Are you experiencing a problem in Google Chrome where, inexplicably, highlighting text and scrolling have a massive lag and delay? If you aren’t experiencing those same problems in any other browser and are in Chrome, I might have a solution for you> I’m not really sure why this solution solves the problem, but for some reason it works.
The problem is caused by the GPU Vsync feature. This slows the framerate of the browser window to 60hz. I’m not sure why this would be causing a problem, but it did for me and others as well. According to the documentation, when we disable the feature it can lead to visual tearing during rapid screen updates, though I haven’t had a single problem since disabling it.
So here is what you need to do to solve the problem. After this, most or all of your latency should be gone.
1. Paste/type this into your address bar: chrome://flags/
2. Find “Disable GPU VSync”
3. Click, “Enable”
4. Click “Relaunch Now” at the bottom of the browser
That’s it! Chrome will be restarted and opened again with all the same tabs open. Hopefully your cursor lag is now gone, and you can now highlight text and scroll properly. Let me know if this worked for you in the comments. I would love to find out what causes this… I think it might be graphics card related. I am running a 460 GTX and a 8400GS card with dual monitors. I had the problem on both monitors, though much greater for the 8400.
If you are interested in other optimizations to Chrome, have a look at my other post detailing how to remove that annoying apps shortcut from your bookmarks bar.
28 Comments on “Chrome Cursor Latency Fix”
WOW!!! This issue frustrated me so much!!
I disabled Enable resampling scroll events .
In Chrome whenever i watch on Youtube its is fixed now.
Netflix the issue is still there :-(.
In Firefox everything works good.
I can’t find GPU Vsync. Any other potential items in Flags that I can toggle? The only thing that mentions vsync is D3D v-sync. Any additional help would be greatly appreciated. This is driving me absolutely nuts. My issue occurs on Chrome and Firefox. Mouse latency while pages loading.
I never really comment on these thing, but I am so happy right now! thank you very much!!! can’t believe this is finally gone.
thank you brian!!!
my wife got totally mad with the lagging Cursor and told me to replace her pretty new acer spin 1 which i gave her on Christmas.
Tried everything until found your solution!
You saved a marriage 😉
Guess I’ll have to add that to my resume 🙂 Glad it worked for you!
Thanks a lot. Still works. 🙂
Brian, thanks so much for making this post. Years later it is still helping. Best!
Glad to hear I could help! Some things never change 🙂
I was able to correct the problem (Chrome/windows 10) by going to the start screen and typing in “display driver”. Once I opened the computer’s list of devices, I was able to go to ‘sound, video devices’ and right click to display a box that says ‘scan for…’ . Once I clicked on that the problem was solved. Apparently there is some sort of driver issue. Not sure why this worked but it did and solved the problem quickly. The curser lag is gone when using Chrome.
Just tried this, and it seems to have done the trick. Many thanks!
Quick note for anyone traveling here in 2014. I was having the same issue, and although the Disable GPU VSync option is no longer in the flags list, I was able to resolve this by unchecking “Use hardware acceleration when available” in the advanced settings section.
chrome://settings/
show advanced settings
System
chrome://settings/
This was for chrome 36 on an old laptop.
Thanks a lot, worked for me !
thanks !
wow thank you many times over!! i am using mac OSX and chrome was making me want to give up on mac os but decided to look a minute longer in forums and then BAM. I found your solution which is so ironic because i was debating whether i should turn that feature off and it prompted me to restart chrome to take effect and my lazy ass just re-checked the box….. WOW hahaha
ME vs. CHROME
(x.X]0-(“,Q)
anyways i digress.. thank you friend =^.^=
Help! I recently have this problem, the cursor lag/freezes/latency, only when chrome is on. My computer is newly bought (2weeks), i7 – NVIDIA 870M – 16GB RAM(15.9GB usable) – able to play all kind of games are highest quality without lag. If there’s any 2014 solution, please post ! GPU VSync and GPU compositing no longer available at pages. == tried reinstalling, disable/reinstall flash.
My only advice at this point would be to update your graphics drivers… If all else fails, use firefox 😉
Anyone have any new suggestions on this given current chrome versions? I am having major lag issues on a single large monitor, when both maximized and not. I have Chrome (Version 34.0.1847.137) on Mac OSX (10.9.2). I cannot figure out which chrome setting in chrome://flags might help and which might hurt since all of the above suggestions are no longer available. Any help would be GREATLY appreciated!
It’s very possible that your graphics card just can’t handle it anymore. For whatever reason, Chrome seems to need much more powerful cards than the other browsers… If your card is old or was never that powerful to begin with, you might want to consider upgrading.
Enabling ‘Override software rendering list’ resolved the sticky behaviour on links and page elements for me. Thanks everyone for pointing me in the right direction.
Disabling GPU compositing didn’t help me. However, I saw some improvement after switching off anything related to Touch input. Links remain a bit “sticky” though.
Thanks, disabled GPU compositing helps if browser windows on dual screens are maximized. Non-maximized browser windows lead to a delayed mouse responsiveness on both screens still.
You are the man. I disabled GPU composting on all pages!
Yes, disabling GPU composting worked for me too.
GPU compositing on all pages = disabled
Same problem here. There is no “Disable GPU VSync” option. I have recently installed new graphics cards so that must be where the interference is but now how do I fix it?
You could try disabling/enabling other various graphics card-related options in the same chrome options menu. If you find something that works, let me know and I’ll update the post!
Hey, thanks a lot for the post !
I tried doing as instructed but I have nothing similar to “Disable GPU VSync” in the list :\
Hmmm looks like in the most recent version of Chrome, they removed this option. I’ll have to mess around with the other options and see if that helps at all.