Thanks to improving internet connections & new technologies, online gaming nowadays has gotten drastically better than it was a few years ago. However, you may still encounter some problems or difficulties despite having the recommended internet connection speed. To make sure that you get the best online gaming performance, consider the following tips.
1. Optimize your Network
Of course, since you are playing an online game, the most immediate solution would be to make sure that your internet access is at its best state. There are a couple of things you can do to optimize your network:
• Reduce ping. For the uninitiated, ping is a measure of the latency of an internet connection If you get a ping value of something below 20 ms, that is considered great. If you get something higher than 150 ms, that means your connection suffers from a considerable lag. It does not matter if you have the best gaming PC specs if you have slow ping. To reduce ping, consider doing the following:
- Close other programs and windows in your computer to focus the internet connection on your game.
- If you are using a game console, reduce the number of devices that use your internet connection.
- Stop ongoing downloads or video streaming.
- As much as possible, use a wired connection instead of relying on Wi-Fi.
- If you are connecting through Wi-Fi, move your laptop or gaming console closer to the router.
Check the wires connecting the router and the wall box and ensure that everything is properly connected.
• Activate or Deactivate WMM or Wi-fi Multimedia. Most new routers come with this feature, which optimizes bandwidth for multimedia or gaming use. By activating this, the router prioritizes connections for activities that involve multimedia content over your Wi-Fi network. Activate this if you are playing through Wi-Fi or deactivate it if you are using a wired connection (the LAN port).
• Get a unique internet gaming plan: Many ISPs are now offering unique packages for gamers and high-end broadband consumers. Popular options include ultra-fast broadband setup which can go up to 200 mbps download and 20 mbps upload.
• Set priorities through QoS. If there are many of you sharing the same internet connection, go to the dashboard of your router and find the QoS or Quality of Service settings so you can prioritize your online gaming traffic over those of others.
• Set NAT to “Open”. For console gamers, it is recommended setting NAT or Network Address Translation to open to get a good online gaming experience.
• Pick a server near you. If you are playing a game that provides the option to select your server, it is advisable to choose a local server or one that is closer to you geographically.
2. Choose Lower Game Settings
Most of the time, you experience gaming performance issues when you choose the higher settings of a game like going for the highest possible resolution, enabling more sound effects, and selecting the best possible graphics or render quality. Some games may automatically choose the optimum settings for you but you can’t expect them to always get it right so consider doing your own tweaks until you can achieve the best possible settings for optimum gaming performance.
Most of the time, you can also get significant improvements if you tune down graphics card settings like disabling features like anti-aliasing and anisotropic filtering. Anti-aliasing is a feature that smoothens the appearance of images by reducing their jagged edges. Anisotropic filtering, on the hand, is intended for enhancing graphic textures. Your gaming experience will not be significantly affected by disabling these features. If you are using an Intel graphics card, you can use best gaming settings site to help you choose the best settings for the game you are playing in relation to your computer’s specs.
3. Reduce CPU Workload
This tip is not applicable if you are playing using gaming consoles but if you are playing online games through a computer, it would help if you decrease the workload your process has to handle. Do this by shutting down non-essential processes, services, and apps in your computer. Use the task manager feature of your computer to find and close these processes and apps. You can also use the Resource Monitor to look at processes and services in your computer and stop those that are taking a heavy toll on your processor.
4. Make sure your Game and System are Updated
Lastly, it’s important to have your computer and games updated. There are issues that emerge in games or systems (including the operating system and the firmware for the graphics card and other components) that affect the gaming experience, and these are addressed through updates released by the developers of the games and operating systems. Besides, it’s important to update to avoid encounter problems and threats.
Enjoy a great time playing online games by doing the pointers above. Doing these can also help address other issues you encounter with your system and network. After all, gaming is one of the most resource-intensive activities you do with your computer. If you can play your online games smoothly, it’s most likely that you have a healthy and optimized system.