I'm dealing with a strange floaty feeling, inconsistent input, and noticeable lag during competitive gaming. I've experienced it for around two years and suspect the electrical power in my home may be contributing. I use a wired Ethernet connection and would prefer not to move house, so I'm looking for practical ways to test or fix possible power-quality problems. I already tried a CyberPower CP1600EPFCLCD-UK pure-sine-wave UPS, but it didn't make any noticeable difference. Could dirty electricity really cause these symptoms, and what else should I investigate?
3 Answers
The symptoms you describe are very unlikely to come from ‘dirty electricity.’ Bad power can cause crashes, buzzing, display problems, or hardware damage, but it normally doesn’t create a consistent floaty control feeling. Check your monitor’s refresh rate and response settings, disable unwanted synchronization features, monitor frame times rather than just average FPS, and test with different mice, USB ports, and cables.
Since you’re already using Ethernet, basic Wi-Fi interference is probably not the issue. Still check for bufferbloat, packet loss, and latency spikes while someone else is using the connection. Also compare an offline game or training mode with an online match: if the problem appears offline too, focus on the PC, display, peripherals, and frame pacing rather than the internet connection.
A pure-sine-wave UPS is usually the first thing people suggest, but since you tried one without any change, that makes a power-quality problem less likely. It would be worth testing the PC, monitor, and peripherals on the UPS at the same time, but gaming floatiness and input lag are more commonly caused by frame-time spikes, display settings, wireless peripherals, USB issues, or network latency.
I tried the UPS and it made no difference. I’ve been dealing with this for about two years and have tested several things, so I’m still trying to identify the actual cause.
That’s fair. I’m convinced power is involved because of some testing I’ve done, but I’m open to other explanations if there are specific things I should compare or measure.