802.11ac or Powerline adpater?

[Reck]

I'm going to be buying a Link which will connect directly into the route via an ethernet cable. My gaming PC however connects to the route via wireless n currently.

To improve performance i'm wondering if I would be best to buy a 802.11ac wifi card for my PC and continue to use wifi at the hopefully improved speed, or purchase a couple of powerline adapters and connect that way instead.

I've no experience with powerline adapters but i've heard they aren't great with streaming due to latency issues, is this true? How does wifi compare?

Which do you think would give me the better streaming performance over all, wireless ac or Powerline adapters?

Thanks

[WissApe]

My setup is opposite of you, I have my PC directly connected and my link would be downstairs with the other consoles on wireless, in preparations for this I considered pulling a wire from the upstairs but in the end I realized that I didn't want to pull a line and didn't want to risk WiFi and just got these power-line adapters:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00Y3QPG1A

[Reck]

WissApe have you got the Link yet or is it on order? Just wondering what sort of performance you're getting?


The thing i'm not clear on is latency. You can view potential speeds for both ac wifi and powerlines but what about latency? In theory both should be fast enough for streaming 1080x60fps assuming it takes around 30mbps of bandwidth for smooth playback.

I'm averging between 40mbps and 55mbps currently with my wireless n but I just wanted to give myself a bit more breathing space as that's quite close to the minimum that i'd need.

[Glowing_Embers]

802.11n is sufficiently fast for in-home streaming, and will have a better range than 802.11ac. 802.11ac sacrifices range for increased speed. 30 mbps is the max speed needed for in-home streaming, not the minimum. I got perfectly responsive playback at 1080p 60fps with less bandwidth used.

I'd wait and only upgrade if you have a need for the increased speed (typically for large file transfers over the LAN.

[Anarkistic]

I use 1gbps powerline adapters similar to what you bought between my PC and Steam Link and it works superbly, I've even been copying files between machines and streaming blu ray spec video over the same link while gaming with no lag. :)

[💕🌷💜💖🍷🐝🐾🐺]

Originally posted by Glowing_Embers:

802.11n is sufficiently fast for in-home streaming, and will have a better range than 802.11ac. 802.11ac sacrifices range for increased speed. 30 mbps is the max speed needed for in-home streaming, not the minimum. I got perfectly responsive playback at 1080p 60fps with less bandwidth used.

I'd wait and only upgrade if you have a need for the increased speed (typically for large file transfers over the LAN.

Same here steam link is at 1080p at 60fps with my bandwidth at 10-12 mbps my internet sucks but it runs really fine with my steam link. And I only use powerline adpaters

[maginnovision]

my 802.11ac router works fine. PC is wired to modem, router is also wired to modem. Link connects to router with no issues. 20-25 feet away and 4 walls. No latency issues. Was running around 13-15mb/s with DS2

[Reck]

Think i'll give it a go over my current wifi setup and if it ends up not working too good i'll look into getting some powerline adapters.

Thanks

[Burnhill]

I know this is an old topic but what tools would you use to measure not only the speed but latency and overall quality of the network? Just the performance overlays? What sort of difference should I expect from wifi vs powerline in terms of latency, or is there any difference? Any other differences?

[Passatuner]

It depends on various things. Wireless can be better than Powerline and vice versa.
For me Powerline did not work very well, some drop outs and latency was sometimes very high, but Wireless did quite well, with occasional hickups. But both cannot compete with a direkt Ethernet connection. If your electric installation is good and well done, Powerline often beats Wireless in most cases, but it can drop as soon some other electrical devices are powered on. Also if the electric installation is old, it can be low on speed and latency. Wireless and Powerline should be the last route to go, if you have no possibilites to make a wired ethernet connections.

[chromatic]

I currently have 300mbps wireless N router, wired connection to the steam link and wireless PC in the room next to it. The router was specifically used to link my PC and steam , and for the internet (laptop, tablet, phones) I have another router from the cable company. But I still experience lag every now and then. One day I have a perfect network and play games just fine and the next day I couldn't do anything.

Since upgrading to wireless AC seems to be quite more expensive (about 100$ for the PCI-e adapter and another 100$ for new router, (local price, shipping cost a lot :( )), is it better to spend about 70$ on 433mbps 5GHz PCIe and Router OR about 60$ on powerline adapter 500mbps OR 100$ on 1200mbps powerline adapter? Which one will work best? or is it purely experimental?
note: PC to router distance is about 10M, separated by a brick wall.

thank you.

[Cdr Krill]

My 2 cents. I use two Solwise 500 AV powerlines to link my office pc with my lounge steam box.

It works consistently at 1080p 60fps, Ive got it set to max 30mbps bandwith and beautiful. Absolutely no issues. I also have a Asus RT -AC87U which is my router. This is connected to the lounge powerline adaptor, and the steam box goes into this. I haven't tried using a wifi connection to the steam box but i do use it with my AC enabled laptop for steam streaming in the same lounge. Initially the quality was rubbish but I found that when I preset the bandwidth limit from AUTO to 30mbps, it also works at 1080p60. This is mostly consistent, there can be some frame drops.

Comparing the two, the powerline is the way to go for me. I know this is not a direct comparison, but hope it helps