Tips for Lowering Your Ping and Increasing Your Gaming Speed
When it comes to staying competitive in online gaming, many gamers go to extreme lengths. They buy the latest controllers, monitors with the highest refresh rates, and the beefiest consoles and PCs that money can buy. However, one often overlooked component that has the biggest effect on performance is ping.
A bad ping (high ping) means you have a poor connection to a server. All of your quick trigger inputs, no matter how fast, are not going to help you win. This is the problem with having a high ping.
But have no fear. Making some simple adjustments to your networking hardware or tweaking your settings can drastically improve your network performance, lowering your ping.
What Is Ping?
Ping is a measure of latency -- how quickly the signal leaving your PC or console is getting sent and received. Every time you take a shot in an online combat game, you are sending a signal to the game's server where that shot is being recorded. After the server has taken the information, it sends back the confirmation to you and indicates whether or not the opponent has been hit. Ping is the amount of time of that back and forth between you and the server.
With a low ping, gameplay works at its best. With a slower ping, games can be unresponsive and sometimes even feel unplayable. You may be firing a hailstorm of bullets without any damage occurring because while it seems like you are directly aiming at them, they could have moved behind cover without that information being sent to you fast enough.
What Is the Best Ping for Gaming?
Ping is measured in milliseconds. If you are serious about gaming you want a ping around 20 ms or lower. However, most sites indicate that anything below 100 ms is considered "playable" for most gamers. We recommend around 50 ms as a good target for the average gamer.
Why Is My Ping So High?
Your Game Server's Ping
The good news is that your high ping might not be your fault. Your game server might be to blame. Use a site like Speedtest to test your ping to nearby servers and compare with your in-game latency. If you get low ping on Speedtest but high ping in-game, the problem is likely between you and the game server -- not your own network.
Bandwidth
If bandwidth is scarce, jitter, packet loss, and latency issues can occur. Bandwidth may fluctuate throughout the day depending on how many people are on your network. Cloud-based games require a lot of bandwidth, especially for downloading data. Try lowering your graphics settings and see what happens -- sometimes you will be surprised. With average internet speeds in the US now exceeding 200 Mbps, raw speed is rarely the bottleneck, but congestion on your local network still matters.
WiFi vs Ethernet
WiFi signals can degrade for many reasons -- walls, interference from other devices, distance from the router. An ethernet connection moves signals faster and more consistently. WiFi users also experience a lot more jitter. While the ping difference can be small (usually around 3 ms for wireless and 0.3 ms for wired), every little bit helps. For serious gamers, always use a wired connection if possible.
11 Tips to Quickly and Effectively Lower Your Ping
- Restart your modem or router. Over time the cache on your router gets full and the device gets bogged down. Resetting clears the cache and gets your device back to square one. Also try flushing your DNS cache.
- Update the firmware on your router. Sometimes crucial updates are causing your latency to increase.
- Buy a new router or modem if yours is outdated. Newer routers have faster connection speeds and improved technologies. WiFi 6E and WiFi 7 routers are dramatically better than anything from even a few years ago.
- Avoid using a VPN or proxy while gaming online. VPNs add an extra node and thus more latency. There are rare exceptions -- a VPN can actually lower ping if it routes you through a faster path to the game server.
- Select a nearby server. If the game allows you to select a server, always choose one close to your physical location.
- Remove devices from your network. If your connection is slow, disconnect extra devices that are eating bandwidth.
- Use a 5 GHz or 6 GHz network. If you must play over WiFi, connect to the 5 GHz or 6 GHz band -- much faster than 2.4 GHz, though with shorter range.
- Close background applications. Especially on PC -- streaming services, cloud sync, and browsers with lots of tabs all eat bandwidth.
- Change your DNS. Try Google's DNS (8.8.8.8 / 8.8.4.4) or Cloudflare's (1.1.1.1) for potentially faster lookups.
- Remove the bandwidth hogs. Stop streaming 4K movies or downloading large files before you start gaming.
- Optimize your router settings. Google your router model and look for its ideal gaming settings. Enable QoS (Quality of Service) to prioritize gaming traffic.
Flushing Your DNS Cache
Clearing your DNS cache will remove old stored addresses and potentially faulty connections. It also has the added benefit of increased security.
Windows: Open Command Prompt and type ipconfig /flushdns
Mac: Open Terminal and type sudo dscacheutil -flushcache; sudo killall -HUP mDNSResponder
Linux: Run sudo systemd-resolve --flush-caches
NAT Types and Why They Matter
NAT (Network Address Translation) converts a private IP into a public IP. For gaming, there are three types:
- Type 1 (Open): Best connectivity to other players but least secure.
- Type 2 (Moderate): Good balance of security and connectivity. Recommended for most gamers.
- Type 3 (Strict): Most secure but will prevent you from connecting to many players and lobbies.
If you are having trouble connecting to online matches, check your NAT type in your console settings. You may need to enable UPnP on your router or set up port forwarding. PortForward.com is a great resource for this.
Best Products for Lowering Ping
These are the best products we recommend for improving your gaming connection in 2025/2026:
- NETGEAR Nighthawk Pro Gaming Router -- The XR1000 (or newer XR1050) is the successor to the legendary XR500. Built-in DumaOS with geo-filtering, QoS, and ping heatmaps. It lets you choose which game servers you connect to and blocks laggy ones. The gold standard for competitive gamers.
- ASUS ROG Rapture GT-AX6000 -- WiFi 6 gaming router with a dedicated 2.5G WAN port, triple-level game acceleration, and built-in VPN Fusion (run a VPN and regular connection simultaneously). Mobile game mode optimizes traffic for phone gaming too.
- TP-Link Archer GE800 -- One of the first WiFi 7 gaming routers. Blazing fast with a 10 Gbps WAN port, MLO (Multi-Link Operation) for lower latency, and a built-in gaming dashboard. Future-proof pick if you want the absolute latest tech.
- TP-Link AV2000 Powerline Adapter Kit -- Use your home's existing power lines to get a wired connection anywhere in the house. The AV2000 supports 2 Gbps throughput with MIMO and has a built-in outlet so you don't lose a wall plug. Nearly as good as running ethernet through the walls.
- Cat 8 Ethernet Cable -- Supports speeds up to 40 Gbps and 2000 MHz with heavy shielding against interference. Grab a 50ft one and run it straight to your gaming setup. The single best thing you can do for your connection.
- ASUS ROG Rapture GT6 Mesh System -- If your gaming setup is far from your router, a mesh system beats a powerline adapter. The GT6 is purpose-built for gaming with dedicated backhaul, game acceleration, and covers up to 5,800 sq ft. Low ping from every room.
Best VPN for Gaming
Most VPNs add latency, but NordVPN has 6,000+ servers in 100+ countries, making it easier to find a low-ping route to your game server. Their Meshnet feature lets you create your own private network for gaming. It also protects against DDoS attacks and ISP throttling -- two things that can ruin a competitive session.
A Low Ping Gives You an Advantage
Whether this means lowering your ping and reducing latency, or configuring your router settings to ensure you have no connectivity issues, there are many ways to achieve an optimized connection. Finding the best configuration for your network is just as important as picking out the best loadouts to use in battle. Lower your ping today.