No matter if you play games occasionally to relax or if you take part in gaming competitions, you know how annoying game lag is. Even if you pushed the right button at the right time, your lag might sabotage you and not register your actions in real-time. This will cause you to miss the shot, lose the match, or finish 2nd in your race.
In this article, we’ll inspect the primary causes of lag and how can you reduce it so you’ll have a better gaming experience.
1. Check Your Internet Connection
Your internet connection might be at fault if the same game runs better when you are playing the campaign. You can start by testing your internet speed. Usually, for online gaming, you need around 20 to 30 Mbps for your game to run smoothly.
Another thing you should consider is the bandwidth. If you share the same bandwidth with other people and they are streaming music or downloading, it will impact your latency and ping rates. While you could play while everyone is sleeping, this isn’t the best solution as it might affect your sleeping habits. Also, your friends might not agree to stay up all night for your gaming sessions.
Instead, there are a few solutions you could try.
Close Background Apps
Before launching your game, close any apps that are hogging your bandwidth. We know that apps for video calls, social media, or streaming music or videos use high-speed internet data.
Use an Ethernet Cable
If the Wi-Fi signal has to travel through a lot of obstacles to reach your computer or console, it will increase latency. There are a few temporary solutions for this problem, such as moving closer to the router or disconnecting house appliances that interfere with the signal.
But moving your computer or console and unplugging the microwaves or mobile chargers are not the most practical solutions.
Instead, connect your computer or console using an Ethernet cable. They are quite cheap and will provide a more steady connection and consistent speed. When buying an Ethernet cable, take one that is a bit longer than you think you need.
This way, you can easily lay it on the floor around any obstacles instead of it hanging mid-air and having people trip over it.
Reboot the Router
You restart your phone or computer to keep them running smoothly. So why not do the same with your router? By restarting your router, you give it a chance to clear its short-term memory, also known as cache. Also, it will select the least cramped channel for each frequency, resulting in a better connection.
How often you should restart your router depends on how old it is. For a newer device, you need to restart it once a month. For an old or problematic router, consider restarting it daily.
Get an Upgrade
If your router is too old and malfunctions too often, it might be time for a replacement. A gaming router might be the best option.
When shopping for a new router, search for one that comes with Quality of Services. This feature prioritizes internet traffic on your console so you’ll have better internet speed, latency, and ping.
Additionally, consider getting a better broadband package. If your current package can’t keep up with the number of devices and internet users in your home, it might be time to switch to a better package.
2. Check Game Requirements
If it’s the first time you’re playing a certain game and it lags, leaving you with no chance of winning, take a look at its requirements. The game could be too resource-hungry for your system to run it smoothly.
To fix it, go to the game settings and change the resolution or lower the detail level.
3. Update Your GPU Drivers
The GPU drivers are responsible for controlling your graphics card so an outdated GPU driver will negatively impact how the game runs. Also, some drivers receive upgrades for popular games. You can use your OS tools to manage your drivers or get a compatible driver version from the producer’s website.
4. Turn Off Your Integrated GPU
There is also the case when your computer has enough resources to run a specific game with no problem, but you still find the game lagging. If your computer has a dedicated graphics card and an integrated one, your system might select the integrated one. Usually, the integrated GPU has better performances.
How you can turn off the integrated graphics card varies from one producer to another so we can’t guide you through the process. You should check the producer’s website for updated and detailed information on how you can disable the integrated GPU.
5. Run the Correct Game Version
Once you install the game, you may notice there are two executable files. One has 32 as part of the name and one has 64. These are optimized versions and depending on your hardware and drivers, one will work better on your system.
If you are not sure which version is the right one for you, try running them both and see which one works better.
6. Search for Virus and Malware
If there’s a virus or malware on your computer, it might take a lot of the system resources causing all sorts of problems. If you notice overall poor performance, you should use your system tools or installed antivirus to remove infections. Not only it will help you solve the lag problem, but it will strengthen your computer’s security.
7. Change Power Settings
If you are playing video games using a laptop, you should use the High performance power plan for best results. Even if it’s plugged in, your laptop could save some of its resources if you’ve selected a different power plan.
8. Upgrade Your Hardware
If it’s been a while since the last upgrade, your system could have a difficult time keeping up with the latest games requirements. Depending on your budget, you could add RAM, upgrade the video card, or even search for a new CPU.
While adding RAM is quite simple, changing the CPU is a more complex process so make sure you know what you have to do before taking apart your computer.
9. Overclock Your Hardware
If you tried anything and can’t afford an upgrade right now, but you really want to play that newly launched game, you could try overclocking your hardware. However, this is not risk-free and it may involve a better cooling system.
Don’t Allow Lag to Ruin Your Fun
As you can see, there are a lot of solutions you can try to reduce lag in online gaming. Ultimately, increasing your internet speed or upgrading your computer will have the biggest impact on lag-related issues. But there are also other solutions you could try.