Expert Consulted: Adrian Gardiner. With 30+ years in the IT industry, I still get frequent requests to repair, upgrade, and build new Gaming PCs. This experience gives me a unique and current perspective on the marketplace, enabling me to help my readers with the subject of understanding lag in gaming.
We’ve all been in the same situation where we’re happily gaming away, and suddenly there is a massive lag (it always seems worse than it is!) that means we can’t respond to what’s going on in the game quickly enough, meaning we’re either dead or we’ve missed a critical endpoint for progress.
It’s not good; it happens a lot and is probably the most frustrating thing that can happen when gaming.
In answer to the question of understanding lag in gaming:
Gaming lag is a delay between a player’s action and the game’s response. It comes in three types: input lag (delay usually due to hardware issues like a faulty keyboard or software issues like poor game code), network lag (delay in online gaming data transfer), and frame rate lag (due to hardware limitations like an underpowered graphics card).
The rest of my article goes into more detail on understanding lag in gaming and how this knowledge can be used to help you avoid or at least minimize it.
Understanding Lag in Gaming – The 3 Types of Gaming Lag and Solutions
To understand the nature of lag during gaming, you need to know that there are three types of lag, and these are covered in the next few sections.
Input Lag
This is the delay you sometimes encounter when, say, you move your mouse, but nothing happens for a second or two or even just a split second; it’s just as annoying and can mean the difference between winning or losing a game.
As my son will testify (see below), lag is more of an issue when playing a fighting or first-person shooter game where fast response times are essential.
The reasons why you may experience input lag when gaming include:
| Reason for Input Lag | Possible Solution | |
| 1. | Faulty hardware like a mouse with sticky/faulty keys, a keyboard with a faulty key, or a defective controller | Upgrade to a premium mechanical gaming Keyboard and/or Mouse (wired) for much faster response times. Replace and upgrade your controller. |
| 2. | Buggy game software | Apply game bug fixes and patches. |
| 3. | Lower specification monitor with low refresh rate capability trying to deal with a game played at high resolution | Invest in a better quality monitor (perhaps a gaming monitor), or try adjusting your game settings to better allow for the capabilities of your current monitor. |
| 4. | V-Sync | V-Sync, often enabled by default in many games, an older technology designed to prevent screen tearing, often causes input lag. Try turning it off. Intel Adaptive Sync is a better option that eliminates screen tearing without adding input lag. |
| 5. | Bluetooth Lag | Bluetooth latency is the delay between signal send and receive, leading to lag between audio and visual cues in games. Upgrading hardware can reduce latency, but the limitations of wireless technology mean lag can’t be totally eliminated. For competitive gaming, wired equipment would be the way to go to minimize and hopefully eliminate this type of delay. Common symptoms of Bluetooth lag: 1. Controller input delay (delay between pressing a button and seeing an onscreen result) 2. Multiplayer sync issues (out-of-sync issues with other online players) 3. Audio-visual sync issues (i.e., you see an action before you actually hear the sound associated with it) |
Network Lag
With network lag, you are getting a delay between the gaming client software on your PC and the game server, which, of course, could be located anywhere in the world.
When you connect your PC to another computer over the Internet, like a gaming server, the connection will only be as good as the various routes (hops) that your data has to travel.
For example, the connection between your PC and your Internet provider could be great, but from there, it might not be so good, especially if the game server is connecting to a slow service from its own Internet provider. The end result would be slow performance for your gaming.
So, the reasons for network lag and potential solutions would be:
| Reasons for Network Lag | Possible Solution | |
| 1. | If you can, upgrade to fiber, and if this is not possible, research performance from other providers and move | Ensure your DSL or Cable router is functioning correctly and replace it if not (consider buying a better 3rd party router instead of the free one from your provider) Check the ethernet port on your PC if connecting this way (check the cable, too, with a spare) Check Wi-Fi connection for stability Check and/or replace powerline devices if they are unreliable (or install cabling) |
| 2. | Poor quality Internet connection from the gaming server, dependant on their own setup (i.e., a good, fast connection to their Internet provider) and their geographical location. | Poor quality networking at home, like a faulty Wi-Fi adapter, faulty ethernet cable, low quality/malfunctioning ethernet port on your PC, or intermittent powerline devices. |
| 3. | Ensure your DSL or Cable router is functioning correctly and replace if not (consider buying a better 3rd party router instead of the free one from your provider) Check the ethernet port on your PC if connecting this way (check the cable, too, with a spare) Check Wi-Fi connection for stability Check and/or replace powerline devices if they are unreliable (or install cabling) | Many online games give you the option to connect to different servers for the same game – try another server to see if the problem resolves |
| 4. | A low-powered gaming server with insufficient capability to consistently serve multiple gamers | Again, I would try connecting to an alternative game server if more than one is offered. |
Personal Experience
My 19 year old son is a regular, competitive, and successful player for the 2D platform fighting game Brawlhalla, and while I’ve provided him with an excellent gaming PC setup and a very high-quality gaming monitor (390 Hz refresh rate), he also needs an excellent network connection with low latency.
In our home, the router is too far from his room for a decent wireless connection, so at the moment, we use powerline devices to send the Internet connection over the home electrical wiring, and this generally works well.
Unfortunately, the powerline devices intermittently lose their connection from time to time, resulting in unacceptable gaming lag for my son, meaning he can’t compete while this issue is ongoing.
I plan to resolve this with hard wiring from our router to his PC – not an easy job!
How to Check for Latency Issues
The simplest way to determine whether network lag is the cause of your lag issues is to carry out a speed test by going to http://www.fast.com. Run the test and then click ‘Show more info’ to find out your network latency results.
If the latency figure is high, then it’s likely you have network lag. If the figure is low, then your network is fine, and the lag is either due to input or frame rate issues.
As a rough guide to latency expectations from different types of Internet service:
| Latency | Milliseconds |
| Excellent | Less than 25 ms |
| Good | 26 – 50 ms |
| Acceptable | 51 – 100 ms |
| Poor | 101 ms and above |
In terms of what sort of (very approximate) latency you can expect from different types of Internet service providers:
| Internet Type | Milliseconds |
| Fiber | 10 – 15 ms |
| Cable | 15 – 30 ms |
| DSL | 25 – 45 ms |
| Dial-up | 100 – 220 ms |
| Satellite- Starlink | 25 – 50 ms |
| Satellite – Others (Viasat, HughesNet) | 595 – 620 ms |
Basically, fiber has the lowest latency, as you’d expect, followed by Cable, then DSL, and so on.
Anything over 100 ms latency and you’ll start to increasingly notice this affecting your gaming.
NOTE: For all types of Internet service provision, the latency you get will vary according to how far you are from your Internet provider’s services.
Frame Rate Lag
The third type of lag, frame rate lag, happens when the game on your PC can’t keep up with the demands being placed on it and, instead of nice, smooth gameplay, gives you stutters and freezing.
Here are some of the most common reasons that you would be seeing frame rate lag and suggested solutions:
| Reason for Frame Rate Lag | Possible Solution | |
| 1. | An underpowered graphics card (GPU). | Consider upgrading your GPU (check the game hardware requirements). |
| 2. | Insufficient system (RAM) and video memory (VRAM). | Consider investing in more RAM and/or a better GPU with more VRAM. |
| 3. | Too many programs running at the same time consume valuable resources. | Consider adjusting your game settings to reduce the load on your PC. |
| 4. | Check ‘Task Manager to see what unnecessary programs are running and terminate those that are not needed (also check and adjust ‘Startup’ settings). | Ensure your PC has good ventilation Keep your system clean and remove dust build-up Upgrade your cooling with more fans as required Re-apply fresh thermal paste to the CPU heatsink if necessary (it can dry out over time). Consider upgrading your system to liquid cooling like an AIO (all-in-one cooler). |
| 5. | A fragmented hard disk drive (the older spinning disk type). | Consider upgrading to a much faster and more reliable SSD (solid state drive). These are now not as expensive as you might think and will offer a huge increase in your gaming performance NOTE: Do not try to defragment an SSD, as it will shorten its life. |
| 6. | Outdated drivers, particularly for your graphics card. | Always apply the latest driver updates and those for your GPU in particular. |
| 7. | Not applying the latest game bug fixes and patches. | Always apply the latest game bug fixes and patches. |
| 8. | Insufficient cooling resulting in high temperatures and performance throttling to protect hardware. | If you have lag with overclocking turned on, try reducing overlocking settings or turning it off completely. |
| 10. | Overclocking. | Ensure your PC has good ventilation Keep your system clean and remove dust build-up Upgrade your cooling with more fans as required Re-apply fresh thermal paste to the CPU heatsink if necessary (it can dry out over time). Consider upgrading your system to liquid cooling like an AIO (all-in-one cooler). |
| 11. | Insufficient cooling results in high temperatures and performance throttling to protect the hardware. | Check your cooling arrangements and improve where necessary to avoid performance throttling. |
Frequently Asked Questions About Gaming Lag
Q1 How can I reduce lag in my games?
You can reduce lag in your games by ensuring the best network connection, making sure your PC has the right hardware specification, has up to date software and drivers, plus only using high-quality, well-known, branded peripherals.
Q2 Will upgrading my PC hardware always improve lag?
Upgrading your hardware, particularly investing in a better GPU, will certainly help. However, the reason for the lag that you’re seeing may lie elsewhere and may be software/settings related, for example.
Q3 What is a good ping for online gaming?
A good ping for online gaming would typically be under 50 milliseconds. Lower ping means less delay or lag in the game, which can give you a competitive edge, especially in fast-paced games. Personally, I would aim to get below 25 ms for optimum gaming.
Conclusion
An understanding of lag, the reasons why it happens, and the steps you can take to minimize it will help you greatly in your mission to reduce it so that you can enjoy a smoother gaming experience.
It may mean you have to invest in better hardware, or you might find that just tweaking a few game settings or applying driver updates or game patches is all you need. Whatever the situation, there is always going to be a fix available, and hopefully, my article will go some way to helping you.
Happy Gaming!