Monitor Response Time & Input Lag Calculator
Calculate total input lag from refresh rate, pixel response time, network ping, and engine delay.
About this calculator
Total Input Lag adds up every stage between a mouse click or key press and the pixel actually changing on screen: Display Lag (from the monitor's own refresh cycle), Response Time (GtG), Network Ping, and Engine/Render Delay. Display Lag isn't the full Frame Time -- it's modeled as half of it, since on average an input lands partway through a refresh cycle rather than always at the worst-case start. Frame Time itself is simply 1000 divided by Refresh Rate, so raising Refresh Rate shrinks Frame Time and, in turn, Display Lag; going from 60Hz to 144Hz cuts Frame Time from about 16.7ms to 6.9ms. Network Ping and Engine/Render Delay pass straight through into Total Input Lag with no scaling, so for online competitive play they often swing the total more than a refresh-rate upgrade does.
The Responsiveness Rating buckets that total into five tiers, from "Noticeable lag" above 120ms down to "Pro-level" under 30ms -- useful as a rule of thumb, but the raw millisecond figure is what actually determines how a setup feels. Motion Blur estimates how much of a single frame's duration is consumed by the panel's own pixel transition: Response Time as a percentage of Frame Time, which is why a slow panel look blurrier at a high refresh rate than a fast panel does at the same rate -- the pixels simply can't finish switching before the next frame arrives. Effective Refresh Rate caps the monitor's rated refresh rate at whatever the pixel response time can actually keep up with.
Inputs
Results
Total Input Lag
37.47 ms
How to Use This Calculator
- Enter your Monitor's Refresh Rate in Hz and the Response Time (GtG) in milliseconds.
- Enter Network Ping in ms and the Game Engine/Render Delay in ms.
- Review Total Input Lag combining all latency sources from input to display.
- Check Frame Time to ensure your refresh rate matches your actual rendered FPS.
- Use Display Lag to compare monitors and justify refresh rate upgrades for competitive play.
How the result changes with Network Ping
| Network Ping | Total Input Lag |
|---|---|
| 10 | 27.47 ms |
| 15 | 32.47 ms |
| 30 | 47.47 ms |
| 50 | 67.47 ms |
What each input means
- Refresh Rate
- Monitor refresh rate. Common: 60, 144, 165, 240, 360 Hz.
- Response Time (GtG)
- Gray-to-gray pixel response time from monitor specs.
- Network Ping
- Round-trip network latency. Set to 0 for offline games.
- Engine/Render Delay
- Game engine processing delay. Typically 5-20ms depending on settings.
How this is calculated
Worked example, using the default values
- Identify Input Parameters4 parametersRefresh Rate = 144, Response Time (GtG) = 4, Network Ping = 20, Engine/Render Delay = 10 = 4 input(s) provided
- Calculate Total Input LagTotal Input Lag37.47 = 37.47
- Calculate Frame TimeFrame Time6.94 = 6.94
- Calculate Display LagDisplay Lag3.47 = 3.47
Engine last updated . Checked against 1 independently-derived test — how we verify calculators. Built by Paul Gunder, a software engineer, not a licensed financial, medical, or legal professional.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does upgrading my monitor's refresh rate reduce Network Ping or Engine/Render Delay?
No. Refresh Rate only changes Frame Time and, through it, Display Lag -- Network Ping and Engine/Render Delay are independent inputs that pass straight into Total Input Lag unchanged. A faster monitor can shrink the display's own contribution to lag, but it cannot fix a slow network connection or a game engine's processing overhead.
Why is Display Lag only half of Frame Time instead of the full frame duration?
Display Lag is modeled as the average case, not the worst case: an input can land at any point during a refresh cycle, so on average it waits half a frame before the next refresh picks it up, rather than a full frame every time. The full Frame Time itself is still reported separately for reference.
What actually drives the Motion Blur percentage?
Motion Blur is Response Time (GtG) expressed as a share of Frame Time, so it responds to both figures: a slower-transitioning panel (higher Response Time) raises it directly, while a higher Refresh Rate shrinks Frame Time and therefore raises the percentage too, even with the same panel. Network Ping and Engine/Render Delay play no role in this figure at all.
Can Effective Refresh Rate ever exceed my monitor's rated Refresh Rate?
No. Effective Refresh Rate is the smaller of the rated Refresh Rate and the maximum rate the panel's Response Time can physically sustain, so it never exceeds whichever number you entered as Refresh Rate. A slow pixel response time can only pull the effective figure down, never push it above the rated spec.
Is a lower Responsiveness Rating always caused by the monitor?
Not necessarily. The rating buckets Total Input Lag, which combines Display Lag (display-side) with Network Ping and Engine/Render Delay (network- and software-side). A low rating with a high-refresh monitor often points to network latency or engine processing overhead rather than the display itself.
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