradually getting “contaminated” by dirty power from the wall again.
After about a week I was honestly crushed. I went back to lurking forums and watching videos until I found a post where someone mentioned that a double-conversion UPS fixed their issue. Not just any UPS, but specifically double-conversion, because those units convert AC → DC → AC, effectively filtering out most of the dirty electricity before it reaches your PC.
By the end of summer I’d started a programmer job, and the first thing I wanted to do with my first paycheck was buy one of these UPS units. I waited a bit to read more about it, and in November I finally ordered a double-conversion UPS (Salicru SLC Twin PRO 2 700VA Schuko SAI).
I set up my power chain like this:
Wall outlet → UPS → PC + both monitors
On the UPS I enabled LINE mode so it always delivers filtered power to the outputs. Then I booted up the PC and launched Valorant.
Results:
- It didn’t feel 100% perfect, but it was much better.
- Mouse control improved a lot, and aiming for the head felt more consistent.
- The “60 Hz-ish” feeling was still there on the monitor, but overall I’d say the UPS removed about 60–70% of the issue.
Right now I’ve ordered a replacement PSU, because I suspect the remaining ~30% of the problem might be due to components that have already been degraded by years of dirty power. I’m also planning to buy a medical-grade isolation transformer to go even further with power conditioning.
I’ll keep updating this thread with any new results. Hopefully this helps someone else struggling with the same weird input lag / dirty power nightmare.
UPDATE 04-12-2025
The PSU replacement arrived, and I also ordered a new CPU (9800X3D) plus a new UPS with enough power (Salicru SLC Twin PRO 2 2000VA Schuko SAI).
At first, it felt horrible, just like when I didn’t have any UPS connected. Then I remembered that in the UPS manual it says the PC must be at least 20 cm away from the unit. With the old 700 VA UPS this wasn’t an issue because it was quite small, but the new one is gigantic, so I guess there’s more interference.
I moved the PC as far away as the power cable allowed and I have to say: the feeling is incredibly amazing now. Zero input lag, the mouse feels like an extension of my arm, I know exactly how much I need to move it to land headshots, and the monitor looks like real life at 1000 Hz.
I’ll keep updating weekly… if I don’t forget.
). I made about 6 games that felt very good but against cheater who diminished the fun.