[kaboomcult]

Hi guys,

I am clueless when it comes to this stuff but I am trying to learn as much as possible and not waste money.

I am planing on building eskro's [Mini-ITX] A6-3600 (4x2.1Ghz/2.4Ghz) + HD6530D build. I have a HP data vault that I got an awesome deal on for storage. Now I just need to upgrade my router!

I have no clue what to get... I will obviously be hard wired to the server, I will also be running 2 laptops, and 2 android phones of the network. I live in a one floor apt. so range is not a huge deal. When looking at all these new fangled N routers I kind of gloss over... I don't want to spend 150 bucks if I am not going to gain much from it.

What router would you recommend?

A newbie and so so lost!

Thanks,
Jim

[Balinus]

What's wrong with your actual router?

[Orclas]

Head over to http://www.smallnetbuilder.com for some general good advice.

Netgear WNDR3700 was for long their reference wireless router and is now down to about $100. Another previous reference model is the D-link DIR-655, which can be had for around $70. Out of the two I'd go for the Netgear, they have a better track record of product stability than D-link.

[Orclas]

What's wrong with your actual router?

That's actually a good first question

[kaboomcult]

I assumed that I need something faster, my router I have now is a linksys wrt54g. So maybe I don't need to upgrade to wireless "N"? I don't think the wrt54g handles gigabit speeds... Maybe I am wrong.

~Jim

[Balinus]

I assumed that I need something faster, my router I have now is a linksys wrt54g. So maybe I don't need to upgrade to wireless "N"? I don't think the wrt54g handles gigabit speeds... Maybe I am wrong.

~Jim

I have the same router and it works just fine. No need for gigabit speed for 1080p playback.

That is, if your HTPC and server are wired. Don't expect Wifi playback through the wrt54g.

[gabbott]

I assumed that I need something faster, my router I have now is a linksys wrt54g. So maybe I don't need to upgrade to wireless "N"? I don't think the wrt54g handles gigabit speeds... Maybe I am wrong.

~Jim

Your router doesn't have to support gige to have gige speeds on your network, unless your router also has switch ports and your lan uses only them. In that case, you'd be better off just buying a gige switch, which can be had cheaper than a new router with gige switchports.

[Orclas]

I have the same router and it works just fine. No need for gigabit speed for 1080p playback.

That is, if your HTPC and server are wired. Don't expect Wifi playback through the wrt54g.

It may work, but it's a gamble. For wired HD playback you're all fine, full HD does not take more than 20-30 Mbit/s stable connection, that's it.

[kaboomcult]

Great! no need to spend more money... Thanks guys! I can't wait to get everything up and running!

~Jim

[TeKo]

You could just get a cheap Gigabit switch and connect it to your router.

[bluray]

I assumed that I need something faster, my router I have now is a linksys wrt54g. So maybe I don't need to upgrade to wireless "N"? I don't think the wrt54g handles gigabit speeds... Maybe I am wrong.

~Jim

Since you are already familiar with Linksys, you can upgrade it to "Linksys Refurbished E3200-RM". Since it is refurbished, you can have it for half of the price. I own this refurbished model almost 2 months now. It works flawless so far. I switched it to this Cisco after my D-Link DIR-655 Xtreme N GIGABIT died on me. E3200 seems to work better than D-link across the board!

[Orclas]

Ye, but why spend even $80 if he's got a working setup? OK, file transfer speeds would go up with a gigabit router/switch, but otherwise there will likely be no noticeable difference.