Better for Gaming...Switch or Router?

[chitzu]

Ok, so my question is: Why can I play Age of Conquerors with virtually no lag on my 5 dollar Belkin switch but I get some serious lag times with my Netgear Wireless G router? I mean this switch is pretty old and works great in comparison. I always thought Routers WERE switches...but...maybe someone can correct me.

Oh and I should also mention that it seems to be the case with all the routers I've tried. Hubs and Switches seem to work better!!

Thanks in advance,
Jon

 

[WesM63]

The problem is routers like a netgear or dink have built in switches. They do ALOT more work than just one switch does. This is why the performance decreces when you use a router with built in switch.

BTW, what where you connecting this "switch" to?

 

[Nybbles]

Even the switches built into the SOHO routers should perform just fine. If you're getting lag while playing on the local network, you might want to look for things like poor quality cables, or duplex mismatches. All else being equal, there is absolutely NO reason why a router would perform worse in such a situation than a switch.

 

[Haven]

A Router is used to connect two networks. A switch is used to connect multiple computers.

You would setup a Router to connect you to the internet. You would setup a switch to connect two or more machines together.

Are you playing these two games over the internet? If so, are both servers where you are playing on hosted at the same place?

Are you playing these games on your local LAN? If so, again same server? If it is the same server, then check to see if there are other wireless networks around you that are interfering with your signal.

Is one game on the LAN, and the other on the Internet? You can only go as fast as your slowest connection, so Internet is most likely your slowest connection.

Let us know. Thanks!

 

[ItsSoLARGE]

the lag you're seeing is due to the firewall the router creates. Either forward the ports that age of empire uses to your computer (google to see how to forward ports for your router and check which ports age of empire needs). Alternatively you could put yourself in the DMZ.. which will forward all port to your one computer. If you did this you would need a software firewall like zonealarm

 

[sgt]

Are you playing over WiFi on the netgear? That would explain alot, you would expierence higher latency over wireless than you would on wired.

 

[-(Xyphox)-]

Are you playing over WiFi on the netgear? That would explain alot, you would expierence higher latency over wireless than you would on wired.

Yeah, wireless sucks for gaming over....

 

[ktwebb]

Are you playing over WiFi on the netgear? That would explain alot, you would expierence higher latency over wireless than you would on wired.

Bullshit. Might be with your AP but as a blanket statement that is incorrect. Properly configured/engineered WLAN with good gear will add about 1 ms to your pings. That's it.

 

[k1pp3r]

Bullshit. Might be with your AP but as a blanket statement that is incorrect. Properly configured/engineered WLAN with good gear will add about 1 ms to your pings. That's it.

how many home users do you know that will go to that extent, i wouldn't i would rather run cables and use wireless for laptop purpose. But in a corperate environment that can be acomplished

 

[ThomasE66]

how many home users do you know that will go to that extent, i wouldn't i would rather run cables and use wireless for laptop purpose. But in a corperate environment that can be acomplished

Except that in a corporate environment, a few extra miliseconds of latency (or even 10 or 20) doesn't matter. It is not hard to properly setup a home WLAN that won't unduly effect performance.

 

[chitzu]

Seems as if we've got a little off track here. Anyways, I suppose a good question to ask to the person who said that you can only go as fast as your slowest connection would be that if I unplug the internet would that in turn fix my problem?

Because I would agree that the internet in the slowest connection, I just never knew having the internet plugged in would really bog it down that much. Nonetheless it's great information.

Also I have only one Switch which is not plugged in to anything besides my computers and yes the server is the same computer for all. I just thought it was interesting that it would lag so badly in a very clean LAN environment with few background programs and whatnot. But I guess I never thought to unplug the internet. I will try that this weekend when I go home. Thanks for the info. Oh and yes sometimes my dad has his wireless laptop on the game but honestly his pings in game aren't bad enough to make it lag the way it does. Half the time in fact it tells me that MY COMPUTER is lagging. This is odd because I have the best computer of anyone. I just dont' get it...thanks for allt he replies though.


-Jon

 

[theTIK]

Bullshit. Might be with your AP but as a blanket statement that is incorrect. Properly configured/engineered WLAN with good gear will add about 1 ms to your pings. That's it.

Until someone turns on a microwave that has the router on one side of it and the computer using wireless on the other... then add the person using the computer using a cordless phone and wireless turns into shit.

 

[BobSutan]

Yeah, wireless sucks for gaming over....

Nonsense. I've been gaming on wireless for a long time, with and without WEP and MAC filtering, and my performance wasn't affected one bit by moving to 802.11b/g. I'm only one person, but I've had lan parties before with up to 6 people IIRC, all on the same AP and we could all play CS just fine.

 

[ktwebb]

how many home users do you know that will go to that extent, i wouldn't i would rather run cables and use wireless for laptop purpose. But in a corperate environment that can be acomplished

lol. Doesn't take enterprise gear or knowledge to setup a decent WLAN for gaming.

Until someone turns on a microwave that has the router on one side of it and the computer using wireless on the other... then

If your microwave causes you problems it's time to get a new microwave. Phones are another story but that's easy to fix as well. The worlds not perfect. Buy 900 Mhz or 5.8 Ghz phones if you want a 2.4 Ghz WLAN.

Fellas, it's unfortunate you've experience issues on your wireless LAN but that doesn't mean WLAN's are problematic for everyone. So I'll repeat. Gaming on wireless gear is not a problem for properly setup environments. 1-3 ms added latency.

 

[ktwebb]

Because I would agree that the internet in the slowest connection, I just never knew having the internet plugged in would really bog it down that much. Nonetheless it's great information.

Won't or should I say shouldn't, however if your brining wireless into the mix that is shared bandwidth. Akin to a hub so if you have more than one wireless client associated to a single AP then you are fighting for that pipe, thus yeah, your pings are going to suffer. This would include internet usage by the second node so in that sense, the internet could affect your gaming if someone else is using the internet on a wireless client the same time your gaming on yours.

 

[Haven]

Anyways, I suppose a good question to ask to the person who said that you can only go as fast as your slowest connection would be that if I unplug the internet would that in turn fix my problem?

Because I would agree that the internet in the slowest connection, I just never knew having the internet plugged in would really bog it down that much. Nonetheless it's great information.

I think you misunderstood what I was trying to convey. Either that or I didn't explain real well. If you were playing over the internet, then the internet will be a factor. If you are playing within your own LAN (Local Area Network), then nothing should be going over the internet, so it doesn't matter.

Example:

The Green line is a 3Mb Cable Connection. The Blue Lines are 100Mb Network connection. The Pink is a 11Mb 802.11b Wireless connection.

Where is your slowest connection that your data has to travel? If it is within the network and not going out to the Internet, then it is the 11Mb wireless. If it is going out to the internet, then the 3Mb Cable is the slowest.

It doesn't matter if a I have a 1Mb Token Ring bridge in my network if I am not sending data over it.

Are you playing on the box that is the server? I'm still trying to understand how your data is flowing, to maybe be able to help you figure this out.

 

[chitzu]

Sorry, it's been a few days, I've had way too much stuff to do. Anyways, I don't actually know what this type of LAN is called, maybe a STAR?

It's just 4 computers connected to one router. And we're playing a game such as Age of Kings. See the problem is whether I'm using Wireless or not it really doesn't matter because either way I see lag. Now don't get me wrong it doesn't lag all the time, it only lags at certain points. For example It will be fine until we get into a battle and then it lags a ton for the rest of the game usually. However what is interesting is that even when I play it online it doesn't lag that much. However it should be much faster via a LAN than over the internet. So I'm just wondering why the switch works fine with almost 0 lag and the router ends up lagging horrendously towards the ends of games where battles occur.

Thanks again, and if I'm jsut repeating myself or whatever you don't have to respond I was just looking for a clear cut answer which may not be possible.

Thanks,
Jon