How-to Guides Design & Media

How to Test a Game Controller and Display

Check a gamepad for stuck buttons, stick drift and vibration, then measure your screen's real refresh rate and frame-time jitter and look for dead pixels.

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Steps

  1. Connect the controller and wake it up

    Plug it in or pair it by Bluetooth, open the Gamepad Tester and press any button. Browsers only expose a gamepad after the first input.

  2. Press everything

    Press each button and trigger, and move both sticks through their full range. Every control should light up, and triggers should reach their full value.

  3. Check stick drift

    Let go of the sticks and watch the idle values. They should sit at or very near zero; a stick that wanders, or does not return to centre, is drifting. A small dead zone hides minor drift.

  4. Test vibration

    Use the vibration button to run the motors. Not every browser or controller supports it, so a silent result can be a limitation rather than a fault.

  5. Measure the display

    Open the Screen Refresh Rate Test, leave it running in the foreground for several seconds and read the measured Hz, the frame time and any dropped frames.

  6. Look for dead pixels

    Fill the screen with solid colours using the Dead Pixel Test and look for dots that stay black, white or a wrong colour.

What you need

A controller and a computer; for the display tests, a modern browser kept in the foreground.

Frame times

Frame time at common refresh rates (1000 ms divided by the rate):

Refresh rate Time per frame
60 Hz 16.67 ms
75 Hz 13.33 ms
90 Hz 11.11 ms
120 Hz 8.33 ms
144 Hz 6.94 ms
165 Hz 6.06 ms
240 Hz 4.17 ms
360 Hz 2.78 ms

Good to know

  • Use a different USB port or cable before blaming the controller: poor cables cause dropouts.
  • Very low refresh readings in a background tab are normal; browsers throttle hidden pages.
  • Variable refresh rate (G-Sync, FreeSync) screens can legitimately report changing rates.
  • Stick drift worsens with wear; many controllers allow recalibration or a larger dead zone as a workaround.

Try these tools

Gamepad Tester

Test any game controller in your browser.

Screen Refresh Rate Test

Measure your display’s real refresh rate in Hz with your browser, plus frame-time jitter, dropped frames and 1 percent lows.

Dead Pixel Test

Free dead pixel test.

Keyboard Tester

Press each key to light it up on an on-screen layout, see key, code and keyCode values.

See also

  • How-to How to Test Your Webcam, Microphone and Screen
    Check your camera, microphone, speakers, display and keyboard before a call or after buying new gear.
  • Glossary Frame rate
    Frame rate is how many video frames are shown per second (fps), such as 24, 25, 30 or 60.
  • Glossary Dead pixel
    A dead pixel is a screen pixel that stays permanently dark, while a stuck pixel is locked on one colour.
  • Glossary Hertz (Hz)
    A hertz is one cycle per second, the unit of frequency; for sound it sets the pitch.
  • Cheat sheet Photo, Print & Screen Formulas Cheat Sheet
    Screen size and pixel density, print resolution, hyperfocal distance and depth of field, and video file size from bitrate.

Frequently Asked Questions

Browsers hide gamepads until you press a button or move a stick while the page is focused. Press a button, check the cable or Bluetooth pairing, and try another USB port.

The operating system or cable may be set to a lower mode, or the browser may be limiting frames in a background tab or battery saver. Check the display settings, and use a cable and port that support the rate.

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