router for gaming

Toggle sidebar Toggle sidebar
L

logixs

Junior Member
May 8, 2010
9
0
0
Hi, I was wondering what is a good router for gaming?
The router I have now is a Netgear WGR614v5 54Mbps, it's about 5 years old.

My is ping always high, I gonna upgrade my internet too. What is usually the average Mbps for DSL on speedtest? Mine is usually low.
 
B

Bandit1

Member
Jan 11, 2005
105
0
0
Hi.I am not one to give extensive advice,but you could save some funds simply by using a wired connection for that router.I have a later version of the same router,and it works fine at 10 mb/s+.It'll handle any dsl speed just fine in that fashion.
 
S

SandInMyShoes

Senior member
Apr 19, 2002
887
2
81
Speed != latency. Speed is volume, latency is response time. It's like a dump truck vs. a sports car. A dump truck carries a lot (10mbps of bandwidth, for instance), but a sports car can get there much quicker (40ms of latency, for instance). Where this analogy falls apart is that you CAN have your cake and eat it to. Speed and latency are basically mutually exclusive. This means that 1mbps or 5mbps or 100mbps download speeds don't really have any bearing on your ping time, but it's everything about how good your provider's network is.

You're looking for not just a low ping time, but a stable one too. In some areas DSL is better, and cable is better in other areas. Ask around among your friends and neighbors in town, and try and get a feel for who runs the best internet service in your town. Hint: cable is a poor choice in most college towns.

As far as a router goes, the DLink gaming series is pretty well-liked. That would include the DGL-4100 and DGL-4500 models.
You may also want to consider a Routerboard 750. They look pretty flimsy, and there is a learning curve with configuring them to work, let alone shape your traffic properly, but I think RouterOS is the most powerful Linux-based routing software on the planet. It is absolutely incredible the variety of things you can do with it!
 
Aikouka

Aikouka

Lifer
Nov 27, 2001
30,383
912
126
I use a D-Link Gaming router (DGL-4300) myself and it works fairly well. Although, I've noticed a few second long link-dead situations in WoW lately and I have no idea if its my connection or my router... this thing is getting kind of old. Do note that D-Link's Gaming routers are not cheap... mine was around $130 and they go even higher.
 
AstroManLuca

AstroManLuca

Lifer
Jun 24, 2004
15,628
5
81
SandInMyShoes said:
Speed and latency are basically mutually exclusive
Click to expand...

I agree with everything you said, but to be pedantic, if they were mutually exclusive it would mean you couldn't have both at the same time. More accurate to describe them as separate or unrelated.

Sorry for being a grammar nazi!
 
V

VulgarDisplay

Diamond Member
Apr 3, 2009
6,188
2
76
I don't necessarily think that wifi has inherently high latency. I'm get my broadband from a wireless provider and I still get 10ms pings to chicago. There is a greater chance for packet loss which over wifi which is the same thing as lag over wifi though. No human being could notice the difference between a good wifi connection and a wired connection. They would however have a much better chance of getting a quick and reliable connection if it comes over a wire and not through the air.
 
L

logixs

Junior Member
May 8, 2010
9
0
0
alright thanks guys. I only use wifi for my laptop. My main computer is wired to my router.

Sorry, Idk much but are there any gaming routers with wifi so I can use my laptop too? (my desktop is my main gaming pc, i use the laptop for the web, etc.)
 
Last edited:
PieIsAwesome

PieIsAwesome

Diamond Member
Feb 11, 2007
4,054
1
0
logixs said:
alright thanks guys. I only use wifi for my laptop. My main computer is wired to my router.

Sorry, Idk much but are there any gaming routers with wifi so I can use my laptop too? (my desktop is my main gaming pc, i use the laptop for the web, etc.)
Click to expand...

I had a similar (or same?) Netgear router before and it was an unreliable POS. Keep that for the laptop and use a decent $20 switch for the desktop. So then internet goes to switch, and from there it goes to desktop and wireless router.

I don't know what you mean by "gaming" router, any decent router will do for gaming. I'm not sure if there is even any difference aside from the appearance (LEDs?) and more options in the firmware settings.

If you really want a router, maybe I would suggest any decent Linksys router. I used to have one and it was rock solid. Can't give you any specific recommendations as I don't use them anymore and haven't done any research (except the one Verizon gave me).
 
K

Ka0t1x

Golden Member
Jan 23, 2004
1,724
0
71
The best thing to do on most any router is QoS to wired connections and have your PC on ethernet, and as most have responded with, your uplink will be your weak spot.
 
D

Duwelon

Golden Member
Nov 3, 2004
1,058
0
0
Gaming routers such as Dlink's have above average or flat out best in class QoS so that when someone on the local network is downloading a 2GB file, it won't cause any excess lag for someone also playing a online FPS game. I had a Dlink 4300 and the gamefuel QOS worked very well. If your house has a lot of erratic download or upload behavior, then investing in a Dlink 4300 or 4500 (with 802.11n) will definately have some benefits.

Other than traffic shaping and giving your games higher priority on the network than other traffic though, a gaming router is just like any other decent router out there. I replaced my Dlink 4300 with a linksys that i threw Tomato on and the QoS on the linksys absolutely sucks, I can't play BC2 at all when someone is using my slingbox where I could with my 4300. My 4300's wifi became unreliable though so I had to replace it.

Now, i'm using a Buffalo "hi power" router witha 400mhz cpu and the QOS on that sucks pretty bad too. My own experienced then, the best "gaming" router i've had was the Dlink 4300 gamers lounge, simply because the QoS engine they have did the best job at keeping my pings stable while my cable was uploading at the same time.
 
L

logixs

Junior Member
May 8, 2010
9
0
0
So I went down to bestbuy and all they have are a few Netgear and linksys routers.

How is the Netgear WNDR3700 router?
 
S

spittledip

Diamond Member
Apr 23, 2005
4,480
1
81
I would avoid Netgear... Where I work all of our clients who have netgear routers or switches always die. We make sure our clients don't buy netgear anymore. Go with the Dlink or Linksys to be safe.
 
F

Fox5

Diamond Member
Jan 31, 2005
5,957
7
81
logixs said:
Hi, I was wondering what is a good router for gaming?
The router I have now is a Netgear WGR614v5 54Mbps, it's about 5 years old.

My is ping always high, I gonna upgrade my internet too. What is usually the average Mbps for DSL on speedtest? Mine is usually low.
Click to expand...

Get a router that runs ddwrt or tomatowrt. You can install it on some routers yourself, or buy one with it pre-installed. Buffalo will soon start selling routers with ddwrt installed.

The primary difference between commercial grade routers and consumer routers is the firmware, home routers have crappy firmware. DDWRT/TomatoWRT/OpenWRT/etc are all linux based and offer much better performance, capabilities, etc than most stock firmwares.
 
L

logixs

Junior Member
May 8, 2010
9
0
0
Thanks everyone, this is so difficult because everyone has different opinions about routers. Some people love netgear or linksy while others hate or do not prefer them. I figured netgear would be good because the one I have now lasted for 5 years and is still going.

The reason I'm asking is because if I'm going to spend money on a router, I want it to be good and last awhile. I should of changed the title... It doesn't necessarily have to be for gaming, but for general use. I know there is no magical gaming router, but I want one that doesn't hinder performance in gaming as well as general online use.

Sorry if don't know what I'm talking about....It's because I don't :)

The linux based ones seem pretty good but I don't know how noob friendly it is?
 
I

ImDonly1

Platinum Member
Dec 17, 2004
2,357
0
76
logixs said:
Thanks everyone, this is so difficult because everyone has different opinions about routers. Some people love netgear or linksy while others hate or do not prefer them. I figured netgear would be good because the one I have now lasted for 5 years and is still going.

The reason I'm asking is because if I'm going to spend money on a router, I want it to be good and last awhile. I should of changed the title... It doesn't necessarily have to be for gaming, but for general use. I know there is no magical gaming router, but I want one that doesn't hinder performance in gaming as well as general online use.

Sorry if don't know what I'm talking about....It's because I don't :)

The linux based ones seem pretty good but I don't know how noob friendly it is?
Click to expand...

A "gaming router" is all marketing. They just put that on there so they can make the price higher. Dlink gaming routers are reliable, but also expensive. The only thing they have is "Gamefuel" which is a fancy name for QoS. Any router that can be flashed to a custom firmware and have QoS and cost a lot less than dlink's gaming routers. Not all can be flashed to a custom firmware though. Yes I do have a d-link DGL-4300 gaming router. Yes it is reliable, but I got it for like $70. I would not have bought it for more than that probably.

The router is not causing you to have high pings, I am sure you will not notice a difference. A faster internet speed will not help either. Unplug your router and plug the modem directly into your computer. Check if you see a difference.

Pick servers that are closer to you.

If you don't need "wireless N," or gigabit LAN. Which I don't think you do. I would get this router http://detonator.dynamitedata.com/c..._re=Buffalo_WHR-HP-G54-_-33-162-134-_-Product

It is frequently recommended in the networking forum. It is stable, has good wireless performance, and can be flashed to custom firmware.

There really is not much to setup a router. Basically you plug it in, maybe change the IP, and set up a wireless password. I don't think you need to know anything about the other options in the login page.

Also no router "will hinder performance." People pick routers based on stability and features. Many regular, not so good routers, get overloaded and crash if you have a lot of torrents downloading. So you have to reset it. Or some have better wireless signals than others. For features, some have wireless N or gigabit LAN, while others don't.
 
Last edited:
KaOTiK

KaOTiK

Lifer
Feb 5, 2001
10,877
8
81
Your environment can play a big factor in how well some routers will perform as well. I went through nearly a half dozen routers trying to find one that worked well in my house and such. After lots of trying and returning, I ended up with the Apple Airport Extreme, I've had it for almost 3 years now and it has performed like a champ the entire time.

I've had linksys and netgears die on me in the pass as well so that kept me on the iffy side of getting another one as well.

It is a trial and error situation it seems for most.
 
F

Fox5

Diamond Member
Jan 31, 2005
5,957
7
81
logixs said:
Thanks everyone, this is so difficult because everyone has different opinions about routers. Some people love netgear or linksy while others hate or do not prefer them. I figured netgear would be good because the one I have now lasted for 5 years and is still going.

The reason I'm asking is because if I'm going to spend money on a router, I want it to be good and last awhile. I should of changed the title... It doesn't necessarily have to be for gaming, but for general use. I know there is no magical gaming router, but I want one that doesn't hinder performance in gaming as well as general online use.

Sorry if don't know what I'm talking about....It's because I don't :)

The linux based ones seem pretty good but I don't know how noob friendly it is?
Click to expand...

The process to get the various linux things installed is somewhat complex (basically involves hard wiring router to computer, opening up a command prompt, rebooting router, and typing in some commands that the instructions will provide for you), but they're not any harder to use than normal router firmware once it's installed. The tomato firmware is actually very cleanly designed and nice to use, but it only works on a limited subset of routers, none of them wireless n capable.
There's a list of supported routers for tomato here:
http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Tomato_Firmware#Supported_devices_and_revisions

For ddwrt, there's a searchable router database here:
http://www.dd-wrt.com/site/support/router-database

You can also buy routers with ddwrt or tomato installed (and other firmwares), sometimes they show up on ebay. Buffalo often offers routers with ddwrt factory installed, but I think they don't have any current models, but are releasing some next month. Buffalo routers also have good hardware and are generally well supported by ddwrt, but not always.
 
F

Fox5

Diamond Member
Jan 31, 2005
5,957
7
81
EarthwormJim said:
If you've got an old computer laying around, convert it into a smoothwall express box. That'll be the best router you could go with.

http://www.smoothwall.org/
Click to expand...

It's hard to justify the power consumption for that. Routers are at most a few watts, but even ultra portable laptops are around 20W. Desktops aren't even worth considering for this type of usage for most people.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

TRENDING THREADS

COMPANY
RESOURCES
FOLLOW
Top Bottom