Windows 8 PC Gaming Lag Spikes

[WinMunkee]

Keep in mind these issues are Internet / Network Related.

The Issue

The last couple of nights, I wanted to do some online gaming, specifically Diablo III and Battlefield 3.

In Battlefield 3, I can join a server just fine, and if I stand still I can watch the action playing out smoothly and my ping is at 20-22 depending on which server I choose. When I move my ping jumps all the way up to 300 and can even max out at 800 and on the screen I keep jittering back and forth.

In Diablo III, I haven't checked my ping, but I have noticed a similar issue.

My assumption

With that information and some tests that I've done, my download speed is ~25 Mbps, and my upload Speed is ~4 Mbps. It's hard to say that this is a driver issue, but I'm not ruling it out. Maybe it's a firewall issue?

Trouble shooting

• My desktop has both Wireless and Wired Connection capabilities, and I tried each one separately with the same results.
  
• I have disconnected my router, and plugged my PC directly into the Modem to see if that would fix it. It did not.
  
• I tried port forwarding, it did not work.
  
• Updated my network card driver (nForce)
  

Equipment

• ASUS M3N78 PRO Motherboard
  
• 6GB DDR2 800
  
• AMD 5770 1GB GDDR 5
  
• 500GB HDD 7200RPM
  
• Router: NETGEAR Wireless G (I'll get the model later when I get home)
  
• Modem: Motorola DOCSIS 3.0 (same)
  

If I can get any help regarding this issue, I will be truly grateful. Other than these issues the games run flawlessly.

[Astra.Xtreme]

Give this a try:

http://support.amd.com/us/kbarticles/Pages/AMDCatalyst1211betadriver.aspx

[WinMunkee]

Those are video drivers. I'm talking about network lag / ping. Not video lag.

[Mayhem]

well i had similar behavior but was on Windows 7, i fixed by using Leatrix Latency Fix http://www.wowinterface.com/downloads/info13581-LeatrixLatencyFix.html

its a program commonly know in WOW players but its for all online games like stated in their info "You will see reduced latency in many online games including World of Warcraft, Guild Wars 2, Diablo 3, Star Wars, Rift, Aion, Warhammer, Lord of the Rings, and more."

try it to see if it helps, you can undo easily if you want to

[Astra.Xtreme]

Those are video drivers. I'm talking about network lag / ping. Not video lag.

Right, and you've already tried just about everything you can for the network components. It's very possible that the lag is caused by the video card and thus making your ping skyrocket.

[WinMunkee]

I try to keep as little 3rd party software on my PC as possible. Is there anyone that is technical enough that can help me?

How do video drivers effect internet ping? I've never heard of this.

[Astra.Xtreme]

I try to keep as little 3rd party software on my PC as possible. Is there anyone that is technical enough that can help me?

How do video drivers effect internet ping? I've never heard of this.

Well going from your explanation, it sounds like your graphics card is causing it. When you move around, the GPU starts working harder, so if the driver is bad, then it will freeze/lag and cause your ping to go up.

I'm assuming everything worked fine with Windows 7, so it pretty much has to be a driver problem.

[spaceelf]

I try to keep as little 3rd party software on my PC as possible. Is there anyone that is technical enough that can help me?

How do video drivers effect internet ping? I've never heard of this.

If I might interject here, you might try checking the firmware on your modem and router for an update. Barring that, cFosSpeed should do the trick. You also might check that the game is in your firewall and whatnot.

8 does use networks differently and I too do not see your graphics driver having anything to do with it in this case, but you still might want to grab them if you've never updated them since 8.

12.10 will be fine, 12.11 beta is for 7xxx cards.

[WinMunkee]

Well going from your explanation, it sounds like your graphics card is causing it. When you move around, the GPU starts working harder, so if the driver is bad, then it will freeze/lag and cause your ping to go up.

I'm assuming everything worked fine with Windows 7, so it pretty much has to be a driver problem.

That makes no sense, and that is not how I described it. It's a network issue through and through.

Video card drivers, and the video card do not effect your ping. Ping is based on internet connection, not how well your video card is working.

If I might interject here, you might try checking the firmware on your modem and router for an update. Barring that, cFosSpeed should do the trick. You also might check that the game is in your firewall and whatnot.

8 does use networks differently and I too do not see your graphics driver having anything to do with it in this case, but you still might want to grab them if you've never updated them since 8.

I haven't upgraded my firmware in a while on my router, I will try that when I get home.

I am currently using the latest Windows 8 Driver for my video card from AMD's website. Like I said, the game runs smooth. It's only when I move (upload) when playing a multiplayer game. All other single player games work fine. I didn't have these issues with Windows 8 Consumer Preview, I'm not sure why I'm having them now.

[Astra.Xtreme]

That makes no sense, and that is not how I described it. It's a network issue through and through.

Video card drivers, and the video card do not effect your ping. Ping is based on internet connection, not how well your video card is working.

Did you not read what I said?... If your driver is bad and causing your frame rates to bounce around, your ping might suffer. It's not that hard of a concept.

You wanted suggestions, so instead of whining about something you don't completely understand, why don't you try what I said and rule it out? Instead of complaining about it for 15 minutes, you could have taken the 5 minutes to install the beta driver and then move on if it didn't work...

[Mayhem]

Astra.Xtreme is right also, video can cause ping problems and that was noticed alot on Diablo 3 on the beginning when playing in Public games and alot of spells around with caused Lag and ping

on BF3 no ideia

if that dont work, go check the link i told you, fixes alot of online games ping problems that many have

[WinMunkee]

Video lag, and network lag are not related in any way.

You shouldn't confused poor video card performance with network issues.

[NeoTrunks]

I have the same problem in TF2 on Windows 8. I didn't have these problems on Windows 7 or Mac OS X.

It's definitely not a graphics issue, because I could be staring at a wall, and the whole game would hiccup. You can also see a spike if you have the net graph enabled in the game. Playing other games, I do not have the same issue. I also do not have the same problem on more demanding single player games, like Deus Ex Human Revolution. Definitely seems to be something with Windows 8, but it doesn't seem as if a lot of people are affected by it.

[Shane Nokes]

Video lag, and network lag are not related in any way.

Yes they are. If you don't want help and the advice of people on this forum then just Google for it.

Every piece of hardware in a machine works together. If for some reason one part has an issue it can spill over into other things.

Anyone who tells you otherwise is someone you don't want to listen to.

[WinMunkee]

What type of Network card do you use? NVidia? Realtek?

Yes they are. If you don't want help and the advice of people on this forum then just Google for it.

Every piece of hardware in a machine works together. If for some reason one part has an issue it can spill over into other things.

Anyone who tells you otherwise is someone you don't want to listen to.

Maybe it's because I've never heard of this, but with more people coming in and telling me this I will take it into consideration.

I apologies if I was rude to anyone in here, I'm just frustrated and want a solution to the problem..

[Shaun N.]

Try installing the newer video drivers and see if it makes it any better.

[WinMunkee]

I will when I get home. I'll try the BETA driver, if that doesn't work, I'll use the Windows 7 Driver and post my results. I'm sure this could be useful to anyone in the future if it works.

[Shaun N.]

I installed the beta driver and it is MUCH better than the current live driver.

[Shane Nokes]

I totally can understand frustration. I have an odd issue with my laptop and phone.

On my desktop or any normal MicroUSB wall charger I can use the phone normally.

When plugged into the laptop however the capacitive buttons become less responsive. The rest if the screen works fine, but the bottom buttons take several tries sometimes

Everything else behaves when plugged in. So who would have thought the USB port on a laptop would affect the capacitive buttons on a phone.

That's an example of weird ways something seemingly unrelated can affect things. :)

[NeoTrunks]

I'll try the beta drivers for NVIDIA again. I was using them earlier, but they caused this terrible flickering in Neverwinter Nights. The latest GA driver doesn't do that for me. But, if it keeps me from having a period lag spike every 15 seconds or so in TF2, it's worth it.

[WinMunkee]

Please post your results!

[WinMunkee]

The BETA Video drivers did not fix the issue. I'm going to try Windows 7 Drivers next.

[123456789A]

Definitely video related, try running chkdsk and defrag and you should notice an improvement.

[Denis W. Veteran]

This might help:

http://forums.steamp...d.php?t=1356551 (look at the registry settings in yellow in post #2)

[WinMunkee]

^{Didn't work, although mine was set to a, and not 10.}