Question Random ping spikes in a game on my laptop, but not PC.

[Ritzie]

Hello,

I mainly play games on my laptop, mostly just Valorant. I have been experiencing random ping spikes ever since I got my new ISP as well as my laptop, so I never noticed where's the issue really is.

So.., I face random ping spikes (anywhere from +10 to +50ms) while gaming on my laptop, but on my PC there is barely ±2ms difference in ping. Ping spike happens mainly when there is more and more things happening. And while it doesn't happen every time, whenever it happens, the intensity of ping spikes can be connected with how many things are happening in the game, especially by me.

I use ethernet on both and even tried using my PC's ethernet cable on my laptop but the issue remained same.

If I do ping or traceroute tests using command or hrping or PingPlotter, I see pretty much the same ping on both, without any ping spikes. Also, ping to my router remains better (0.4ms to 0.8ms) in my laptop compared to my PC (0.9ms to 1.4ms).

I have pretty much the same programs installed on both and had this issue even when I did a fresh Windows installation.

Spoiler: Specs

Not sure if this requires specs to be mentioned but here they are-

Laptop: MSI Alpha 15.
Ryzen 7 5800H with RX6600M GPU.
32 GB RAM (16+16) 3200 MHz CL20.

PC:
Ryzen 5 3400G with iGPU.
MSI Tomahawk B450 Max motherboard
16 GB RAM (8+8) 3200 MHz CL16.

 

[Ritzie]

Hello!

Recently, I started experiencing packet loss in games. It doesn't happen all the time, but I couldn't reproduce packet loss in ping or trace route tests even when it was happening constantly. I don't know if it is because of "UDP packets" being different than TCP packets or it is happening only on "very specific servers".

I faced it in both Valorant and CS2. In case of CS2, it was much worse and I was not even being able to play it properly. After opening the console, I could see a lot of mentions of packet loss being more than 25% consistently.

While it was happening, I tried pinging the CS server's IP address (which I saw in the console) in hrping and Ping Plotter and I couldn't reproduce any packet loss there. Same for any IP I could ping.

Similarly, in Valorant, I tried pinging various servers (including the IP addresses given by Riot Support), but I couldn't reproduce any packet loss, even though I was experiencing them while gaming.

It doesn't happen in every match and it is much rare in Valorant than CS. I can't seem to find any specific time when it happens either, so it seems completely random to me.

I have tried doing packet loss test in some websites but it resulted without any packet loss.

I don't think my ISP will be willing to do anything about it unless I give them some hint on where the issue could lie. And yes, I am using ethernet and have experimented with a few cables.

And if you have read my previous post, you may know that I mainly play on my laptop and I am having some ping spikes issue on it but not on my PC. However, this specific issue happens on both. So, while I am sure it has something to do with my ISP, I need something to show them the same.

 

[hedwar2011]

Note: I wrote a thread about ping spikes which is similar but not the same, so I think it is alright to create a new thread for this issue.

Hello!

Recently, I started experiencing packet loss in games. It doesn't happen all the time, but I couldn't reproduce packet loss in ping or trace route tests even when it was happening constantly. I don't know if it is because of "UDP packets" being different than TCP packets or it is happening only on "very specific servers".

I faced it in both Valorant and CS2. In case of CS2, it was much worse and I was not even being able to play it properly. After opening the console, I could see a lot of mentions of packet loss being more than 25% consistently.

While it was happening, I tried pinging the CS server's IP address (which I saw in the console) in hrping and Ping Plotter and I couldn't reproduce any packet loss there. Same for any IP I could ping.

Similarly, in Valorant, I tried pinging various servers (including the IP addresses given by Riot Support), but I couldn't reproduce any packet loss, even though I was experiencing them while gaming.

It doesn't happen in every match and it is much rare in Valorant than CS. I can't seem to find any specific time when it happens either, so it seems completely random to me.

I have tried doing packet loss test in some websites but it resulted without any packet loss.

I don't think my ISP will be willing to do anything about it unless I give them some hint on where the issue could lie. And yes, I am using ethernet and have experimented with a few cables.

And if you have read my previous post, you may know that I mainly play on my laptop and I am having some ping spikes issue on it but not on my PC. However, this specific issue happens on both. So, while I am sure it has something to do with my ISP, I need something to show them the same.

This post is precisely the same as the one here just worded differently. Please try not to do that as it slows us down trying to help you.

 

[hedwar2011]

1) Have you contacted your ISP at all?
2) What type of internet service do you have? Cable? DSL? Satellite?

 

[Ritzie]

1) Have you contacted your ISP at all?
2) What type of internet service do you have? Cable? DSL? Satellite?

1. Nope. I have tried contacting them earlier for similar issues (for my friend) and know the kind of questions they ask.

They won't do anything unless they can reproduce the issue, without playing the game. It feels like banging head on the wall while talking to them without having anything for them, like traceroute/ping tests. That's the usual thing they ask.

Also, this seems to be device specific issue to me. Considering ping is stable on my PC.

2. It is FTTH connection.

 

[Ritzie]

This post is precisely the same as the one here just worded differently. Please try not to do that as it slows us down trying to help you.

Not exactly.

That post is about ping spikes only on my laptop while gaming. I didn't face any ping spikes on my PC when I am playing games.

This post is about packet loss which I am experiencing in both of them but want to reproduce it in some way which my ISP could also do without them having to play the game (because they won't). And this happens even when I am having perfectly stable ping.

 

[Ritzie]

I fixed this issue. It was due to old ethernet driver. The latest one available by MSI and Windows update were old, from 2021. After I updated to the latest driver, this issue has completely vanished.

Lesson learned - don't rely on OEM and MS for updates ;-;