Periodic lag on gaming server...help

[DFWallace]

My son and I 'game' online. Every @ 7-10 days or so, we experience severe lag that makes the game unplayable. (game is Call of Duty: World at War).

Our 'rig':
Asus P5B-D MB w/ latest bios | Intel E8400 @ 3.6ghz | Xigmatek s1283 cpu  HeatSink
4 gig GSkill memory | nVidia GTX280 vid card | PCPower & Cooling 610W PS(49a on +12v rail)
5  120mm case fans (2 'in' 2 'out' and 1 on the HS) | Win 7-64 on Intelx25g2 SSD
D-Link 'DIR-655' router | Web provider: Cox cable 'premium' (23Down/4Up), (dynamic IP)

I have completed BlackViper's 'Win7 tweaks' and 'services' turn-offs. Before going to the game server, I turn off Anti-virus, run 'CCleaner', and run 'gameBooster'. While playing we also run a game-chat program called TeamSpeak. 'PingPlotter' results: 12 hops, averaging @ 33-35ms. Typically, we have one of the best in-game 'pings' of all players. Here is a 'Hijack This' log of what's running before we go to the game:

BV EDIT: Posting HyjackThis log files is against my forum rules: http://bbs.blackviper.com/index.php?action=rules

I run an overlay utility program called 'PlayClaw' while we are playing the game. It shows our frames per second(FPS) speed. Depending on the particular rendered scene, we average about 115-155 frames per second in the game. When we are getting the 'lag' problem, our 'fps' is about 20-25...these numbers were the same before I did the BlackViper tweaks.

Ideas, folks? Is there something that runs in the background periodically that causes this? What can I do specifically to make this go away?

Thank you...

Brian in RI
Game server in Chicago

[Black Viper]

Same time? How long does it last? A few seconds, few minutes, until reboot, etc?
Check your task scheduler and see when the latest tasks have ran. Event log is also usually helpful in this regard. If these instructions need expanding, let me know.

[DFWallace]

Happens at variable times. The lag is only when we are on that gaming server. (205.234.153.10:28960). Task scheduler I found and will research that. Event log? And how to access that?  Thx...

BTW... you were recommended to me by a player at our game site whose game user-name is 'Kode'. He is in the computer business and said he is a friend of yours.

[Black Viper]

The lag is only when we are on that gaming server.

Well, more then likely, it is something to do with the server and not on your end, if it only happens as you state.

[DFWallace]

I was looking at 'task scheduler'... is it possible that some of these 'turn-on' when we are playing and adversely affect our connection? Many of them it seems are scheduled in the middle of the night. My computer is 'off' from @ 11pm 'til @ 7am every day. So, this must mean these scheduled events now turn on during the day...

And I have no idea what many of these tasks are and do... so I don't know if I should re-schedule them to times when I know I don't play the game...early ...between 7 and 10am.

[Black Viper]

And I have no idea what many of these tasks are and do... so I don't know if I should re-schedule them to times when I know I don't play the game...early ...between 7 and 10am.

Most, if not all, should not turn on or run while the system is actively being used and are probably being ran between 7 and 10 AM anyway since that is upon restart.
Event viewer should show the details in Administrator tools -> Event Viewer. But again, if it is only that server (and you frequent other game servers), it probably is not your system.
Fun to poke around in there, though... but I would advise not to change or disable any tasks at this point as several of them are required.

[tonster]

Do you have windows indexing enabled?  How about a defragment scheduled?  You can check these in scheduled tasks.  I'm not at home and I'm not intimately familiar with the location of the scheduled tasks location in Win 7. 

Both of these will adversely affect framerate in game.  Frame rate is not really related to lag, btw.  It is your frame rate.  It used to be that synchronizing frame rates from player to server caused the internet connection to lag, but that was in the days of the original Doom game.  Nowadays lag is defined as your internet connectivity problems.  Frame rate issues are only client side, not server side.  So they are not part of what would be defined as lag. 

EDIT:  Also check to make sure your antivirus and antispyware are not updating or scanning at that time.

Just clearing that up for you.  At any rate it is definitely something on your computer causing it.  It isn't their server.  If someone can give you the location of scheduled tasks that would be good so you can check it.  Also, you need to turn off indexing if you are a gamer and see if that helps. 
Tony

[Black Viper]

Both of these will adversely affect framerate in game.  Frame rate is not really related to lag, btw.  It is your frame rate.  It used to be that synchronizing frame rates from player to server caused the internet connection to lag, but that was in the days of the original Doom game.  Nowadays lag is defined as your internet connectivity problems.  Frame rate issues are only client side, not server side.  So they are not part of what would be defined as lag.

These terms get so interchanged that I even mixed them up myself. I was under the impression that the "lag" was ping time increasing and not FPS lowering. Rereading said post cleared that up. My bust. Long night.

[tonster]

Well as they say.... "One for tonster, 2,102,232,132 for BV." 

[Black Viper]

LOL.
The whole idea behind server updates to be bound to framerate was to ensure that the server did not send out more information then the client can display. No reason to send 1000 server per second updates when you can only display 25 of those.
Thus the old belief of "my computer is lagging, it is the servers fault," usually had the reply of "get a new computer" thrown back at them.

BV EDIT: bad typo.

[DFWallace]

Black Viper / tonster...

Thanks for info. I will follow your suggestions. If you think of anything else, I'll appreciate your input.