The Wifi Testing Thread

[Discussion]

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.

[Discussion]

Messaggio originale di Desto:

Horrible experience with Wi-Fi only, on the both systems.
High latancy (150 ms), issues with sound.

Please list:

Your router model number
The band you are using as a wifi access point
Which PC's if any are wired.
and
The game you are playing with resolution and frame-rates.

Just saying "it's bad" doesn't help anyone.

[the_muffin]

Server:
Windows 7 Ultimate 64 Bit
AMD FX 8350
8 GB RAM
AMD Radeon HD 6850
100 mb/s via wireless bridge (Supports 802.11n but the ethernet port on it is only 10/100)

Client 1:
Windows 7 Ultimate 64 Bit
Intel Core i3 2105
4 GB RAM
Intel HD 3000
802.11b/g/n Wi-Fi card

Client 2:
Toshiba Satellite L-455
Intel Pentium Dual Core at 2.2 GHz
4 GB RAM
Some form of Intel integrated video card
802.11b/g Wi-Fi card

Edit: Router is an Asus RT-AC66U. Only using the 2.4 GHz band with 802.11b/g/n in my case.

Client 1 worked very well most of the time streaming at 720p30. Very smooth experience with only a few major lag spikes. 60 FPS seemed a bit out of reach and 1080p30 and 60 were unplayable. Also tested it wired directly to the Server with a gig switch and it worked flawlessly with 1080p60.

Client 2 was just a mess. Streaming with only b/g speeds was hopeless even at 720p. Very frequent and long lag spikes abounded. Should also note that I got frequent "slow decode" errors as well.

I plan on doing some more tests with Client 1 tomorrow. It was situated very close to my router and I'm curious to see how it performs further away.

[RossomeSauce]

AirPort Extreme running 5GHz only

Desktop (Source)
~15 feet from AP with a interior wall and heater in between
Custom Built
Windows 8.1
Core i5 650 Overclocked to 4.1GHz
8GB DDR3 1600MHz RAM
Radeon HD 7770 GHz Edition
300Mbps Wireless N PCI Express Adapter - TL-WN881ND

Laptop (Client)
2011 15" Macbook Pro
OSX Mavericks

When the laptop was Wireless
Natural Selection 2 720p @ 29 (seemed to peg there, couldn't get higher)
CS:GO 720p @ 29 but dipped down to 13 durring combat (slow decode message)
Skyrim 720p @ 12-15 almost unplayable (slow decode message)
Dishonored 720p @ 29 solid (While entering areas with a lot of light effects I get "Slow Game" message)

With the laptop Wired (Desktop still wireless)
Skyrim 720p @ 18-25

I will do some more testing tomorrow

[CREUS-MUNTAL]

Messaggio originale di JonTerp:

Messaggio originale di Desto:

Horrible experience with Wi-Fi only, on the both systems.
High latancy (150 ms), issues with sound.

Please list:

Your router model number
The band you are using as a wifi access point
Which PC's if any are wired.
and
The game you are playing with resolution and frame-rates.

Just saying "it's bad" doesn't help anyone.

My PC Desktop and Laptop were on Wi-Fi, I just received my mail for beta testing. Both were on Windows 7. Now my laptop is on Ubuntu 13.10

At firstI tried Hitman: Absolution, high latancy (150 ms) at 1920x1080 p. It runs normally at 60 fps on my PC Windows, on stream it was 20 fps.

Modem specs

- 1 ADSL/ADSL2+ port
- 5 Ethernet 10/100 ports
- 2 USB ports
- Wifi 802.11 b/g/n (2×3) yp to 300 Mb/s (2.4 GHz)

More questions? just ask.

[Hasney]

Messaggio originale di Reaper:

Ha! Typical I manage to choose the two games that don't work out of a library of ones that probably do. I'll do some testing shortly and report back. Thanks for checking it out :)

Just been informed on another forum that DmC works with the controller booted from big picture, but Dishonored still doesn't work.

[Mr.D&C]

Router: Netgear N300 (Wireless N)

Host :
Wifi: Netgear N600
CPU/GPU: Phenom II X4 @4ghz/His IceQ 7870 slightly overclocked
8gb Ram, Windows 7 64-Bit

Client :
Wifi: Wired/Edimax Nano
CPU/GPU: Anthlon II X2/ Integrated
2-4gb of ram, Windows 7 64-bit

On wireless on both computer, i was on rare occasions getting a stable 30fps, most of the time was spent at 20fps with Slow decode showing (Sometimes it wasn't though. Am blaming this on my router). This applies to Speed Runners and Sonic Racing.

With the client wired, i was able to get a stable 30fps for Speed runners. It was completely playable, even online, and the slow decode. Sonic Generations (With Unleashed Mod and Mario Mod) spent most of its time at 20fps like it was on the wireless though.

Games were set to 720p, streaming limit set to 720p, FPS limit on streamer was set to 60fps, bandwidth set to unlimited. Im assuming that my Router is the biggest bottleneck, followed by the CPU (And possibly GPU) in my client. I plan on testing it at resolutions lower then 720p by using the desktop resolution setting sometime tommorow to see which one is the bottleneck.

[Ducks In Disguise]

I'm using a wired host (A10 APU, 7950 3gb, 16gb DDR3) and an i3 ultrabook (4gb DDR3, 1376x768). Router is a Netgear WNR2000 (b/g/n). My initial impression is that it really depends on the game. Here's a few I've tried. They all run beautifully on the host locally. I just left the streamer settings at default.

Bioshock Infinite : Ran great, nearly indistinguishable from playing it locally. Slight lag at times, but only a few dips here and there over a 30 minute play session. Won a fight against a Handyman, so that's playable in my book. I'd say at or near 60fps, really good.

Shadow Warrior : Playable at times, but most of the time it's a fast-paced slideshow. The game also broke randomly. On the host the player was still running forward, just a black screen on the client. When I took control of the host, it was running very sluggishly. Not normal for my rig. This game was the worst performer (that started) by far. Probably averaging about 15-25 fps.

Tomb Raider (2013) : This game was a mixed bag. For the most part it works great, but it has rough spots. When it dips it dips hard, but again, mostly runs great.

Skullgirls : I could probably have run this locally and achieved the same result, but I was curious to see how it would handle a fast paced fighter. Very well. Again, couldn't even tell I was streaming it. Really impressive. Not perfect, but I won several fights and had a nice overall experience. Just a few lags every other match.

Mortal Kombat : Crashed during settings auto-detect. Wanted to try another fighter, alas.

Overall, I'm really impressed. I've tried both Kainy and Splashtop, and this is WAY batter than both of those combined. Now if Valve could work it into their mobile app they could TAKE OVER THE WORLD.

[Holo[2b]]

host computer is running through gigabit wired and the client is the laptop connected through 300mb wireless connection

running 1080p in dota 2 and i get 17-60 fps, that low framerate is during team fights

[Gin ‘n’ Sonic]

Router: Belkin N300 F9K1002 v1 (Wireless N)

Host:
Wifi: TP-LINK-WN721N v1
CPU: i5-3350P
GPU: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 570
OS: Windows 8.1

Client: HP Pavilion dv6-6150us (http://www.pcworld.com/product/920687/hp-pavilion-dv6-6150us-lw217ua-notebook.html)

I get input, audio, and video lag at every resolution. The lag is only manageable for most games at 720p.

[C*MazZta']

Router: TP-LINK TL-WR941ND

Host:
1gbps ethernet to router
i7 3770k
AMD radeon hd 7870
Windows 8.1

Client:
Macbook pro with retina display
I launch the games in big picture mode, use a Dualshock 4.

At native retina resolution, games lauch at 720p and drop a lot of frames, when plugged in to a TV, at 1080p, games launch at 1080p, no frames are dropped.

Latency is between 40ms and 60ms (display alone is 40ms@1080p)
Ping is 2ms

Works perfectly with some games
(Skyrim, Dishonored, Bioshock Infinite, Borderlands)
The link is about 70Mb and uses only 10% of it, no frame drops

Some games don't work, I think it's because they use DirectInput for controller. Shows picture, but the controller doesn't work.
(Braid, The Walking Dead, Mass Effect)

[Belt_Bucket_TCB]

I'm using a Galaxy Note 3 with (rooted) Hotspot. Works just fine.

Games are running on my desktop (i5 4670, R9 280x, 8 GB RAM, Win 7 Ultimate) and streaming to my laptop (i7 3630, 6 GB RAM, Win 8.1) in the same room.

[TheKurrgan]

I'm a network engineer, heres my .02 that may help some people:
2.4Ghz wireless is a crap shoot. If you've got a lot of neighbors you're gonna suffer.
To improve this, buy a dedicated wireless AP, preferably with SMA connected antennas and get some higher gain antennas to use.
Then the key ingredient is going to be to force a slower transfer rate. Remember, its aggregate bandwidth, so if you limit to 45 you've got a theoretical bi directional transfer of 22.5Mbit
Why this helps: Forgetting your neighbors, you are also competing with your own devices. If you've got a Chromecast TV on the fringe of coverage that syncs at MCS9 just BARELY, you must wait for the AP to finish its transmission to that device at that speed before you get any attention. By lowering the max associated rate to an easily achievable one the client device won't have to retrain itself as often, which is where you get ALOT of latency. And since none of the other devices are flickering, you won't wait for them to get with the program either.
Next step: Say goodbye to b/g devices. They'll screw you royal in mixed N mode.
Make sure power saving features are disabled on client devices.
Use at least ONE end wired. For two devices to communicate with each other on the same wireless network, the timeslots are essentially divided. This can bury a lot of consumer grade equipment and strains even commercial ones. This is why this type of transmission is usually disabled on corporate lans.
Extreme measure: Force an MCS 7 or lower. This restricts operation to 1 chain. This means the second or third spatial streams are not a factor, and if one of them is lost or otherwise unusable an error doesn't occur.
All of this speed limiting I'm talking about must occur on the wireless AP or it will do no good.
Make sure 40mhz channels are disabled. (Most 2.4ghz don't do it anyway, but if there is even the option for it make sure its set to off)
Jumbo packets: Disable them. Cramming more ethernet frames into a single wireless datagram only helps for throughput, at the cost of latency, and increase retry times in the event of an error.
for G networks I'd recommend a max of 22Mbps for speed, and for b networks... forget about it.. go to big lots for gods sake and buy the cheapest POS there it'll be better.

IDEAL: Same principles above, applied to a 5ghz wireless N/AC deployment, with multiple AP's to cover the house. Most houses will need 2 AP's to cover it properly but will deliver superior performance. If you've got the bucks find a dual band ruckus on ebay or something, those are little troopers but are VERY expensive. For mid level enterprise grade stuff I recommend Ubnt. They make stuff that performs QUITE well at consumer level prices, but its not going to be a simple plug and play install, you'll need to know how to configure a wireless AP. Also note, in wireless Antenna's are the key. I myself use a 16dbi MIMO sector antenna in the corner of my living room (120 Degree) that covers my entire house (2400 Sq Ft) quite well in the 5ghz spectrum due to the increased gain. This was OK for me, as 5ghz sector antennas are fairly small, and all my devices support it. 2.4 you won't get that, but Ubnt makes some nice stuff that has integrated wireless high gain antennas that could spice up your wireless life.
I don't recommend beyond 6dBi in busy areas on the 2.4 spectrum.. you'll blast the crap out of your neighbors and not really gain all that much.

My .02. Good Luck!

[After]

host:
i5 3200mhz
gtx 670
8gb
lan 100mb

router:
asus tr-n12 802.11n (300mbit/s)

client:
laptop
asus ux31a
I5 3317u 1700mhz
intel HD4000
4gb
wi-fi 802.11n
xbox 360 controller
_________________________________
test:
borderlands - 100% playable fullhd (very low latency 60fps)
MGR revangence - 100 playable hd (very low latency 60fps)
batman AC - mostly fail to start, or 2-5 fps
anno 2070 - 100% playable fullhd (very low latency 60fps)
stanley porable - 100 playable hd (normal latency 60fps,fullhd 30fps)
hearthstone - not steam game via steam. 100% playable fullhd (normal latency 30fps)
_________________________________
3-4 meters from router
great expiriance
much better then splashtop remote etc
2hours test - 60% client batery in high perfomace mode.
CAN STREAM GAMES AND PROGRAMMS THAT ACTUALY NOT IN STAEM

[Timepants]

Host
OS: Windows 8
CPU: Intel Core i5 3570K
GPU: AMD R9 270X
RAM: 8GB
tried both wired and 2.4GHz wireless n

Client:
OS: Windows 7
CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo P8800
GPU: Nvidia Geforce 320M
RAM: 4GB
wired

router: Linksys E2500
while testing over wireless, the machines were about 12 feet apart

Results:
Awesomenauts (single player match) 1280x720 resolution @ 60 FPS, highest graphics
~50 ms total latency wired, ~60 ms total latency wireless
Definitely playable over wireless, aside from random lag spikes.

Just Cause 2 1280x720 resolution @ 60 FPS, highest graphics
~50 ms total latency wired, ~60 ms total latency wireless
Also playable wirelessly.

Tomb Raider 1920x1080 resolution @ 30 FPS, highest graphics
~80 ms total latency wired, ~100 ms total latency wireless
1280x720 resolution @ 60 FPS, highest graphics
~60 ms total latency wired, ~70 ms total latency wireless
This game seemed to be pretty rough over wireless. The only way to get decent latency was turning graphics options all the way down. On a side note, I couldn't get this game to run 1920x1080 without the game seeming to lock itself at 30 FPS. It runs fine on just my host computer though. I'm trying to figure out if the stream will automatically lock framerate in order to reduce latency or something along those lines.

[remi]

I need new computer >.<