PC Wireless Adapter Advice

[The Wonky Sheep]

Hey guys,
I've recently moved house and am having a few issues with the wireless connection on my gaming PC, which is now situated 2 stories above the router. I am able to connect to the router, however the computer intermittently loses connection to the network and my ping when gaming is terrible, to the point that online gaming is impossible.

I've tested the connection in the same room as my PC with my laptop and pings are perfectly fine and it never loses connection to the network.

So my question is, would the best solution be to replace the wireless adapter on my PC (it's some cheap PCI card) and if so should I stick with internal or go USB? Or, would it be better to get a Powerline adapter?

Thanks for the help in advance.

 

[Kursah]

I would use a USB adapter...there's a Rosewill one for cheap that I keep around for test and bench purposes.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16833166056

For $13 you can't beat it, in-face I'd pay full price...I have almost $100 USB adaptors from big names in networking that are horrid in comparison. The antenna ensures a solid signal.

That or run an Ethernet cable to your PC from your switch connection on your router. That would be best for gaming...but I can't say I've had any issues when I used that Rosewill adapter...ever. It is on-par with my Asus Z87-Pro's integrated wifi.

 

[The Wonky Sheep]

Thanks for help! I'll give it a try.

 

[GhostRyder]

Hey guys,
I've recently moved house and am having a few issues with the wireless connection on my gaming PC, which is now situated 2 stories above the router. I am able to connect to the router, however the computer intermittently loses connection to the network and my ping when gaming is terrible, to the point that online gaming is impossible.

I've tested the connection in the same room as my PC with my laptop and pings are perfectly fine and it never loses connection to the network.

So my question is, would the best solution be to replace the wireless adapter on my PC (it's some cheap PCI card) and if so should I stick with internal or go USB? Or, would it be better to get a Powerline adapter?

Thanks for the help in advance.

If you know the exact location of the router compared to your PC I would say the best option for your PC (not a laptop correct?) is to get a PCIE card and get a focused direction antenna. If you get one of those you can focus all the reception area towards the box and get much better performance and signal strength than an AOE antenna.

I did that when I was younger (Years ago) and my parents had a wireless box on the opposite side of the house.

 

[remixedcat]

High power->Amped ACA1 and look at my reviews for perf.
Stability->Netgear A6200 (same as above for most reviews)
Price->Edimax AC600

 

[newtekie1]

I would use a USB adapter...there's a Rosewill one for cheap that I keep around for test and bench purposes.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16833166056

For $13 you can't beat it, in-face I'd pay full price...I have almost $100 USB adaptors from big names in networking that are horrid in comparison. The antenna ensures a solid signal.

That or run an Ethernet cable to your PC from your switch connection on your router. That would be best for gaming...but I can't say I've had any issues when I used that Rosewill adapter...ever. It is on-par with my Asus Z87-Pro's integrated wifi.

Yep, that is a awesome adapter. I've been using them for clients for a while now. Though I recently switch to this: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16833166074

For the couple bucks more it is worth it for dual antennas, IMO.

 

[remixedcat]

No 5Ghz tho on that adapter...

 

[newconroer]

Do you HAVE to use wireless?

 

[The Wonky Sheep]

Hey guys, thanks for all the reply and I'll look through the options. I don't necessarily HAVE to use Wireless, it just seemed like the easiest solution to the problem.

 

[remixedcat]

One thing to note with the A6200 if you got Aruba access points (mine are aruba RAP109s) sometimes it will connect at 802.11a instead of .an speeds. I will be contacting aruba about that shortly.

 

[Jhelms]

Are you able to move the router? No other cable outlets or?

 

[Baum]

my experience with wifi is taht most passive antennas are junk....

and wifi over an usb stick is kinda meh for a desktop, get a good pci-e x1 or oderl pci W-Lan Card with more than one antenna (mimo) a modern one.

My last ones where from TP Link USB Sticks and internal Cards they work all fine just not for CS:GO, ping to high and dropouts with any card i tested, the final reliefe was an antenna replacement on my wifi card to get a stronger and more sensetive signal, it did the trick... gaming for a long time now with 69ms ping constantly.

Don't go Powerline, that gives you other problems like cheap AC Units that disturb the connection. (cheap hoover anyone )

"with my laptop and pings are perfectly fine" = inbuild antenna better than your cheap one?

 

[GorbazTheDragon]

Wire, wire, wire, wire, wire.

Please, if you take online gaming even mildly seriously, just use a Cat6

 

[Jetster]

I would go right to a powerline if you can't directly wire. two floors will always have latency

 

[Athlon2K15]

The two replies above me are spot on. Wireless is terrible for gaming especially with you being so far from the router. The D-Link 600Mbps Powerline adapters are a good option, I use those to connect my garage to my network.

 

[remixedcat]

Just DON'T go for a range extender. They HALVE your B/W and reduce overall performance due to the need to co-channel.

 

[GorbazTheDragon]

In my experience powerline has been unreliable at times. I use a 15m cable at home, the latency is <1ms consistently. I get ~10-20ms extra in games when on wireless. Next to the router or in my room (1 concrete, one board wall)

 

[SaltyFish]

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00JVHDAPA/?tag=tec06d-20

You'll want something like that. Just stick it between the antenna and the wifi antenna port. I had similar problems with my own wifi connection. Got an amplifier and solved my connection stability issues. The only downside is that the amplifier requires its own power supply so wiring issues may arise.

 

[Aquinus]

In my experience powerline has been unreliable at times. I use a 15m cable at home, the latency is <1ms consistently. I get ~10-20ms extra in games when on wireless. Next to the router or in my room (1 concrete, one board wall)

That depends on your signal. My Powerline adapter gives me a ping of 2ms on a good day and 9ms on a bad day. My wi-fi access point is nearby so my wi-fi pings are almost always <1ms.

I have two Netgear AV500s, it will say I have ~170mbps up and down in the utility, but I can do a speed test and get something like this when on wi-fi I get 115mbps down on average. I only use it for Linux as my USB wi-fi isn't supported. I'm eventually going to run CAT6, but there are a lot of considerations before I can do that because it involves other things as well.

A wave-guide antenna could be better depending on the wiring in the OP's house.

 

[remixedcat]

I got two amped pla2 and two netgear homeplugs and the fastest I've ever gotten was 12Mbytes/sec (average 8Mbytes/sec when over wireless N I get 15 and .ac I get 25Mbytes/sec

 

[GorbazTheDragon]

Hmm, must be the crappy router I had, or just that the laptop wifi adapter has a high latency. But, either way, even with expensive setups, there is nothing consumer grade that beats ethernet.

 

[Aquinus]

Hmm, must be the crappy router I had, or just that the laptop wifi adapter has a high latency. But, either way, even with expensive setups, there is nothing consumer grade that beats ethernet.

5Ghz with a full signal has latency almost as good at ethernet in my case, less bandwidth, sure, but that's the price you pay for wireless anyways. For a lot of people, wireless is fine but not for everyone.

There can be limitations to running ethernet cabling depending on your place of residence which is why wi-fi is a good option for most typical users.

 

[eidairaman1]

If your home has a narrow ceiling or is 2 story you have to punch through 2x4s and go through firebrakes sometimes. Which is ridiculous to dtherwise a external cat5 wrap might be only solution unless if you have a smart panel home with ethernet/telephone jacks in each room.

 

[GorbazTheDragon]

Or do it ghetto style with cables lying on the floor

 

[eidairaman1]

Or do it ghetto style with cables lying on the floor

Put a piece of carpet over it or do a internal door/ceiling wrap lol