Client-Side Prediction and Server Reconciliation Mechanics: Competitive Benchmark Analysis and Hardware Interactions

I’ve been digging into how different titles handle client-side prediction and server reconciliation, specifically around local simulation rewind windows. When the server sends authoritative corrections, some engines do aggressive entity rewinding that produces visible rubber-banding, while others blend interpolation more seamlessly. For the competitive games you all play at high elo, how are you tuning your reconciliation buffers? Is there a proven sweet spot between latency compensation and avoiding that jarring rewind pop during firefights, or is it mostly trial and error?

I’m chasing frametime consistency more than raw FPS at this point. On my 4090 build, prediction spikes seem to correlate with CPU single-thread bottlenecks during packet bursts rather than GPU saturation. How are you actually measuring jitter damping in practice—relying on in-game net graphs, or pulling custom telemetry? And has anyone benchmarked whether CPU