going wireless and online gaming ?

[drednox]

hi

i would like to get a wireless DSL/Cable router because its easier then rearranging furniture or running new cables inside my walls, hehe. but, i know that going wireless makes higher latencies. causes a bit of lag and of course squeezing out every last bit of a low ping is critical in online gaming.

i have currently one desktop PC and soon my wife will add a laptop to that. so we are looking at these 2 computers on it.

range of it is unimportant to me, in fact i would like a shorter range, lets say a room or 2, so that people outside our house can't tap into the signal. throughput is not important, max D/L speeds are secondary for me.

most important for me are latency, and stability of connection and compatibility, the less headaches the better.

i should add here i am using a Realtek Gigabit NIC built into my mobo, and a 6 meg DSL connection which works absolutely fantastic as it is now, hardwired. all this is on Vista Home Premium 64 bit. so the router has to be compatible with the 64 bit O/S.


i would appreciate feedback from any of you guys that do a lot of gaming online and use wireless stuff, and/or product gurus.

thanks in advance.

 

[Madwand1]

Look at the networking forum to start, and try to keep it as wired as possible. Consider relocating the router to where the gaming machine is, or to run a long cable. Consider powerline networking if that's unpalatable. Wired is always better than wireless, except for the wires.

 

[JackMDS]

Wireless can introduce instability (because of environmental noise), and add few ms latency.

The environmental noise is the core problem since it varies and there is No way for others to know what the condition in your specific environment is.

As far as pure latency is concerned, while normal Wireless latency is in the range of 2 to 10ms, human central nervous system latency is above 190ms (250ms in average much more if One consumes brews while gaming).

I.e. in most cases system?s latency claims by gamers is usually a cover-up to an inapt gamer rather than a technology problem

Therefore, as a good smart gamer the approach should be one-step at the time.

Get a Wireless router and a Wireless Card like this give it a try compare your own abilities via wire and wireless and make an informed fact base decision, and take the second step accordingly.

Edimax PCI, http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16833315041

Driver/Utility for Windows 98SE/Me/2K/XP/XP 64/Vista/Vista 64

http://www.edimax.us/html/english/frames/b-download.htm

 

[Twsmit]

Wireless will probably be "good enough" for your needs as long as you are not a fanatical professional gamer. I've used wireless and wired off and on at a few different places I have lived in the last 4 years and with good signal strength there is very little difference. Maybe an additional 5-10ms on the ping, but other than that gaming was just as enjoyable.

Would I prefer wired? Yes. But if that is not an option for you, don't sweat it, wireless should be sufficient.


EDIT: For my wireless card I install DD-WRT on a secondary Linksys router and turn it into a cheap wireless networking bridge. I enjoy the flexibility that comes with not having to install a PCI card, and being able to plug in any ethernet device, including an Xbox 360, desktop PC, TivoHD etc... A lot cheaper than buying a dedicated and often times proprietary add on card for my various wireless devices.

 

[Roguestar]

A few good recommendations (anecdotally of course)
Linksys WRT54G/L
Netgear WN854T (gigabit switch built in, sweet).

In general I'd stick to netgear and linksys, personally, as they have good reputations and Linksys products are made by the home/retail arm of Cisco.