Eliminate ping spikes · Maximize FPS · Tune your system safely for competitive gaming
Version 2.1 Released! Adds Adaptive Advisor: NetBoost detects loss, jitter, ping spikes, and background contention, then queues user-approved recommendations instead of silently changing system settings. Wi-Fi tuning now targets current and legacy Intel AX211 driver property names.
Playing Valorant or CS2 on a gaming laptop over Wi-Fi? You've probably seen this:
- 🔴 200–500ms ping spikes out of nowhere (Intel Wi-Fi power saving kicking in)
- 🔴 FPS drops and stutters mid-game (Windows timer resolution, E-core scheduling)
- 🔴 Background apps eating bandwidth (Windows Update downloading mid-match)
- 🔴 GPU clocks dropping between frames (dynamic P-states on laptop GPUs)
NetBoost fixes all of it with one click.
The Intel AX211 aggressively power-saves and background-scans by default, causing random 200–500ms spikes. NetBoost disables this at the driver registry level:
Stable Ping Mode for VALORANT now applies only the conservative Wi-Fi latency bundle automatically. Broader TCP, DNS, service, and FPS tweaks stay manual so they do not make jitter worse elsewhere.
| Tweak | Effect |
|---|---|
| Disable Large Send Offload | Reduces NIC packet-batching latency spikes |
| Disable Interrupt Moderation | Delivers packets more immediately, with a small CPU trade-off |
Disable Power Saving (PowerSavingMode=0) |
Eliminates random ping spikes |
Minimize Roaming Aggressiveness (RoamAggressiveness=0) |
Advanced/manual only; reduces roaming scans, but can delay AP handoff |
Prefer 6 GHz Band (RoamingPreferredBandType=3) |
Advanced/manual only; useful only if 6 GHz is stable and strong |
Max TX Power (IbssTxPower=100) |
Stronger signal, fewer retransmits |
| Disable Background BSS Scanning | Advanced/manual only; test per router environment |
| Tweak | Effect |
|---|---|
| P-Core Affinity (i7-13650HX: 0x0FFF) | Games run on performance cores only |
| 0.5ms Timer Resolution | Smoother frame delivery (default: 15.6ms) |
| Ultimate Performance Power Plan | No CPU/GPU throttling |
| Disable Xbox Game DVR | Frees GPU from background recording |
| NVIDIA Ultra Low Latency Mode | Sub-frame GPU queue |
| Disable Dynamic P-States | Stable GPU clocks between frames |
For VALORANT Stable Ping Mode, TCP, DNS, and service controls are manual advanced settings. They can still be useful for specific situations, but they are no longer part of the automatic low-jitter bundle.
- TCP tweaks (
TCPNoDelay,TcpAckFrequency, window scaling) are system-wide TCP changes and do not target VALORANT's UDP gameplay traffic. - DNS switch to Cloudflare (1.1.1.1), Google (8.8.8.8), Quad9 (9.9.9.9), or OpenDNS. DNS can improve lookup speed, but it does not stabilize packets after a match connection is established.
- DSCP QoS marking — marks game traffic as Expedited Forwarding (DSCP 46)
- Manual advanced option to pause Windows Update, OneDrive, BITS, or telemetry during a session
- Suspends SearchIndexer, deprioritizes browsers
- Everything auto-restored when game exits
- Real-time ping/jitter/packet loss graph (PyQtGraph, 60s rolling window)
- Dashboard badges update live every ~500ms — shows "--" when offline instead of a false 0.0
- Free RAM badge refreshes every 5 seconds; game processes highlighted green in Bandwidth tab
- Wi-Fi Test Latency button runs async (no UI freeze) and shows Before → After ms
- Auto game detection — activates in <1.5 seconds of game launch
- System tray: grey (idle) → yellow (game detected) → green (optimized)
Diagnoses which network hop is causing mid-match ping spikes — without needing a VPN:
| Feature | Detail |
|---|---|
| Auto server detection | Reads live connections of the game process to find its server IP |
| Ping re-targeting | Once game server IP is found, the Dashboard ping monitor switches from 1.1.1.1 to the actual game server — showing real in-game latency |
| Live hop table | Populates row-by-row as tracert streams output |
| Bottleneck highlighting | Hops with >15ms jump from previous amber; timeouts red |
| Summary line | Reports exact hop number and latency delta for each bottleneck |
| Manual IP fallback | Enter any target IP if auto-detection doesn't find the server |
NetBoost actively watches for signs that your applied settings are causing problems:
| What it detects | How |
|---|---|
| Random disconnects | Packet loss ≥8% while Minimize Roaming Aggressiveness or Prefer 6 GHz is on → amber toast + alert |
| Jitter spikes | 3 consecutive readings >30ms jitter → amber toast warning background traffic or Wi-Fi interference |
| FPS drops after 10 min | GPU temp ≥85°C while NVIDIA Maximum Performance is on → warns about thermal throttling |
| Pre-apply risk warning | Before applying HIGH/MEDIUM risk settings, a modal lists the risk and advice |
| Health Diagnostics panel | Monitor tab shows every active setting with a color-coded risk badge (🟢/🟡/🔴) and a live alert log |
| Quick-disable | Alert rows include a [Disable <setting>] button — one click unchecks the culprit without leaving the Monitor tab |
| LSO apply failure | If the Intel Wi-Fi adapter key can't be found, a warning toast fires instead of silently showing ✓ Applied |
Adaptive Advisor turns live network telemetry into safe, reviewable recommendations:
| Signal | Recommendation |
|---|---|
| Sustained packet loss | Try a DNS provider switch through the normal Optimizer path |
| Repeated ping spikes | Disable LSO and interrupt moderation on the Wi-Fi adapter |
| Background contention | Pause Windows Update, BITS, and telemetry services |
Recommendations appear in the Monitor tab with Apply and Dismiss actions. Nothing is changed until you approve it.
All changes tracked in an atomic state file. If NetBoost crashes mid-session, it automatically restores your original settings on next launch.
- Apply buttons flash green ✓ on success and red ✗ on error, then revert — no silent failures
- Floating toast notifications appear top-right for every apply action (success / error / info / warning)
- Polished dark theme: gradient buttons, tab underline indicator, focus glows on inputs, thin rounded scrollbars
| Dashboard | Wi-Fi Optimizer |
|---|---|
 |
 |
| FPS Boost | Live Monitor |
|---|---|
 |
 |
- Windows 10/11 (64-bit)
- Python 3.13+
- Administrator privileges (required for registry and service access)
git clone https://github.com/gauravsoodtech/netboost.git
cd netboost
pip install -r requirements.txt
python main.pyA UAC prompt will appear — click Yes. NetBoost requires admin to modify network and system settings.
pyinstaller --onefile --windowed --uac-admin \
--icon=netboost.ico \
--add-data "config;config" \
--add-data "resources;resources" \
--hidden-import=win32timezone \
main.pyOutput: dist/main.exe → rename to NetBoost.exe
- Profiles tab - load
VALORANT Stable Pingor the updatedGamingprofile. - Dashboard - toggle Game Mode ON. With no game running, it is armed but does not change Windows settings.
- Launch VALORANT - NetBoost applies only the stable Wi-Fi latency bundle while the game session is active.
- Monitor tab - watch ping, jitter, loss, and any health recommendations.
- Advanced manual tuning - test TCP, DNS, service, FPS, roaming, or 6 GHz options one at a time only if monitoring shows a reason.
After setup, just launch VALORANT. NetBoost keeps the automatic path conservative and reversible.
netboost/
├── main.py # Entry point: admin check, crash recovery, Qt bootstrap
├── requirements.txt
├── config/
│ └── games_default.json # Pre-configured game list (Valorant, CS2, Apex, etc.)
├── core/
│ ├── admin.py # UAC elevation
│ ├── state_guard.py # Crash-safe atomic state file
│ ├── process_watcher.py # QThread: game detection via psutil
│ ├── ping_monitor.py # QThread: ICMP ping monitor
│ ├── wifi_optimizer.py # Intel AX211 registry tweaks
│ ├── network_optimizer.py # TCP registry per-interface
│ ├── dns_switcher.py # netsh DNS management
│ ├── fps_booster.py # Power plan, P-core affinity, timer
│ ├── nvidia_optimizer.py # RTX registry + nvidia-smi
│ ├── background_killer.py # Service/process management
│ ├── bandwidth_manager.py # QoS DSCP + priority
│ ├── ram_optimizer.py # Working set + file cache flush
│ ├── profile_manager.py # JSON profile CRUD
│ ├── route_analyzer.py # tracert parser + game server discovery
│ └── settings_risk.py # Risk metadata registry (27 settings, 3 levels)
├── ui/
│ ├── main_window.py # QMainWindow + signal wiring
│ ├── tray_icon.py # System tray
│ ├── tab_dashboard.py # Game Mode + ping stats
│ ├── tab_monitor.py # Live PyQtGraph display
│ ├── tab_wifi.py # Wi-Fi optimizer controls
│ ├── tab_fps.py # FPS boost controls
│ ├── tab_optimizer.py # TCP/DNS/service controls
│ ├── tab_bandwidth.py # Process priority table
│ ├── tab_profiles.py # Profile management
│ ├── tab_settings.py # App settings + game list
│ ├── tab_route.py # Route Analyzer (tracert + server discovery)
│ └── widgets/
│ ├── ping_graph.py # PyQtGraph rolling graph
│ ├── toggle_switch.py # Animated iOS-style toggle
│ ├── status_led.py # Green/yellow/red LED
│ ├── status_toast.py # Floating fade-in/out toast (success/error/info/warning)
│ └── risk_warning_dialog.py # Pre-apply risk warning modal
├── resources/styles/
│ └── dark_theme.qss # Dark gaming UI theme
└── tests/
├── conftest.py
├── test_profile_manager.py
├── test_ping_monitor.py
├── test_dns_switcher.py
├── test_state_guard.py
├── test_settings_risk.py # Risk registry: ordering, filtering, field validation
└── integration_check.py # Live system validation script
| Technology | Purpose |
|---|---|
| Python 3.13 | Core language |
| PyQt5 | GUI framework |
| PyQtGraph | Real-time ping/jitter graphs |
| psutil | Process monitoring + network adapter info |
| pywin32 | Windows service control, process priority |
| ctypes | Direct Windows API calls (timer resolution, affinity) |
| winreg | Registry read/write for all optimizations |
| PyInstaller | Package to standalone .exe |
Intel's AX211 driver uses aggressive power saving by default — it parks the radio between packets to save battery. This causes 200–500ms spikes whenever a packet arrives after a brief idle period. NetBoost writes directly to the driver's registry key under HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Class\{4D36E972-...} to disable this behavior while the app is running.
Recent Intel drivers expose some adapter settings under newer registry keywords such as RoamingPreferredBandType, IbssTxPower, ThroughputBoosterEnabled, and MIMOPowerSaveMode. NetBoost handles those current names and keeps legacy keyword fallbacks for older driver packages.
The i7-13650HX has 6 Performance cores (threads 0–11) and 8 Efficiency cores (threads 12–19). Windows sometimes schedules game threads on E-cores, causing stutters. NetBoost uses SetProcessAffinityMask to pin the game process to P-cores only (0x0FFF).
Windows default timer fires every 15.6ms, causing uneven frame delivery. NetBoost calls NtSetTimerResolution(5000) to force 0.5ms resolution — the same technique used by CS2 and other competitive titles internally.
Before every destructive operation, the original value is written to %APPDATA%\NetBoost\state.json via atomic write (os.replace). On startup, if a state file exists with a dead PID, all settings are auto-restored.
- No kernel drivers — all tweaks use documented Windows APIs (registry, netsh, win32service)
- Anti-cheat safe — only uses
SetPriorityClassandSetProcessAffinityMask, no process injection - Auto-restore on exit — every change is reversed cleanly when the app closes
- Crash recovery — atomic state file ensures nothing stays modified after a crash
# Unit tests (no admin needed)
python -m pytest tests/ -v
# Live integration check (run as admin)
python tests/integration_check.pyBuilt and tested on:
- CPU: Intel Core i7-13650HX (6P + 8E cores)
- GPU: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 Laptop
- Wi-Fi: Intel Wi-Fi 6E AX211
- RAM: 16GB DDR5
- OS: Windows 11 Build 26200
Works on any Windows 10/11 system. Wi-Fi optimizations require an Intel Wi-Fi adapter; other features work universally.
This project was designed and built with Claude (Anthropic) as an AI pair programmer, using Claude Code - Anthropic's agentic coding CLI. Later stability work, including the VALORANT Stable Ping Mode, conservative defaults, tests, and documentation updates, was contributed with OpenAI Codex.
| What | How AI helped |
|---|---|
| Architecture design | Designed the full module structure, threading model, and signal flow before writing a single line |
| Core implementation | Wrote all 13 core optimizer modules - registry tweaks, service control, ICMP monitor, crash-safe state guard |
| UI layer | Built the entire PyQt5 interface - 9 tabs, animated toggle switches, PyQtGraph live graphs, system tray |
| Windows internals | Identified the exact Intel AX211 registry keys, P-core affinity masks, NtSetTimerResolution API calls |
| Test suite | Generated 4 unit test files + integration check script with mocked subprocess/registry |
| Documentation | Wrote this README and the CLAUDE.md developer guide |
| Stable-ping iteration | OpenAI Codex added VALORANT-focused stable defaults, Game Mode filtering, regression tests, and updated docs |
The original codebase (~9,500 lines across 45 files) was generated in a single session using Claude Code's agentic mode - Claude autonomously wrote files, ran parallel agents for different layers, and self-corrected import mismatches without manual intervention. Subsequent targeted improvements have been maintained with Codex.
My role: Defined the problem (Wi-Fi ping spikes on my gaming laptop), specified the target hardware (i7-13650HX, RTX 4060, Intel AX211), described the desired UX, and reviewed the output. Claude handled the original research, implementation, and wiring; Codex helped refine the stable-ping behavior and documentation.
This is an example of vibe coding at scale — using AI to implement a technically deep, Windows-specific tool that would have taken weeks to build manually.
- Fork the repo
- Create a feature branch (
git checkout -b feature/new-optimizer) - Add your optimizer in
core/, wire it inmain_window.py, add tests - Run
python -m pytest tests/ -v - Open a pull request
See CLAUDE.md for detailed architecture notes and contribution guidelines.
MIT License — see LICENSE for details.
Built for gamers who are tired of blaming their ISP when it's actually Windows Update downloading in the background.
⭐ Star this repo if NetBoost helped your ping