How to Reduce Lag While Gaming
It doesn’t matter what system you’re using or what type of game you’re playing, whether you’re playing on or offline, single or multiplayer. Either way, you’ve more than likely experienced the dreaded lag that we’ve all heard about.
One short, three letter word, yet it’s still powerful enough, to sum up an entire universe of frustration for gamers around the world.
But this might leave you wondering exactly what causes lag and what you can to do avoid or reduce it.
In the following article, we’re going to take a look at some of the most common causes of lag, as well as how you can reduce it while gaming, such as connecting to the internet using a tested VPN.
What Causes Lag?
First of all, it’s important to note that lag is a very broad and general term and doesn’t truly describe the individual types of lag that you may experience.
Of course, we all know that the term “lag” is used when describing a slowdown or some form of reduced responsiveness while gaming. However, there are several factors that can cause lag, which we’ll go over individually, as well as explaining the most common solutions for each one.
Graphics Lag
This is one of the most common types of lag that you’re likely to encounter while gaming and it’s the direct result of a slowdown in gameplay graphics.
Essentially, a graphics lag is caused by your system not being able to produce an adequate number of Frames Per Second, or FPS. This results in your gameplay actions taking longer to be seen on-screen because your system takes more time to create each new frame and display it on your monitor.
This can usually be solved by optimizing your in-game settings or upgrading your hardware or device.
Background Applications
Before playing any online games, it’s best to ensure that any background applications that use any significant amount of bandwidth are closed. This includes streaming music, downloading torrents, and even having an open web browser.
In other words, if it’s using your bandwidth, it could have a negative effect on your gameplay.
High Ping Rate
Another common cause of latency during gameplay is having a high ping rate.
Essentially, your ping rate is a measure of your connection speed, or more specifically, your ping rate can be used to refer to the latency of your internet connection.
Many games will give you the option to either set your matchmaking region or browse through the dedicated gaming servers they have available. To solve latency caused by a high ping rate, we recommend that you try to choose a gaming server that’s closest to your actual location.
Just keep in mind that the process for this can vary significantly depending on the game that you’re playing. In fact, some games will automatically connect players to the closest server.
Ensure There Are No Other Devices Connected to Your Network
Just as other applications could be putting a drag on your bandwidth, so can other devices.
So, if there’s someone in the room next to yours streaming movies or downloading an album, they are going to be using up your bandwidth and you’re likely to experience latency issues while playing video games.
With that being said, it’s best to try and time your gaming sessions for when there aren’t any other people using the Wi-Fi, or simply ask them to do turn off Netflix and join you for a while.
Connect Via Ethernet Cable
It’s not uncommon for computers or video game consoles to experience poor in-game performance when connected to the internet wirelessly.
This is because the data being sent and received by the console must pass through the air and it won’t have a direct connection to the internet. Therefore, there are a number of things that can affect your connection.
So, if it’s possible, and your setup allows for it, it might be best to directly connect your gaming console via Ethernet cable to your modem or router. Keep in mind that you may also need to change your network settings on your console from a wireless to a wired connection for this to work.
Use a VPN
In some cases, your internet service provider (ISP) might be throttling your connection speeds or they might even be routing your traffic through a series of servers before sending it to its final destination. This often leads to a bad ping, even when you’re physically near the gaming server that you’re using.
In this scenario, using a VPN can help lower your ping by reducing the number of servers between you and the gaming server.
However, it’s important to understand that there are some situations when using a VPN might actually increase your ping.
In fact, using a VPN to reduce lag usually only works when poor connection speeds are the result of your ISP throttling your service or if they are routing your traffic in an extremely unusual way for whatever reason.
