How Much Data Does Gaming Online Use

Father and Son Playing Video Games Together

The corporeality of data/bandwidth that online gaming consumes depends completely on the game in question. Depending on its complexity and coding, an online game can utilise anywhere from less than 30 to more 200 MB of data per hour. Secondary factors, like the number of players, the game settings, and whether or not the actor is live streaming gameplay, also have a significant upshot on data usage.

In this quick and dirty guide we crowd source statistics on data/bandwidth employ from X Box Alive, Play Station 4, and PC gaming forums to build a comprehensive reference sheet for today's most popular online games.

League of Legends: An average 5v5 game takes 35 minutes and uses approximately 35 MB of data, then, on average, LoL uses 60 MB of data per hour.

Counter-Strike: Global Offensive: If a player uses a 64 tick server (one that updates 64 times a second), the game uses approximately 87 MB of data per hour. If a player uses a 124 tick server (one that updates 184 times a second and gives the actor a more authentic account of gameplay), the game uses approximately 246 MB of data per hr.

World of Warcraft: Warlords of Draenor

Door Opening On Video Game

In WoW, play mode determines data use. Playing solo and refraining from merchandise and general both decrease bandwidth use. To illustrate how much usage varies: raids utilise approximately 25 MB of data per hr while a 30v30 collision in Alterac Valley uses approximately 160 MB of data per hour.

DOTA 2 (Defence of the Ancients 2): Anecdotally, a game of 42 minutes uses 70 MB of information, and so, on average, DOTA 2 uses somewhere around 100 MB of data per hr.

Minecraft: The boilerplate Minecraft user on a multiplayer server uses 100 MB of information per hour.

Halo three: Without voice, Halo 3 uses approximately 40 MB of data per hr.

Call of Duty: Blackness Ops 2 (COD: BO2): The game uses approximately 15 MB of information per hour if yous are a customer and thirty-xl MB per hour if yous are a host.

Killzone: Shadow Autumn: The game uses approximately 195 MB of information per hr.

Battlefield four: This game uses approximately 65 MB of data per hour.

FIFA 14: This game uses approximately 26.vii MB of data per hr.

Choosing Game Settings

Dial Turning Bandwidth Use Up Or Down

To reduce the bandwidth gaming consumes choose low-resolution graphics settings. Subtract the screen resolution, lower render quality, and lower texture resolution in the game settings. Subtract anti-alias (which smooths edges) and anisotropic filtering (which enhances textures) in the graphic menu settings. Turning off vocalization or muting the game altogether volition also decrease bandwidth usage.

Downloading Games, Updates, and Patches

Far more than actually playing the game, downloading the game uses a huge amount of data. To avoid draining limited mobile data, connect to Wi-Fi earlier downloading games, updates, and patches. Turn off automated updates if bandwidth caps are an issue.

Live Streaming Gameplay Eats Information

Live streaming gameplay uses a huge amount of data. Streaming via Twitch.idiot box, for example, uses approximately 780 MB of data per hr (all-time quality, upload only).

Monitoring Data/Bandwidth Use

Display From Traffic Monitoring Software

The best way to determine how much information your gaming habit costs you? Conduct your ain test using traffic monitoring software. There are plenty of freeware traffic monitoring applications, like the PRTG Network Monitor and the Netlimiter 4, available online. These applications will generate verbal figures that you lot can use to estimate your long-term information/bandwidth usage. Considering usage is so dependent on game settings, we highly recommend using a traffic monitor for more authentic estimates.