The Three Latency Sources
Framerate (client-side): The time between consecutive rendered frames. At 60 FPS, each frame is 16.7ms. At 240 FPS, each frame is 4.2ms. Higher framerate means your input (mouse click, button press) is sampled more frequently and appears on screen sooner. This is purely local — your GPU and CPU determine it.
Ping / RTT (network): The round-trip time for a packet to travel from your PC to the game server and back. At 30ms ping, your input reaches the server in ~15ms and the server's response reaches you in another ~15ms. Ping is determined by your ISP connection quality and geographic distance to the server.
Server tickrate: The server's simulation frequency. At 64 tick (15.6ms interval), events are processed in batches every 15.6ms. Your input arrives at the server within one tick interval of when you sent it. Higher tickrate reduces this quantization window.
How They Stack
Total action-to-confirmation latency is approximately:
Total latency ≈ (1 / FPS) + ping + (1 / tickrate)
Example — 60 FPS, 50ms ping, 64-tick server:
- Frame time: 16.7ms
- Network RTT: 50ms
- Tick interval: 15.6ms
- Total: ~82ms
Example — 240 FPS, 50ms ping, 128-tick server:
- Frame time: 4.2ms
- Network RTT: 50ms
- Tick interval: 7.8ms
- Total: ~62ms
Example — 240 FPS, 20ms ping, 128-tick server:
- Frame time: 4.2ms
- Network RTT: 20ms
- Tick interval: 7.8ms
- Total: ~32ms
The ping improvement (50ms → 20ms) saves 30ms — more than the combined savings from doubling FPS and doubling tickrate.
What to Prioritize
| Factor | Typical Range | Max Savings | Controllable By |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ping | 5–150ms | Up to 100ms+ | ISP, server region, wired connection |
| Framerate | 30–360 FPS | Up to 30ms (30→360 FPS) | GPU, CPU, settings |
| Tickrate | 20–128 tick | Up to 34ms (20→128 tick) | Server operator |
For most players, reducing ping is the highest-leverage action. Switching from Wi-Fi to Ethernet, choosing a geographically closer server, or switching to a lower-latency ISP often saves more than any hardware upgrade. Framerate matters significantly for competitive play but has diminishing returns beyond ~3× your monitor's refresh rate. Tickrate is controlled by the game operator and is not something players can change on official servers.
Frequently Asked Questions
Which matters more for competitive play: ping or tickrate?
Ping, in most situations. A player at 20ms on a 64-tick server will almost always outperform a player at 80ms on a 128-tick server. Upgrading from 64 to 128 tick saves at most 7.8ms of quantization error. Reducing ping from 80ms to 20ms saves 60ms of round-trip time. Focus on ping first.
At what framerate does increasing FPS stop helping in competitive games?
When frame time is roughly 10–20% of your ping, further FPS increases provide minimal benefit — your ping dominates response time. At 20ms ping, 240 FPS (4.2ms frame time) is meaningful; 360 FPS adds marginal benefit. At 80ms ping, the difference between 240 and 360 FPS is negligible.