My many questions

[Closing-Gap]

Hey, i'm new to Multiplay and i have just recently started trying to figure out what a Computer is made up off and how to make one (i made my first PC back in December), ofcourse it's still a bit confusing. Since my computer beforehand was ready built by Packard Bell i had no idea how they done it, but i had 40-60ms on most games and now it's worse.
Anyhow, here are my questions;

What is the point of a Network card? (my previous comp. had one)
Is it worth buying a Network card?
Is there currently a 'favourite' router atm?
What's the best Internet Provider?


I have 116ms at best when playing WoW, COD4 and basically any other games so, any advice would help.

:mystery:

[Shazz]

1) 99% of motherboards have them onboard, so no.
2) as above
3) I'm liking my gigabit linksys one currently, so maybe that?
4) My nildram has always been fine, so for me its still them. Until/if MPDSL drops in price

I highly doubt lag will be your NIC, more than likely going to be your ISP

[WhiteKnight]

Hey, i'm new to Multiplay and i have just recently started trying to figure out what a Computer is made up off and how to make one (i made my first PC back in December), ofcourse it's still a bit confusing. Since my computer beforehand was ready built by Packard Bell i had no idea how they done it, but i had 40-60ms on most games and now it's worse.
Anyhow, here are my questions;

What is the point of a Network card? (my previous comp. had one)
Is it worth buying a Network card?
Is there currently a 'favourite' router atm?
What's the best Internet Provider?


I have 116ms at best when playing WoW, COD4 and basically any other games so, any advice would help.

:mystery:

1) your network card will either connect you to the internet (in the case of Virgin / NTL / Telelwest) or it will connect you to a local network. The local network may only consist of a router, but this is still a network of sorts.

2) if you already have on on your motherboard then no, otherwise yes. If you currently use a USB modem / network card to connect to the internet this will be slower than a "proper" pci card or integrated NIC.

3) Personally i`m favoring "old pc running a copy of pfSense" however thats not a very "n00b friendly" setup, so in lieu of that, Linksys are quite nice.

4) I have yet to find a consistant answer to this question. Personally ive not had any problems with Virgin, but others hate them. I guess if you are on these forums you`re looking for a gaming ISP so it may be worth looking at Multiplay DSL.

[Towneh]

I'm my experience at working for an ISP the Netgear DG834G has always seemed to be the least hassle for new users using adsl routers for the first time. I personally use a DrayTek Vigor however.

[AdamR]

+1 for vigors

[ez64]

The Vigor's even for home routing are beyond fantastic.

[AdamR]

Pity that the Vigor 2800's bandwidth applications don't work on routed IP setups (only NAT).