[SOLVED] Please help me fix a ping spiking/jitter issue

[Silicrex]

Hi!

I will try to make my post concise and incorporating of everything mentioned in the stickied posts. I'm sorry for information I don't know how to provide/mishandle in communicating. Any help or insight would definitely be greatly appreciated!


The problem
I've been having an extreme issue with my ping/ping jitter. It's not noticeable at all in most applications, but it seems to be present 24/7, and is always noticeable in certain games. With games that have ping monitors, they usually look something like... extremely unstable, bouncing like crazy around 50-200, with spikes to 300-1500 every few seconds. Unfortunately, I'm not sure how long this has been happening for, but it seems to be fluctuant (sometimes, it's better than others), and I don't think it's been longer than a few months.

Equipment
The computer experiencing problems is a pre-built HP Omen desktop. The website lists its wireless technology specs as "WLAN RT 8822 ac 2x2 +BT 4.2LE WW". In Device Manager, the primary seems to be a "Realtek RTL8822BE 802.11ac PCIe Adapter" (I say 'seems to be' because there are a lot of things listed here, and the others seem to be specifically for bluetooth/components). I do not know how to collect information on the motherboard. The power supply listing says "750 W Platinum efficiency power supply".. It is running Windows 10 Home 64-bit.

My ISP is Xfinity. I do not know if this is valid for identifying the model, but I believe it's a standard router-modem hybrid they provided, called the 'Xb6'. My internet plan offers a 500 Mbps download speed. Speed tests taken on https://www.speedtest.net/ always score around a 13 ping, 390-500 download, and 10 upload. I use WiFi, but I am working on getting an ethernet cable to see if that helps at all. I'm not sure if it's a good one, but I ordered an Insignia 8' CAT6 cable. There are usually around 4-5 devices connected at the same time, however most of the usage definitely comes from me. The modem is located a room away from me.

What I've found so far/what I've tried
I wasn't at all sure how to go about diagnosing this sort of thing. I was convinced it was on the games' side and not mine for a while, but https://www.meter.net/ping-test/ convinced me otherwise. I don't know how accurate this is, but the results seemed to be extremely in-line with what I was experiencing.

I have two computers, and this has seemed to help me work on narrowing down the problem area. Aside from my desktop, I also have an old laptop running Windows 8.1 (which, ironically, always performs better despite having a partially-broken WiFi adapter which stops working when the bottom is moved). The problem does not seem to occur at all on the laptop. My laptop has extremely stable ping around 40-80 in the same games, and it never spikes far past 100. They are connected to the same network, however the laptop is on 2.4GHz and desktop is on 5GHz. Comparing results on the meter.net test, the upper is my desktop, and lower green-highlighted is my laptop:

The desktop always spikes to 500+ every few seconds. Aside from this, I have no further leads.

I have tried reinstalling Windows, I've tried updating all of my drivers, I've tried doing a full restoration of the computer, and I've tried searching for corrupted files with the cmd sfc scan. One time, I reinstalled a different version of Java, switched to Mozilla Firefox, and switched to a different pair of headphones (wireless with transmitter). The problem magically disappeared. It was running mostly smoothly for a few hours, but then abruptly started having problems again. I tried recreating the steps I had taken, but I guess it was just a coincidence, because I couldn't find any actual relation/consistency. I tried exclusively using Mozilla, I tried installing different versions of Java, and I also tried unplugging the headphone transmitter altogether.

I have no idea what to try at this point, and this problem is driving me crazy. I am completely stumped and confused out of my mind. If anyone could help me diagnose it, I would be deeply grateful. If you have any questions or need more information on this, please let me know, and I will try to provide it.

 

[bill001g]

Your first test is always ethernet. The problem you describe is extremely common in wifi.

If you see the same issue on ethernet then you can do some more detailed testing but many times jitter issues the ISP will do nothing about. It could be it is not even in your ISP network. They are generally caused by spikes in traffic. If you are over using your connection it could cause it and that you might fix with QoS.

Still the most likely cause is the wifi. You can try the standard replace the driver but most times it makes no difference. There are settings related to roaming that sometime cause spikes but again that is not common.

The most common is some kind of interference. Wifi unlike almost any other network media does retransmission of data do to error correction. This takes time which is what causes the spikes. This causes no issues for almost anything other than games. Games are one of the very few applications that use the timing between packets for functionality. It is the worst combination you can get which is why you see recommendations to never use wifi for online games.

 

[Silicrex]

I understand. I apologize if posting before experimenting with ethernet was premature. Thank you for that information! Once the ethernet cable comes on Thursday, I'll give that a go and see if it resolves the problem.

If it wouldn't be trouble- do you have any idea on specifically what kind of interference it may be running into? Considering my laptop doesn't seem to be struggling at all in the same exact location, time, and network, I was convinced it had to be something more severe.

 

[bill001g]

Wifi is all guess work. The main difference between a laptop and a desktop is the placement of the antenna. Laptop place them behind the screen which tends to be a optimal placement. Desktop machines they are behind the machine very close to lots of metal parts. You want at least to try to face the antenna toward the router. They make antenna extension cable that allow you to place the antenna on top of the case.

There are almost no software setting you can make on nic cards....partially because the government does not want you adjusting things that can make the device non complaint. Everything is set in the driver and you can not change it. Just be very sure you do not let microsoft update them with their generic ones.

Wifi is almost like a magic act you never really know what will have effect. This is why reviews for wifi devices mean very little. Some devices work well in some houses and poorly in others. When they are tested in very controlled conditions the 2 devices can perform identical.