What is a ping test. What affects ping in online games and how it can be reduced

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Hello, dear readers of the blog site. If you actively use the Internet, and especially if you play online games, then you have undoubtedly heard about such a thing as ping.

Sometimes problems arise with it when it is too high, and the question arises of how to lower the ping. Sometimes for this they even change the Internet provider, reinstall the system and perform other difficult actions.

However, many have heard this word only occasionally and have no idea what it is. So I'll start at the beginning with what ping is, why it's so important, and how you can test it. Well, in conclusion I will mention something that can affect its reduction. I hope it will be interesting.

In general, the word “ping” has two similar interpretations. In everyday life ping is called checking the quality of the Internet channel to see how fast signals travel through it. If it’s fast, it means the channel is good, which is especially critical for those who play online games in which events unfold a little faster than in chess.

You've probably heard about a game like Counter Strike - an online shooter (first-person shooter), when you play via the network with a group of players like you and each of you controls the actions of your character via the Internet. What does ping have to do with it, you ask? But at the same time.

Let's say that you have spotted your enemy and pressed the shoot button. What happens? Signal from game program installed on your computer goes via the Internet to the server ( special computer, which can be located anywhere on the network) where the game is running. But the Internet is not an abstract thing, but physical devices through which the signal you send will go. AND signal speed along this path can be completely different.

Very often in everyday life it is the response speed that is meant when talking about ping. Those. how fast is the signal from your computer will pass through the network to another computer (or server), and then returns back to you. If the ping is very large (it is usually measured in milliseconds), then your game will ungodly lag, slow down and become dull. And you will be ready to smash your mouse and keyboard on the monitor screen.

How could it be otherwise if you don’t have time to do anything with such monstrous delays in transmitting your actions and receiving a response to them. While your shot signal goes to the server and comes back, you may already be shot (and more than once).

Low ping can drive an avid gamer into a frenzy, and a simple Internet user will not be very pleased to wait a long time for pages to open in the browser. But still, the issues of checking and reducing ping (increasing response speed) are primarily of concern to online players.

How to check ping?

Just above I said that the word “ping” has two interpretations. I explained one of them (everyday) a little higher. But the second is based on the fact that there is such a ping program (on all operating systems that can work with the Internet), which allows you to send a test package to any Internet node that has an IP address (a computer on the network, a server, a router, etc. ) and measure the time it takes for it to return back.

Exactly this time is called ping(delay or lag). The test package is light in weight and is sent using a special service protocol. Due to the latter circumstance, not in all cases high ping (big time delays between sending and receiving) will indicate a bad Internet channel, because problems with signal transmission can only arise through this service channel, and everything will work on the main channel with a bang.

But in most cases, you can equate high ping with bad channel(not suitable for online games). It is impossible to play an online shooter (or any other non-turn-based strategy game) if the ping is 300 milliseconds (a third of a second). But if it is 15-20 ms, then everything is just fine and you won’t even need to know what it is, much less how it is measured. Interest in pinging arises mainly when problems and serious lags appear.

So, to check ping, you don’t need to download or install anything additional. If you are, then the current average (or maximum) ping value (and often fps - rendering speed in frames per second) will most likely be displayed somewhere in the interface of your game.

If you haven’t found it or you are interested in the response speed without application to gaming fun, then here too special problems No. As I already mentioned, all operating systems have built-in ping programs. Due to the fact that I am not familiar with Linux, I will explain using the example of Windows.

What needs to be done in Windows to check ping? It's not enough to be banal:

There is also online services for, which will often also check ping (the time it takes for the test signal to travel from your computer to their server). But still, the method described above is the most reliable in terms of measurement accuracy.

In addition to measuring the travel time of a test signal, this program (ping) is often used to ping server or router. In this case, the fact of receiving a response will be important in itself, and not the time it took to send and receive it. Pinguya different devices Networks can often localize a breakdown in a chain of devices (this is exactly what I do at work). In general, it’s a useful thing :)

How to reduce (lower) ping?

If your ping value is very critical, and it is unfortunately very high (such that it creates problems with online games or even when working in a browser), then you naturally begin to wonder if it is possible to lower it somehow. In principle, it is possible, but it is not always possible to reduce ping with simple manipulations.

What can determine response time?:

From your Internet Service Provider.
1. What is important here is not even the width of the channel, but its quality. You can get a ping of 300 ms on a 100 megabit channel (), or you can get 4 ms on a 10 megabit channel. If carried out, then a six-lane gravel road will be a priori slower than a two-lane, but asphalt road.
2. However, channel width still matters. A narrow channel may cause poor response time because... lags can occur due to banal congestion of the channel (packets simply cannot get through). This can be compared to traffic jams on a road that is well paved but too narrow to handle the existing traffic.
From game server. It may not have a high-quality or too narrow Internet connection, which is why many people experience slowdowns and lags in their games.
From the location of the game server. It may simply be too far from you, and the signal passing through many dozens of intermediate nodes slows down and may even be partially lost.
From the passage of the signal from network card your computer to the file of the game you are running. There can be a lot of reasons affecting ping - from viruses to broken settings operating system.

Actually, from all of the above comes advice that can help you lower your ping to an acceptable value, when it will no longer affect the comfortable use of your computer on the network.

Good luck to you! See you soon on the pages of the blog site

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Signs

It is known that problems in games most often appear due to incompatibility of the game itself with the equipment.

However, in some cases, problems also develop due to high ping. You need to be able to distinguish them. In order to know what exactly needs to be corrected.

So, if the indicator is high, then the following lags are possible in games:

It occurs exclusively when playing online games (for single-player games this concept does not exist at all);
The image begins to twitch, does not change smoothly, but seems to switch frames;
The game responds to mouse commands with a noticeable delay.

A good indicator is that the character's response time to mouse actions is from 15 to 25 milliseconds.

At the same time, noticeable “braking” and lags appear only with a response time of 100 milliseconds or more.

In the range between these numbers, the gameplay may be difficult, it may go slower. However, the user may not notice this due to the lack of visible signs.

How to find out the Internet speed on your computer? Practice.

Learn how to correctly measure the speed of your Internet connection. What resources can you use to correctly check the Internet, what parameters should you look at, and how to determine whether the result in front of you is good.

Impact on the game

If in currently there is a high ping, this can have an extremely Negative influence on the gameplay itself.

Essentially, the higher the indicator, the more information exchange occurs with the game server. The longer it takes for game data to be transferred to the server and back.

That is, the whole process noticeably “slows down”.

Visually, a sign of this in the game is the character suddenly freezing or moving in short bursts and very quickly.

In addition, the character in such a situation reacts to commands with a delay. The screen image is not updated for a long time.

This is especially noticeable in games where the location is displayed as the character moves. He can sometimes go “into the void.”

But this state does not last long. After several such episodes, the user is thrown out of the game altogether.

This can happen right away, even before the player himself notices the game freezing.

This is done because even one such player has a negative impact on the overall performance of the resource.

Why is the ping high? Causes and solutions to the problem

What does it depend on?

What indicators affect ping? There are several main ones:

Internet speed affects the process indirectly. If the channel speed is not enough, then the game will slow down in any case. But ping can be high even at very high Internet speeds;
The provider influences ping to a much greater extent. It is he who ensures the quality and stability of communication, its uninterrupted operation. If communication fails, then packets are transmitted slowly or are completely lost;
The further the server is, the longer the information is transferred. The lowest ping can be in a game when the server is located in the same local network, as the user;
Channel congestion, like Internet speed, has an indirect effect. The time for transmitting and returning information increases significantly when, in addition to the process under discussion, many network programs. They load the channel and network and the transmission speed drops.

In rare cases, there may be hardware reasons for increased ping. They are often the hardest to eliminate.

High ping allows you to play, for example, turn-based strategies, since there is no need high speed response. However, the process can still be uncomfortable.

Ping, checking the quality of the Internet connection

Ping is the time it takes for your computer to respond to a request. In other words, this is the period of time during which a packet sent from your computer travels to another computer on the network and returns.

How to find out?

There are several ways to check this indicator. The simplest of them is checking directly from the gameplay.

Many developers have provided a corresponding item in the settings or options.

Therefore, it is worth looking for it there before turning off the game and moving on to more in complex ways.

If this option is missing, then do the following:

In the operating room Windows system collapse the game;
While on the Desktop, press the Win and R buttons at the same time;
An input field will appear, type cmd in it;

Running the command line

Press Enter;
This will open a command prompt;
An easier way to do this is by going to command line via the Start menu;
On the command line, type /ping, a space, and the server address in the format www.servername.com ;
Instead of the server name, you can also enter its IP address;
As a result, the following window will open;
In the section Approximate round-trip time in ms the ping will be indicated (in the “Average” section);

Information window

A ping of around 215 milliseconds is quite low. It is enough for surfing websites, but it is not suitable for games. That is, in this case, for a comfortable process you need to lower this indicator.

Alternative way– use of online services to analyze connection quality. Their results may not be as accurate, but are acceptable.

In addition, this check is the fastest.

Online service for checking ping

The most popular and accurate is

Interactions between computers on a network are based on network connections. For the user, the connection between his computer and the server (game, mail) means that the server and the user's computer can exchange data.

Data Forwarding Basics

Playing online, checking and sending mail, searching for information through an Internet search engine is an exchange of data between the client (user’s computer) and the server.

Since the client is usually remote from the server - the World of Warcraft game server in London, and the client is a Russian schoolboy in Penza - sending data from the client to the server and the server's response to the client takes time.

The time it takes data to travel from client to server is called request latency. The time that data spends on its way from the server to the client is the response delay.

Since any connection is a “dialogue” between the client and the server via the TCP/IP protocol stack, the main thing is the total response delay time and request delay time - the bidirectional forwarding time. This time is called ping (Ping)

Ping is the time spent on the path of a data packet from the client to the server and back.

How to measure ping

Initially, the word ping came from the name of the utility that was part of system programs operating room Windows systems. It is stored in C:\Windows\System32 among other system files.

Ping utility location

The purpose of the program is to assess the quality of network connections by assessing the request/response delay.

It is launched from the command line. To do this, press the key combination WIN+R. A run window will open:

Command Prompt Window

On the command line, enter the name of the utility and the Internet address of the resource connection with which you want to check. After entering the command text, press Enter.

The address can be an IP address or a URL.

Ping Google.com by URL:

Checking the ping of google.com by name

We ping via IP address:

Checking google.com website ping by IP

The utility works like an echolocator. It sends a packet and waits for the server to return a response to this packet. The time spent waiting is the delay (ping). Ping is measured in milliseconds; the lower the ping, the faster the connection.

The lower the ping, the better.

The utility allows you to increase the data packet or change the number of sent packets.

Using it you can check and measure the delay in any connection:

To check the ping of any Internet resource, you need to know its URL or IP address.

What does ping depend on and how to lower it

Ping depends on:

quality of provider services;
server remoteness;
current channel load;
declared connection speed;
type physical connection with Internet (wires, Wi-Fi, mobile Internet).

The list is arranged in order of decreasing impact on latency.

The type of physical connection has the least influence. U cable connection– the highest ping, lower for 3G-4G Internet, even lower for Wi-Fi. However, Wi-Fi is optimal choice, there are no wires - they will not deteriorate. mobile connection has the most unstable ping, because the load changes and the ping strongly depends on the number of repeaters in your area.

The stated connection speed has virtually no effect on ping. It can be the same at 10 Mbit/s and at 25 Mbit/s.

Ping is a measurement of connection quality, not connection speed.

The higher the channel load, the higher the ping. This is justified by the fact that the channel is divided between users of the same segment, the ping increases proportionally. If before 14:00 your ping was 60, but after that it rose to 300, perhaps the schoolchildren came home and started Dot 2 together. You can solve this by connecting to a dedicated line - this is more expensive, and not always possible.

The further the server is from you, the higher the ping. Justified by the fact that the package must do more a long way and it will have to overcome more intermediate segments (hubs, routers, concentrators, gateways), each of which will delay the packet by a few milliseconds. To solve the problem, connect to another server, Google hangs - use Yandex, the game slows down on one server - connect to another.

Diagram of the packet path from client to server

The provider is responsible for the quality of communication. And most of all it affects ping. If your friend, who is connected to another provider, is quietly watching a movie, but you cannot get through to the same site, most likely the problem is with the provider. Call, complain, if there are no changes, change.

Answers to frequently asked questions

What is Internet ping and how long should it be?

When they talk about ping on the Internet, they mean the delay when working with online services or game servers: YouTube, Twich, VKontakte, World of Warcraft, Dota, World Of Tanks or others that require fast connections.

Concerning optimal values– it’s hard to say. It all depends on the user's tasks. Below is a table with average acceptable ping values depending on these tasks.

Does a 25 Mbps network connection mean low ping?

No. First, the provider specifies maximum speed, the average is usually 5–10 times lower. Secondly, the ping may be unstable - a minute is 50 ms, and then a minute is 220 ms, the average value for 2 minutes is 135. With such a ping online films You will have to pause and load, but you won’t be able to play games.

If other clients of the same provider have the same unstable ping as you, change it.

What is ping in games? How to recognize him?

Ping in games is a measure of the delay between your actions on the computer and the response changes on the screen. With a high ping, the image may freeze, or the character stops moving, the server simply does not have time to process the commands, they reach it late.

Usually the ping is displayed in network game in the corner of the screen. If not, you can find it out by calling the console and typing ping, or by turning it on in the game settings along with displaying the number of frames per second and other system parameters.

What is ping in internet speed? This parameter indicates the delay of the signal from the user’s computer to some server. The value is shown in milliseconds (that's one thousandth of a second). The lower it is in a multiplayer game, the lower the delay on various actions executable in gaming software. Today we’ll take a closer look at how ping is measured, how normal it is, and how it relates to connection speed.

Ping is influenced by many factors: stability and speed network connection, range of the server with which data is exchanged, type of connection, Internet channel load.

Due to high ping, the game has many control problems, which include the hero’s reaction to the user’s actions or unexpected teleportations of other players. An increase in value may occur due to unstable internet, long distance to the connection point, functioning of background software, which gives additional load. If the ping speed is low, then everything works fine, there is no need to change anything. If the latency is high, you definitely need to reduce it.

What is normal ping, and how to find it out? It's quite easy to do this:

You can use the command line provided in Windows. Open it;

enter the command “ping resource name or IP address” (type “ping gogle.ru”);

Information about the immediate delay will appear, as well as the number and % of lost packets.

What is ping in Internet speed: we use additional commands to check

You can diagnose signal delay using more complex commands:

ping -t allows you to run a continuous parameter check. This helps determine more accurate values or check the stability of the connection over a long period of time;

tracert– used to trace to some resource or server. This will help you figure out at what stage you experience a sharp increase in latency or packet loss.

Other commands will most likely not be needed ordinary users computer, but to view them you can simply enter “ping” or “tracert” in the command line.

Deactivate all background applications or utilities that load the Internet;
If used Wi-Fi router, you should connect your PC to the network via an Ethernet cable. At full use wireless connection, the signal becomes weaker;
Check that there are no kinks, breaks, or twists on the Ethernet cables;
Do not use drivers for network cards or routers that come with the operating system; they rarely function correctly. It is better to install software from the developer of the network card, Wi-Fi adapter or modem;
If you use mobile data transmission, you should ensure stable signal quality by installing a modem or 4G router near a window. It is important to choose high-quality USB cables;
Download the most new version browser for accessing the network;
Check regularly computer equipment for the presence of viruses and other malicious software.

If all of the above points do not help, you should contact technical support provider because it does not provide a high-quality Internet connection.

Reducing ping in games

Help with this procedure previous instructions, but there are other methods to reduce ping:

Many multiplayer games have a server select feature. There is no need to choose servers that are overloaded or located as far away from you as possible;
Use only official gaming software;
Eliminate third-party modifications and add-ons, they often seriously load the processor or Internet channel;
Sometimes increased ping occurs due to lack of power central processor, in this case it is necessary to reduce graphic options, which affect the CPU (the video card is not taken into account here);
In the OS antivirus settings, activate " Game Mode", this will stop downloading updates and other background work;
For the most dynamic PC games you should not use mobile transmission data. The quality of this connection is not enough for good gameplay, which can lead to a serious increase in performance. Many users are interested in whether ping depends on Internet speed? Of course it depends. So the speed should be maximum.

What is ping in internet speed? As you can see, the quality of the computer depends on this value. Try to check this indicator regularly and keep it constant.

Many people loving computer games, have heard about the so-called ping. But not everyone knows exactly what it is. Ping – response time laptop or PC for any of your actions. Accordingly, the smaller it is, the more responsive, faster and more comfortable the game will be. And problems with ping can come either directly from the game servers or from the hardware installed in the computer. In order to definitely solve the problem and reduce ping in games such as CS:GO, World of Tanks and others, you can use our recommendations. We will analyze the most effective ways improve your computer's response.

What does ping in games depend on?

In fact, there are many nuances that affect the game's response time. Let's talk about the most common of them:

Internet speed. No comments are needed here - the faster your Internet transmits and receives information, the more comfortable it will be for you to play;
Provider. The quality of the services provided by the provider plays a huge role. We won’t go into details, just know that your router and the wire in your apartment are not the only thing that allows you to access the Internet. And if it’s easy to find out that your speed is not enough, then find out if it’s enough high quality Communications are supplied by the provider, which is problematic. To do this, you can only ask other subscribers of this provider;
Server remoteness. Choose servers as close as possible for the most comfortable work. To see if this really matters, try playing on a server located in America, for example. Compared to players close to it, your ping will be much higher;
Internet channel load. We open a torrent, download three movies, two games and several albums of our favorite singer, and then go into the game to pass the time until the download is finished. And the ping at this time will be very high, because your Internet channel is already clogged with these downloads. Therefore, if the game reputation is important to you, stop the download, use the task manager to track all programs using the Internet, and close them to minimize the game’s response time.

How to check ping

In order to check ping, you do not need to download any programs. All you need to do is take a few simple and quick steps:

Let's look last line . The minimum, maximum and average values are described. The average will be our ping. We just need to enter the address of our game or game server. Instead of the usual addresses, you can use IP, they are also suitable.

What should the Internet ping be for a comfortable game?

Naturally, the less response value, the better. But there must be a value after which it is no longer comfortable to play; what kind of ping is considered good? And it is there. In order not to notice various lags and slowdowns, ping should be no more than 100.

Of course, it all depends on the genre. Dynamic games that require reaction (shooters, racing), for example, will feel better with a ping of no more than 60, but for the rest the already mentioned hundred will be enough.

How to lower ping in online games

Eat great amount tricks to ensure minimal response. Some of them are carried out using programs, while others are carried out by standard means systems. We will not divide them according to this principle and will simply make a list of recommendations.

Changing equipment or provider

First of all you need check speed Internet. If it does not match what was stated by the provider, check the equipment. If you use a router, check the signal strength and move it closer to the computer. Remember, a wired connection is better than Wi-Fi. Therefore it makes sense to use wired internet– it’s more effective.

If it is a USB modem, make sure it is configured correctly and performs its functions to the maximum. If everything is fine in terms of equipment, you need to call the provider and report a problem with a speed lower than specified in the contract.

Changing the server

As already written above, the closer the server is geographically to you, the less time online game response. That's why change server to the one closest to you. High ping in in this case may arise due to large quantity routers between you. As a result, the signal speed increases. You can also find out the number of routers through the command line. To do this, enter Tracert and the server IP address.

Updating drivers

As we all know, the performance of the equipment depends on the driver version. In order for the ping to be minimal, you need check relevance video card drivers. In order to do this, you need:

It is by this ID that you can find the most current driver in a search engine or, for example, on the website devid.info.

You can also use the manufacturer’s official website or special software that will monitor the relevance of your drivers. For example, Driver Booster.

Using console commands

There are several commands that allow you to optimize your Internet experience. First - cl_ updateratexx. It regulates the number of packets from the server to your device. The lower the value, the lower the ping. We insert numbers instead of xx. Recommended values from 10 to 15. Second - cl_ cmrate xx. It determines the number of packets from the computer to the server. And here for the minimum ping the figure is the opposite, there should be more. And the last one, rate xx, determines the transmission speed from the player to the server and back. Here you need set value your Internet connection in megabits.

Setting priorities in the task manager

Any program running on your computer has medium priority. That is, for a computer they are all equal and resources are allocated to almost everyone equally. But if you set our program to high, it will allocate more computer power. You can do this manually. To do this we open Task Manager, find our game in the list, click right click mouse and in the menu that opens we find the item “ A priority" You need to select “High” or “Above Average”.

You will have to do this manually every time. In order to somewhat automate the process, you can add it to the game folder filecmd, which assigns high priority to the game process each time it is launched with the text: start/ high*game file name*. In this case, you will need to launch not the game shortcut, but the created file.

Changing the registry

To reduce ping you can change TCP settings. Before changing the registry, make a backup so as not to lose important data.

Scan with antivirus or disable it

To make sure that the problem is not a virus, run a scan. The problem may also arise due to amount of resources, consumed by the antivirus, so if after scanning no viruses were found, try disabling the antivirus.

Freeing up the Internet channel

Make sure that no programs are hogging your Internet connection. Just in case, we advise you to close all applications that can use traffic: browser, torrent and others.

Expanding the network channel

For this we need open editor local group policy:

Disabling system updates

Windows can download updates and thus occupy the Internet channel. To avoid this, it is recommended to disable updates.

cFosSpeed app

cFosSpeed – a program to reduce ping in online games, which analyzes network packets and divides them by priority. Thanks to this, the Internet speeds up.

In order for the program to work, just launch it, then right-click in the start menu and select “ Minimum ping».

Kill Ping

Kill Ping promises faster response online games thanks to intelligent packet exchange distribution technology of servers and routers. We won’t go into the technical part, but it works. You can easily figure out how to work with it and the instructions will be clear to everyone. There is one thing - you cannot download the program for free.

FixPinger

The FixPinger program is the simplest. It doesn’t even have its own window - you just install it in the game folder and during gaming, if you need to reduce the ping, press f1.

Leatrix Latency Fix

This script turns off the timer response time for packet processing. This way the ping is significantly reduced. Using Leatrix Latency Fix is easy - all you need to do is install it.

Reducing ping on a 3G modem

In the case of 3G modems great importance It has signal strength. Some models have ports for antennas, but if they don't, it will be more difficult. Let's give some tips on strengthening the signal: