Lag in online games usually comes from network issues rather than your hardware, and most fixes cost nothing. Work through these layers in order.
- Go wired: An Ethernet cable removes Wi-Fi jitter and packet loss, which are the biggest causes of rubber-banding and delays.
- Close background bandwidth hogs: Streaming, downloads, and cloud backups on the same network steal your connection mid-match. Pause them while playing.
- Pick the right server region: Choose the closest game server with the best ping rather than the default, and avoid regions with known congestion.
- Lower in-game settings: Reducing shadows, effects, and resolution improves frame rate, which makes the game feel responsive even when latency is fixed.
- Update drivers and firmware: Fresh GPU drivers and router firmware fix many stability and stutter problems that look like lag.
Verdict: Start with a wired connection and a clearer network, then tune settings and drivers. Solving the network layer usually fixes the lag before hardware ever needs an upgrade.