Years of "Input Lag" With Perfect FPS — Turned Out to Be a Scaling Issue?

[wasted42]

Hello everyone,
I’ve been following this forum for at least 4–5 years. I never created an account or posted my own issue, because while reading other people’s problems here, it always felt like I was the one writing them, and in the end nobody could actually find a real solution.

While playing CS:GO, then CS2, and even before that CS 1.6, I’ve been constantly experiencing input lag. Even when I’m just moving around alone on the map, walls are shaking and vibrating (screen tearing), the mouse feeling constantly changes, it feels like I’m moving the mouse on ice with no control at all (floaty mouse).
I never had FPS drops, because I always had a very strong PC, good monitor, and proper equipment.

In short, my problem is this:
I currently have 600–700 FPS, a 400Hz BenQ monitor, but the feeling while playing is like I’m on ~100 FPS and 60Hz
(I won’t even focus on bad hitreg, people Ferrari-peeking me, or not being able to track enemies properly on screen — even though I have those too, I mainly just want to fix the image.)

So the main issue is that I have good, stable FPS, good 1% lows, every possible benchmark looks stable and shows no errors, yet the feeling is like playing on 60Hz.

My PC & Equipment
PC:
CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D
GPU: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Ti SUPER 16GB
RAM: HyperX Fury 32GB DDR5 6400MHz
Motherboard: MSI MAG B850 TOMAHAWK MAX WIFI
PSU: Lian Li 1200W Edge 80PLUS Gold (PCIe 5.1, ATX 3.1, USB Hub)
SSD: Samsung M.2 NVMe 9100 PRO Series 1TB

EQUIPMENT:
Monitor: BenQ ZOWIE XL2566X+ @ 400Hz
Mouse: Logitech G Pro X Superlight V2 DEX
Headset: Logitech G Pro X Wireless
Keyboard: Wooting 60HE+
Mousepad: ZOWIE G-SR-SE Rouge

I only play CS — I’m not interested in other games (although I tested other games and felt the same issue there as well). I’m not a casual or amateur player. I have an HLTV profile and I’ve played a lot of high-level CS. My CS:GO peak was around 4.3k Elo, and in CS2 around 3.4k, since I don’t grind or play actively anymore because of this problem.

I’m writing all of this so you understand that I’m not imagining things and that I’m capable of noticing this issue.

Now I’ll try to keep the rest as short as possible and explain what I’ve tried over the years to get rid of input lag — and what I experienced and discovered about 5 days ago.

I’ve changed more than 5 PCs overall, but let’s focus on the last year and a half, during which I changed 3 full systems:
- Mostly Ryzen CPU + NVIDIA GPU combinations
- BenQ monitors: first 240Hz, then 360Hz, now 400Hz
- I changed 3 apartments (in 2 different cities) — the problem was always the same
- I even bought a good UPS / power protector and tried everything I could find on this forum — nothing helped
- I changed 3 internet providers — nothing solved it
(I’m not looking for a hitreg fix; I only want to fix the constant image stuttering and the 60Hz feeling)
- I don’t care about hitreg, whether shots connect or sprays feel off — that’s the smallest problem in this whole story
- I’ve tried every Windows OS imaginable:
Windows 10 (default, optimized), and now Windows 11 as well (Kirby, ReviOS, Atlas, etc.).
- On the NVIDIA side, there’s nothing I haven’t tested — and not just for a few hours, but for several days. Different driver versions, default settings, optimized settings, countless tweaks — nothing helped.


NOW we get to what I discovered and felt 5–6 days ago — and it’s not placebo, because the image is still smoother than ever.
For the first time in all these years, after seeing a post on this forum where someone suggested trying Display Scaling using video; A video from this forum (which I can’t copy link and paste right now because I’m probably a new member), but it’s a video showing how to properly set up DISPLAY SCALING using CRU. The video is about 40 seconds long and it’s a private.
I tried it and set the following in NVIDIA Control Panel:
Perform scaling on: Display
Scaling mode: No scaling
Override the scaling mode set by games and programs: Unchecked

GUYS, I launched CS and for more than 5 days now, the image has been MAXIMUM SMOOTH, smoother than ever in my life. Screen tearing is completely gone — 100% gone. I honestly don’t want the image to be any better than this. I basically solved the visual problem.

BUT — one huge BUT.

The image is smooth and I truly enjoy being in CS again, but the mouse feeling is terrible. It feels like it’s not my sensitivity anymore. Something is off, and I can’t really explain it properly. It feels like the game behaves differently on Display Scaling.
The image stays smooth, but the mouse control feels wrong. (spray control, shooting,..)

What I’d like to ask you (especially those who really understand this):

- Is it somehow possible to keep this smooth Display-scaled image, but have the sensitivity and mouse feeling behave like on GPU scaling?

- Why don’t I get this smooth, tear-free image on GPU scaling, but only on Display scaling? (I’ve changed 3 GPUs — all NVIDIA.)

- Would switching to an AMD GPU (I’m planning to get a 9080 XT) potentially solve this and give me proper GPU scaling?

- Is it possible that I’ve been dealing with a scaling issue for years because I always played on GPU scaling? But how, when almost every pro player and high-level player uses GPU scaling and their game doesn’t feel floaty?

-I hope someone replies and helps solve this problem. It already feels like a huge relief now that my image is smooth on Display scaling, which makes me think that I don’t actually have input lag — but rather a GPU scaling issue?

Thank you!

[jassine]

you can share the link by replacing the dots (.) by stars like this:
forums*blurbusters*com/viewtopic*php?p=121950

[Hyote]

Overall this is not a core cause if you have the same problem like other people here. Other than CRU and NVCP you need to set display scaling in regedit, because it's set to aspect ratio by default and gets reset each time CRU settings are changed.
An AMD GPU probably won't change this behaviour, this is from personal experience.
In CRU it's best to modify and test each value individually. I need to correct this in my guide but Vertical Totals should be increased instead of being reduced. I will send a screenshot about default vs modified settings. The low fps feeling doesn't go away, especially in games like CS2.

[wasted42]

Overall this is not a core cause if you have the same problem like other people here. Other than CRU and NVCP you need to set display scaling in regedit, because it's set to aspect ratio by default and gets reset each time CRU settings are changed.
An AMD GPU probably won't change this behaviour, this is from personal experience.
In CRU it's best to modify and test each value individually. I need to correct this in my guide but Vertical Totals should be increased instead of being reduced. I will send a screenshot about default vs modified settings. The low fps feeling doesn't go away, especially in games like CS2.

Thanks for the reply, but I didn’t fully understand it.

The image is still smooth and I no longer have any screen tearing at all, but the mouse feeling is very bad when using Display Scaling.
I used CRU and set the following in NVIDIA Control Panel:
Perform scaling on: Display
Scaling mode: No scaling
Override the scaling mode set by games and programs: Unchecked

On my monitor, Display Scaling is enabled and set to Full. When I switch to GPU Scaling, the Display Scaling option on the monitor becomes greyed out, which means display-side scaling is not active. Now it works correctly because I can choose Full / Aspect / 1:1, etc.

When I do this, the image becomes incredibly smooth. However, the moment I switch back to GPU Scaling, everything falls apart and the game becomes completely unplayable.

I want to ask if anyone knows whether it’s somehow possible to keep the image smoothness and visuals from Display Scaling, but have the mouse feeling behave like it does on GPU Scaling, or why I don’t get this same smooth image when using GPU Scaling at all.

Why does the game become so unplayable the moment I switch to GPU Scaling?

[Hyote]

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\GraphicsDrivers\Configuration\<id>
Find your monitor at <id>
Set Scaling to 2

[Slender]

display scaling? if it custom preinstalled resolution by zowie benq, you can delete that resolution in cru.exe, and add gpu res in sre.exe, after set fullscreen + display scaling.

[rnk0]

Bro, if you're truly only playing CS2, try CachyOS (Linux).

I get 15-20% more performance compared to Windows 11 on CachyOS in CS2.
Also, the overall fluidity and responsiveness is UNMATCHED. I've tried Windows 11 (to test Gsync on my 360 Hz OLED) and it felt really bad. Choppy, laggy and overall not enjoyable.

Try CachyOS. It's super simple. You can setup a dual boot, install only CS2 to try it out and let me know how it feels. Trust me, CS2 is superior on Linux with CachyOS.

[Hyote]

Bro, if you're truly only playing CS2, try CachyOS (Linux).

I get 15-20% more performance compared to Windows 11 on CachyOS in CS2.
Also, the overall fluidity and responsiveness is UNMATCHED. I've tried Windows 11 (to test Gsync on my 360 Hz OLED) and it felt really bad. Choppy, laggy and overall not enjoyable.

Try CachyOS. It's super simple. You can setup a dual boot, install only CS2 to try it out and let me know how it feels. Trust me, CS2 is superior on Linux with CachyOS.

Same thing are being brought up over and over again. The experience will degrade in a matter of hours of days anyway. Also Linux can't match the latency of an optimized Windows no matter what settings you use.

[Hyote]

Bro, if you're truly only playing CS2, try CachyOS (Linux).

I get 15-20% more performance compared to Windows 11 on CachyOS in CS2.
Also, the overall fluidity and responsiveness is UNMATCHED. I've tried Windows 11 (to test Gsync on my 360 Hz OLED) and it felt really bad. Choppy, laggy and overall not enjoyable.

Try CachyOS. It's super simple. You can setup a dual boot, install only CS2 to try it out and let me know how it feels. Trust me, CS2 is superior on Linux with CachyOS.

Same things are being brought up over and over again. The experience will degrade in a matter of hours of days anyway. Also Linux can't match the latency of an optimized Windows no matter what settings you use.

[rnk0]

Bro, if you're truly only playing CS2, try CachyOS (Linux).

I get 15-20% more performance compared to Windows 11 on CachyOS in CS2.
Also, the overall fluidity and responsiveness is UNMATCHED. I've tried Windows 11 (to test Gsync on my 360 Hz OLED) and it felt really bad. Choppy, laggy and overall not enjoyable.

Try CachyOS. It's super simple. You can setup a dual boot, install only CS2 to try it out and let me know how it feels. Trust me, CS2 is superior on Linux with CachyOS.

Same thing are being brought up over and over again. The experience will degrade in a matter of hours of days anyway. Also Linux can't match the latency of an optimized Windows no matter what settings you use.

No, it won't "degrade".
I have an almost flawless experience on CachyOS at this point. CS2 definitely runs consistently, and way better than Windows 11.

Other games, due to needed work on Vulkan / Nvidia Drivers / Proton etc. , might have slightly worse latency in terms of worse frametimes. But the system latency is almost always shorter. It feels a lot more responsive.
I'd urge you to try out CachyOS once. Just setup a dual boot. You will notice the difference!