PC Gaming

Ok, so most of you that are reading this will play games online and we all know how annoying lag is. So I sent myself out on a mission to find the top 20 lag reducing tips of all time, unfortunately I only found 12 so you’re stuck with them! I’ve tried to make sure that they’re all general tips rather than game specific ones. So, read on…

Online, Lag, Reduction

1. Upgrade your computer!
Ok, it may be kinda obvious but this has to be the most effective, upgrading RAM is usually the most effective but upgrading your graphics card will also make a sharp increase in online performance.

2. Close background tasks.
They’re always there. Quicktime, Java, Sound monitors, they’re all things you don’t need! You can usually close them by right clicking on them and selecting exit or quit, if that fails open up your Task Manager (ctrl+alt+del), selecting the Processes tab and trying to find the offender in the list there, often sorting the list by “Mem Usage” helps you identify resource hogs.

3. Select low pinged servers.
“Ping” is the time it takes for a small signal to be sent from your computer, to the server and back. It is measured in Milliseconds and generally anything between 0 and 70 will not cause too many problems.

4. Get more bandwidth/better ISP.
Either get a faster internet connection or a more reliable ISP. Some of the cheaper ISPs’ connection will not be as reliable and will therefore cause your internet to cut out (always seemably at crucial moments).

5. Reduce the screen resolution.
Often running at your screens native resolution will cause a large drop in FPS (frames per second) which provides problems, an FPS of 30+ is usually playable.

6. Change the .exe name.
It’s very simple really. All you have to do is go to your Game folder. Find the .exe for the game and rename this to any other name but something that you will recognise. You will then need to update your shortcuts. “Well what does this do then?” you ask. Put simply, it turns the game from a resource and system hog to a regular, stable game. As far as I know it has something to do with Nvidia and ATI creating special “game profiles” that work with the game to “maximize performance” and run special stuff that’s directly related to the game. Turns out you don’t need any of that.
Thanks FactionRecon

7. Make sure your network cable is in good condition.
Your network cables are extremely sensitive to any sort of kink or damage. Check that they’re always in good condition. It’s amazing how much performance will drop from a cable with a few bends and kinks in it.

8. Keep your computer in tip top shape.
Computer can clog up with dust and other crap that gets inside your computer over time. This dust can clog up the fans and stop them working at their optimum speed therefore increasing over all system temp and then increasing your gameplay. This can be resolved by simply dusting out your computer every month so often.

9. Run regular spyware and anti-virus checks.
Often your lag can be due to spyware or viruses infecting your computer, a weekly spyware and anti-virus scan should resolve this.

10. Defrag your hard-drive.
I’m a culprit of not ever defragging my hard-drive (it just takes so long :P) but it can cause drastic system performance increases. You can defrag your hard-drive by going to My Computer, right clicking the hard-drive you would like to defrag, selecting Properties and then the tools tab within that new window.

11. Increase system cooling.
Your systems over all temperature is directly proportional to the temperature it is running at. Keeping things cool allows you to run things at higher settings without overheating your hardware and also allows more overclocking which leads on to the next tip…

12. Overclock your hardware.
Allow potentially very dangerous and could also completely destroy your system, overclocking can be very beneficial and improve your systems performance drastically also reducing your onling lag.