Playing games on PC or mobile devices has always been one of the most popular entertainment activities. And what people concern most when playing online games is the Internet speed. What is a good Internet speed for gaming? This post from MiniTool will show you the answer.
About Download Speed, Upload Speed and Ping Rate
A good Internet connection speed is vital to your online gaming and streaming experience. You may wonder: what is a good Internet speed for online gaming? What Internet speed do I need to play games? Well, to answer this question, you have to learn about the following concepts first.
- Download speed: Download speed refers to the speed at which data is fetched from the server. A fast download speed usually means that it takes less time to load web pages, games or videos. Download speed is measured in megabits per second (Mbps).
- Upload speed: Upload speed is the speed at which you send data to others, which is necessary for sending big files via email, or talk to someone online. Upload speed is measured in megabits per second (Mbps).
- Ping rate: Ping rate, also known as Ping, refers to the reaction time of your Internet connection – the speed of response from your Internet connection after you’ve sent out a request. A fast pingmeans that your Internet connection response fast. Ping is measured in milliseconds (ms).
After learning the above concepts, it is easy to explain what Internet speed is.
Internet speed generally refers to the speed of computers or mobile devices to request and return data from the World Wide Web when uploading and downloading data. The speed is measured in megabits per second (Mbps).
Both Internet speed and ping rate are important to your gaming experience. Next, I will show you some specific data to explain you what a good Internet speed for gaming is.
What Is a Good Internet Speed for Gaming?
A faster Internet speed will make gaming online a smoother experience, but what is a good Internet speed for gaming?
Different games may require different Internet speed, but most video game console manufacturers point out that the minimum Internet speed for gaming is 3 Mbps to 6 Mbps of download speed and 0.5 Mbps to 1 Mbps of upload speed.
For those who pursue a better online gaming experience, the download speed closer to 15 – 25 Mbps per player is recommended. Besides, the ping rate should also be less than 150 ms as the minimum requirements.
If you play online games on Xbox One, PlayStation 4 or on a PC, you can check out the following minimum requirements for gaming on those devices.
Xbox One
- Minimum download speed: 3 Mbps
- Minimum upload speed: 5 Mbps
- Maximum allowable ping rate: 150 ms
PlayStation 4
- Minimum download speed: 3 Mbps
- Minimum upload speed: 1 Mbps
- Maximum allowable ping rate: 150 ms
Online Gaming on PC
- Minimum download speed: 3 – 6 Mbps
- Minimum upload speed: 0.5 – 1 Mbps
- Maximum allowable ping rate: 150 ms
Faster Internet speeds will speed up game downloads and load times. If you are suffering from a slow Internet speed, you can check out this post for solutions:
Apart from the Internet speed and ping rate, there are other factors that can influence the game loading time. For example, if you install the game on an SSD instead of HDD, the game will load faster as the data transfer speed of SSDs is significantly higher than that of HDDs.
So if you are unable to improve the Internet speed on your computer, you can also move OR install games to SSD.
What is a good Internet speed for gaming and streaming? Now you should get the answers from this post. Do you have different opinions? We’re glad to have you share it with us.