Fix High Ping Spikes in CS2 Faceit on MikroTik CCR2004

Question

Intermittent High Ping Spikes on Specific 15 PCs in a 90-PC Computer Club Network – Troubleshooting Help

Problem Description:
In a computer club with 90 PCs, ping spikes occur periodically only on 15 specific PCs located in two adjacent rooms (10 PCs in one room, 5 in the other). These rooms each have their own switch connected via separate lines to a MikroTik CCR 2004 router (approximately 40 meters cable length). Spikes jump to 200-600 ms and can remain absent for a month before suddenly starting. The issue is not load-dependent – it happens even with just 2 PCs active.

Symptoms:
Ping spikes make gaming (e.g., CS2) unplayable.
During spikes, traceroute and ping tests to non-affected PCs and Google servers show normal ping.
Spikes often start on Sundays and resolve spontaneously or as players gradually leave due to poor connectivity.

Strong Correlation with Faceit CS2:
Ping spikes always occur when at least one person plays on the Faceit platform.
Example: Only 2 out of 15 PCs occupied, both on Faceit → spikes begin.
Team play example: 5 players on the same server; 4 in a problem room experience spikes, 1 in a non-problem room does not.

Troubleshooting Already Performed (No Resolution):
Reboot switches.
Disconnect/reconnect router-to-switch cables.
Replace switches.
Reroute cables from router to switches and switches to PCs.
Reinstall OS on affected PCs.
Update network card drivers.
Swap router ports.

Any ideas on potential causes (e.g., network configuration, MikroTik settings, Faceit-specific traffic, cable issues, or hardware faults)? Thanks for any insights!

Accepted Answer

High ping spikes hitting 200-600 ms on those 15 specific PCs in your computer club scream MikroTik CCR2004 configuration glitches, especially bufferbloat from queues choking Faceit CS2 UDP bursts. Even with just two machines active, gaming traffic overwhelms the router's handling of those two rooms' switches, while pings elsewhere stay rock-solid. Sundays kick it off likely due to peak Faceit team play—fix it by tweaking queues, monitoring CPU, and testing switch ports.

Contents
Understanding High Ping Spikes in Computer Clubs
CS2 Ping Spikes on Faceit: Symptoms and Patterns
MikroTik CCR2004 Issues: CPU, Queues, and Bufferbloat
Diagnosing Local Network Ping in Affected Rooms
Faceit CS2 Traffic's Role in Ping Spikes
Step-by-Step Fixes for High Ping Spikes
MikroTik Tools for Ongoing Monitoring
Sources
Conclusion

Understanding High Ping Spikes in Computer Clubs

Picture this: your club's humming along fine, 90 PCs scattered across rooms, but bam—15 machines in two adjacent spots start lagging like crazy. Pings balloon to 200-600 ms, gaming grinds to a halt, yet Google and other PCs ping perfectly. Not load-related, not constant, and vanishes after a month or when players bail. Frustrating, right?

These intermittent high ping spikes often trace back to layer-2/3 quirks in setups like yours: dedicated switches per room, 40m cables to a MikroTik CCR2004 router. Why only those rooms? Could be subtle port flaws, cable noise over distance, or switch configs amplifying router bottlenecks. But the Faceit CS2 tie-in? That's the smoking gun—UDP floods from team matches hit differently.

You've already swapped cables, ports, switches, even OS reinstalls. Smart moves, ruling out basics. Now dig deeper into the router and traffic patterns. Bufferbloat loves gaming bursts; it queues packets too long, spiking latency while throughput looks fine.

CS2 Ping Spikes on Faceit: Symptoms and Patterns

Ever notice how it flares up with just two Faceit CS2 players? Or Sundays, when teams pile in? Four out of five on the same server lag, but the one outside those rooms sails smooth. Classic symptom: app-specific UDP traffic overwhelming a weak link.

Faceit CS2 ping spikes aren't random. They're bursty—quick packet trains from hit registration, server syncs. Traceroute normal to Google means WAN's fine; it's LAN-to-WAN handoff at the CCR2004. Non-affected PCs dodge it because their switch paths don't hit the same queues or ports.

Why Sundays? Peak hours for EU/NA Faceit queues, more multicast-like group traffic. Spikes self-resolve as players drop—less UDP storm. Test it: fire up Faceit on one problem PC solo. No spike? Isolate to team protocols. This matches tons of club reports where gaming UDP exposes hidden flaws.

MikroTik CCR2004 Issues: CPU, Queues, and Bufferbloat

Your CCR2004's a beast, but gaming clubs hammer it with UDP. High CPU during spikes? Common culprit. MikroTik forum threads show identical setups: 5ms normal pings jump to 50ms+ under "network heavy" loads, CPU at 50-60%.

Queues are suspect #1. Complex trees or PCQ with big buffers cause bufferbloat—latency explodes on bursts while bandwidth holds. Your 40m cables to switches? Ethernet over that distance can glitch if not Cat6, especially under UDP floods.

Fastpath/fasttrack off? Gaming bypasses it sometimes, spiking CPU. Check /ip settings print—if allow-fast-path=no, that's it. Forums peg this for CS2-like spikes.

Quick check: During Faceit play, run /tool profile in terminal. Watch "ip" or "bridge" eat CPU? Bingo—UDP routing overload.

Diagnosing Local Network Ping in Affected Rooms

Isolate those two rooms. Ping between the 15 PCs—spikes there too? Switch issue. Normal? Points upstream to router links.

Grab a laptop, plug into each switch port sequentially. ping -t 192.168.x.1 (router IP) from problem PC to switch, then switch-to-router. Spikes on cable run? Faulty pair—40m invites EMI if bundled wrong.

Switches: Enable IGMP snooping? Gaming multicast amplifies floods to those rooms. Disable it: /interface ethernet switch set [find] igmp-snooping=no.

Torch traffic: On router, /tool torch interface=your-switch-port protocol=udp. Faceit ports (27015-27030 UDP) lighting up during spikes? Correlate with CPU.

Cable testers missed ghosts—use Fluke or similar for NEXT/FEXT over distance. You've rerouted; try direct PC-to-router bypass on one cable.

Faceit CS2 Traffic's Role in Ping Spikes

Faceit isn't vanilla CS2—it's anti-cheat, peer syncs, tighter UDP. Two PCs on it trigger spikes? Their combined bursts queue up at CCR2004, hitting room switches hardest.

Team play example seals it: Server assigns same UDP flows; problem room PCs buffer while others don't. FACEIT support notes lag from server-side, but yours is local—client bursts overload router.

Why not load-dependent? UDP doesn't TCP-backoff; it floods. Minimal players = pure bursts. Test: Launch CS2 vanilla—no Faceit. Spikes gone? Protocol confirmed.

PC-side: Outdated NIC drivers queue wrong. But you reinstalled OS—check MTU mismatches (ping -l 1472 -f).

Step-by-Step Fixes for High Ping Spikes

Time to fix. Prioritize non-disruptive.
Queues overhaul: Ditch trees for simple queues. /queue simple add name=club-general target=192.168.0.0/16 max-limit=your-bandwidth/80%. Set limit-at=80% to squash bloat. Monitor /queue simple print stats. MikroTik queue guide stresses small buffers for gaming.
Fasttrack tweak: /ip firewall filter add chain=forward action=fasttrack-connection connection-state=established,related. But disable for UDP gaming: mark exceptions.
PC tweaks: On Windows, admin PowerShell: netsh int tcp reset, netsh int ipv4 reset. Registry: HKEYLOCALMACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Tcpip\Parameters > New DWORD "TcpAckFrequency"=1, "TCPNoDelay"=1. Gaming fix blog nails this for MikroTik CS2.
Switch/router ports: Cycle power, set switch ports static speed/duplex. Router: /interface ethernet monitor [find name=switch-link].
Bufferbloat test: dslreports.com/speedtest. A+ buffer? Good. F? Queues guilty.

Reboot post-changes. Test Faceit duo.

MikroTik Tools for Ongoing Monitoring

Don't stop at fixes—watch it.
CPU/traffic: /tool profile run cpu=yes interval=1s during Faceit. Graph in Winbox.
Torch/packet sniffer: /tool sniffer quick interface=problem-port filter-protocol=udp port=27015-27050.
Netwatch: Alert on high ping: /tool netwatch add host=google.com interval=5s up-script="" down-script=":log warning \"Ping spike!\""
Queues stats: Live drops/buffers.
Logs: /log print where topics~\"queue|error\".

Script it: Flood ping test /tool ping-count 192.168.x.x count=1000 interval=0.1s. Automate Sunday checks.

Sources
MikroTik CCR2004 Ping Spikes and CPU Usage — Forum discussion on CPU spikes and queue limits during heavy loads: https://forum.mikrotik.com/t/mikrotik-ccr2004-ping-spikes-and-cpu-usage/172469
Manual:Queue — Official guide to MikroTik queue configuration for avoiding bufferbloat: https://wiki.mikrotik.com/wiki/Manual:Queue
Gaming Fix for MikroTik Router — PC-side netsh and registry tweaks for CS2 lag on MikroTik: https://allgamesinternetfix.wordpress.com/2025/08/20/gaming-fix-for-mikrotik-router-reduce-lag-jitter-and-ping-spikes/
CCR2004 Packet Loss — Troubleshooting packet loss manifesting as ping spikes on long cable runs: https://forum.mikrotik.com/t/ccr2004-packet-loss/143738
Ping Spikes Between MikroTik Devices — Analysis of gaming UDP causing first-hop latency: https://forum.mikrotik.com/t/ping-spikes-between-mikrotik-devices/171709
CS2 Server Lag Issues — Faceit support on lag during team play and traffic patterns: https://support.faceit.com/hc/en-us/articles/9935324381084-CS2-server-lag-issues

Conclusion

High ping spikes in your club boil down to MikroTik CCR2004 queues bloating under Faceit CS2 UDP bursts, amplified by those room switches—fix queues first, monitor CPU religiously, and tweak PCs for bulletproof gaming. You'll squash Sundays for good, keeping players hooked. If spikes persist post-fixes, grab packet captures during a match; forums love 'em for deeper dives. Your setup's close to perfect—small tweaks seal it.

Answer

The spikes correlate with Faceit CS2 activity and high CPU on CCR2004; check for UDP floods or switch issues in the two rooms.

Answer

Use the provided registry tweaks and netsh resets specifically for MikroTik setups to eliminate ping spikes in CS2 team play.

Answer

Packet loss on CCR2004 can manifest as ping spikes; verify cable integrity over 40m runs and test ports individually.

Answer

Misconfigured queues on MikroTik CCR2004 can cause bufferbloat resulting in ping spikes during gaming bursts. Switch to simple queues instead of queue trees and limit max-limit and buffer sizes appropriately for your bandwidth. Monitor queue statistics to ensure no excessive buffering occurs on Faceit CS2 UDP traffic.