Home Network

[fatpirate]

Here is my situation:

Upstairs in my home I have my Xbox 360 (ethernet connection) and my Nintendo Wii (wireless). Downstairs is my office which permanently has 2 computers and can at times have up to 4 additional (total of six). Primarily use is gaming BF 2, 2142, and CS as well as general surfing. Currently they are all connected to the Microsoft MN 700 Wireless Router. I get my internet through Comcast.

Can I have the MN 700 upstairs and connect a switch downstairs into one of the routers ports for all of the PCs to connect to? How much will that affect performance (for gaming and connection between my pc and 360 as extender) My wireless router cannot go downstairs as I have extremely thick concrete between floors (my house was built in 1961, apparently to withstand nuclear attacks lol).

Bonus question: The MN 700 is several years old. Will I see a major performance increase by purchasing a newer router or is my comcast my major constraint? Also any good switch recommendations?

 

[O[H]-Zone]

Can I have the MN 700 upstairs and connect a switch downstairs into one of the routers ports for all of the PCs to connect to?

Yes.

How much will that affect performance?

You probably won't notice a difference in games. If you all tried to transfer large files at the same time there'd be a slowdown.

Will I see a major performance increase by purchasing a newer router?

No.

Is my comcast my major constraint?

Yes.

Also any good switch recommendations?

At this point in time I'd probably look for a gigabit switch, for 2 reasons:
1. They're cheap
2. They're faster (although, if you don't have gigabit NIC's in the computers you won't be able to take advantage of it. Good future-proofing though.)

Other than that (brand names, etc.) you'll have to wait for some of the other fine folks here to make suggestions.