Ping and FPS are both performance numbers, but they describe completely different parts of gaming. Ping is about the trip between your device and the game server. FPS is about how many frames your PC or console can draw each second.
This applies to online and offline games on PC, PlayStation, Xbox, and Nintendo Switch.
Does this affect you?
Use this if a game feels laggy and you are not sure whether the problem is your internet connection, your hardware, or your display settings. A game can have high FPS and bad ping, or low FPS and excellent ping, and the fixes do not overlap much.
What ping and FPS actually measure
They often appear as small numbers in a corner overlay, but they come from different systems.
- Ping measures round-trip time to a server in milliseconds. Lower is better. Around 20 to 40 ms is excellent, 50 to 100 ms is usually playable, and anything above 150 ms can feel delayed in fast online games.
- FPS means frames per second. It measures how many images your hardware renders every second. Higher FPS usually means smoother motion and more immediate visual feedback.
- Ping matters only when a game talks to a server. A single-player offline game has no meaningful server round trip for core gameplay.
- FPS matters in every game because your screen still needs fresh frames whether you are online or offline.
- The two numbers can change independently. A game can run at 300 FPS while your ping is 120 ms, or it can run at 30 FPS while your ping is 15 ms.
People mix them up because both problems are often called lag. Visual hitching and uneven motion point to FPS or frame pacing. Rubber-banding, late hit registration, and teleporting enemies point to ping or packet loss.
Which one actually matters for you
The important number depends on the kind of game and the symptom you are seeing.
- Competitive shooters and MOBAs need both, but ping is crucial for fairness because a player at 20 ms receives and sends server updates sooner than a player at 150 ms.
- Single-player games depend on FPS, not ping, because the experience is rendered locally without a competitive server delay.
- If the picture stutters, freezes, or looks uneven, check FPS and frame pacing first.
- If shots fail to register, enemies jump around, or your character snaps backward, check ping, packet loss, Wi-Fi quality, and server region.
- Once FPS reaches your monitor refresh rate, such as 60 Hz, 144 Hz, or 240 Hz, extra frames may provide less visible benefit unless your setup is built for high refresh play.
Steam, NVIDIA overlays, Xbox Game Bar on Windows, and many in-game settings can show FPS. Many online games show ping in the scoreboard, network icon, or performance stats menu.
How to check each number
On Windows, press Win + G to open Xbox Game Bar and enable the performance overlay for FPS. Game launchers and GPU tools can show similar counters.
Ping is best checked inside the game because it needs to measure the route to that game’s server. Task Manager can show network activity, but it does not directly tell you game ping.
Server distance, server load, matchmaking region, and your ISP route can all raise ping. A better graphics card will not lower ping, and a faster internet route will not make weak hardware render more frames.
Sources
- NVIDIA – What Is Frame Rate and Why Does It Matter (2024)
- Riot Games Support – Understanding Ping and Latency (2025)
- Xbox Support – Network Performance and Latency Explained (2025)