Wifi

[Donions]

Are most desktops now made with the ability to be wifi, or do i have to buy some shit?

[TinStar]

It just depends.. I would say that most have it but if you do a custom box then You would have to add it. If you bought a store bought computer then It should have it unless its a lower end model.. You don't want wifi for gaming anyways. Plug that bitch in

[strife]

It is standard on laptops... and not standard on desktops. Add on wifi cards are cheap though.

[Donions]

So it wouldnt be ideal to run my desktop with wifi eh?

[Slamz]

Wireless is no problem on desktops. All you need is a USB stick. $10 - $30 or so.

<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.amazon.com/AirLink101-AWLL5088-Wireless-Ultra-Adapter/dp/B003X26PMO/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1354506747&sr=8-1&keywords=wifi+usb">http://www.amazon.com/AirLink101-AWLL50 ... s=wifi+usb</a><!-- m -->
<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.amazon.com/Belkin-F7D2102-Micro-Wireless-Adapter/dp/B004N625B4/ref=sr_1_10?ie=UTF8&qid=1354506819&sr=8-10&keywords=wifi+usb">http://www.amazon.com/Belkin-F7D2102-Mi ... s=wifi+usb</a><!-- m -->

I assume you already have the wireless router to connect to.

[strife]

So it wouldnt be ideal to run my desktop with wifi eh?

What Slamz said... although, I would say unless you just have to run wifi, run wired. I went to the trouble of running cable outside my house, around to my computer room to avoid having to run wifi to my gaming box. My wife's PC which is up stairs and really only used for browsing, is connected through wifi.

I only run wifi when I have to for my computers. Wifi is generally slower(although there are some that can get decent speeds)... but any old wired router will get you 1 gbps, and your general best buy wireless router is going to get about 1/3 of that(granted there are faster ones... but they start costing $$$). Also you have to deal with security on wireless routers, which isn't a big deal if you're even a little bit techie(or can read an instruction manual), but still, it's one more thing to deal with.

Also, if you shove your wireless router behind a desk or in a corner or something like that, you can get interference and spotty wifi reception.

[TinStar]

Wifi works ok on desktops but I wouldn't use it for gaming unless you have no other options. You will sometimes lose signals on Wifi and lag. In normal everyday stuff it's fine but I used wifi for a couple years at my old house because I had no access to wired internet and it sucked.

[Lendryn]

A wifi connection isn't necessarily a detriment to gaming unless you have the router and interface adapter positioned in a location where you will have poor reception / throughput (e.g. if the signal has to travel a long distance or your router is locked away in a Faraday cage). The latency on a wireless connection generally isn't that much higher vs. an ethernet connection.

I wouldn't recommend the usb wireless adapters unless you're in close proximity to the router--but then you might as well just plug directly into it, right? Many of them are not great for reception. Read the reviews beforehand if you're going to get one! If you're going to connect a PC wirelessly then I would recommend you get a nice wireless access point, instead. These typically have a better signal and a higher throughput, though they are generally more costly, too. Also, with the wireless access point, if you have more than one PC to connect you don't need to buy separate adapters for each box.

[Slamz]

There's also things like this:
<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.amazon.com/Actiontec-PWR511K01-HomePlug-Powerline-Network/dp/B00871SR68">http://www.amazon.com/Actiontec-PWR511K ... B00871SR68</a><!-- m -->

Turns your power wires into a network. I've heard they might not work if you have some weird power line configuration (like two separate fuse boxes) but I think it should work for most homes. I have a pair like this I got for free and I use it for the TiVo. Never tried it for gaming.

[Diggles]

those powernet things are extremely flaky though.