re: PC Discussion - Gaming, Performance and Enthusiasts

frick that

My desk has become cluttered with too much shite.

Who wants a Razer naga for a decent price or a mech keyboard?

KBC poker 2. Looking like I'm selling it on reddit though

Did you ever find any suggestions for a cheaper router?

That last one actually sounds like what I am looking for. What are the advantages of dual band?

If you have any devices that can use the 5GHz band, it would put them off the 2.4GHz band and cut down on interference. PS4 is not dual-band (but you said it's hard wired anyway), but the Wii U is I believe. And depending on what generation of iPads and phones you have, those may be dual band as well.

The drawback is that without extra amplification, the 5GHz band has about half the range of 2.4GHz, so you wouldn't want your far-away devices to use it (although it shouldn't be a problem in the dual-band routers i linked above). Plus, I assume the Vita is not dual band anyway. And it probably only has one spatial stream like most mobile phones, so your downlink throughput on the 2.4ghz band is probably going to cap out at 75mbps, and that's theoretically. Realistically, it'll be lower. But locally you probably don't need more than 10-15mbps up/down for smooth streaming, maybe even less than that for upload.

Isn't AC supposed to have range? My phone has had wireless AC since last year and my tablet too, and if I go downstairs I get maybe 1 bar of wifi, switch back to N on the 2.4Ghz band and full bars.

Doesn't really matter on my phone or tablet whether I use AC or not, but still.

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Isn't AC supposed to have range?

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Nope, that's a myth that I didn't know people believed until the tech board was born. AC standard increases throughput per spatial stream, but it has nothing to do with range or how the router handles attenuation. 802.11AC speeds are only possible on the 5GHz band, which as I said does not have the range of 2.4GHz. The AC standard does include beamforming, which turns omnidirectional signals into directional based on the location of a particular AC client. Sounds good in theory, but it isn't a miracle worker in the sense that a device barely within range will suddenly work like it's in the same room as the router. Beamforming doesn't really extend range. It's just a smarter way of network prioritization and squeezing out another few mbps throughput at any given range. Most likely, the farther away you are, the less benefit you'll get from beamforming anyway.

A lot of the higher end routers have more powerful CPUs for simultaneous connections, faster network prioritization, and more effective beam-forming in combination with the ability to amplify the power on the antennae. That's why you shouldn't go out and buy just any cheap router that has "AC" on the box expecting improved signals, in the same way you wouldn't buy a 4K monitor expecting glorious high-fidelity gaming without considering whether your GPU is capable.

I have the AC68 as well, and it's great.

Need some pointers...

I just got my new case, an Enthoo Luxe, and it was simply meant to give me more room to add another GPU. Now that I have it I have a real itch to just build a whole new system (kinda figured this was gonna do this to me).

Right now I have an all AMD system with an 8350, but I'm now going to migrate all of that into another system at some point later. This will be my first Intel build in like 7 years. The only thing I'm bringing over from my AMD rig is the SSD and HDD. The SSD just has my OS (Windows 7) and my Adobe Suite, the HDD has everything else. Am I looking at running into problems if I just plug them in and go, or should I do a fresh format/install? Basically, is there anything I should/need to do besides just plugging them in and making sure the BIOS finds them and have the right boot options?

TIA