Need Router advice for LAN application

[trooper11]

Ive been trying to find any opinions on routers out there that would be good for lan gaming.

Currently I have a relatively old linksys wired router and it doesnt seem to be able to handle heavy traffic. Whenever I have less then 6 pcs playing games at the same time, its fine, but when I add a 6th or more, the ping spikes and then the I loose the connection all together. It seems like the router just cant handle the load.

What Id like is a quality WIRED router since I have no uses for wireless, but if the only good options are wireless as well, I could deal with that.

a 4-port variety of router is all I need, just one taht is reliable at handling high traffic of the gaming variety. Any suggestions would be very helpful. thanks.

 

[JackMDS]

Are you talking about more than six people using the Internet or only local.

 

[trooper11]

there is one thing I didnt make clear

Im talking about 6 or more players playing locally and all of them playing online at once, thats where the heavy load issue could come into play.

 

[Modelworks]

http://www.pfsense.org
I recently ran 1gbit through the box for over 4 hours without a single dropped packet.
To be an old pc, it kicks serious butt.

 

[trooper11]

thanks for all the ideas so far.

another thing I forgot to mention. I am using a switch for all the pcs, so just one cable actually goes into the router, hence my need for just a reliable 4-port router.

 

[vorgusa]

matters how much you want to spend.. you can get a devices at Soekris that would be able to get all 6 people on one router, use the 2 or 4 port addition and get 6 or 8 ports, and use the PFSense software he was talking about.. this would cost around 500-600 though, but would work well.

By the way what do you mean by the switch comment.. what is wrong with hooking the router to the switch? The router will still route all the people on the switch just as well as if it has the switch attached.

 

[trooper11]

I was pointing out the switch aspect becuase thats why I only need a 4-port router. The switch is where I connect all of the client pcs, then connect the switch to the router.