Question Strange bandwidth usage on single game

[Mr. Pettit]

Sorry if I should post this in networking but I figured I'd ask here first. So I've been having an issue for about a year or possibly less when it comes to playing multiplayer servers on Garry's Mod. As far as I can tell no other game has this issue, but when I join a server in Gmod my network's bandwidth drops from about 460 Mb/s to about 60-70 Mb/s. Any other game typically only uses about 10 give or take, and it appears that my entire network is affected, not just my computer.

I'm on an ethernet connection as well and it appears to still be happening on WiFi. I've tried disabling downloads while playing games on Steam, as well as reducing the server browser pings/minute from 5,000 to 1,000. I also tried using a VPN, which seems to have little to no benefit. I can't seem to find any documentation on people having similar issues either, it's just really odd to me that it would affect one specific game and no other that I've tried so far. Looking in task manager, my network usage is only a couple megabytes at most when I'm in a server, so I'm not entirely sure where the bandwidth is going. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

(Additional information if it helps: My ISP is spectrum and I'm using a 3rd party Asus router and Arris surfboard modem. My PC is on an ethernet connection and running Windows 10)

 

[Ralston18]

What models for modem and router?

Run "ipconfig /all" (without quotes) via the Command Prompt. You should be able to copy and paste the full results here without needed to retype everything.

You do not need to redact IP addresses or macs. Do redact personal names and do not reveal the Public IP address assigned to the router via your ISP. ("What is my IP" will tell you what that IP address is if you do not know or recognize the IP address.)

Again do not post your Public IP address.

= = = =

Take a look in Resource Monitor and Process Explorer (Microsoft, free).

Either one or both tools (use one at a time) may reveal something else running in the background: maybe trying to update, backup, or simply "phone home".

Process Explorer:

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/downloads/process-explorer

I would look for anything that appears whenever Gmod or something else related to it is running.

Could be being triggered via Task Scheduler.....

Take your time looking, there is no need to rush.

There may also be some clues via the router's logs if available and enabled. Who has full admin rights to the router? You will need help from that person.

 

[Mr. Pettit]

Hi there, sorry for taking so long to reply to this. I thought I had resolved the issue actually and sort of forgot about my post here, so I'll try to update it a little bit in case others run into this issue in the future.

Since my last post I updated my computer from Windows 10 to 11, and interestingly my bandwidth issue has reduced quite a bit. I'm averaging approximately 210 megabits per second give or take on a busy server where I was getting about 60 max beforehand. The issue that is persisting now however is my ping, which is substantially high (anywhere from 120 to 250 ms). Looking into this a bit more and running a bufferbloat test, it seems like my network has issues with latency when its under ideal conditions and when I'm downloading or uploading.

I ended up looking into which modem I use, which I haven't changed in quite a while (at least 7 years or so) and it is an Arris SURFboard SB6190. Investigating that a little bit further, it looks like that particular model's CPU has issues which lead to latency among other things.

The router on the other hand is fairly new, so I think the modem is the issue and it just needs to be replaced. Unfortunately I forgot to look up the model for that as well after learning about the modem, so given its age ant notoriety I think I need to start there.