Struggling to make my PCIE wifi card work properly

[hhh111]

Hello, previously I was using a cheap (<$10) usb wifi adapter as I'm on my universities wifi as theres no available ethernet connection to use with my desktop. Games were unplayable because I would frequently get lag spikes.

I decided to upgrade to a PCIE wifi card, specifically this one: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00JNA337K/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o02_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

It arrived and I realized it wont fit on my motherboard because the only PCIE slot I have is under my GPU. I ordered a PCIE 1x riser and everything works good. PCIE card is installed and working properly.

I do a speedtest: 73mbps download, 100mbps upload, 10-20ping. Every test I did was within this range. Surely that's good enough to play games with a stable connection no?

Whenever I play games, so far I have tried fortnite and CS:GO, I lag pretty terribly. Once again, every 5-10 seconds I get a lag spike and am placed back a few steps. It makes these games unplayable competitively.

This has never been an issue (at home I was using ethernet). A friend at my same university with the exact same PCIE card has not experienced the same issue as me, though they are in a different building and that may affect it?

I am just very confused on what to do, because to me everything looks perfectly fine. Good speeds, low ping. I thought maybe its because I'm using a PCIE riser but then again, I get these high speeds and low ping regardless so I ruled that out?

Can anyone help me please <3

 

[anotherdrew]

Anytime you are on a shared service, like the University WiFi, there is a greater chance of lag .... even if you have great speed tests. A speed test looks at network conditions in a small slice of time. Games, on the other hand, require a stable connection over a period of time. In a shared environment you will have bursts of activity that are directly proportional to the population density of the users. Your friend in the other building might have fewer people utilizing the local resources. The best test of this theory ... fire up your game at 7pm (when I expect you have very heavy network usage) and then again at 6am (when I hope most of your compatriots are sleeping). Another test would be to take your rig to your friends place and see if your experience changes.

Could this also be a hardware issue ... yes. All hardware has the possibility of failure, but before you go out and buy news stuff, do some testing ... it's free.

 

[hhh111]

Anytime you are on a shared service, like the University WiFi, there is a greater chance of lag .... even if you have great speed tests. A speed test looks at network conditions in a small slice of time. Games, on the other hand, require a stable connection over a period of time. In a shared environment you will have bursts of activity that are directly proportional to the population density of the users. Your friend in the other building might have fewer people utilizing the local resources. The best test of this theory ... fire up your game at 7pm (when I expect you have very heavy network usage) and then again at 6am (when I hope most of your compatriots are sleeping). Another test would be to take your rig to your friends place and see if your experience changes.

Could this also be a hardware issue ... yes. All hardware has the possibility of failure, but before you go out and buy news stuff, do some testing ... it's free.

I definitely see a difference in speeds throughout the day, but it's never low enough to where I'd expect to not be able to play a game. Currently, my phone and laptop are both getting nearly double the download/upload speeds than my desktop using this card is. Same location.

I understand this may be a hardware issue? How can I check though? I've never had a problem regarding holding a stable internet connection before when on ethernet and this is a brand new card that was plugged into the PCIE slot. I've never used the PCIE slot previously. The USB internet adapter also has the same problem with lag.

Basically I'm just at a loss for what I should be doing next. I know basically next to nothing when it comes to networking parts or things like that. Any suggestions?

 

[anotherdrew]

It's a bit surprising your phone and laptop get higher speed. I would expect them all to be about the same. Make sure the antenna connections are tight and they are away from other electronics (sources of interference). That would include microwave ovens, cordless phones, sometimes dimmable LED lights, etc.

Even brand new hardware can have faults. Testing that is not easy. One test is to bring the WiFi adapter to another computer and retest. Another possible test would be to connect the PC to the laptop via Ethernet, disable the WiFi card on the PC, setup static IP addresses for both (192.168.25.1 and 192.168.25.5) and then bridge the Ethernet and WiFi adapters on the laptop (there are tutorials online). Instead of using the WiFi card, your computer would be using the laptop's WiFi.