It’s the internet – always! A common phrase we hear from every gamer who’s having a beat down in a multiplayer game! ‘LAG,’ shouts Eric as he fails to even see the opponent coming his way. It never gets old; lag, or gaming latency, has always been a gamer’s worst nightmare!
What Is Gaming Latency?
Latency, notoriously known as ‘Lag’ or ‘Ping’ is the time from the source (a.k.a. your device) to the destination (a.k.a. the gaming server). The term gaming latency is specifically used to define the time taken for your device to communicate with the gaming server.
In gaming terms, the quicker your device communicates with the gaming server, the smoother the actions are executed in your game.
So, every time you fired at Noobmaster69 and missed, you know the reason why it happened.
What Causes Gaming Latency?
As much as it’s painful, you need to know what actually causes gaming latency so that you can get rid of it, once and for all!
1- Bad Internet Connection
Whether it’s the speed or the connection type, one of the most common reasons for high gaming latency is poor internet connection. If the speed or the bandwidth doesn’t meet your game’s requirement, then you’ll constantly have lags.
Your internet connection messes up due to several reasons:
- The obvious one is the low-speed tier, which gets distributed in the number of devices connected.
- Bad connection type – cable or satellite internet has a high latency. Learn more about connection types here.
- Low bandwidth – can’t send ample data on the connection, slowing communication.
- Data limit – once you’ve exhausted your data, the speed decreases or the connection shuts down.
- Speed throttling – your provider might be decreasing the speed to accommodate other users. A good way of figuring this out is by running a speed test and checking it against the advertised speed you’re getting.
Therefore, you should definitely put more focus on choosing the right internet plan for your gaming needs.
2- Too Many Background Applications
Unless you have a great internet plan, running too many background apps will definitely cause lags. Each application consumes data and speed based on its requirements. Hence, if you’re planning a gaming session, neutralize all unnecessary apps and programs.
This will remove the unnecessary burden on your network and improve your device’s performance by freeing up the memory and making processing easier.
3- Server Distance
Almost every gamer can relate, ‘SEA Servers’ are absolutely menacing unless you’re a pro yourself. The SEA (South East Asian) servers have some of the best gamers (no offense to the global players) and there’s one big reason for that – low ping.
SEA servers have amazing ping but only for the locals. If you attempt to connect to them, you can face lags in the game. This brings us to the fact that you need to ensure that you’re connecting to the closest server.
The less the distance between your device and the gaming server, the less the ping. Many modern games now show an in-game ping rate, which makes it easier to know if your connection is stable or not.
4- Router Issues
If you’re connected to the internet wirelessly, then your router’s location matters. If it’s placed in a closed space, near appliances, or in separate rooms from your device, the wireless signals will be affected.
This results in inconsistent connectivity, causing lags in the game. Even though you’ll see yourself connected, the ping will go so much high that you won’t be able to play the game.
5- Too Many Devices Connected
Earlier we stated that running too many background devices can reduce the internet speed, causing lags in the game. Well, it’s the same case for too many devices connected to your network.
You can’t control what someone sees or downloads on those devices. Hence, apart from your devices, if there are additional phones, laptops, or even consoles connected, it can cause lags in your game.
6- Outdated or Insufficient Hardware
Though this has nothing to do with the internet it does have to do with the gaming quality. Almost every modern game requires more or less of a budget sacrifice, literally. Do you think you can play Black Myth: Wukong on the 2000s desktop without any upgrade?
I need a meme made like this but with black myth wukong monkey instead of this character and a good PC build instead of ‘wtf text’, Showing that only a good PC build will run this game.
Today’s games can literally call you ‘Poor’ in binary digits since they require high-end hardware, particularly the GPU to run. And with an insufficient GPU, you will definitely have lags running those frames.
Not to mention that you’d need a high-end CPU to support the GPUs and the game’s requirements. And if you fail to make the right combination, it’s not only going to ruin the game but can fry your PC from overheating.
Tips to Fix Online Gaming Latency
Now, we haven’t come here to discuss how bad lags are. Here are some actionable ways you can actually fix online gaming latency and reduce lags:
1- Power Cycling Your Router
One of the best ways of reducing lags in gaming is power cycling your internet router and modem. Don’t get all confused because power cycling is only restarting your device. The catch here is that you need to completely turn off your devices.
Simply unplug the power from both, your router and your modem, let them sit for at least a minute, and then re-plug power again. This resets the power cycle for the devices, clearing the cache stored in them, and improving packet fetching.
2- Disconnecting Idle Devices
If you want to reduce lags in gaming, then check for idle devices connected to your network and disconnect to release the bandwidth. A nice and easy way of doing this is by resetting your Wi-Fi password and then connecting devices using the new credentials.
To do this:
- Run the IP address mentioned on the back of your Wi-Fi router.
- Use the admin login to enter the dashboard.
- Head to the Wi-Fi settings and look for the Wi-Fi password.
- Enter the new password and hit apply. Note: your current device will also disconnect.
- Reconnect the devices that you need to connect.
3- Use Airtime Fairness
What if you can’t disconnect all the devices from your network, then what? Don’t fret as you can use airtime fairness. Simply put, airtime fairness allows tasks to use the network that will not take time to complete.
Once they’re completed, the network is available for other tasks. This minimizes one task from hogging the network until its completion. How is it helpful? If someone’s downloading anything, the network will allocate the entire speed to it, complete it, and free the network. This reduces constant disruption and reduces lag in your gaming.
4- Use a Wired Connection
A wired connection is a great way of reducing the internet lag during your gaming session. A wired connection is secure in the sense that it doesn’t face any packet losses in the connection. On the contrary, Wi-Fi tends to face more packet losses due to wireless connectivity, interference, signal issues, frequency problems, and distance.
5- Use a Good Gaming Router
If you are persistent and still want to use Wi-Fi for playing games, then there’s no hassle. All you need to do is get a good gaming router. Yes, these can be more expensive than regular routers but the performance is sweet!
Most gaming routers come with some extraordinary features, including:
- Dynamic Frequency Selection
- Device Acceleration
- Open NAT for multiplayer gaming
- Mesh Wi-Fi connectivity
- VPN fusion
And these don’t even come close to the speeds gaming routers can emit. Not to mention, the latency control is Amaaazing! Some tested routers have latency as low as 18 ms, which is staggering for a Wi-Fi!
6- Place the Router Ideally
If you don’t have the budget for a gaming router, then perhaps you’d have to do with your regular router. But don’t worry, all you have to do is to place it ideally, preferably near your gaming devices. But make sure it’s not surrounded by appliances or in a closed space, causing frequency interference or overheating.
7- Close Background Processes
When running your game, make sure that you’re closing all unnecessary background processes. Whether it’s your browser or downloading the launcher, closing these programs will surely improve the performance of your device and your network speed.
Advanced Solutions for Reducing Latency
Well, the abovementioned tips will help resolve pretty much the lag issues you’re facing. But, you’re in for a treat because we’re sharing some advanced solutions too. Let’s check them out too:
1- Disable Startup Apps
Is your PC/ laptop slow whenever you turn it on, even with an SSD installed? Then you might have too many programs/ apps opening on your startup. Yes, these apps/ programs consume all the resources right away since they’re enabled to run on every startup.
Not only does it slow your device but can also cause lags in the usual activity if the program is still booting itself (most programs constantly need the internet to sync profiles). What you can do is disable these programs.
An easy way of doing this is to:
- Open your task manager
- Right-click on your taskbar and select Task Manager.
- Press ALT + CTRL + Del to open performance settings and choose Task Manager.
- Head to startup apps with a speed dial icon.
- Check for the apps running on startup and their impacts.
If you find any app/ program that has a great impact on your device and you don’t think this needs to run on your startup, disable it. It will disable the program from running and hogging your device and network’s resources every time on startup.
Close Unwanted Programs
While you’re at it, you can also check the processes running on your system from the task manager. When you run the task manager, it shows you the currently running processes as well as the ones running in the background.
Just check for the ones that you want, and close the others. The good thing about using task manager for this purpose is that it shows what each process is consuming i.e. disk, memory, network, etc. making it easier for you to close programs.
2- Set Power Settings
Though this doesn’t have a direct effect on your network, it can still impact the performance of your device positively. All you need to do is:
- Open system settings.
- Head to system
- Find power mode and select the best performance.
Doing this will automatically reduce all elements that are draining the performance and power of your device. It’s a simple but effective way of speeding up your device.
Turning Off Transparency and Visual Effects
The catch with the best performance option is that it turns off all power and performance-draining elements. However, it might also change the settings of some programs and you’ll need to authorize them repeatedly (i.e. graphical units won’t work and will need authorization).
So, what you can do is head to the system settings again and then into personalization. There, find colors. Within this option, find and turn off the transparency effect. Doing this will minimize all transparency and animation effects, making your PC/ laptop fast.
Adjust for Best Performance via Advanced Settings
Another way of achieving the best out of your system’s performance is by choosing the best performance settings from advanced settings in your device. To do this:
- Head to File Explorer and right-click to open properties of your PC (This PC; could be any name if you’ve changed it).
- From properties, find performance and choose Best Performance.
Doing this allows the device to run smoothly as it automatically minimizes power and performance-draining processes.
3- Clear Cache/ Temp Files
If you feel that something’s dragging the internet speed and device performance down, then it might be an issue with stored cache and temp files. In most cases, a router reboot is done to clear its cache memory, which makes clearing the cache important.
The first step is to clear the cache from your browser. To do this, all you have to do is clear the browsing history of your browser, including cache and cookies.
For the system, you can simply:
- Press Windows + R. This will open the command prompt
- Type temp.
- Once the file explorer opens, just press CTRL + A, select all files, and hit Delete.
To clear the DNS cache:
- Press Windows + R, opening the command prompt.
- Type in ipconfig/flushdns
To clear browser cache on Mac:
- Open Finder, and then press Shift + Command + G.
- Type ~/Library/Caches into the search box and click Go.
- Press Command + A to select all folders, or manually select individual items.
- Press and hold Command + Delete to clear the selected files.
- Click Yes or OK to confirm.
4- Enable Game Mode
Most OS now come with built-in Game Mode. This mode, when enabled, prioritizes the performance of the device and network according to the game’s requirements. In other words, it allows your game to access the CPU, GPU, and network on priority, minimizing interference from other processes and devices.
Fortunately, every time you tune into a game, Mac automatically turns on this feature. For Windows, you’ll need to:
- Head into System Settings and find Gaming.
- At the top, you’ll find Game Mode, which you can turn on.
It’ll automatically adjust the settings of your device for every gaming session.
5- Adjust Game Servers
Though this can be done within the game, doing so can help improve your gaming performance significantly. Most games feature servers from different regions, showing the current ping rate. Depending on the region, you can choose the one that has the least ping.
However, in most cases, when the gaming servers are burdened with too many players, it can result in disruption.
Get a Better Internet Plan
In the end, if you really want to get rid of lags, then you need to get a better internet plan, period. Low-speed plans with cable or satellite connection won’t cut. Fiber internet is the best option as it has the least latency than cable or any other connection type.
The only catch is its availability and higher costs. But if that’s the issue, you can still get cable internet from a reputed internet provider and opt for a higher-speed plan.
FAQs
What is a good speed for gaming?
It all depends on the game type. A 100 Mbps plan is good for playing solo but if you’re gaming and streaming at the same time, then you’d need more to fulfill both requirements.
Is 500 Mbps good for gaming?
Yes, 500 Mbps is great for gaming and streaming. You can easily stream in HD and even run some programs that aren’t heavy on the network in the background.
Is 75 ms latency good for gaming?
Most players prefer latency under 50 or even 20 ms. However, the game is still playable at 75 ms. But it takes time to sync your actions, which at a higher latency rate, is disadvantageous, especially in multiplayer gaming.