Is a wireless bridge what I'd be looking for?

[gibbey531]

My current pc is running wireless with a wifi pci card, but with the installation of my second video card my pc is getting cramped up inside, having the wifi card positioned directly in front of the video card fan, which causes heat to increase over time, which leads to some strange artifacts in-game. Now I have heard of people using "bridges" to connect to a wifi router and use an actual hard wire connection....question is "Am I looking for a bridge?". Or access point? not too familiar with networking as a whole, but any help would be appreciated.

thanks

 

[Emerald]

Yes you are looking for a Wireless Bridge or Extender.

Extenders are somewhere around $70;however, you could use an ASUS RT-N12 and upgrade the firmware with DD-WRT for about $40.

DD-WRT will allow you to configure the router in either Client Bridge mode or Repeater Bridge mode.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16833320039

Client Bridge will connect to your main router wirelessly and will allow you to connect your computer via network cable.

Repeater Bridge will connect to your main router wirelessly and will allow you to connect your computer via network cable or via wireless since it retransmits the wireless signal.

should you have a old router laying around check the DD-WRT database to if you can use their firmware to convert it.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16833320039

 

[MysticMiner]

No, I would not say you need a bridge, you could also go with a USB wifi connection, and remove your internal PCI card.

Certainly you could use a bridge, but if you just have the one system to worry about, or if your wireless is otherwise a good connection, it might be more worthwhile to simply move the wireless outside of the case.

Or you could just run your a cable directly all the way to your current router.

 

[gibbey531]

well I have a usb adapter already, but when I use it I only get about 2-3 bars of wireless signal compared to the full bars of my pci card. It would be too far to just run a wire from the router to the computer...about 50ft. And from what I understand wired connections are more "consistent" as far as internet quality (that's what I hear, no idea if it's true or not).

I'm thinking the bridging is the way to go for me at the moment, and it'll be a good thing getting the wifi card out of the pc as it's just not situated for my current setup.

 

[MysticMiner]

50 foot is well within the spec for ethernet, the only issue would be your own convenience, not the technological capacity. It would be more consistent and reliable, and I just priced some today, online costs were less than 10 bucks.

Your USB adapter may have a lower quality antenna than your PCI card, trying a different one may work better, but if you want to go with bridging, that can work too.