Server Tick Rate, Ping & Input Delay Calculator

Understanding the tick rate, ping and input delay calculator — concept and principle

In online shooters, the time between your click and the result on screen comes from several sources: the network, the server's update rate (tick rate), your frame rate and your monitor's refresh rate. This calculator converts each into milliseconds and adds them into a rough average delay, so you can see which part of the chain matters most and whether an upgrade is worth it.

A rough average: the bar shows each part’s share of the 30.45 ms total.

How it is calculated

Tick interval = 1,000 ÷ tick rate (ms).
Frame time = 1,000 ÷ fps (ms).
Typical total delay = ping ÷ 2 + tick interval ÷ 2 + frame time + (1,000 ÷ monitor Hz) ÷ 2.

Ping is the round-trip time (RTT) to the server in milliseconds; tick rate and refresh rate are in hertz.

The principle

Each term is an average. Ping measures a round trip, so a one-way trip to the server is about half of it. The server processes input only at each tick; an input that arrives at a random moment waits half a tick on average. The game needs about one frame to sample and render your input, and a finished frame waits on average half a refresh before the monitor shows it. Adding these averages gives a reasonable picture of the typical delay, even though any single event can be faster or slower.

Worked example

Inputs: 64 Hz tick rate, 30 ms ping, 240 fps, 144 Hz monitor.
Tick interval = 1,000 ÷ 64 = 15.625 ms; half of it is 7.8125 ms.
Frame time = 1,000 ÷ 240 = 4.17 ms (4.166666667).
Half refresh = 1,000 ÷ 144 ÷ 2 ≈ 3.47 ms; half the ping = 15 ms.
Total = 15 + 7.8125 + 4.1667 + 3.4722 ≈ 30.45 ms.

Each point is the calculator re-run with only “Tick rate (Hz)” changed; the gold point is the default example. Change the inputs above and this chart follows your numbers.

Tick rate (Hz)	Tick interval (ms)
16	62.5
32	31.25
48	20.83333333
64	15.625
80	12.5
96	10.41666667
128	7.8125

How to read the result

Here the network contributes half of the total, the tick rate about a quarter and your hardware the rest. Doubling the tick rate to 128 Hz saves about 3.9 ms on average; raising fps from 240 to 360 saves about 1.4 ms; cutting ping from 30 to 10 ms saves 10 ms. Valorant runs 128-tick servers, while Counter-Strike 2 uses 64 Hz with sub-tick timestamps for inputs, so the tick term matters less there than this simple model suggests.

Common mistakes

Using the full ping instead of half; the outgoing input only travels one way.
Thinking a monitor above your fps helps; refresh beyond the frame rate shows repeated frames.
Ignoring system latency from mouse polling, the render queue and the display panel, which this model leaves out.

Keep in mind: This is a simplified average. Real games add client interpolation and lag compensation, and vary with server load and network jitter, so measured end-to-end latency will differ.

Frequently asked questions

Is 128 tick always better than 64 tick?

Updates are twice as frequent, which reduces average waiting and makes movement and hit registration more precise, but the gain is only a few milliseconds.

Does high fps help on a 60 Hz monitor?

Yes. Each frame shown is newer, so input delay falls even though you do not see every frame.

What ping is good for competitive play?

Below about 30 ms feels very responsive; above about 80 ms delays become noticeable in close duels.

Sources: Valve Developer Community, "Source Multiplayer Networking" · Riot Games Technology blog, "VALORANT's 128-Tick Servers"

Checked 8 Nov 2026. Official league / federation formulas where they exist; widely used community formulas otherwise. For fun and analysis — not betting advice.

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