Key takeaways
-
Post Processing Quality, Shadow Quality, Visual Effect Quality, Reflection Quality and Anti Aliasing Quality: Low. These cost a lot of GPU time and add little for competitive play.
-
Texture Quality: Medium on 6–8GB cards, High on 10GB or more. Textures need VRAM, not much GPU time, and running out of VRAM causes hitches.
-
View Distance Quality: High, so distant players don’t pop in late.
-
Portal Frame Rate and Portal Quality: High. A low portal frame rate makes enemies seen through a portal update more slowly than the rest of the scene, which defeats the point of lowering latency.
To reduce input lag in Splitgate 2, which now runs as Splitgate: Arena Reloaded, turn V-Sync and Frame Generation off and set Low Latency Method to NVIDIA Reflex with Boost. Cap your FPS just under your monitor’s refresh rate. Then join lobbies with the lowest ping in the server browser, because since September 3, 2026, a player’s PC acts as the server instead of a dedicated server. The first steps fix delay on your own machine. The last one fixes delay you can’t solve with graphics settings.
Why the 2026 changes matter for lag
The game has changed a lot since it launched. Splitgate 2 released on June 6, 2025, went back into beta that July, and relaunched on December 17, 2025 as Splitgate: Arena Reloaded, with factions and character abilities removed. The relaunch update also targeted PC hitching. 1047 Games added PSO precaching to cut shader-compilation stutter and spread heavy work across frames so single frames spike less. On August 26, 2026, the studio announced it was ending active development. On September 3, dedicated servers and matchmaking shut down, and the game moved to peer-to-peer hosting with a server browser.
So input lag in Splitgate 2 now comes from two places. Local lag is the time between your click and the frame showing it, and you control it with settings. Network lag is the time for your action to reach whoever is hosting, and it depends on which lobby you join. The host’s own inputs reach the game with no network delay at all, which is why the same settings can feel sharp in one lobby and sluggish in the next.
| Source of delay | Typical size | How to cut it |
|---|---|---|
| Frame time | 16.7 ms at 60 fps; 8.3 ms at 120 fps; 6.9 ms at 144 fps; 4.2 ms at 240 fps | Higher, steadier FPS |
| GPU render queue | One or more extra frames when GPU-bound | NVIDIA Reflex Boost, or a frame cap |
| V-Sync without VRR | Up to a full refresh or more | VSync Off, with G-Sync or FreeSync on |
| Frame generation | Generated frames don’t read your input | Frame Generation Method: None |
| Network to host | Roughly half the round-trip ping you see each way | Pick low-ping lobbies; host on a wired connection |
| Host connection | 0 ms for the host’s own inputs | Host yourself when you can |
Step 1: Set the low-latency options
On PC, the graphics menu puts these options in the General, Super Resolution, Frame Generation and Low Latency groups. Start with the ones that change latency directly.
| Setting | Value | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Screen Mode | Fullscreen | Most consistent frame delivery and lowest delay |
| VSync | Off | Stops finished frames from waiting for the next refresh |
| FPS Limit | Refresh rate minus 3 with G-Sync or FreeSync (141 at 144 Hz, 237 at 240 Hz); otherwise near your 1% lows | Keeps the frame rate inside the variable refresh range and frame times even |
| Low Latency Method | NVIDIA Reflex | Lines up the CPU and GPU so frames don’t queue |
| NVIDIA Reflex Low Latency | Boost | Keeps GPU clocks high in CPU-heavy moments; use plain On for laptops on battery |
| Frame Generation Method | None | More frames on screen without faster response, plus extra buffering |
| Super Resolution Method | NVIDIA DLSS (Transformer, Quality), or FSR at Quality | Lower GPU load gives a higher real frame rate, and real frames lower latency |
Frame generation deserves a closer look because the number on screen is misleading. If your base is 70 fps and you turn on 2x, the counter shows about 140, but the game still reads your input about 70 times a second, and the generated frame has to wait for the next real one. It feels worse than 70 fps without it. In a portal shooter where fights are decided by snap reactions, keep it off.
Step 2: Lower GPU load without losing portal visibility
Reflex removes the render queue, but a higher real frame rate still shortens every other step. Splitgate runs on Unreal Engine 5, and the cheapest frames come from post-processing and effects. The portals are what you can’t afford to lose, because you read enemies through them.
-
Post Processing Quality, Shadow Quality, Visual Effect Quality, Reflection Quality and Anti Aliasing Quality: Low. These cost a lot of GPU time and add little for competitive play.
-
Texture Quality: Medium on 6–8GB cards, High on 10GB or more. Textures need VRAM, not much GPU time, and running out of VRAM causes hitches.
-
View Distance Quality: High, so distant players don’t pop in late.
-
Portal Frame Rate and Portal Quality: High. A low portal frame rate makes enemies seen through a portal update more slowly than the rest of the scene, which defeats the point of lowering latency.
For reference, Steam lists a GTX 1050 with an i3-6100 or Ryzen 3 1200 and 8GB of RAM as the minimum, and a GTX 1060 or RX 580 with an i5-6600K or Ryzen 5 1400 and 12GB of RAM as recommended. Cards at those tiers should drop to Low and use upscaling to stay above 60 fps.
Step 3: Choose and host peer-to-peer lobbies
With dedicated servers gone, the server browser is how you find games. One player’s machine runs the match. Most of what makes Splitgate 2 feel laggy since September comes from that host.
-
Sort the browser by ping and stick to lobbies under about 50 ms. Above roughly 80–100 ms, shots that look clean on your screen can still lose trades against the host.
-
If a lobby rubber-bands or hit registration feels late even with good ping, leave it. You can’t see whether the host is on Wi-Fi or uploading something in the background, but you’ll feel it.
-
If you host, use wired Ethernet and pause cloud backups, streams and large downloads. Upload bandwidth and jitter on the host’s line affect everyone in the lobby.
-
Expect host-migration hiccups. A match can end suddenly if the host disconnects, and dedicated servers never had that problem.
-
Playing with friends in your region and taking turns hosting gives the most consistent results, because ping to the host stays low for everyone.
Step 4: Fix the problems that feel like lag
-
Keep the game window focused. On PC, Arena Reloaded drops to 30 fps when the window loses focus, so clicking a second monitor mid-match makes the next few moments feel much slower.
-
Allow for the first match after an update. PSO precaching cuts shader stutter, but new or changed content can still hitch the first time it loads.
-
Close overlays and capture tools you don’t use, and turn on Windows Game Mode.
-
In the NVIDIA Control Panel, set Power management mode to Prefer maximum performance. Low Latency Mode has no effect while Reflex is active. On Radeon cards, use Radeon Anti-Lag in Adrenalin if the game doesn’t offer an AMD option in its own menu.
-
Mouse at 1000 Hz polling. Higher polling rates save under a millisecond and can cost CPU time on older processors.
Console players
Arena Reloaded is still playable on PS5, Xbox Series X|S and last-generation consoles, with crossplay. On a TV, turn on Game Mode or ALLM so the TV skips its image processing, which can add tens of milliseconds. Enable 120Hz output in the console’s system settings if your TV supports it. Use a wired controller connection if yours offers one. The same approach to picking lobbies by ping applies on console too.
Hardware That Lowers Input Lag Further
Once the settings above are dialed in, most of the remaining delay in Splitgate 2 comes from the monitor and mouse. A higher refresh rate and a high polling-rate mouse are the next steps.
AOC 27" Gaming Monitor QHD 260Hz Overclocked IPS NVIDIA G-SYNC Q27G41ZE
Included for 'How to Reduce Input Lag in Splitgate 2 (Arena Reloaded)' as a relevant option in this category; details come from the product listing.
View on Amazon
Logitech G PRO X Superlight 2 Wireless Gaming Mouse - Black
Included for 'How to Reduce Input Lag in Splitgate 2 (Arena Reloaded)' because the listing specifies Black, details this guide uses to compare options.
View on Amazon
Razer Viper V3 Pro Wireless Esports Gaming Mouse, 54g Lightweight, Black
Included for 'How to Reduce Input Lag in Splitgate 2 (Arena Reloaded)' because the listing specifies 54g Lightweight and Black, details this guide uses to compare options.
View on Amazon
