Sudden spike in ping while gaming... Need help!

the_beginner

the_beginner

Disciple
Hello peeps!!!

My PC is about 3 yrs old (Pls refer for specs in the img attached below) and has no problems apart from this weird ping spike problem while playing games. If I play any online game in Wifi, there is a sudden spike in ping that goes from 70ms to 200,300ms (This number is from "Rocket League") for like 5 seconds and this happening atleast twice every minute, which is really annoying. I have noticed this very problem in all the games I've tried so far (FC24,
E-football, COD). When I connect LAN, everything is fine, no sudden spikes and the latency is constant. I have a Legion lap too and I have tried playing Rocket League (In wifi) and it's fine there. Problem only persists in my PC. I saw a couple of YT videos and tried that too and now my wifi is not showing any other wifi connections too, it says "No wifi networks found".

Pls find attached some ping test images.

I would like to take advice from you people in this regard and make this issue gone ASAP because my Mum has already figured out that me connecting blue wire (LAN) in my router means I am gonna start playing and I'll get an earful from my Mum :sob:

Thanks in advance
 

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It's most likely caused by interference. And/or perhaps bufferbloat, but since you don't experience it with LAN, maybe not?

For the first, you can try changing channels on your router's page, and see if there's one that doesn't have ping spikes. Another thing worth trying might be to remove every other device connected to your WiFi network, just in case it's your router being overwhelmed? Never heard of that happening to be honest, but could be. :p

Or switch to some non-standard/not-popular WiFi version, like new versions of WiFi, which might not be possible for most.

If it's the latter (bufferbloat), and your router doesn't support SQM, there's really nothing much that you can do.

Also, it could simply be that your PC's WiFi network is just weak, or is getting really hot?
 
Assuming laptop/desktop are equidistant from the router, your laptop probably has a better WiFi card / antenna than the PC does. Open device manager and figure out which WiFi chipset you've got. If it is anything other than Intel, it is probably not that great. Either way, try updating to the latest drivers for it and see if that makes a difference. The drivers on your mobo's website may not be the latest ones.

If you just want to game without letting your mom know, you could try tethering your phone via usb and using it as your wifi receiver.
 
To circumnavigate this issue, might I suggest leaving your LAN cable plugged in all day long. Make up some bullshit excuse about speed being slow for normal use otherwise. If cable length is the issue, indoor Cat 6 cables are cheap and you can easily get it terminated to a length of your desire.

If your router has a guest network, enable it. Then connect and check if the issue exists. If it does, it is not because of other devices connected to your Wi-Fi. If the ping spike doesn't occur, just set your guest network to hidden and connect only your device to it.

If your router doesn't support it, then change the Wi-Fi password by one character. (Do this when no one else is using the internet.) This prevents other devices from connecting to it. Supply the new Wi-Fi password onto your computer. This allows only your device to connect and hence you can confirm whether other devices are the reason for your ping spike.

If other devices are not the issue, then try as @KAKAN stated, changing the channels, most people don't bother with this, so any channel other than the default should be good.

@variablevector - Wouldn't that increase latency at all points?
 
badwhitevision said:
@variablevector - Wouldn't that increase latency at all points?
Click to expand...
This is assuming the PC's wifi card is dropping packets and experiencing lag spikes. USB tethering to your phone might add some latency but it won't be anything more than a few milliseconds. And if your phone's WiFi is better, and they generally are, you should have a more stable connection to your router.
 
First of all... Thank you lads @KAKAN @variablevector @badwhitevision

@KAKAN I don't think number of devices is a problem here. I tried changing channel but I don't know the login credentials of the gateway, I'll try contacting JIO but I'm unsure whether they'll help me or not in this case. I think my PC's wifi hardware is the problem here. My brother has a TP-Link external wifi reciever. Shall I connect it and test?, If so, how to change the wifi reciever from the in-built one to the one I connect?

@variablevector Lap and PC are in the same room (PC is even nearer to teh modem when compared to lap). It says that I have a Realtek one and I have tried updating it, no improvement.

@badwhitevision I cannot connect it all day cos there is a door in between router and PC and I need to close it when I turn on AC and cable length is not an issue. I'll google how to create a guest network and try it out. Like is said, my PC hardware is the problem I think. I'll try changing to an external reciever and see the difference.
 
Only way is change to other channel if it is 2.4ghz and otherwise 5ghz don't have such issues. My brother plays dota2 and it has wifi connection with router and that too as a repeater but only on 5ghz channel. No issues at all
 
@the_beginner Good luck!

Let us know how your testing goes. In case it turns out it's not your PC:

If it's Jio's router, then number of devices could be a plausible issue since their routers are kinda shit. Also, if you're on a connection whose speed is less than the maximum speed of WiFi, then bufferbloat could be an issue.

Jio is known for this. You can test for bufferbloat here btw:


But if it's bufferbloat, there's no reason it shouldn't happen over LAN as well.

Finally, if it's not your PC's hardware issue, IBF (Indian broadband forum) might be a better place to ask I think. I'm not posting the link since idk if that's against the rules :p
 
rockyo27 said:
Only way is change to other channel if it is 2.4ghz and otherwise 5ghz don't have such issues. My brother plays dota2 and it has wifi connection with router and that too as a repeater but only on 5ghz channel. No issues at all
Click to expand...
The issue remains in both 2.4 and 5ghz channels mate
KAKAN said:
@the_beginner Good luck!

Let us know how your testing goes. In case it turns out it's not your PC:

If it's Jio's router, then number of devices could be a plausible issue since their routers are kinda shit. Also, if you're on a connection whose speed is less than the maximum speed of WiFi, then bufferbloat could be an issue.

Jio is known for this. You can test for bufferbloat here btw:


But if it's bufferbloat, there's no reason it shouldn't happen over LAN as well.

Finally, if it's not your PC's hardware issue, IBF (Indian broadband forum) might be a better place to ask I think. I'm not posting the link since idk if that's against the rules :p
Click to expand...

Tried my bro's TP-Link external reciever and it's actually better now. I tried Rocket league and COD MW and the latency remains around 70ms (Goes upto 100ms at times) in both the games and both are playable now. So, I guess the hardware is the culprit here. My PC has 2 external antennas hand screwed to the back of my CPU, Is there any particular way to clean it (cos I know the pins at the end are very delicate) and I did the bufferbloat test while connected through TP-Link reciever and the score is actually bad. Here it is.
 
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the_beginner said:
The issue remains in both 2.4 and 5ghz channels mate
Click to expand...
Ok, firstly then update the wifi driver and check if issue is cleared or still there. Check model no. Of that wifi hardware and check online for any known issues and workaround.
Like u said test with ur bros external wifi and see output.
Then to get the jio credentials just put the exact model no. Of the jio router online to get the default username nd pass. Then login and change the wifi channel manually and test again.
If nothing resolves it then only way is to change the wifi hardware.
 
the_beginner said:
The issue remains in both 2.4 and 5ghz channels mate


Tried my bro's TP-Link external reciever and it's actually better now. I tried Rocket league and COD MW and the latency remains around 70ms (Goes upto 100ms at times) in both the games and both are playable now. So, I guess the hardware is the culprit here. My PC has 2 external antennas hand screwed to the back of my CPU, Is there any particular way to clean it (cos I know the pins at the end are very delicate) and I did the bufferbloat test while connected through TP-Link reciever and the score is actually bad. Here it is.
Click to expand...
Okay, that bufferbloat result is kind of terrible for real. I think a minimum of C can be considered ideal for normal gaming.

Firstly, get your router credentials using what @rockyo27 described. Then, try changing the channels and everything else already said on this post. Afterwards, you can try the below if nothing helps.

Assuming you're on the 30Mbps Jio plan, go to your router page, advanced settings and see if there are Bandwidth profiles that you can apply. Try setting it to 60% of the maximum speed that you get for starters. For 30Mbps, maximum bandwidth would be 18Mbps and so on. That can reduce bufferbloat, but at the cost that your internet speed is reduced by a lot.
If that works, try setting a higher value like 80% and keep experiementing till you're happy with the connection.

Of course, any obstacles between you and the router will also increase latency spikes. Also, test with your LAN settings once as well, to get the most accurate/reference result for your bufferbloat test.
 
Hi all.... like I said above, I've been using my bro's external wifi reciever for 2 days now and everything is perfect... I'm planning to buy it to resolve my issue. Thanks a lot for all your support mates.
 
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