How come I can run multiple games at once, but can't play YouTube and game without lag?

Toggle sidebar Toggle sidebar
opel65

opel65

Distinguished
Mar 26, 2011
80
0
18,630
Hello tom's hardware,

I am an avid gamer and it happens sometimes that I have more than one online game up and running. Lets say I can be logged into Path of Exile, CsGO, Runescape and Warframe all at the same time and I never get lag in any of those games.

The problem appears when I for example just start up CsGO (just one game) and want to listen to some music off my YouTube playlist. As soon as videos start buffering, my game ping skyrockets to 500+ and I am no longer able to play.

Is YouTube really that heavy? I frequently watch streamers and they don't seem to have issues with Gaming+YouTube+Streaming ALL AT THE SAME TIME!

Now, my internet provider only offers http:// , but I know people who stream with same/similar internet speeds and they seem not to have the same issue.

Is there some kind of solution, or at least an explanation to my issue?

Thanks,
Tomas
 
Solution
skit75
Most games use nowhere near that much bandwidth where Youtube videos can easily saturate a 3-4Mbps bandwidth limitation. You'd have alot better situation streaming a music service rather than video to hear a song, while gaming.

Your PC's hardware isn't being taxed in this situation. Youtube is simply using up nearly all of your download speed causing the real time game packets to be held up. There are prioritization techniques or QoS methods you can use to give your gaming packets priority over Youtube but honestly on a 3-4Mbps connection, it will be rough to do both. Use a music streaming service instead of Youtube videos for music, on your connection.
Sort by date Sort by votes
skit75

skit75

Splendid
Oct 7, 2008
2,684
1
21,460
Most games use nowhere near that much bandwidth where Youtube videos can easily saturate a 3-4Mbps bandwidth limitation. You'd have alot better situation streaming a music service rather than video to hear a song, while gaming.

Your PC's hardware isn't being taxed in this situation. Youtube is simply using up nearly all of your download speed causing the real time game packets to be held up. There are prioritization techniques or QoS methods you can use to give your gaming packets priority over Youtube but honestly on a 3-4Mbps connection, it will be rough to do both. Use a music streaming service instead of Youtube videos for music, on your connection.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Solution
J

Jamie Baddeley

Honorable
Jan 5, 2014
32
0
10,540
Honestly your connection for streaming really isn't that great at all. If you're only get 3mbps download, watching YouTube will strait away use majority of that. Your 1mbps upload almost won't allow you to play and stream an online game whatsoever
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
J

JoeRaptor

Reputable
Jan 18, 2016
131
0
4,710


Something's telling me you're on chrome? It takes more power (specifically Hard Drive and RAM) than you think to run Google Chrome. Especially if you only have 8GB of RAM space. Chorme uses alot of Hard Disk space and RAM space and even alot of your CPU if you have extensions like ADBlock.

Simple Answer: You'd better get more ram. 16GB minimum.



If I were you I would want to get 32GB. and an SSD, a very fast one in that case.
 
Upvote -1 Downvote
skit75

skit75

Splendid
Oct 7, 2008
2,684
1
21,460


That does nothing for his current situation. He would have exactly the same problem with your upgrades.
 
Upvote 1 Downvote
J

JoeRaptor

Reputable
Jan 18, 2016
131
0
4,710



What do you insinuate the solution is?
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
skit75

skit75

Splendid
Oct 7, 2008
2,684
1
21,460


1. He can attempt to stream from an audio-only streaming site while gaming which still might be too much traffic on his 3-4Mbps connection even without the video feed.

2. Play music locally from his hard drive while gaming(would definitely work).

3. Upgrade his internet bandwidth(would definitely work if available in his area)

YouTube music videos stream in bursts of packets that can reach 7+ Mbps or more every 1-2 seconds or so. His download speed only tests at 3-4Mbps. This saturation causes tons of collision and buffering and latency for real time gaming packets if you don't have the headroom on your internet connection to compensate for those bursts.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
J

JoeRaptor

Reputable
Jan 18, 2016
131
0
4,710


Aint that just avoiding the situation enitrely?
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
skit75

skit75

Splendid
Oct 7, 2008
2,684
1
21,460
Heh, YouTube isn't going to change their bitrate or find some magical new compression to serve video. The bitrate of these videos is the only part the OP can't do anything about. The bottle-neck is the internet connection bandwidth. Upgrading your PC parts won't do anything to change that.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
You must log in or register to reply here.

TRENDING THREADS

Latest posts

Moderators online

Share this page

COMPANY
RESOURCES
FOLLOW
Top Bottom