What's best for wireless PC gaming?

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Linkrocks250

Linkrocks250

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Nov 13, 2016
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I'm leaving for college in 4 months and I plan on bringing my PC. However, I'm not sure if there's anywhere to plug in my Ethernet cable, so I'm planning on making my pc work over wifi as well since I know the entire campus has wifi. I know there are PCI cards and USB dongles, however my only experience with a USB dongle got me extremely low speeds. Is there any way to get decent speeds (as close to Ethernet speeds as possible) while using wifi? It's for gaming (mainly Rainbow Six Siege), so the speed is pretty important.

Specs (in case it matters):
MSI 970 Gaming MB
XFX Radeon RX 480 8Gb
16 Gb RAM
Windows 7 Ultimate OS
 
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LowlySkeleton
It SHOULD technically work. However, there is another thing about usb adapters. If you look in the reviews, you will find many great ones, but also many bad ones that always point to disconnects and signal drops.

My experience with usb wireless adapters tells me that usb adapters can completely disconnect due to poor compatibility with windows or just driver issues. I've seen my usb adapters simply disconnect from the system for a second and reconnect very quickly after, prompting that windows sfx where you plug in or remove a usb flash drive. However, I have not seen any of my PCI or PCI-E wireless adapter ever disconnect or become undetected once plugged in. I feel more reassured when it is plugged into an expansion slot, like a gpu...
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Darthutos

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Sep 15, 2014
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I would say get a pcie card with antennas instead of a dongle. make sure you get an ac card. Although I'm not sure your university offer ac wifi, but it won't hurt. anything like b/g/n get less speed.
word of caution university wifi is not for gaming purposes.
 
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LowlySkeleton

LowlySkeleton

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Aug 5, 2015
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For more reliable wifi and better bandwidth, I would suggest going for a PCI-E wireless adapter that has at least 3 good sized antennas. A usb dongle wireless adapter usually only has some short wires internally that act as antennas. A proper PCI/PCI-E wireless adapter usually has at least 1 decent sized antenna. Something like this might be good:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

Wireless Network Adapter: Gigabyte GC-WB867D-I PCI-Express x1 802.11a/b/g/n/ac Wi-Fi Adapter ($44.99 @ Memory Express)
Total: $44.99
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2017-04-23 16:50 EDT-0400

For something more expansive and massive:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

Wireless Network Adapter: Asus PCE-AC68 PCI-Express x1 802.11a/b/g/n/ac Wi-Fi Adapter ($109.75 @ Vuugo)
Total: $109.75
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2017-04-23 16:51 EDT-0400

However, do understand that you are losing some speed due to the fact that you need to send AND receive data to the access point over wifi. Interference from others might also reduce the signal as well.
 
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LowlySkeleton

LowlySkeleton

Reputable
Aug 5, 2015
235
1
4,860
It SHOULD technically work. However, there is another thing about usb adapters. If you look in the reviews, you will find many great ones, but also many bad ones that always point to disconnects and signal drops.

My experience with usb wireless adapters tells me that usb adapters can completely disconnect due to poor compatibility with windows or just driver issues. I've seen my usb adapters simply disconnect from the system for a second and reconnect very quickly after, prompting that windows sfx where you plug in or remove a usb flash drive. However, I have not seen any of my PCI or PCI-E wireless adapter ever disconnect or become undetected once plugged in. I feel more reassured when it is plugged into an expansion slot, like a gpu, raid card, or wired adapter, than in a usb port.
 
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