6 tips to reduce ping in CS:GO

A low ping and a stable internet connection are a must for dynamic games, and even more so for an FPS like Counter Strike: Global Offensive. If your internet connection is bad, you can experience something called lag, which negatively impacts your skills because your opponents are simply faster and you experience delayed gameplay. Check out our best practices to reduce your ping and eliminate lag in CS:GO!

1. Reboot your router
2. Use cable internet
3. Check applications running in the background
4. Test your internet with Speedtest
5. Disable antivirus and firewall

What is a ping?

What is a good ping in CS:GO?

1. Reboot your router

This advice might seem ridiculous, but it's as true as it gets. A router is a device that works in our house all the time and transmits internet via WiFi or cable. Sometimes the simplest methods like turning the device off and on again can free up the network and allow the router to work more efficiently.

Remember to wait about 10-15 seconds after turning off the device for the current flowing through the cable to completely dissipate.

2. Use cable internet

If you are using a laptop or computer with a WiFi-enabled network card, you can test the connection to the router using a cable. A wireless network can be disrupted by many things, e.g. B. by a television, a refrigerator or other devices that we have in the house. The biggest obstacle for the transmitter is also thick walls, which effectively reduce the signal strength, which you can feel during gameplay, where the lowest possible ping is most desirable.

Every router has the ability to connect it with a LAN cable, and your laptop or computer should also have one. If you are experiencing lag from using a wireless network, try connecting the router with a cable.

3. Check applications running in the background

Applications running in the background have the characteristic that sometimes they start updating unexpectedly, which takes up a large part of your transmission time. We're talking about Windows, for example, which, while you're playing a game, can announce that it's about to download an update of several gigabytes without notifying you. Even if you play a video on Netflix, Youtube or Twitch, the 720-1080p video quality can be very slow, resulting in lag and an uncomfortable CS:GO experience.

4. Test your internet with Speedtest

This is a very important point because your internet may have problems that are unique to your provider. With Ookla's Speedtest tool, you can check how your internet is performing in just a few seconds.

If you find that your connection does not reach the speed that you have agreed upon in your contract with your Internet provider, then you can contact them because obviously there is a technical problem that you cannot solve yourself.

5. Disable antivirus and firewall

It can happen that an antivirus program and the firewall are responsible for lags and delays in CS:GO. Try disabling this in your antivirus software settings and test your ping in game. If nothing changes, don't forget to turn your antivirus back on. Also, you can turn on a VPN on a Windows PC to keep your game running smoothly. Your IP address will be encrypted and your ping will improve.

What is a ping?

A ping is a term for the time it takes for information to transfer between your PC and the server. Of course, the higher the ping, the later you see everything because there is a delay between you and the server, which in many cases can be very noticeable. List of signs that your in-game ping is too high:

Your opponents teleport, you don't see them walking or running smoothly

You will receive a message from CS:GO that you have a connection problem

You experience lags in all actions in the game, you can't even buy items in the store

What is a good ping in CS:GO?

As low as possible! That's a pretty laconic answer, but it's the truth. CS:GO is a first-person shooter game, which makes it very dynamic and we'll have to react quickly to the actions of both our allies and our enemies. The lower the ping, the more control we have over the game because we can see the entire game in real time. From experience we know that a good ping in CS:GO is below 30-40, because such low latency is imperceptible to us, so the game is very smooth.

Note that the ping can also be higher if you connect to another server that is far away from you, but current game server technology often reduces this problem but can sometimes increase the lag a bit.