The Wifi Testing Thread

[JonTerp]

Hi everyone,

I'm making this thread to hopefully pool everyones various tests using different routers and wifi bands.

First off, all of my tests are done with a wired desktop as a host and a wireless Macbook Pro running OSX Mavericks as the client.

Every test I did with b/g routers were barely playable in even the best test cases. Only games that aren't latency dependant (XCOM, Civ, etc) were playable.

However once I swapped to a full 5ghz band N router the experience greatly improved given the increase in bandwidth. Borderlands, a very busy game visually can run at 1080p 60FPS nearly flawlessly with only a few dips and minimal latency.

Realistically, in a working household full of Wifi devices I expect b/g routers to be pretty much useless given the extra in-house bandwidth taken up by avid Netflix / YouTube users.

I assume the majority of users are going to use Steam in-home streaming over Wifi, hopefully we can get a good knowledge base going to help Valve improve the experience.

[mychaelo]

Host: Win8.1 via 100mbit Ethernet
Client: 7 years old Notebook via 802.11g
Result: flawless performance @720p60 when no other devices are connected to WLAN, otherwise have to use 720p30. Had absolutely no problems playing Deus Ex Human Revolution using Xbox 360 Wireless Controller.

[JonTerp]

I've had other people tell me they've had flawless experiences on 802.11g as well. I'll get the model number of the router, might be a hardware issue.

[Doctor Lando]

The second I get in, I'll run some diagnostics on ethernet and Wi-fi (as well mix and match the setup between host/streaming boxes) and post here.

For now, the wait for the coveted beta email continues.

[Acuchillar]

Only two connections on the network, the host and client machine.


Host--
OS: Windows Vista Business (SP 2)
Memory: 8 GB
Connection: 100 meg Ethernet
Processor: Intel Core i7 CPU 940 @ 2.93 GHz
Graphics Card: ATI Radeon HD 5800 Series

Client--
OS: Ubuntu 13.10
Memory: 4 GB
Connection: 802.11b
Processor: Intel® Core™ i5 CPU M 460 @ 2.53GHz × 4
Graphics Card: Intel® Ironlake Mobile (GMA)
Resolution: 1366x768

Results --
-- Slow Decode Warning in all games
-- Mouse was SUPER sensitive
Strike Vector - 21 FPS, easily playable, mouse sensitivity actually helped
Don't Starve - 30 FPS, playable
CS: GO - 29 FPS, playable, but lolmouse

All in all, AWESOME!

[IG | FinDarkness]

Originally posted by JonTerp:

Hi everyone,

I'm making this thread to hopefully pool everyones various tests using different routers and wifi bands.

First off, all of my tests are done with a wired desktop as a host and a wireless Macbook Pro running OSX Mavericks as the client.

Every test I did with b/g routers were barely playable in even the best test cases. Only games that aren't latency dependant (XCOM, Civ, etc) were playable.

However once I swapped to a full 5ghz band N router the experience greatly improved given the increase in bandwidth. Borderlands, a very busy game visually can run at 1080p 60FPS nearly flawlessly with only a few dips and minimal latency.

Realistically, in a working household full of Wifi devices I expect b/g routers to be pretty much useless given the extra in-house bandwidth taken up by avid Netflix / YouTube users.

I assume the majority of users are going to use Steam in-home streaming over Wifi, hopefully we can get a good knowledge base going to help Valve improve the experience.

im not in the beta yet, but if i ever manage to get in, im getting a raspberry pi soon and hope to use that to stream from my pc to that using rhaspian linux

[blackout24]

Originally posted by xXBeefyDjXx:

Originally posted by JonTerp:

*snip*

im not in the beta yet, but if i ever manage to get in, im getting a raspberry pi soon and hope to use that to stream from my pc to that using rhaspian linux

Won't work since the Pi is ARM and the Steam Client is only available for x86.

[SG1_Oneill]

I haven't gotten in on the beta yet but I am hopping they will let me try it before the official release.

I have a very typical setup in that I have a main Gaming PC in an office directly below my home theater about 25ft away in an upstairs loft.

I want to test how wireless 802.11ac will perform. Currently 2.4Ghz and 5Ghz offer okay performance. Most high end routers however offer substantially improved performance using 802.11ac. Since most devices still only support up to wireless N protocols and USB 802.11ac solutions are not much better than wirless N, I want to try game streaming using an 802.11ac bridge.

I am running an Asus RT-AC66U wireless router. To bypass the poor ac performance of USB dongles I am planning on just buying a second RT-AC66U router and setting it up as a bridge. Then I will just connect my laptop to the bridge.

Testing I have seen online shows throughput around 300-350 Mbps at a range of 20 ft when using the bridge. as opposed to 80-150 Mbps using a none bridge solution.

This to me seems the best speed option if you really want to avoid drilling holes in your walls or running excessive wires. The downside is the cost of buying 2 high end wireless routers though the RT-AC66U is a little older now so it isn''t 200 dollars anymore.

If no one has tried this setup by the time I get beta access I will post some results or opinions of its performance. I want to avoid running CAT-5 through my attic, too much damn fiber glass insulation :(

[Syntaxx]

Host: Win8, 100Mb/s Ethernet (core i5 Haswell, 8G ram)
Host Bridge: 802.11/g connection running DDWRT on WRT54G v2
Main Router: 802.11/g connection running DDWRT on WRT54G v4
Client: Win 7 Laptop (core i7, 8G ram)

Electronic Super Joy
1920x1080:
Level: Drop the Beat
Client:
15 or so FPS,
4% frame loss
20 Deaths
Notes: Everything was good until the 'beat dropped' and the screen lit up, then we got lag spikes
Host:
Perfect FPS
4 Deaths

1280x720:
Level: Drop the Beat
Client:
Avg 30 or so FPS
20% frame loss
10 Deaths
Notes: Again everything was good until the 'beat dropped' and the screen lit up, then we got similar lag spikes but not nearly as bad

For this game the lag was noticeable, but you could compensate better at 720 than 1080, I suspect on an N network or at a lower resolution numbers would be much better

[neogeokid]

I had only two connections on my network, the host and client machine.

Host--
OS: Windows 8.1
Memory: 4GB RAM
Connection: 54.0 Mbps on a 802.11b/g/n Wifi Adapter
Processor: AMD A8-4500M APU @ 1.90 GHz
Graphics Card: ATI Radeon HD 7640G

Client--
OS: Windows XP Home Edition Service Pack 3
Memory: .99 GB RAM
Connection: 54.0 Mbps on a 802.11g Wifi Adapter
Processor: Intel® Atom™ CPU N270 @ 1.60GHz
Graphics Card: Mobile Intel® 945 Express Chipset Family

Results --
-- Slow Decode Warning in all games
-- Mouse worked well in all games
Portal 2 - Decent stream, playable.
Just Cause 2 - "Okay" stream, barely playable
Psychonauts - Decent stream, playable
Mark of the Ninja - Bad stream, barely playable
Half-Life 2: Deathmatch - near perfect stream, playable
Vector - "Okay" stream, playable
The Binding of Isaac - UNPLAYABLE (got Steam error 2 though kept playing on host computer)
Pokemon TCG Online (non-steam game) - Streamed perfectly, playable
Half-Life - UNPLAYABLE (Half-Life Launcher was not working correctly while streaming, runs fine without streaming. Both screens had a white screen on the top left side.)
BIT.TRIP Runner2 - "Okay" stream, playable
Gone Home - Decent stream, playable
Transformers War for Cybertron - "Okay" stream, barely playable

This was all with Automatic settings in streaming. I'll play around with the settings and see if I notice any changes. I'll test more games and put all my results here, but overall, nicely done Valve!

[Rtzon]

If you have a b/g router that only you are using and the only thing the router is being used for is streaming, will there be less lag? You mentioned that there was latency for avid Netflix/YouTube users but not for just individual use.

[DEC1MUS]

Wired PC
MBP N Connection to Recent Netgear router
I got 20 FPS on Fallout 3, and 30 FPS on NBA 2k
It was running at 720p to my MBP at 1400 native resolution
Hoping to get those numbers up

[4epTa-c_2]

Originally posted by neogeokid:

The Binding of Isaac - UNPLAYABLE (got Steam error 2 though kept playing on host computer)

Games which do not support the Steam overlay generally can't be streamed.

[Enverex]

Keep in mind that wireless G is only 22Mb (megabit) which is 2.7MB/s in PERFECT conditions (it has roughly 50% overheads) so don't expect 1080p and high framerates, it's physically impossible.

[*Muh-Q]

My setup at the moment consists of:

windows7-host<--GbitEthernet-->TL-WR1043ND Router <--Wlan--> Linux Thinkpad with i3 and Intel Wireless card

iwconfig shows about 115Mb/s for the wireless connection. I just played around with Borderlands2 and its working great. <1% paketloss and inputlatency of about 2ms.
Very well playable. Will try other games and see how this works.

[Ainz Ooal Gown]

I go to a boarding school so I'm not to sure about the internet but when streaming to my brothers laptop it works fine around 30-40 FPS, so far so good I tested this using Bioshock Infinite before going to class.