New Router question: Dual core or faster MHz CPU

[Burner27]

I am looking into getting a new wireless router for home and I see now that they come with Dual Core CPUs and GHz CPU speed. Will either of these have a 'real world' benefit over my existing router (Netgear WNDR3700v4). Specifically I am looking at the Netgear Nighthawk.

Thank you and Happy New year!!

 

[Engineer]

Not sure you would see anything above your current router unless your WAN speeds are going to be really pumped up this year or you're going to have a large number of connections competing for bandwidth. With that said, the Nighthawk is the leader on WAN speed currently at SmallNetBuilder.com's charts.

http://www.smallnetbuilder.com/lanwan/router-charts/view

The version 2 of your router was good for 420+ Mbps on the WAN side. Quite impressive and unless you need 802.11AC or faster WAN speeds (i.e. Gbps WAN), I'm not sure you would gain anything.

 

[Burner27]

I do not have impressive WAN speeds right now. I have 15 down/ 1 up from TWC (only game in town) and I am using my own modem to avoid their $5/month rental fee for using theirs. I have a Motorola SB6141 which is a DOCSIS3 modem.

So are you saying that going from my router @ 420+ Mbps to a Netgear NightHawk @ 931+ Mbps would not make any difference?

 

[Engineer]

I do not have impressive WAN speeds right now. I have 15 down/ 1 up from TWC (only game in town) and I am using my own modem to avoid their $5/month rental fee for using theirs. I have a Motorola SB6141 which is a DOCSIS3 modem.

So are you saying that going from my router @ 420+ Mbps to a Netgear NightHawk @ 931+ Mbps would not make any difference?

Why would you get better performance when you can only get 15Mbps from TWC anyway? I'm not talking about the 'switch speed' here, I'm talking about WAN to LAN bandwidth, which your current router has plenty of (compared to the 15Mbps you're getting). Now if you're copying files from one PC to another on gigabit connections and then using a 3rd PC to download at the same time, you might see a tad difference but I even doubt that at this point.

 

[JackMDS]

The point is that Network's devices marketing people know that the crowd in general is Ignorant about anything Networking.


On the other-hand people hear the messages of "Buy the new "dumPad" or "dumPhone" etc. because they are 2 core 4 core etc.

So why not using the same "Gig" for networking?

---------
P.S. 1 - New Tablets and Phones are fine technology. it is the common users Not using their Brain which is capable to even finer work if used properly.

P.S. 2 - Unfortunately there is some contribution also made by the specific Chart on smallnetbuilder.com (WAN LAN) that is often link to by Enthusiasts. It leads the "Ignorants" to assume that its reflect the functional Speed of the LAN Wireless aspect of a Router.

 

[Burner27]

Why would you get better performance when you can only get 15Mbps from TWC anyway? I'm not talking about the 'switch speed' here, I'm talking about WAN to LAN bandwidth, which your current router has plenty of (compared to the 15Mbps you're getting). Now if you're copying files from one PC to another on gigabit connections and then using a 3rd PC to download at the same time, you might see a tad difference but I even doubt that at this point.

I can get more from TWC but the price premium for it is not worth it. If the switch speed is not going to be affected by the dual core/GHz CPU then I don't see the point spending the money if there is no real world benefit. In my house there are only 2 tablets and one phone connected at any one time. The rest would be streaming movies from my NAS to my ROKU. I work from home and use a VoIP phone to do my work as well as being on the computer. I was hoping I might get some benefit from dual core/GHz CPU.

 

[VirtualLarry]

No, the switch fabric is all hardware, the cpu speed of the router has no effect on the switch traffic (unless it has to be routed in or out of the WAN port).

 

[Engineer]

No, the switch fabric is all hardware, the cpu speed of the router has no effect on the switch traffic (unless it has to be routed in or out of the WAN port).

Well, or if it is set up on VLANs and each port on the switch has to be monitored. At that point, the CPU would play a role in the speed, IIRC.

 

[Engineer]

The point is that Network's devices marketing people know that the crowd in general is Ignorant about anything Networking.


On the other-hand people hear the messages of "Buy the new "dumPad" or "dumPhone" etc. because they are 2 core 4 core etc.

So why not using the same "Gig" for networking?

---------
P.S. 1 - New Tablets and Phones are fine technology. it is the common users Not using their Brain which is capable to even finer work if used properly.

P.S. 2 - Unfortunately there is some contribution also made by the specific Chart on smallnetbuilder.com (WAN LAN) that is often link to by Enthusiasts. It leads the "Ignorants" to assume that its reflect the functional Speed of the LAN Wireless aspect of a Router.

As for the faster processors or dual core processors, once you get to a certain level of speed 'and' features (QOS, VLANS, restrictions, VPN, etc.), the raw CPU power is needed to keep full speed going. Other countries are getting 1Gbps and 2Gbps (cheaply for that matter) and need the faster or dual core CPU to keep up with the connection. The US ISP's are too busy lobbying (and spending too much money on the same) to keep speeds and competition down and prices high, therefore, the need for such routers here has been lessened.

 

[JackMDS]

@Engineer, I tend to answer the OP, Not to some sort of virtual world that might or might Not exist in the current issue at hand.

I do not see anything in the OP info that will benefit from the technology in question.

 

[VirtualLarry]

Well, or if it is set up on VLANs and each port on the switch has to be monitored. At that point, the CPU would play a role in the speed, IIRC.

All LAN-to-LAN traffic is still handled entirely by the switch fabric. You cannot QoS LAN-LAN traffic on any consumer router that i know of.

 

[Engineer]

@Engineer, I tend to answer the OP, Not to some sort of virtual world that might or might Not exist in the current issue at hand.

I do not see anything in the OP info that will benefit from the technology in question.

Oh, I agree with the OP and answered him the same way. Was just thinking that you thought that dual core and high speed routers were a complete waste and marketing hype for all situations. Of course, for the OP, it would be.

 

[Engineer]

All LAN-to-LAN traffic is still handled entirely by the switch fabric. You cannot QoS LAN-LAN traffic on any consumer router that i know of.

What about VLAN's?

 

[Burner27]

I do appreciate all (Engineer & JackMDS & Virtual Larry) your opinions and advice on my questions. If I am not going to see a benefit from WAN to LAN because of my current internet speed nor any internal (LAN to LAN) speed benefit, then I will not spend money at this time. My WNDR3700 still works, I was going to make it an Access Point only for the upstairs but based on your advice I will keep everything as is.

Thanks for helping me make the right choice!

 

[hextet]

If you're just using this at your home network, I don't think you'll notice much difference at all. Very powerful routers are only good in networks with very high traffic, constant routing table lookups, etc...

 

[Mwing]

i have the same question as op

does the dual core cpu help dealing with a lot of traffic like a media server streaming hd movies to 3 htpc via wired connections while a 4th pc is doing bittorrent for instance?