Massive ping spikes in every game

[PickleJars]

I've had this issue for multiple months now, I will be playing any online game and my ping will spike upwards of 1000.

BF3 for example, I will be playing and suddenly my character in game will lag backwards 10 feet or just stutter in place a for a second or two. I have ran ping tests through the command prompt (ping -t URL) and every time it lags there is a corresponding ping spike it the command prompt window.

At first I thought it was my ISP, I had roughly a 5 Mbps DL/1 Mbps UP, I talked to them multiple times and had multiple technicians come and look at it but nothing they did worked, I tried a new modem, different cables and more. I eventually gave up because I was moving soon.

Fast forward a few weeks and now I'm in Oklahoma with a new ISP with a 25 Mbps DL/3 Mbps UP with a completely different modem and I am having the exact same issues occurring.

At this time I have figured it has to be something in my PC so I start looking for fixes, I have tried defragmenting my HDD, redownloading some games, updating punkbuster, and a few more things to no avail.

I am completely clueless at this point and would love some tips if anyone has some.

PC specs if needed:
Asus Sabertooth z77 Motherboard
Intel core i7 3770k @ 3.5GHz
8GB Ripjaw memory @ 1333Mhz
2x EVGA GTX 680s 4GB FTW editions
Asus Xonar Essence STX sound card
Corsair 120gb Force 3 SSD
Western Digital 2TB caviar green drive (games stored on this)
Kingwin 1000w PSU
Temperatures of all these components are looking good while in-game

Thanks

 

[memadmax]

Uninstall then reinstall your network card driver, along with checking for updates for it.
Do a virus scan.
Are you going thru a router before the modem?

 

[hsyuts]

You are not connected via WIFI right? Some low-quality WIFI adapters are known to cause horrible ping spikes in games. The same goes for low-quality WIFI access point.

If you not using wired connection, use it and see if ping spikes still occur.

 

[PickleJars]

Uninstall then reinstall your network card driver, along with checking for updates for it.
Do a virus scan.
Are you going thru a router before the modem?

I tried that and it didn't work, still getting moments where my character stutters.

One thing I failed to mention is that it seems to spike when my upload is being used. For example I uploaded a video clip to YouTube while testing my ping and here are the results... http://i.imgur.com/vGZ8ZEK.png

 

[PickleJars]

You are not connected via WIFI right? Some low-quality WIFI adapters are known to cause horrible ping spikes in games. The same goes for low-quality WIFI access point.

If you not using wired connection, use it and see if ping spikes still occur.

Always have used a wired connection.

 

[bill001g]

Run a traceroute to the site you are having problems.

Now open multiple command windows and run continuous ping to say the first 10 ip in the list or so including the first one which should be your router.

When you have a issue look at these and determine how far into the network the issue is. If it is in the first hop then it likely is your router. If it is in the second then it is likely a issue with the connection to your house. Anything past the first couple is hard to say exactly what it is but it does show your ISP has a issue in their network at that point.

 

[Hawkeye22]

Uninstall then reinstall your network card driver, along with checking for updates for it.
Do a virus scan.
Are you going thru a router before the modem?

I tried that and it didn't work, still getting moments where my character stutters.

One thing I failed to mention is that it seems to spike when my upload is being used. For example I uploaded a video clip to YouTube while testing my ping and here are the results... http://i.imgur.com/vGZ8ZEK.png

If possible, cap your upload bandwidth. Upload is as important as download. If you saturate your upload link, the PC can't ACK packets in a timely fashion. Most games use UDP, but anything that uses TCP will need to ACK. This is very noticable in torrents. When I torrent a file, I cap my upload speed to 80% - 85% of my total upload bandwidth, otherwise the whole torrent slows down.

 

[PickleJars]

Run a traceroute to the site you are having problems.

Now open multiple command windows and run continuous ping to say the first 10 ip in the list or so including the first one which should be your router.

When you have a issue look at these and determine how far into the network the issue is. If it is in the first hop then it likely is your router. If it is in the second then it is likely a issue with the connection to your house. Anything past the first couple is hard to say exactly what it is but it does show your ISP has a issue in their network at that point.

I just tried this and it happens on the 6th hop every time when "pinging" youtube.com. On a side note, I purchased a new network card to plug into one of my PCIe slots today and the issue is still occurring.

 

[memadmax]

Have you tried going into resource monitor and looking at what is hogging your bandwidth?
Go to start > Search programs and files > Type in resource monitor > Click on network tab and it will show a list of things using networking resources. If you see a program constantly using network bandwidth, kill it by right clicking on it and insetting end process.

 

[bill001g]

Run a traceroute to the site you are having problems.

Now open multiple command windows and run continuous ping to say the first 10 ip in the list or so including the first one which should be your router.

When you have a issue look at these and determine how far into the network the issue is. If it is in the first hop then it likely is your router. If it is in the second then it is likely a issue with the connection to your house. Anything past the first couple is hard to say exactly what it is but it does show your ISP has a issue in their network at that point.

I just tried this and it happens on the 6th hop every time when "pinging" youtube.com. On a side note, I purchased a new network card to plug into one of my PCIe slots today and the issue is still occurring.

If it happens this many hops it is likely nothing in your house and likely nothing in connection that runs to just your house. The main problem with this is there is nothing you can fix or replace the will solve this.

You are now going to have to call the ISP and see what they think. You will need to get past the fools that think you should reboot your router/pc and it will fix it.

This many hops into the trace you are going to have to hope it is still within your ISP control...or they will have to call their upstream partner ISP. If your ISP is a small ISP they very well could be exceeding the bandwidth they have purchased from a larger ISP. If that is the case it is going to be tough to get them to give you any kind of truthful answer.

 

[PickleJars]

Run a traceroute to the site you are having problems.

Now open multiple command windows and run continuous ping to say the first 10 ip in the list or so including the first one which should be your router.

When you have a issue look at these and determine how far into the network the issue is. If it is in the first hop then it likely is your router. If it is in the second then it is likely a issue with the connection to your house. Anything past the first couple is hard to say exactly what it is but it does show your ISP has a issue in their network at that point.

I just tried this and it happens on the 6th hop every time when "pinging" youtube.com. On a side note, I purchased a new network card to plug into one of my PCIe slots today and the issue is still occurring.

If it happens this many hops it is likely nothing in your house and likely nothing in connection that runs to just your house. The main problem with this is there is nothing you can fix or replace the will solve this.

You are now going to have to call the ISP and see what they think. You will need to get past the fools that think you should reboot your router/pc and it will fix it.

This many hops into the trace you are going to have to hope it is still within your ISP control...or they will have to call their upstream partner ISP. If your ISP is a small ISP they very well could be exceeding the bandwidth they have purchased from a larger ISP. If that is the case it is going to be tough to get them to give you any kind of truthful answer.

I just find it so weird that I'm having the same issue with completely different ISPs and in a different State. Luckily I'm living with my sister right now and don't move into my house until the end of the week so hopefully the internet I get there will suffice.