I've been having an issue for quite a while, and unfortunately haven't found any fix for it. At seemingly random intervals, my latency just shoots up for a few seconds. This seems to happen no matter what I'm doing, but tends to affect me more when playing some online games (Diablo 3 and League of Legends particularly, sometimes World of Warcraft though that seems to have better latency forgiveness so I don't notice it as often, and Ventrillo gives me very choppy voices when I hit a lag spike).
I run on a wireless network, but I'm about five feet from the router. Other computers on my network seem to have no issue, even when I'm sitting right next to someone playing the exact same game (I get a lag spike, he doesn't), so I think it's a computer issue. I've tried to do a virus scan with several different programs, and found nothing. I'm running a Dell laptop with Windows 7 (pre-installed).
Does anyone have any suggestions on how I can get my computer to stop lagging?
Edit: One clarification, it's definitely network lag (i.e. I suddenly have a very slow/no connection to the servers), not just an issue with the computer not loading things fast enough. The graphics run perfectly smooth even when I'm lagging.
1. Go to Start / control Panel / System / Advanced System Settings / Performance Settings / change to "Adjust for best performance" / Apply / OK
2. Open and run Disk Cleanup
3. Defrag. your computer
See if this fixes the problem.
Cheers,
Lee
Hey, thanks for the welcome
I didn't have time to try defragmenting, but I ran LoL (which is the game that usually has the most issues with lag) after changing the performance settings, and it ran a lot smoother. Still a few random lag spikes, but not for as long or as often. I'll let you know how things work after I defragment.
Well unfortunately, after a few more tests, it looks like it wasn't enough. The spikes seem to not last as long, but they're still frequent enough to cause frustration.
Wi-fi is not the best for gaming. Cable is always preferable for the strongest signal. Have you run a ping and upload/download speed test at different times of day to get an accurate picture of what your ISP is actually supplying?
Take note of your ping, upload and download speeds at http://www.speedtest.net/. don't click on "start Scan" as you need to click on "begin Test" that appears on the laptop screen at the site. You could also try a cable connection just to see if the lagging disappears due to better signal strength.
The fact that other computers on your network don't have your lagging problem doesn't mean much unless they are all the same computer model with the same OS setup and drivers. Even then it might just be an issue with your computer.
PS edit. If you still haven't done so, It is very important to defrag. your hard-drive before beginning the above tests.
I'll try to find an unused network cable and go wired for a bit, see if that fixes things.
Also, I found out that my automatic driver updates weren't working for my network card. Got a new driver installed and that seems to help a lot. Not quite perfect, but I am noticing a huge change.
Nothing wrong with those speeds, so we should be able to rule your ISP out as a problem. The old driver seems like it was the big issue and a cable always works better for on-line gaming.
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