TL;DR: If you are running Windows 11 on a Realtek RTL8111H LAN controller (e.g., ASUS TUF B450M-PLUS GAMING) and experiencing sudden 1000ms+ ping spikes or micro-stutters during VALORANT matches, there appears to be a driver-level DPC latency issue with the newer NDIS 6.x driver branch (v1168.x.x). Temporarily rolling back to the legacy backward-compatible driver (V10.50.511.2021) resolves the issue completely. Sharing my findings here to help fellow players troubleshoot and to bring visibility to this specific driver behavior.

Overview of the Issue

For the past few weeks, I encountered intermittent latency spikes where in-game ping would jump from normal baseline levels up to 1200ms–1700ms+.

After isolating various hardware and software variables on my system (ASUS TUF B450M-PLUS GAMING motherboard using the onboard Realtek RTL8111H Gigabit LAN controller), the latency was traced directly to the Realtek PCIe GbE driver branch currently distributed for Windows 11.

System & Hardware Specs:

• Motherboard: ASUS TUF B450M-PLUS GAMING
• Onboard LAN Controller: Realtek RTL8111H
• OS: Windows 11 (64-bit)

Affected Driver Versions:

• v1168.27.50.919
• v1168.22.1118.2024
• v1168.19.704.2024

Diagnostic Data (PingPlotter)

To pinpoint where the packet delays were originating, I conducted 5-minute PingPlotter traces on active game server IPs (43.229.65.1 and 151.106.248.1) while in a custom match:

• On the modern v1168.x branch: High latency spikes originate right at Hop 1 (192.168.1.1 - local gateway), averaging 122ms and reaching maximum spikes between 1206ms – 1719ms. This indicates packet handling delays occurring at the local network interface before traffic exits to the ISP.
• On the legacy V10.50.511.2021 branch: Hop 1 latency drops back down to a normal 0.4ms – 3.5ms average with zero spikes throughout the test window.

(Comparative PingPlotter graphs are attached).

Current Workaround

For users on this specific Realtek chip family (RTL8111H), manually force-installing Realtek LAN Driver V10.50.511.2021 via Device Manager (and disabling Energy Efficient Ethernet / Green Ethernet settings) fully stabilizes latency.

While this serves as an effective immediate fix, using legacy drivers long-term is not ideal as Windows 11 updates frequently attempt to replace them with newer versions, and modern drivers include updated power management and security integrations.

Support Ticket Case Study

I initially submitted a ticket through Player Support hoping to pass these diagnostic logs to network engineers. However, because standard support tier workflows rely on broad automated troubleshooting, the ticket progressed through several general steps (firewall updates, ISP routing checks, and display driver reinstalls) without reaching a hardware/network team.

(Full ticket history screenshot attached for context - names/IDs redacted).

Goal of this Post

1. To provide a clear workaround for players experiencing unexplained network stutters on similar Realtek network configurations.
2. To respectfully share these findings in a public forum so developers or technical team members who browse the community might take a look into how Vanguard / the client interacts with the modern Realtek v1168 NDIS driver architecture.

Thank you for reading, and hopefully this helps anyone encountering similar latency issues!

hello i have a problem about fps drops basically i update my game and after that i join dm

so before update i dont have any problem for game my specs very high i have ryzen 7 9800x3d with rtx 5080

Which cpu is better to buy for valorant in laptops

Asus tuff A15 r7 4800H rtx 3050

Acer Nitro 5 i5 11400H rtx 3050

I saw some people say the 11400h is much better in single core so I should go for it right? I js wanted some more opinions before I do anything since I do prefer around 180+ fps since both will be connected to a external 180hz display to avoid the drawbacks of optimus, both sellers have sent me videos of each in cinebench and neither are overall throttling at all with temps around 80-85 and im gonna be using a memo flo8 as well which reduces temps by like another 10-12 degrees

So it seems Riot had to revert the true stretch fix because it broke OBS' game capture feature.

The game no longer auto resets back to 16:9 on boot.

Hey guys as of yesterday my game launches frozen, every single time i try to launch. It does this thing where it’ll launch windowed to the top right corner of my screen, and as soon as I try to click on anything in game it just freezes. Has anyone else experienced this issue, and also happens to know a fix?

I had this problem for Years and asked the Riot support many times to help me but they were not capable of helping me. I reinstalled the Game , Vanguard and the Riot Client various times. My GPU is fully uptaded. I even bought a Graphic Card from Nvidia because someone said that it had to do something with my AMD Graphic Card. I dont know what to do so please help me.

valorant crashes like 3 mins after i open it and this error message pops up. it might have something to do with my pc bios… how to fix? ive already redownloaded and restarted vanguard multiple times ..

VAN: STATUS_VMD_9001
The VMD controller has encountered a fatal unrecoverable error. Process will terminate.

I have an issue on astra where, if i try to use a placed star for lets say a smoke, while pressing the slow walk key (shift) even while not moving, the spell doesn't go off but if i let go of shift, i can cast it (spell casts are all on numpad numbers, mapped to extra buttons on my mouse)

Has this happened to someone here / does one of you knows how to fix this ?

edit : after more testing, it seems to be linked to the numpad, even tho nothing is bound on shift + a numpad number, but i would really like to keep the keybinds as is on my mouse as i use this on other games

Hello everyone, i bought a An16, with rtx 4070 8gb 140w and a Ryzen 7 7735HS and 16gb ddr5 4800mhz. I was playing valorant. I expected to do atleast 300+ fps but i stay on the 200s with min of 170 and max of 250. Why is that? Im literally getting the same fps i was getting on the Acer Nitro 5 an515-45-R095...

What can i do? The temps are pretty low, cpu on max 80 and gpu on max 65 while gaming. I have nitrosense set on TURBO mode and all the "easy" optimization done.

I feel like the CPU is not trying hard enough (barely 50% use)

What can I do? Ty

edit: i have a 240hz so thats why i want to push for more fps

Hello beautiful people,

Like 6months ago I bought a new mouse, I went from a wireless Razer Deathadder V3 Pro to a bit more budget mouse such as wireless MCHOSE K7 Ultra..

Mainly switched, cause I was pissed at Razer, when playing Valorant, I'd have mouse sensor issues, it sometimes skips a bit, like freezer for a milisecond and then appears on the other spot. So I thought to myself, if I am buying mouses that are told to be one of the best gaming mouses and after a year of using I have these issues, why overpay for a great mouse again.. So okay, I bought wireless MCHOSE K7 Ultra, it is like 6months old, and has been having the same issue for like a month now..

I am confused, whether I should upgrade my mouse again, cause I am just unlucky with them, or if it is just a Valorant thing for all the mice.

A bit of context to Valorant:

Frames are not the issue, I have stable 300+fps with RX 7900 XTX and i5-14600KF;
Mousepad and mouse itself shouldn't be an issue, mentioned the mice, the mousepad is Steelseries QcK Performance Balance, which I bought couple of months ago, I haven't done anything bad to it, no crumbs, no liquids spilled, etc;
I've heard of a fix regarding polling rate, I've done it, it didn't help;
I've heard of the fix regarding some Valorant setting Raw Input Buffer, I do not see that setting, so I guess it was an older fix that cannot help me nowadays;
Mouse drivers are reinstalled, didn't help.
I probably tried some other fixes too, but cannot remember them now.

Maybe someone else had the similar issue and found a fix that you'd like to share? I'd really appreciate it!

I get around 30-60 FPS with my computer specs

cpu- and Ryzen 5 3500u Radeon vega mobile gfx

ram- 64 gig

gpu- and Radeon TM Vega 8

Hp all in one dp0xxx

my mic sounds watery on valorant only ive tried it with my mic filters off and still sounds like a bad noise suppresion its just valorant ive used windows audio playback sounds normal discord i have every noise suppresion and audio enhancer turned of and mic sounds fine its really just valorant i have no clue why

When I'm playing Valorant, my packet loss graph stays at 0%, but then out of nowhere it spikes to 100% (both incoming and outgoing), which completely freezes my game for about 3 seconds. I don't think it's my internet provider because when my roommate plays Valorant on the same Wi-Fi using his laptop, everything works fine for him. Does anyone know what could be causing this or how I can fix it?

Packet loss graph
Network speed

I got a new PC and about every two seconds my CPU usage spikes and I get a lag spike. This only happens in Valorant, not in any other games. Does anyone have an idea of what the problem is? Also I don’t think it’s a gpu/display problem because the fps does not drop during the stutters.

Specs are:
Asus Prime 5070 Ti
AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D
Asus Tuff Gaming x870 ddr5 motherboard

I can provide additional info

hiiii, so i’ve been playing val and this consistent bug keeps happening, idk its because my computer is too overpowered it bottlenecks the game and i don’t know the solution i’ll provide a clip for an example. you’ll see what im talking about clearly at the end of the clip, my screen just skips a frame or a few constantly throughout playing, even when im in menus, this doesn’t happen on any game besides valorant