7 Effective Ways to Minimize Lags in Gaming That Every Gamer Should Know

Lags – they are as deadly as Kryptonite for Superman, Adamantium bullet for Wolverine, and Martyrdom perk for opponents in COD. Well, whatever we call them, they surely mess up your gaming experience. But it doesn’t mean nothing can be done, even Perseus found a way to defeat Medusa so can we!

So Comrades! We’ve come up with some definitive measures that you can use to defeat lags and enjoy gaming online. These measures are like Batman’s countermeasures for when Justice League members go rogue. So, buckle up because when going gets laggy, we can’t let the laggy get going!

1. Get a Good Plan, Please!

They say education begins at home, and we can’t say more! So educate your children about buying the right internet plan for their gaming needs! Yes, the reason why we often face lags is that we don’t buy a plan that would accommodate our gaming needs.

For instance, you’d need an average of 25 Mbps speed to play any online multiplayer game. This is solely for gaming – nothing else. Hence, you can say that going above 25 Mbps is recommended.

Add streaming with it, and it’ll reach 100 Mbps at least. Moreover, when you’re adding additional devices too, then you’ll need more. Hence, based on this, formulate your internet needs, and then choose a plan.

2.Choose a Reliable Provider

From speed to downtime, customer service to data caps and overages, a lot is there to consider when choosing an internet provider. But, thanks to a little ‘gaze over the hill’ moment, we’re saved by so many hassles later, especially lags.

So, in other words, if you’re a professional gamer, and opting for internet services near you, then here’s what to consider:

• Find a provider that’s offering fiber internet near you. It’s currently the fastest connection type right now, and can potentially minimize lags.
• Find a provider that offers good download as well as upload speeds.
• Find a provider with no or minimal downtime i.e. technical issues, maintenance, etc.
• Find a provider with no or a high data cap

Addressing these, you can find a reliable provider near you, or for recommendations, you can go for Xfinity as it offers reliable services with seamless connectivity options.

3.Reduce Background Tasks

If you’re gaming, then why is there Adobe working in the background? That’s the thing, we often start playing games and forget that multiple background tasks are running. Oftentimes, these tasks are consuming more bandwidth, choking the remaining network.

And this is further ruined if you have multiple users on the network, each running a task of their own. Unless you’re not gaming, you should minimize background tasks as much as possible. While gaming, only run the ones that are necessary for your gaming experience.

Considering this, you should run streaming platforms, your game, Discord, etc. programs and cease other processes. This should free bandwidth for your gaming needs, reducing lags.

4.Use Ethernet Instead of Wi-Fi Connectivity

Although connecting devices to your Wi-Fi gives more flexibility, it’s still prone to problems. Electromagnetic waves, interferences, etc. are some dangers that Wi-Fi signals are prone to. In other words, you can face coverage issues, poor speed, disconnection instances, and more during your gaming experience, which isn’t feasible.

Hence, instead of using Wi-Fi connectivity for your gaming needs, go for an ethernet connection. It’s known to offer better speed, reliable connectivity, and minimal latency. You can set your gaming setup and use an ethernet connection from your router.

This will also give you dedicated speed. Moreover, with multiple users connected, you won’t face the hassle of getting low bandwidth or reduced speed since you’re hard-wired into the internet.

5.Get a Gaming Internet Router

If you’re a true fan of using Wi-Fi and want the flexibility of gaming anywhere you want in your place, then we can recommend one thing – a gaming router. Yes, gaming routers resolve all issues with your regular internet routers.

For starters:

• You get enhanced coverage with reduced dead zones. Hence, gaming even in the nook and cranny of your home isn’t an issue anymore.
• These routers are advanced enough to offer extended range and speed with multiple frequency bands. In other words, you can get a good gaming experience with a gaming internet router.

However, the catch is that these are expensive routers! You read that right, modern gaming routers can go between $100 and $400 or above, depending upon the specifications.

So, if you’re truly into gaming and are creating your gaming setup, then you can set aside some amount to buy one for your needs. Not only it reduce lags and give an impeccable performance, but it’ll give an aesthetic uplift to your gaming setup.

6.Clearing the Cache

The cache is a secondary storage medium that is used to store frequently used processes. It does so to run these tasks almost instantly whenever required by the user. However, doing so consumes resources, such as memory and internet speed.

In any case, if you’re experiencing slowness in your device’s performance or feel sudden lags, then it’s probably because you’ve got a cache to clear. Although clearing it would also result in logging you out of several accounts, including your gaming profile, doing so will clear some bandwidth that would reduce lags. So, we would say that it’s worth it.

7.Manage Users on Your Network

A good reason why you need to do this is to see what each user is consuming the network for. In addition, you’ll know the number of users on your network too, and whether the ones connected are the ones you want or if there are any suspicious users.

In many cases, foreign users can connect to your account using password cracking or simply by guessing your Wi-Fi password. Another good reason why you need to change your default passwords.

Next, too many users mean divided bandwidth and speed, and if they’re downloading content, then you can expect choked internet connectivity. Hence, you should disconnect all users, change the passwords, and then reconnect the users again.

In addition, you can run airtime fairness so that your tasks are prioritized (from minimal resource consumption to high resource consumption). Creating a guest network and then connecting additional users to that network will keep your primary network free for gaming needs, and ultimately, reduce lags.

Closing Thoughts

Well, with these methods, your backpack is full and you’re ready to head to the play zone. So, if you’re experiencing lags during gaming, you know what to do!