[SOLVED] Should I upgrade my PCI-Express card? (TP-Link N900)

[MassimoT]

So in my PC, I have the TP-Link N900 dual-band PCI-express adapter. Now I have Frontier, and we have 500/500 connection. (we recently upgraded) This particular adapter only supports up to 450mbps, so I think it's a little outdated. My main issue isn't with the speed however, as the 100+ I get on WiFi right now is usually enough for what I want to do. My issue is, my connection to online games and when streaming stuff is horrendous. My ping to my router, even though its only one room over, is always 10+, and I get stuttering and sometimes drop connection altogether in an online game. It's unplayable. So I've been using a Powerline Network (which yields good connection, but only yields about 6Mps Down and 12Mps up, yikes) I want to know if anyone thinks it would be worth upgrading the card? Like I said I think mine is outdated, and while it is dual band, I still found that my smartphone (iPhone 8) gets a waaaay better speed (ive gotten 350download on my iPhone right in front of my PC that can barely break 110) So I believe the card is definitely a factor here, it's just a matter of whether or not I upgrade. I have fiddled with the antennas on my card a little, and it seems to make very little to no difference. If anyone for some reason knows the optimal antenna positions, or has a suggestion for a great PCI express card, OR if you even have a good solution for a powerline network that can get decent up/download speeds, that would be great. (Also, my powerline adapters are the generic white TP-Link ones. Thanks in advance for any help.

 

[bill001g]

You might get more speed out of a 802.11ac card but you likely still will see the latency spikes. Those are due to interference and in some ways it might be worse because the signal is more complex and more easily damaged.

The best PCI cards have antenna you can place on top of the case. The antenna on most cards are located very close to all the metal that blocks signal.

Powerline tends to be your best option for games it has much more consistent latency. There is a huge difference between the older generation poweilne units and ones based on the new av2 standards. It is not uncommon of people to get 250-300mbps out of the ones with a 2000 number. The fastest tends to be moca if you have tv coax in both rooms.

If the speed is ok you could likely use the current powerline for games and when you need speed for say download just unplug the ethernet and it should switch to the wifi.

 

[MassimoT]

You might get more speed out of a 802.11ac card but you likely still will see the latency spikes. Those are due to interference and in some ways it might be worse because the signal is more complex and more easily damaged.

The best PCI cards have antenna you can place on top of the case. The antenna on most cards are located very close to all the metal that blocks signal.

Powerline tends to be your best option for games it has much more consistent latency. There is a huge difference between the older generation poweilne units and ones based on the new av2 standards. It is not uncommon of people to get 250-300mbps out of the ones with a 2000 number. The fastest tends to be moca if you have tv coax in both rooms.

If the speed is ok you could likely use the current powerline for games and when you need speed for say download just unplug the ethernet and it should switch to the wifi.

Yeah, that's actually what I do now when I need to download a large file. I'm wondering now what you said about the powerline. It's just annoying to have such terribly slow speed that's only good for playing games, the worst part being sometimes it cuts out for seemingly no reason (probably some sort of interference, even with my older internet it did this, so probably something with the wiring in the house) Not sure what to do, I may just end up running an ethernet cable down the hall to my router to get that full 500/500 potential.

Also: (No I dont have coax in my room, I checked and couldnt find those plates anywhere. Would've been a much easier fix.)

Thanks for your reply, I will consider the 802.11ac card for future. It also seems that no matter how I position the antennas on my pc, I get the same inconsistencies. So getting one with an antenna above the pc might be worth trying too. Thanks again