If you are a gamer, you might be familiar with gaming latency. Imagine you are middle of an intense battle, and you were about to win in a minute, and your game decided to lag exactly at that point. One wants to imagine that. Don’t worry. If latency is ruining your games, we’re here for you. Learn how to lower latency on your PC for a better gaming experience.
What is Latency?
Latency is the delay that occurs between when a person does any action on a web application or network and when they receive a response. Its travel distance is in milliseconds. Most of the time, these delays should be noticed. However, when the response time prolongs beyond milliseconds, a delay happens, and then Latency appears.
How to lower Latency on PC: 11 Fixes You Must Try
You want to have low Latency on your PC, but it is always high. Here are a few fixes you can try to lower your Latency.
1. Restart Your Device
Sometimes, all you need to reset is to start better. The same goes for your device. If your device lags, you can always turn it off and on. This helps restart important drivers that need a restart.
2. Update Your Device
Did you restart the device, and it is still lagging? No worries; you can update your PC. Sometimes, you aren’t getting low Latency on your PC because of pending updates. Install the latest updates on your PC. After that, any bugs, drivers, or software in need of updates will get the required updates. It will also fix any networking issues and enhance networking. Here is how you can update your Windows PC.
- Search for Setting in the Windows search bar.
- Tap on the Settings panel and open it.
- Tap on Windows Update on the left in the menu.
- Select Check for updates.
- Check if there are any updates available, and follow on-screen guidelines to download updates.
- Write Device Manager in Windows search and open it.
- Tap on Display adapters, right-tap on graphic cards, and select Update driver.
- If you want to install the updates yourself, tap on Search automatically for drivers and then double the graphics card.
- Click Browse my computer for drivers and select the downloaded update.
- Go to Device Manager and select Network Adapters.
- Click on the Network adapters and tap on Update driver.
- Select Search automatically for drivers.
- Restart your device after the update.
3. Restart Your Internet Router
If you have been using your home router continuously, it’s probably full of cache and struggling to process your commands. Not every time does a poor internet connection mean a bad internet plan. Sometimes, it can be nonstop usage as well. When you restart it, the router finds better channels with minimal traffic so that it can work faster. Once you unplug from power outlet and put it back on after 30 seconds, it is going to work perfectly.
4. Clear Background Software
Even if you are using a premium connection to the internet, background running applications, tabs, download managers, and other systems software will suck the whole of the premium internet as well. As a result, you will get the remaining crumbs of the internet for your game. This results in high Latency produced by greedy apps that suck up the whole internet. Such apps drain the GPU and CPU resources.
To have low Latency, you must close anything running in the background, like the browser or any ongoing downloads, and also ensure nothing is updating at the back of the game. Here is how you can check background-running apps and close them.
- Search for Task Manager in Windows search and open it.
- Go to the Processes menu; find the applications that are not in use.
- Right-click and Tap End task to close the applications.
Once they are all closed, you will have a PC with low Latency to enjoy your game.
5. Wired Internet Connection
A wireless connection allows you to play your game from anywhere inside the house. But sometimes, the lagging is because of it. You want low Latency while playing your game, so you should consider giving up convenience for low Latency. While a wireless connection provides comfort, a wired connection provides faster internet and a smoother game with no disturbance.
6. Remove Other Devices
You don’t have any of your smart devices sucking up your internet while you could use that internet for the headshots. The more devices connected to the same network, the busier and slower the internet becomes. Please make sure that you don’t want your game to lag and keep a low latency, so never play with the same network that has multiple other devices connected. Ensure to disconnect anything connected to the same network you are using for the game.
7. Remove Wi-Fi obstacles
Wi-Fi connections find it difficult to pass around the house. For example, if you are sitting in a room with the door closed, your PC will lag. High ping becomes common with wireless devices, especially when lots of devices also crowd Wi-Fi. A simple solution can get you low Latency for your game. You can sit closer to the Wi-Fi router or rearrange the device where you sit.
8. Use Local Servers
Try using a server that is located near your nearest. If you want low Latency in your game, you need to connect to servers that are within a short distance. Playing on a game server that matches your location will offer you low Latency.
9. Use a VPN
VPN provides a perfect way to get low Latency if the high ping reason is Internet Service Provider throttling. Your ISP can limit your internet speed for multiple reasons, such as potential unlawful affairs on your internet network. This exceeds the bandwidth limit and causes high ping for your PC. So, you must find the best free VPNS for your PC to avoid high ping.
10. Play At Alternative Hours
We know it’s a hard pill to take, but if you need low Latency for your game time, then you have to do it. To get the most out of your gaming session, you need to change your playing time. Usually, everyone plays in the evening time, which is the time most people come back from and enjoy that time. So you and so many others will play the game at the same time, increasing the ping and causing the PC to lag. Try playing at a different time slowly and see if it makes any difference.
11. Shift to a Better Internet Plan
No amount of restarting your device, shifting furniture, server changing or updating your windows will alter a slow internet to a speedy one or turn high Latency to low Latency. If the main issue lies within your internet, so only a new internet plan can fix it. You can aim for great headshots only with a speedy internet connection.
Why My Ping Is High?
Since you came this far, you now know what a ping is, but let’s discuss what factors make it difficult to get low Latency.
1. Firewall settings
Firewalls are for protection, but they can sometimes increase Latency. This is because they keep checking data going in and out.
2. Game settings
If you like your game by keeping all the settings on maximum, then you surely won’t have a low latency.
3. Background activities
Anything extra going on behind the game will increase your Latency. Close anything including downloads, steaming, or updates to keep a low latency and have a good gaming experience.
4. Too many devices
If there are multiple devices connected to the same router, the ping will be high, ruining your gaming experience.
5. Server distance and crowd
When you connect to a server far away from you and your PC, low Latency is not possible. If there are more players on the same server, it will also cause lag.
6. Slow internet
Slow internet brings death to a gamer and lags your game so much that your opponent will definitely kill you. So, you must increase the internet speed or update your internet plan.
FAQs
Q: Is Latency the same as ping?
Ans: Nowadays, these two words mean the same and are understood to mean the same thing.
Q: Is 50 ms latency good for gaming?
Ans: If you are a gamer, ping rates under 50 ms are great for your game.
Q: What is a low latency mode PC?
Ans: It is a PC optimized to maintain low Latency and avoids lagging much on its own.
Bottom Line
High ping really bothers gamers and regular users. Now that you know how to lower Latency on PC, you will probably never experience high ping again if you follow the instructions.
