How do you optimize your pc for low latency for gaming?

[skypickle]

When I think of latency, I remember moving my mouse and seeing the cursor drift across the screen a second later. Some nvidia drivers were famous for that. But with DCS, I dont know that latency is THAT much of a problem, unless latency is leading to stutters. Still reducing latency can only be good , right?

 

I've read so many threads over the years, I don't really know what really works for Win 10 and what is just snake oil. This thread seems helpful

 

 

But I cannot agree with some of what this thread says

 

https://appuals.com/fix-high-dpc-latency-on-windows-10/

 

and if you have the time, here's over an hour of youtube that goes over some stuff

 

Personally, I just do a system backup and the registry hack. Most of the 'opening settings windows and clicking settings recommendations' are just a GUI way of doing the same things.

 

But I bring this up because I think there are some people here who have been doing this specifically for DCS and know a lot more.

[speed-of-heat]

i make sure that the only services running are ones i need, i particularly check for processes that are "active and driving CPU usage" while the device is otherwise idle.

 

I dont think turning off a firewall or av is very smart, even if it does buy you anything, and it shouldn't, i use windows defender and the native firewall, they are more than sufficient for the task.

 

I try and avoid third-party software in the main for the same reason, currently running in the background for me is MSI afterburner, and stream deck, when i play dcs, i add in SRS, Voice attack and Thrustmaster, typically that takes my idle CPU usage to about 3-5% after all is loaded.

 

Do check export lua and remove stuff you dont need, some of the addins to export MFD's or control states are huge CPU hogs, win-wing's add in for example, or the really cool addin for stream deck EATS cpu time to export DCS button state, i assume its true of others, I have Tacview, and Voice attack and SRS in their as well.

 

I am very wary of running arbitrary scripts from the internet , as they tend to assume you know what they are doing and how to put back the changes they make back... if you can write the script yourself or don't mind re-installing windows .. knock yourself out, otherwise leave well alone.

 

YMMV

[Taz1004]

Last time I turned off everything and tried to squeeze every resource out of my system was..... in 1991 when I tried to play Wing Commander 2 on my 80286 PC with 512MB RAM.

[speed-of-heat]

Last time I turned off everything and tried to squeeze every resource out of my system was..... in 1991 when I tried to play Wing Commander 2 on my 80286 PC with 512MB RAM.

 

yeah emm386 tweaking ... less a science more an art form!

[BitMaster]

Most latency issues come from badly written firmware somewhere in your system. Suspects are BIOS, USB devices, HDD/SSD firmware issues, bad sound card drivers etc etc etc.

 

In many cases, non-fixable other than finding the culprit device and replace it with a better one.

 

There are tools around that measure latency, while likely introducing it themselves to some extendf, like the double split experiment, you cant measure it without changing the outcome. So YMMV there.

 

My best bet for Rapid Response Systems is: Buy mature hardware from well known companies, avoid cutting corners with cheap components, watch your system's responses while adding/changing/updating so you can trace back what caused latency.

 

It is a very hard to track down issue, even harder to solve with mouse clicks alone

 

edit: my way of approaching your issue was to go DEFAULT in Bios, then disable ALL you dont really need, install 10, then enable ONE after THE OTHER ( more drives, Sound, LAN/WLAN/BT, etc.., then add one device externally after the other, always checking the effect before and after.....yeah VERY VERY time consuming. Hard to hunt down, as I said.

 

Good Luck mate

Edited October 7, 2020 by BitMaster

[Hiob]

stay with the windows defender and build in firewall. they are all you need. get rid of any system „tweaking“ or monitoring software, aka bloatware etc.

(that doesn‘t include usefull and well working tools like afterburner, hwmonitor and cpu-z e.g.)

when in doubt make a clean windows installation from scratch ( though with win10 this isnt necessary ususually).

GET RID OF ANY WIRELESS INPUT DEVICES! Also I won‘t use macro-keyboards....

 

That said, I must say that I haven‘t experienced any latency problems for years (never since using win 10).

[beansQuad]

I remember having the same problems as you have tried different methods. Was closing all the background apps that were eating RAM. Tried to reinstall Windows hoping this will help. But the computer was too old and was lagging even to bet sites like https://www.u12x.com/แทงบอล/. That was the point where I understand that I need a new computer as soon as possible. And after a couple of weeks of working hard at different part-time jobs, I got a new computer and never had such problems in my life.

Edited March 9, 2021 by beansQuad

[Bossco82]

The only stuff I came across that caused a stutter problem for me was Corsair software. Even then I can be 100% sure. I use to have Corsair iCue managing some lighting. Plus Corsair Link managing my Corsair AIO. 

Since upgrading to Crucial dram managed by Mystic Light and swapping my Corsair AIO to one where the fans are managed by the Bios. Some regular stutters have gone or got a lot less. 

It could be a placebo effect but I am happier with my system having less background software running.

That's not just in DCS, most games have smoothed out.