Reduce Network and Online Game Latency

How To Reduce Network and Online Game Latency Under Windows 7/Vista

Computer users have experienced a slight increase in network latency when playing games over LAN or online under Windows 7/Vista. Network latency is the time measured between the moment you press a button or moving your mouse and the moment where the desired action is done in the game.

Windows, by default, assembles small packets in one packet before sending them: this is known as the Nagle's algorithm. If you disable this feature, small packets will be transferred immediately without delay to the destination system, and this will reduce your network latency.

You should know that disabling this feature will slow down your file transfers; so I recommend that you apply this tip only when playing network or online games, then disable it after you finish playing.

Get Started

1. Press Windows key + R, type regedit and press Enter to launch the Registry Editor.

2. Navigate to this registry key:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE > SYSTEM > CurrentControlSet > Services > Tcpip > Parameters > Interfaces

3. Click now the corresponding 'NIC' key, where NIC (network interface controller/card) is the identifier of your network card. To find the correct key, you must see your local IP address displayed on the right side of the window.

4. After clicking the corresponding NIC key, click Edit > New > DWORD (32-bit) Value.

5. Rename it as TcpAckFrequency and give it 1 as value.

6. Navigate next to this registry key:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE > SOFTWARE > Microsoft > MSMQ 

7. Click New > key.

8. Rename this key as Parameters.

9. Click Edit > New > DWORD (32-bit) Value and rename it as TCPNoDelay and give it 1 as value.

Close the Registry Editor and restart your system to apply the new changes.