Is there really such a thing as a gaming router?

[venom104]

Okay here is the story, I went to a local radio shack and I was looking at some newer routers (I was interested in upgrading to the n protcol for various reasons). I took a look at one of the packages and on the back, they had a chart that helped people choose what router they needed. There were 3 routers on the chart, and only the advanced two were "suitable" for gaming. I ask the sales clerk why, and he said it was because the "older" (I'm assuming what he meant was actually "cheaper") routers blocked some of the data from getting to and off of of the computer using the router. I honestly didn't think this was true, because port forwarding is pretty common these days, and you can typically choose what type of protocol that you want forwarded to whatever ip address.

So my questions are, was this guy lying? Is there such a thing as a gaming router? What makes a router sutible for gaming? How is a "gaming" router better than one you would use for home? I'm kind of confused, because from what I was taught, the job of the router is to take traffic off of one network and send it to another (and vice versa), and what I always thought was blocking packets is a FIREWALLS job.

It's been a while since I took my intro to networking course, please excuse my ignorance.

[CharlesA]

It is used as a marketing tool most of the time.

I've been running my "basic" router for online gaming and streaming movies just fine. From what I've seen, "gaming routers" are supposedly made to handle more connections or something. *shrugs*

I don't feel like spending 150 bucks on a router when I can get one for 50 bucks that does the exact same thing. :)

The only difference might be that these "gaming" routers have gigabit ports instead of 10/100 ports, but that really isn't that big of a deal when you can get a gigabit switch for like 30 bucks.

[sffvba[e0rt]

I suspect it has got to do with many routers being able to give priority to specific traffic over the network (so if your main aim is gaming you would give higher priority to that type of traffic and lower to say torrents etc.)

The others are still suitable for gaming.


404

[YeOK]

Gaming routers are usually just a combination of better hardware in the router (allowing for more connections, lower pings) and QoS software settings that favour games.

You should get all that in a quality router anyway.

[mips]

Gaming routers are usually just a combination of better hardware in the router (allowing for more connections, lower pings) and QoS software settings that favour games.


:confused:

[lisati]

:confused:

A couple of the routers I've used have settings that relate to gaming. It could turn out to be mostly jargon, however: current router and it's predecessor, both obtained via my ISP, have a control panel setting labelled "Game and application sharing" which seems to be little more than another way of saying "Port Forwarding", with another option hidden away in a different section which lets me specify whether a device is a laptop, desktop or another of a handful of different devices.

[CharlesA]

My old linksys had a tab called "applications and gaming" that was used for port forwarding/triggering.

I think it's 99% marketing jargon tbh. If you get a quality router, it will have all those features.

[mips]

I'm questioning the "lower pings" part.

Show me a device that can reduce round trip latency (heck, any latency) and I will ensure you get a nobel peace prize in physics.

[CharlesA]

I'm questioning the "lower pings" part.

Show me a device that can reduce round trip latency (heck, any latency) and I will ensure you get a nobel peace prize in physics.
Guessing they just mean that it has better QoS or something that prioritizes traffic.

[YeOK]

I'm questioning the "lower pings" part.

Show me a device that can reduce round trip latency (heck, any latency) and I will ensure you get a nobel peace prize in physics.

Ermm...

Your home network also adds to network latency. so a home router can affect pings. For example, upgrading from wireless b and g to N (with in range), or having a router with a better CPU and more memory can reduce pings when under load. (Like my network, 3 xbox 360's, 3 laptops, a media server, desktop and various other wireless devices..)

Hell, even switching channels on a wireless network can reduce pings. (Interference...)

QoS is also important, VoIP and internet TV can seriously reduce pings for gamers. So a 'gaming router' while actually just the same as a normal slightly higher quality router but with QoS settings that favour gaming, can reduce pings for gaming.

[Paqman]

Most routers I've seen don't even have QoS enabled by default, so that shouldn't affect gaming unless you network was operating at really high capacity. Which most aren't.

[mips]

Ermm...

Your home network also adds to network latency. so a home router can affect pings. For example, upgrading from wireless b and g to N (with in range)..

Obviously if you increase your link speed your latency will drop but you will still have a bottleneck when you reach the egress port.
If you are gaming you should not be using wireless in the first place, use a ethernet cable.

[Grenage]

Even with a cable, a better router can process more threads, and at a faster rate. The ping request is coming from the PC, not the router, after all. Gaming routers are mostly marketing terms, but most gaming hardware is often better* equipment. You get what you pay for, most of the time.



*Has neon lights.

[Basher101]

Even with a cable, a better router can process more threads, and at a faster rate. The ping request is coming from the PC, not the router, after all. Gaming routers are mostly marketing terms, but most gaming hardware is often better* equipment. You get what you pay for, most of the time.



*Has neon lights.

i built my own system and it came without any neon lights (pretty high-end stuff as you can see in my sig)....still performs as a beast

back to topic:

"gaming router" is more marketing if you ask me, you will only get such a slight performance increase that it wont be worth spending 100$ more...
you will get more performance on spending those 100$ on more RAM or a better GPU..

[Double.J]

Just pure guess work but I suspect adding dd-wrt to a compatible router and getting your set up just right would probably do the job?... tbh I'd imagine your ISP has more impact than your router.. in the UK the cable provider is FAR superior to any of the phone line providers... just my tuppence!

[Grenage]

i built my own system and it came without any neon lights (pretty high-end stuff as you can see in my sig)....still performs as a beast

Indeed; you have a very similar system to me, but I pushed for 4.6. Not that I ever use the extra 200mhz!

[Basher101]

Indeed; you have a very similar system to me, but I pushed for 4.6. Not that I ever use the extra 200mhz!

Ram got so cheap its a joke. I got those two Dimms for laughable 42 €. Also i only overclock for gaming, i would never need 4,4 GHz in ubuntu^^ (i have only 4 characters left in my sig so i cant add that detail there .__.)

[CharlesA]

*Has neon lights.

Sad but true. My case is a "gaming case" with nice red LEDs..

Blarg.

Anyhow, a dd-wrt router would be pretty much the same tbh. There really isn't that much of a different - a router is a router. :P

[mips]

Even with a cable, a better router can process more threads, and at a faster rate. The ping request is coming from the PC, not the router, after all. Gaming routers are mostly marketing terms, but most gaming hardware is often better* equipment. You get what you pay for, most of the time.


What is a thread? In all my years in the telecoms/networking field I have never come across this terminology.

The only thing a 'gaming router' offers you is a easier QoS configuration interface/feature to prioritise gaming traffic and you only see the benefit if you have concurrent network devices on your LAN being used at the same time. If you are a single user gaming then you are not gonna see much benefit if any at all.

Secondly QoS setup on your local router does not propagate beyond your local router in most cable/dsl internet access networks. In order for QoS to work (as it was designed) the entire network you are attached to needs to have QoS enabled & configured uniformly else you local LAN QoS parameters mean zip to the upstream network and will be treated just like any other traffic.

I'm out of here, no point in carrying on.

[Grenage]

What is a thread? In all my years in the telecoms/networking field I have never come across this terminology.

Small world, perhaps. A thread is a general term, which in this case would be an active connection.


The only thing a 'gaming router' offers you is a easier QoS configuration interface/feature to prioritise gaming traffic and you only see the benefit if you have concurrent network devices on your LAN being used at the same time. If you are a single user gaming then you are not gonna see much benefit if any at all.

You're assuming that the gaming PC is doing only one thing - playing games. As mentioned before, "gaming" in marketing terms means very little, but does in general tend to be associated with performance-driven products.


Secondly QoS setup on your local router does not propagate beyond your local router in most cable/dsl internet access networks. In order for QoS to work (as it was designed) the entire network you are attached to needs to have QoS enabled & configured uniformly else you local LAN QoS parameters mean zip to the upstream network and will be treated just like any other traffic.

QoS on home routers is just a general name for local traffic prioritisation.


I'm out of here, no point in carrying on.

Ok, but I really don't know what you have a problem with.

[forrestcupp]

Obviously if you increase your link speed your latency will drop but you will still have a bottleneck when you reach the egress port.
If you are gaming you should not be using wireless in the first place, use a ethernet cable.

Then why does Microsoft make so much money selling wireless adapters for the 360?

I do agree that the bottleneck is going to be the ISP and not the wireless network, though. The only reason to have that much more bandwidth in your wireless network is if you have a lot of devices that are heavily using it at the same time.

As for the routers, I have a cheap wireless-n router, and I don't have any problem watching 2 or 3 shows on Netflix streaming at the same time. That doesn't say anything about latency, though.

[Lucradia]

If you want better quality routers, might I suggest ASUS? Seems more and more people are downrating Linksys, etc. and uprating ASUS nowadays. (Yes: ASUS makes Routers now.)

[mips]

Then why does Microsoft make so much money selling wireless adapters for the 360?


Convenience of not having to run a cable.

[forrestcupp]

Convenience of not having to run a cable.

Lol. I knew I could pull you back into it. :)

[mips]

Lol. I knew I could pull you back into it. :)

:redface: :-x :-#

[CharlesA]

Convenience of not having to run a cable.
Not to pull you back in, but running wireless doesn't have a huge impact on ping times over the internet since the normal broadband connection is nowhere near the expected speed of wireless (54Mbps for wireless-g).

The same can be said for running a 10/100 router instead of a gigabit router, since the WAN link isn't even close to gigabit speeds (yet). :)

[BrokenKingpin]

I have a standard wireless N router and it works fine for gaming. The "gaming" routers are just higher performance routers and support things like dial-band, etc.

[mamamia88]

My suggestion is something with dd-wrt. I personally just moved my modem/router closer to my consoles and set up a dd-wrt bridge for my desktop without wifi. paid $20 for the router on sale works like a champ. now i can play my 360/ps3 via ethernet

[Lucradia]

My suggestion is something with dd-wrt. I personally just moved my modem/router closer to my consoles and set up a dd-wrt bridge for my desktop without wifi. paid $20 for the router on sale works like a champ. now i can play my 360/ps3 via ethernet

DD-WRT / Open-Source Router firmware is shipped with some ASUS Routers by default.

[forrestcupp]

DD-WRT / Open-Source Router firmware is shipped with some ASUS Routers by default.

Nice. Why can't they all be like that?

[Grenage]

The same can be said for running a 10/100 router instead of a gigabit router, since the WAN link isn't even close to gigabit speeds (yet). :)

They're rolling out 120Mb around here, apparently. ;)

[CharlesA]

They're rolling out 120Mb around here, apparently. ;)
Haha, wow. Well, in that case, you would want a gigabit router. ;)

[Lucradia]

Apple is making newer devices that will accept gigabit wireless signals. Not that it's surprising with all the new hardware and software changes to be expected soon. (Stacking CPUs in 2015+ for consumers; 128-bit support, starting in Windows 8.)