[SOLVED] Wifi Dropping Out When Gaming

[AUserNameThatIsRequired]

Hi there,

CPU: Intel I5 10400f
GPU: NVIDEA 1080 TI
Wireless card: tp link wireless pci ac1200
Network: 5ghz 80 mbps | average -50db signal | Wifi analyser shows channel 100-116, No interference from other WIFI

I have tested 4 devices with WinMTR from the same location as my PC running the same game. Each device showed perfect connection, could get to 8.8.8.8 with minimal latency.

I have used my PC for 2 months every game I played online had no problem. I was getting a better ping than my laptop, even when my laptop was closer to the router. Now when I run even a small game my latency on WinMTR to my home router goes up to 4000 milliseconds. As soon as I close the game my latency goes down to 3 milliseconds, that's over a 1000 times jump. When I try and use matchmaking WinMTR shows packets timing out even to my home router.

Clearly something has changed. I have not touched my PC the build is exactly how I built it, I have refreshed drivers for my WIFI card. CPU while in a game is running at around 20%, my RAM has around 2GB no utilised.

Has anyone got any ideas? I like to game online with friends and it really helps me relax before I have to start the working week again. I'm all out of options

 

[Ralston18]

All games or just one game? What games are you playing?

On your PC use Resource Monitor and Task Manager (use both but only one at a time) to closely observe PC performance.

First while not gaming as usual then while gaming as usual. Determine what changes on the PC when latency increases.

Make and model router (or modem/router)? The router's logs (if available and enabled) may provide some clue as to what is happening.

Who has full admin rights to the router? You will need help from that person.

 

[AUserNameThatIsRequired]

Every single game I play, I've tested with rocket league for matchmaking and the witcher 3 to see if it was down to resources. It looks like it is.

I believe its down to memory as when memory spikes it will lose connection. But I have been playing for two months with no problem before. I'm wondering if a Windows update has taken up some more of my resources.

My ssd and hdd, spikes don't correlate to latency. My CPU and GPU aren't even going past 20% in game so I doubt it will be that.

I'm with Vodafone so I have their latest router whatever that is, it doesn't say on it so I will have to look it up

I have admin on the router will look to see if I can grab logs from it but I doubt they'll have them

 

[bill001g]

It could be a wifi card that has failed or it could be your neighbors got a new router and are now interfering with you.

Your best test is to try a ethernet cable before you start doing things like replacing wifi cards.

 

[AUserNameThatIsRequired]

Wifi works fine out side of games and I will get a full 80mbps connection.

No neighbours have 5ghz WiFi just me, WiFi analyser only shows my signal no interference on the channel

 

[bill001g]

Games do not care about the speed they care about consistent latency.

It makes it even more likely your problem is interference if other application run fine. This is the reason you see everybody saying do not run online games over wifi. It is a fundamental design issue. Games can not tolerate any latency variations where things like netflix etc can use buffers to hide these variations.

Scanning with wifi analyzers means very little. In your case you will not see the newer wifi6 stuff since your card does not support it. But it can be many other devices that do not use actual wifi but operate on the same radio channels. Things like drones and baby monitors are common.

But if you are sure it is not interference then just buy a new wifi card and see if maybe it was defective.

 

[AUserNameThatIsRequired]

Latency when pc is not under load is 3 milliseconds average doesn't really budge I've left WinMTR running for 30 mins while doing normal activity with a best/worst latency of 3/9 milliseconds.

Either way to avoid interference I shall use an ethernet and test, I can't run a line to my pc but does anyone know how useful passthrough can be, I've never tried it but if it's useful I can give it a shot

 

[bill001g]

It is hard to say game traffic is pretty much different than any other form of traffic and is why it has so much trouble with wifi. I do not know of a test tools that simulates game traffic well. Key is game traffic has a constant stream of both download and upload traffic at low rates. Other traffic either is mostly download or is very runs at high rate and then zero for most times.

The main reason you test is if it does the same thing on ethernet you can suspect some weird problem with the game itself. It is not uncommon for a video driver to have a issue but the game blame the network because it was so busy processing video it didn't bother to look to see if the network traffic arrived. BUT there are so many things to try you do not want to mess with this until you are certain it is not the wifi.

Not sure what you mean by pass trough. The best option for games when you can not get ethernet is to use Moca if you have tv coax in both rooms or powerline networks. The newest forms of moca are as fast as ethernet. Powerline is slower than wifi sometimes but the latency is extremely consistent.

 

[AUserNameThatIsRequired]

Interesting you say about it forgetting to receive packets as I do see my packets being sent but none being received by the pc, might take a look at video drivers

I've tested the game on my laptop at the same location as the pc and I get a solid connection no lag can play as normal. Which is why I am so confused my pc worked for 2 months and now it has a problem

By passthrough I mean something like 'devolo magic 2 LAN kit' I've heard they can be super good but really I'd rather just fix my PCs issue as the devolo kit is expensive and if the houses wiring is bad then I'm not going to get my moneys worth

 

[AUserNameThatIsRequired]

Update: I redid the PC's local firewall from scratch. Updated video driver, checked for other drivers for all other devices, nothing needed updating.

Ran Rocket league was able to connect to a game, then after 2 mins I started having issues again checked WinMTR. Showed I was sending packets but not recieving

 

[AUserNameThatIsRequired]

Stress tested CPU, RAM and GPU, while running WinMTR.

When the CPU and RAM were tested packets were sent and received with a 0% loss over 10 mins with a latency no higher than 10 milliseconds.

Tested GPU instant loss of receiving packets over WinMTR, latency went up to 4000 milliseconds again. Must be a new driver, I'm going to try and install an older driver.

 

[bill001g]

This does not make sense really since video is in no way related to network but I have seen so many people "fix" network issues by making video changes. It is just so strange it does this.

 

[AUserNameThatIsRequired]

I completely reformatted PC tried new network adapter drivers, new video drivers, taking out an old HDD that may have been affecting performance. Literally took apart and rebuilt my PC

For anyone else experiencing a similar issue my resolve was to get the Devolo Magic 2 LAN adapters for ethernet passthrough now I get perfect speeds again.

 

[microtank]

Devolo Magic 2 LAN adapters

You can only confirm stability of a new device or method for at 3-6 months of testing. However the power lines did the trick huh? What’s the download and upload speeds? If it’s just you in the home then it might last a good while unless something fails. If there’s others, just remember a cellphone by today’s standards can easily take all of it. Glad it worked out, but everyone can depend on a power line for a solution.