My network needs are, of course, WoW related, and I am interested in ways of reducing network latency, specifically TCP latency since TCP is what WoW uses.
Typically I had been seeing in game latency a bit less than 200 ms. Recently (as in the last couple of weeks) my latency has spiked much higher, and I have been having frequent disconnects -- "frequent" as in every few minutes -- one of which resulted in a tragic death.
In reading up on the problem, some say the disconnects are the result of ISP "traffic shaping", a euphemism (to get all political about this) for what the U.S. Republican controlled House of Representatives did to Internet consumers. Who, for the most part, are at the mercy of monopolies.
Since moving to Finland is not a viable option for me at the moment, I am exploring technical solutions for reducing latency. Years ago on NT and XP I tweaked network settings to try to get low ping. But since the Windows 7 era I had pretty much figured Bill knows best. Which may have been naive.
Last night I implemented what is called the "TcpAckFrequency fix". I do not know who gets original credit for the idea, as it is not recent and it is all over the web. I added two registry values, TcpAckFrequency and TCPNoDelay, to the key for my ethernet adapter. Keys for ethernet adapters are found under:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\services\Tcpip\Parameters\Interfaces\
Each adapter has a GUI. Find the GUI for the adapter being used and insert new DWORD values for TcpAckFrequency and TCPNoDelay. Set both values to 1.
After applying the fix I had significantly lower latency as measured in game. I was going to say latency never got above 50 ms. But then I saw it spike twice to 52 ms. Still, much, much better than what I had before.
Now I'm wondering if there is anything else that would make an improvement in latency, either hardware or software. Does anyone know these days whether the ethernet adapter makes a difference? In olden times I would always go with Intel, as other vendors' adapters usually had problems. My server has an Intel adapter in it to this day. My hunch is that ethernet adapters are not yet a commodity, and that the brand and model still matter. However for my last few motherboards I have just used what's on the motherboard, currently a Realtek.
In looking at the current crop of about to be announced AMD 3+ motherboads it looks like one of Asus' offerings has an Intel NIC. Last time I bought Intel NIC's the list price was around $260. Bigfoot Networks makes a gaming specific NIC that sells for about $90. Some reports say Bigfoot helps with WoW. Most say it's not worth it.
What NIC's do other people use? Has anyone tried Bigfoot? Any other network suggestions?
Edit: I wonder if the cable modem makes a difference? Some say bridged connections reduce latency, but that would not only require a DOCSIS 3.0 modem but also require paying Comcast for the privilege.
I read tonight Comcast offers a small discount for the aged, but for that I have about two years left to go. I don't think WoW requires the bandwidth a bridged connection offers anyway. I used to play quite happily on a dial-up connection, till the ISP went out of business.
Typically I had been seeing in game latency a bit less than 200 ms. Recently (as in the last couple of weeks) my latency has spiked much higher, and I have been having frequent disconnects -- "frequent" as in every few minutes -- one of which resulted in a tragic death.
In reading up on the problem, some say the disconnects are the result of ISP "traffic shaping", a euphemism (to get all political about this) for what the U.S. Republican controlled House of Representatives did to Internet consumers. Who, for the most part, are at the mercy of monopolies.
Since moving to Finland is not a viable option for me at the moment, I am exploring technical solutions for reducing latency. Years ago on NT and XP I tweaked network settings to try to get low ping. But since the Windows 7 era I had pretty much figured Bill knows best. Which may have been naive.
Last night I implemented what is called the "TcpAckFrequency fix". I do not know who gets original credit for the idea, as it is not recent and it is all over the web. I added two registry values, TcpAckFrequency and TCPNoDelay, to the key for my ethernet adapter. Keys for ethernet adapters are found under:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\services\Tcpip\Parameters\Interfaces\
Each adapter has a GUI. Find the GUI for the adapter being used and insert new DWORD values for TcpAckFrequency and TCPNoDelay. Set both values to 1.
After applying the fix I had significantly lower latency as measured in game. I was going to say latency never got above 50 ms. But then I saw it spike twice to 52 ms. Still, much, much better than what I had before.
Now I'm wondering if there is anything else that would make an improvement in latency, either hardware or software. Does anyone know these days whether the ethernet adapter makes a difference? In olden times I would always go with Intel, as other vendors' adapters usually had problems. My server has an Intel adapter in it to this day. My hunch is that ethernet adapters are not yet a commodity, and that the brand and model still matter. However for my last few motherboards I have just used what's on the motherboard, currently a Realtek.
In looking at the current crop of about to be announced AMD 3+ motherboads it looks like one of Asus' offerings has an Intel NIC. Last time I bought Intel NIC's the list price was around $260. Bigfoot Networks makes a gaming specific NIC that sells for about $90. Some reports say Bigfoot helps with WoW. Most say it's not worth it.
What NIC's do other people use? Has anyone tried Bigfoot? Any other network suggestions?
Edit: I wonder if the cable modem makes a difference? Some say bridged connections reduce latency, but that would not only require a DOCSIS 3.0 modem but also require paying Comcast for the privilege.
I read tonight Comcast offers a small discount for the aged, but for that I have about two years left to go. I don't think WoW requires the bandwidth a bridged connection offers anyway. I used to play quite happily on a dial-up connection, till the ISP went out of business.
"I may be old, but I'm not dead."