Any chance a specialized router would help SL performance?

[Love Zhaoying]

Just read an article on a new specialized "gaming router" being shown at CES this year (Linksys WRT32X).  Is there any chance that such a device would help with SL performance?

[Freya Mokusei]

If your existing router is not as good, then this will be better than your existing router. But it can't increase performance beyond the Client Network level - at some point you'll just find a new bottleneck and there's no guarantee that the bottleneck you currently have exists at the same level.

• If you're plugging a shiny new router into a toaster, the toaster is probably still going to struggle in Second Life.
• If you live at the south pole, the fastest router in the world won't improve the round-trip speed of your WAN link.

Aside from the hype about processor speeds, 802.11ac 3x3 through 4 antennas is a solid offering, but it's hardly the top of the market. My guess would be that it'll be capable of high-speed WiFi for a couple of devices but not for a whole household. It'll certainly get a boost from the capability of over-powered OS firmware, too, but that is more difficult for the 'off the shelf' consumer to figure out. Anyone who uses corporate-level rack-based hardware (like myself) probably wouldn't see much benefit.

TL;DR You'd have to test your network condition and PC capability to see if this would be cost-effective. If you have a solid level of skill you can probably get some good stuff out of this - but those are gains you might be able to get simply by spending more time optimising your PC and/or network.

My source: BetaNews: WRT32x ac3200 Gaming Router

[Love Zhaoying]

Thanks! My system appears fine (I do not use Wi-fi) so no reason to tweak it.

[Freya Mokusei]

That does simplify things a little, provided you're getting 1000Mbps (AKA "Gigabit Ethernet") through the wire already. Obviously, this only refers to LAN speeds, not the speed you get across your DSL/cable/WAN connection.

You'll probably only benefit from the gaming router's 'intelligence' - the onboard CPU and RAM (assuming this is better than your existing router). Plus the ability to load up custom firmware if your existing router doesn't have that feature.

[Codex Alpha]

Considering that most of the lag is choking on all the huge textures to download when entering a sim, that has probably more to do with it, then your router.