Close any unnecessary programs – having many things open can cause major lag and slow your device down a lot.Ģ. There are many things you can do to make sure you have the best connection possible for gaming, but here’s some of the most important ones:ġ. How do I make sure I have the best ping and latency possible? This can cause lag, and is mainly the result of a crowded server or low security on your network. Packet Loss is when one or more ‘packets’ of data do not make it to their destination in the server.

This is where your device is disconnecting and reconnecting to your internet and causing something called ‘packet loss’. If your ping and latency are sitting at reasonable levels and you are still experiencing lag, you may just have an unstable connection. On occasion, lag can actually build up and cause problems suddenly in the middle of a match – freezing up before jumping back to the most recent point, or even just disconnecting you from the game. You could press a key or button, and nothing happens until a few seconds later, and at that point the moment has passed. The main giveaway for lag is that it causes delay in your gameplay, with your commands not being acted on by the game immediately. Lag is the result of high ping or high latency – which essentially means your internet connection is at a lower speed or quality than it should be. Whilst they are measured the same way, it is important to monitor your latency as well as your ping to make sure that you are sitting at the best levels possible. Having latency any higher than 100ms will cause significant lag in your gameplay, and make it difficult to play properly.

The levels of latency can change depending on the server, so it is best to establish good levels for you.

Lower latency is ideal, with the best gameplay performance sitting between 5 and 60ms. Having good latency is dependent on the quality of your internet connection, and goes hand in hand with ping. Latency refers to the time it takes for data to travel from your device to the server. What is latency?Īlthough ping and latency get used interchangeably, they are ever so slightly different things. The difference between good and bad ping is very noticeable, and can really affect your gameplay if it is not consistent. Sometimes, if the ping is too high, games can reject your connection and throw you out of the match. Anything above 100ms can start to make the game unplayable, and can be very detrimental in a fast-paced game. The best levels to sit at are between 15 and 45ms, but anything up till 100ms is still acceptable. However, some games do not require as high ping as others – i.e Hearthstone is a slow-paced card game which does not need impressive ping to function, whereas FPS games like Overwatch and Valorant require good ping to ensure it is playable.

Ping is measured in milliseconds (and abbreviated to ‘ms’), so the lower the number, the better the ping. What is ping?Įssentially, ping is the signal sent out between the player inputting a command, and the server responding to it.įor example, if you pressed ‘W’ to move forward, having good ping would mean that your character would move quickly after you pressed the button, and bad ping would cause a delay. We break down what these terms mean, and what you should be aiming for in order to have the best gaming experience. In gaming and esports, making sure you have a good internet connection is essential – but, what do people mean by ping, latency and lag?

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