Intel 8265 ac constant high latency jitter

[CReve]

I have a new laptop with an intel 8265ac wifi card in it. The card connects fine, downloads fine, etc, but there is very high latency issues. In general, every few seconds, the card's latency just spikes.

Even running a ping command to my wireless modem often shows pings north of 100ms, just to the modem.

There are two other devices in my house that use intel wifi cards. One is an intel 7260ac card and one is an intel 8260ac card. Both connect to the same network without any problems or ping spikes in that manner; only this new 8265ac wifi card does.

I can access my full, consistent download. I can watch streaming sites like twitch.tv just fine, and I can watch video playback sites like Youtube just fine. I simply notice some issues with voice chat via programs like Teamspeak 3 or Discord, and I am unable to play reaction-based online multiplayer games as a result of the constant spikes.

The OS is windows 8.1 Pro x64.

The power plan is "High Performance", and "prefer maximum performance" is selected.

WLAN Optimizer has been used (as it fixed intermittent spikes on both the 7260ac and 8260ac in the past) but seems to have zero effect on the 8265ac. The card also does not seem to spike ping when I manually search for networks, unlike the 7260ac/8260ac. It makes me feel that for some reason it is constantly searching no matter what I want, and is giving me bad performance as a result.

Note that the roaming aggressiveness of the card is left at the default "3. Medium", if that makes any difference.

Any more information that can be provided by me I shall be happy to provide; simply ask for it. If I just have a bad card, then so be it. But I really hope it isn't the case.

[idata]

Hello Trilby,

We appreciate your input and your feedback has been forwarded to the proper resources.To summarize, currently it is not possible to disable background scanning completely and we cannot guarantee that this will change in the future. Nevertheless, the actions mentioned in this thread are good options if you need to minimize this condition.Regards,Jonathan B.

[APota4]

I have observed similar periodic high latency spikes on my Lenovo T570 (with AC 8265) after upgrading to the latest 19.50.1.5 Intel driver.

In my case it also manifested itself in reduced maximum transfer speeds (was getting capped around 1.5mbps). I suspect occasional high

latency wasn't letting TCP window grow big enough.

Downgrading back to 19.20.0.6 driver fixed the issue.

[idata]

Hello alexei123,

Thanks for sharing this information. It will be very helpful for other users as well.

We have to keep in mind that each computer may have customizations in hardware and wireless drivers from the manufacturer, the latest generic drivers may not be the best option in all cases.

Regards,

Jonathan B.

[VGran3]

Actually I am glad I have stumbled across this post from the OP.

I recently purchased one of these Intel AC 8265 cards, the all singing, all dancing MU-MIMO offering from Intel.

I too have been seeing regular spikes, to the point actually that when it does spike it does cause jitter in VoIP calls and crackling when watching youtube or playing music on the network to the laptop.

I can see no logical explanation for these spikes other than Driver Optimisation or some kind of hardware issue with the card.

It is like the card suddenly has a fit for no apparent reason and then calms down again.

I actually have an Intel 3165, 8260, 7260 and 7265 all at my disposal to test and neither produce the latency that the 8265 produces.

On top of the latency issues the latest 19.70.0.5 driver has appalling upstream throughput (My connection is 500/200 and I can barely hit 60Mbps upstream with the 19.70 driver), so I have had to use 19.60 which works fine in terms of throughput.

While I do accept there are many factors that can cause latency, this one is firmly on your door Intel. You have enough comments here to at least debug as to why these issues are being caused. It is very likely driver optimisation, particularly in light of my experience above.

While also we do have settings to adjust and I like the posters here have adjusted and tweaked to no avail, we cannot actually disable MU-MIMO like we can on other devices. I was hoping for driver support for MU-MIMO setting but it seems this has not happened yet. My router is full MU-MIMO support.

So the question is. While is it only the Intel 8265 that exhibits this issue?

I am thinking driver optimisation. The drivers for Intel Wireless cards are all generic but this is an MU-MIMO Wave 2 card so in my opinion should have a dedicated driver as the fine tuning will be a lot more delicate than for standard models prior to the Intel 8265.

I am hoping we can resolve this issue rather than the... Consult your Manufacturer or there are many things that can cause latency or The Intel 8265 is a very reliable card.

All answers other than "OK we seem to have a problem with this Intel 8265 card as it is and we will do our best to investigate"

I am hoping we can have some answers, cheers.

[idata]

Hello Vinniemac,

We understand that your system is experiencing jitter, in this case we advise you to review and apply the actions mentioned in this thread as they have helped some users: https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/support/network-and-i-o/wireless-networking/000005544.html Recommended settings, disable Bluetooth*, update Router firmware, check antenna connection, disable Windows* services that consume bandwidth, etc.There are many possible causes for this behavior and we will be glad to take a closer look at your system, if you agree, please provide the following information:- https://downloadcenter.intel.com/download/25293/Intel-System-Support-Utility Download Intel® System Support Utility, run the tool and use it to create a report with all sections, once the report is created, click on the "Next" button. In the following screen, save the report to a file. Then use the Advanced editor options of the communities to add the resulting file to your post as an attachment.- Was this adapter installed from factory with your PC?- Access point model and firmware version.Please keep in mind that you can also https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/support/contact-support.html Contact Support to obtain personal assistance from one of our representatives.Regards,Jonathan B.

[VGran3]

Hi Jonathan,

Thanks for your reply.

I had actually tried the various settings and items in this thread before posting, otherwise it is just another post. I have also followed your suggestions without success.

I also actually issued the following command in 'command prompt' (elevated): BCDEDIT /SET DISABLEDYNAMICTICK YES

This actually helps a little with general latency but the card still spikes at various intervals.

I have also found that if you run YouTube videos through Chrome then the latency is progressively worse than if you play them through Microsoft Edge.

Then we have the issue of the latest Proset Wireless Driver 19.70.0.5/19.70.0.100 which definitely has poor performance on throughput in Windows 10 v1703 (Build 15063.483) compared to its predecessor 19.60.0.7 (This is the driver I have to currently use)

I build my own machines so it is not a manufacturer installed Wireless card. Hence the reason I also have available to me the Intel 7260, 8260, 3165, 7265 also. All of which do not suffer from this issue.

I am pretty convinced that it is Driver optimisation for the Intel 8265 as despite it's release date of Q1 2016 the card has only really just surfaced. They are very rare to buy from suppliers.

It might also be worth to note that Proset Driver 19.20 has astonishing speeds and performance with the Intel 8265 but unfortunately it has compatibility issues that cause a BSOD in Windows 10 citing the 'NETwtw04' driver as the problem. So I cannot use this driver.

Windows 10 requires the NETwtw06 Driver for this card in order to work correctly.

This might be where the issue is, all the other cards I have mentioned above work happily on the NETwtw04 driver but the 8265 does not.

This is an issue I am happy to work with you over because the card itself is extremely stable and does perform well (With the right driver) but the fact you have to source the right driver from the Intel archives suggest that there are driver issues with this card, which I am sure will be fixed but Intel must take note of these issues and thoroughly test and debug them.

My router for reference is the Netgear Nighthawk X10 R9000. It's fully MU-MIMO capable with HT160 channels so is future proof. There is no stability issues between router and Intel 8265 client. The router is running the latest firmware publically available.

I await your response.

Cheers

[idata]

Hello Vinniemac,

We will need additional details of your PC in order to provide further assistance. Also, keep in mind that Intel does not support, nor recommends custom integration of wireless adapters since this may lead to installation errors, connection issues, software error messages, and in some cases it may even be illegal.Intel does not recommend end users install or upgrade the various Intel® Wireless Adapter. For more information, please check the following advisories:https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/support/network-and-i-o/wireless-networking/000005846.html Why Doesn't My Laptop Recognize My New Intel® Wireless Adapter?https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/support/network-and-i-o/wireless-networking/000005687.html Regulatory Information Regarding Hardware Installation or UpgradePlease let us know the following:- Provide the SSU log file, you can retrieve it using the steps provided before.- Did your PC have WiFi from factory?- Let us know the details of the devices involved, or how you are connecting the 8265 to your Motherboard.Regards,Jonathan B.

[VGran3]

Hi Jonathan,

Firstly the SSU Log is attached. You'll notice the manufacturer is Acer because that's the motherboard. It's a Chopper motherboard with an Intel N3700 soldered on.

I purchased all the casing and other components separately from an Acer supplier.

The Intel 8265 card, which has a generic hardware tag is attached to the M.2 Slot on the board. It is a 2230 form factor.

There are no restrictions on the use of this card with the motherboard (No whitelist in BIOS, special pinouts etc...)

Yes the original motherboard had Wireless from factory and this was an Intel AC 3165 card. M.2 slot 2230 form factor.

It is worth to point there are some inaccuracies in the SSU log but these should not affect this case.

The Wireless settings in the SSU log are the optimum settings for me to try to reduce the latency spiking somewhat at the expense of some throughput. I can assure you I have fully tested these and explored all the available advanced adapter properties.

It is worth to point out that I am using the 19.60 Proset/Wireless software as the 19.70 version has terrible upstream throughput and poor downstream throughput. I do not know how 19.70 passed SQA testing but I hope this can be fixed asap.

After consulting Acer because the motherboard is under warrantee they actually advised to get the drivers from Intel and it will be fine. There are very limited drivers that actually work with the Intel AC 8265 card. Anything earlier than 19.50 Proset/Wireless drivers cause a BSOD in Windows 10.

Intel AC 8265 card is connected to a Netgear Nighthawk X10 (R9000) which is an extremely powerful router. It's connected full speed 866.7Mbps and over the 5Ghz Wireless band.

MU-MIMO is enabled on the router so the Intel 8265 can take full advantage (Although it makes very little difference unless lots of devices have MU-MIMO)

The crux of the issue is the cards operation with Windows 10 which I believe to be Driver support. I believe this quite simply because the Intel 3165, 7260, 8260 all work fine on the same drivers as the 8265 are running on. All 4 cards are M.2 2230 form factors.

The only difference is this:

Intel 3165 = 1x1 Wave 1 card (2nd Gen)

Intel 7260 = 2x2 Wave 1 card

Intel 8260 = 2x2 Wave 1 card (3rd Gen)

Intel 8265 = 2x2 Wave 2 card MU-MIMO (4th Gen)

So we could draw the conclusion that although the Intel 8265 is far more efficient and stable, the new technologies are causing problems.

Definitely Intel SQA need to revisit the 19.70 Drivers and the Intel 8265 card with Windows 10 1703 (OS build 15063.483)

Preferably with a 1Gbps Internet connection and Ookla as this is what I am running.

In answer also to the question in your first paragraph, I have been building machines now for some years and there is no difference to me fitting these cards than a professional technician at an authorised centre for the manufacturer. There is just very little support available.

I look forward to your response.

Best Wishes

Vince

[idata]

Hello Vinniemac,

We checked the log and it looks normal, the data rate is 866.7 Mbps and the signal strength is 99%, the settings are the ones you would use for a normal connection.In this type of case, we would advise to use the drivers provided by the OEM, since the generic ones from our Download Center may not work well in some systems. We would like to mention that we've actually received positive feedback from the driver in PROset 19.70 when it's used in systems with the 8265 integrated from factory.At this point, we will be glad to pass your feedback to our additional resources. Also, we advise you to engage Acer support and follow any recommendations they may have about this matter, the OEM support is the main source for assistance with your system and integrations: https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/support/network-and-i-o/wireless-networking/000006057.html Frequently Asked Questions about Intel® Wireless Adapters.Regards,Jonathan B.

[VGran3]

Hi Jonathan,

They tell me to use the Intel drivers as they provide them as is. Unfortunately they don't offer a driver for Intel 8265 support. That is to say that their driver is 18.xx and that they tell me to use the latest on Intel website as they are kept more up to date. (This is there recommendation which I have followed)

That being said the issue with Driver 19.70 is when we hit Gigabit internet speeds. Most users won't have this type of connection typically.

When I had my 100 Downstream and 100 Upstream the drivers performed normally.

On my 1000 Downstream and 200 Upstream the drivers perform poorly in comparison to 19.60 drivers.

This scenario seems to apply only with the 19.70 drivers when using the Windows 10 Creators Update. There is some logic there that is not quite right.

I am really struggling here because if I was an OEM then Intel would give me support.

I cannot get any support from Acer because they tell me to send my laptop in for service (Service is not what is needed in this case) and that in any event because I am using a custom motherboard they cannot help.

I think the bottom line here is that the issue is with the Intel AC 8265 + Drivers + Windows 10 Creators Update that needs to be resolved.

Best Wishes

Vince

[idata]

Hello Vince,

We have submitted your feedback for future consideration. Since our generic driver is not working with your custom PC as you would expect, we strongly advise you to check with the https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/support/topics/OEMs.html Computer or Motherboard manufacturer for further assistance, so they can let you know any additional troubleshooting for this condition.

Regards,

Jonathan B.

[VGran3]

Hi,

Just picking up on this post.

I have found an Intel Driver by version number 19.80.0.3 that fixes all these issues for me.

Now, I obtained it from a well known 3rd party driver site so I will not post on here on official Intel communities unless I have the explicit right to do so by Intel.

Also being 3rd party it is download at your own risk. I can however put it on my dropbox or other form of sharing but of course only if I have explicit right to redistribute.

Now Intel will know what driver this is as their development team will know about it and what it fixes.

All I can say is we need this driver made Public asap on the Intel support website.

Cheers

Vince

[idata]

Hello Vince,

Thank you for the update. We're glad to hear this upcoming driver version has resolved your latency issues.Checking with our resources we're told that the Wireless PROSet Software version 19.80 should be available for download soon, however we're not currently able to provide an ETA.If there's anything else we can help you with, please don't hesitate to contact us again.Best regards,Carlos A.