D-Link DGL-4300 Wireless Gaming Router

Post by **Ash2Dust** » Sat Mar 31, 2007 8:21 pm

My crappy $30 4-year old Dlink router isnt holding up under my gaming desktop, server downloading, girlfriend's laptop, and girlfriend's daughter's desktop. I've band-aided the problem by using Netlimiter and restricting bandwidth on non-gaming computers. 256/1500 ADSL just chokes under even a small load with pings, stutters, and lag suffering. Not to mention the router will mysteriously reboot sometimes.

So we're looking at a new house router. I've seen some decent reviews of this gaming router and wanted to know if anyone has experience with this guy.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6833127158

$95 after rebate is a bit high for my budget, but we'd all be chipping in and hopefully it would let everyone have full bandwith with minimal lag in gaming. But I'm not the biggest fan of D-link or possible marketing hype.

MadRat · Post by **MadRat** » Sat Mar 31, 2007 9:54 pm

wireless n router appears tobe the new standard for gaming

able to handle the high speeds and better range

i'm hoping to buy a belkin wireless n, these are about £135 here in the uk

i'm guessing about $190

Post by **Ash2Dust** » Sat Mar 31, 2007 10:18 pm

I'm not using wireless for gaming. I'd be getting the router to counteract the lag and ping when I'm not the only one on my connection. It prioritizes the gaming packets over regular traffic.

Winter_Lion · Post by **Winter_Lion** » Sun Apr 01, 2007 9:50 pm

That looks like an excellent choice, Ash.

I used a Linksys wireless router with my cable modem and it provided flawless data stream to 2 pcs and 1 lappy. One pc and one lappy were on the wireless network and I had my main desktop hardwired through a ethernet port.

I use an Actiontec combination modem\router at present and it is reliable as a brick but it needs to be rebooted occasionally and the setup and config page could be a lot easier to use.

Buy it!

Winter

Post by **Ash2Dust** » Sun Apr 01, 2007 11:21 pm

When all the machines start to saturate your bandwith, BF2 doesnt lag for you? What router is it that you're using?

ChickenSalad · Post by **ChickenSalad** » Mon Apr 02, 2007 3:26 am

The Linksys WRT54GL can do all that gaming router does ... and some more if you want it to. And it costs a lot less. Basically what you need is packet prioritizing, something that different open source firmwares for this Linux powered box allow (just unlike the gaming router, you can adjust the prio's to whatever suits you best). Probably the best firmware for your needs is DD-WRT. For more info:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WRT54G (note: you'd need the WRT54GL)
http://www.wrt54gl.com/

http://www.linksysinfo.org/forums/forum ... .php?f=142
http://www.dd-wrt.com/wiki/index.php/Qu ... .2C_P2P.29
http://www.wi-fiplanet.com/tutorials/ar ... _3649346_2

I've been looking for such a box that does what you seem to need and came across that gaming one and this one. I aint got one (yet) but a friend of mine got his lately and while he had issues with online gaming, bittorrent aso. he says his connection massively improved with this router and he's yet to encounter any issues.

Post by **Ash2Dust** » Mon Apr 02, 2007 3:14 pm

Thanks chicken, the Linksys router you recommend has my attention.

Pictures are a thousand words.
http://solosoft.org:81/projects/qos/

So with hardly any research, it seems upload the 3rd party firmware to the router and then configure priority via my web browser (Internet Explorer). Kill everyone in BF2 as if there werent any hiccups from other computers on my LAN spiking connection. Nice!

$61 is definitely a better price.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6833124190

Also looking at the Zyxel x-550 as it has QOS (the Obicom Stream engine that DL-4300 uses). $54 after rebate, but it seems the last two comments werent happy. One was a WPA issue which some say needs to be configured a certain sequence. Maybe the reason for the rebate.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6833181218

Would be nice to have the 10/100/1000 option of the DL-4300, but I dont think my old hard drives could push past 100. So a little more research into the Zyxel and Linksys...

ChickenSalad · Post by **ChickenSalad** » Mon Apr 02, 2007 5:47 pm

Good thing about that Linksys one is that I haven't seen many complaints about it. And those I saw seemed all to get solved through some flavor of firmware. But then, we're both of the tweak, hack'n code kind, so I guess our views were slightly influenced.

Post by **Ash2Dust** » Mon Apr 02, 2007 6:33 pm

Dlink went thru some serious FW issues with my current router. Not looking forward to buying from them again. Rebates ended so its a no go for me. Between the Linksys and Zyxel now. Which should I pull the trigger on...

Here in this area 1.5Mbps to 6Mbps are the normal download speed. Almost any router with some form of QOS will fit my needs. Unfortunately its only upload QOS and I havent seen a downstream QOS solution.

In areas where you have bigger downloads speeds, you may want to take a look at these charts.
http://www.smallnetbuilder.com/componen ... temid,189/

I ran across another one that showed packetloss for various brands as they went over concurrent connections levels. 2,64,128,160,180. Sorry,dont have the link but found it interesting as I would never go over 10 downloads at once with my 1.5Mbps connection. Something to think about if you do.

Post by **matsif** » Mon Apr 02, 2007 7:32 pm

I also seem to have this problem with my crappy router that verizon gave me for the dsl, so this is great info. thanks guys!

Post by **Ash2Dust** » Mon Apr 02, 2007 9:05 pm

Aftermarket routers usually dont have a DSL or Cable modem built in. So you will still use the modem they gave you which is fine, but you'll disable the router function (if it has one). Then let your new router control internet access and prioritize outgoing packets giving your gaming 1st dibs.

If you have money to burn here's another item to look at to fight lag.
http://www.killernic.com/KillerNic/

Post by **Ash2Dust** » Thu Apr 05, 2007 10:01 pm

Got the X-550, for the price. Configured and running. The wireless signal strength kicks my old D-Link's butt. In fact, I'd say it kicks butt over most of the wireless routers I've touched. I'll need to tighten up the wireless security a little more as I have it currently on WEP and I'm sure my neighbors are getting a strong signal. Tho my focus is not on the crappy laptop with a 2gig drive.

Havent had a chance to play a game on my desktop and see how the new router impacts the lag. The documentation is sub-minimal other than connecting to your ISP. So its nice to have configured a router before or willing to learn. I've manually set the StreamEngine settings as the automatic didnt seem to take. Will report more as I play and tweak.

ChickenSalad, I wish I could have gotten both and compare the two.

Post by **Ash2Dust** » Sat Apr 07, 2007 3:01 am

ok, I've had a couple issues with this router (x-550).... I'll feel it out more, pm me for specifics. I definitely had to manually dial in settings that I would have thought were automatic.

But I've got to say while pings are high, the QOS on upload makes a huge difference. I can't saturate my downloading of multiple public linux iso's, but casual webrowsing by other people in the house is now a minimal issue. Definitely an improvement, but not a final solution.