[Ethernet Onboard-vs-USB-vs-PCIe] I finally found the reason behind my input lag after 6 years

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6yToFindTheAnswer
Posts: 5
Joined: 30 Oct 2022, 20:16

[Ethernet Onboard-vs-USB-vs-PCIe] I finally found the reason behind my input lag after 6 years

Post by 6yToFindTheAnswer » 30 Oct 2022, 22:02

Long time lurker here, finally made an account.

Ever since I build this PC problems started and my performance in game was noticeably worse. At the time I was questioning everything but the PC. Thinking that my issues are electricity related or from my ISP or even EMI.

My build is from avril 2017
i7 7700k
MSI Z270 Gaming Pro Carbon
16 GB 3000Mhz CL15
GTX 1080
1TB SSD

I literally spend thousands and thousands of Euros; I changed my power supply, tried every ISP in my country, changed high end routers several times, bought a UPS. Hell I even moved from 2 different house in 6 years... The problem persisted no matter what.

My problems are exactly what most of you guys describe on these topics. Heavy cursor feeling, i get pre-fired most of the time or bullets do not register, i die before even seeing enemies, like if they see me 1sec or 0,5sec before i even see them, etc...
I mainly play competitive FPS (CSGO, Valorant, etc) I have more than 9000Hours on Steam only on CSGO and a bit more than 1000h on Valorant.

I bought more than 10 different mice, a few different mousepads and 4, 5 different keyboards. Tried a bunch of 240Hz monitors... still the problems persisted.

Tried every single thing you can think of. Tweaked windows, very low dpc latency optimization, clean install with older version of windows, older nvidia drivers, etc. Took my PC at my friends house, etc. Nothing worked.

Then my professional life changed and I got less time to play for almost 2 years, so I forgot a bit about it; until a few months ago. So, because I have more free time now; I decided to try again the games I used to dominate on (CSGO &Valorant mostly).

and no surprise... My nightmares started again as described above.

Then by chance i found the reason for all this input lag that i have been experiencing since 6 years... and it is the dumbest thing ever...

I unplugged my ethernet cable and instantly my DPI felt like it doubled. Very curious about why i connected my Android phone (used LTE USB tethering) and played on some servers i always used to play on. My mouse sensor was snappy like i have never felt before, the PC was way more responsive (even the strafing on the keyboard) It was mind boggling, i just could not believe it. It was like I was playing another game. Bullet would register correctly and enemies were dying faster on a jittery 4G LTE connection with 60ms ping than a 1GB/s Fiber connection with very minimal jitter and 9ping....

So I suspected the network chipset on my MSI Z270 motherboard ( Intel I219-V )

What I did to confirm my theory is that I went to my office and took an old PC that we are not using anymore which got a i5 4460, gtx 750Ti and 8Gb of ram. But most importantly... a Realtek network chipset :)
Did a clean Windows 10 install with latest drivers and installed CSGO and Valorant even though this PC was way slower than my personal PC (max 150fps with lowest settings / on my PC i have way above 300Fps stable)

There was no issue, this slower OEM PC with Realtek network chip felt way more responsive and my mouse was snappier. I never felt like i got pre fired or even died before seeing the enemy. Plus it had a correct bullet registration which was not the case at all with my PC with the Intel Network Chipset.

Yeah you read that right, i spend THOUSANDS and THOUSANDS of Euros, tried every ISP, played 6 years with a very noticeable input lag all of that because of a trash Intel Network Chip. There is literally no fix, it is the exact same since I bought all the parts in 2017 with every drivers updates, every windows version and builds since then, every single tweak you can think of, there is no solution; if I connect my Ethernet Cable my DPI are divided by 2 and I have an insane input lag and noticeable disadvantage in game. Everything disappear when I use USB tethering and unplug the ethernet cable.

Which is totally not the case on an older and slower OEM PC with a realtek network chipset. I would have never ever imagined that a network chipset on a motherboard could make such a difference.

Plugging / unplugging the ethernet cable on the motherboard with Intel Network Chipset ( Intel I219-V ) made a very noticeable difference in gameplay feeling and cursor speed while on the motherboard with Realtek Network Chipset there was 0 difference if the exact same ethernet cable is plugged / unplugged.

Curious to know if any of you got a similar experience or know more about that subject?
UPDATE:
Apparent fascinating data about apparent latency savings (3ms claimed) by bypassing onboard and using USB-C or PCIe Ethernet. Read More Here

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dervu
Posts: 249
Joined: 17 Apr 2020, 18:09

Re: I finally found the reason behind my input lag after 6 years

Post by dervu » 31 Oct 2022, 09:13

Now find another person with same motherboard and same LAN chipset and ask them if they have such issue.
Maybe that would give another perspective on your issue.
Also you can try PCI-E ethernet adapter.
Ryzen 7950X3D / MSI GeForce RTX 4090 Gaming X Trio / ASUS TUF GAMING X670E-PLUS / 2x16GB DDR5@6000 G.Skill Trident Z5 RGB / ASUS ROG SWIFT PG279QM / Logitech G PRO X SUPERLIGHT / SkyPAD Glass 3.0 / Wooting 60HE / DT 700 PRO X || EMI Input lag issue survivor

TheKelz
Posts: 136
Joined: 15 Aug 2022, 17:15

Re: I finally found the reason behind my input lag after 6 years

Post by TheKelz » 31 Oct 2022, 09:33

You are either lucky that its the reason or its a placebo. I also have Intel network chipset and there is no different with Ethernet cable plugged or unplugged. I even tried 4 different motherboard brands with different chipsets, same thing all the time.

delve
Posts: 146
Joined: 15 Aug 2020, 05:24

Re: I finally found the reason behind my input lag after 6 years

Post by delve » 31 Oct 2022, 10:16

so for how long are you using the realtek one now?

triplese
Posts: 130
Joined: 13 Dec 2021, 12:20

Re: I finally found the reason behind my input lag after 6 years

Post by triplese » 31 Oct 2022, 14:30

Realtek 2.5G is same crap.
Is your realtek is 100mbit?

akylen
Posts: 108
Joined: 02 Jan 2021, 11:59

Re: I finally found the reason behind my input lag after 6 years

Post by akylen » 31 Oct 2022, 15:54

Can you install a realtek network card in the new pc? it must be found

MegaMelmek
Posts: 235
Joined: 21 Jan 2021, 12:54

Re: I finally found the reason behind my input lag after 6 years

Post by MegaMelmek » 31 Oct 2022, 17:55

There is for sure improvement if you plug phone to USB and play on LTE in CS GO it feels like another game even with high ping but same will happend if you use usb LAN all these tweeks are time limited. (all tested) Since your game work on diferent PC outside your place there is no fix at your home right?
Anything new connected to the PC increase capacitance and that will improve your input lag for limited time….

g00d8y3
Posts: 20
Joined: 07 Sep 2021, 06:39

Re: I finally found the reason behind my input lag after 6 years

Post by g00d8y3 » 31 Oct 2022, 19:25

I have realtek network chipset (x570 tomahawk) i have still lag nt.

Ragerlis
Posts: 32
Joined: 06 Sep 2020, 09:40

Re: I finally found the reason behind my input lag after 6 years

Post by Ragerlis » 31 Oct 2022, 19:33

You can use USB tethering with your wifisignal btw, no need to use LTE4g connection.

Just pointing it out incase you are still playing like this.

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Chief Blur Buster
Site Admin
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Joined: 05 Dec 2013, 15:44
Location: Toronto / Hamilton, Ontario, Canada
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Re: I finally found the reason behind my input lag after 6 years

Post by Chief Blur Buster » 31 Oct 2022, 23:35

Depends.

I've seen good LTE networks outperform bad WiFi networks.

A couple of people posted here in the past, that mentioned their LTE signal produced better competitive performance than their FTTH connection.

This is possibly because of bad network routing. Or other weirdness such as lag-compensation playing-field-levelling algorithms that somehow overseverely penalized low-ping players. Or gave an unusually low handicap for a user who was detected to be using LTE, but the person was using an average-LTE connection, etc. All kind of weird black-box algorithms in netcode.

Try ALL of the Internet connections you have, even LTE.
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