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Hi guys -

I want to know if my old desktop (X58 LGA1366) will accept (and connect to) a wireless router. I'm practically clueless about networking. I always had access to a Cat5/Cat5e cable but after changing apartments I don't have that option anymore. There's a wifi router in the LR and my BR is down a long hallway. My roommate doesn't want any more wires running in the hall.

Can I buy a wireless adapter and expect it to work? The mobo is an MSI XPower X58 - it has 2 LAN RJ45 ports and a few open USB2/USB3 ports, also a couple open PCIe slots. The OS is Win7Pro. Is it easy enough to find a wifi adapter that'll work with an older board like mine?

Or - could I put a wireless router in my room, make it "talk" (somehow) to the router in the LR and then run a CAT5e cable from the new router to my computer?

Thanks for any thoughts you can share I really appreciate it!

Yeah, a PCIe or USB adapter should work just fine. PCIe likely gets you lower latency and (probably) a better antenna too, at slightly higher cost. How's the signal strength in your room? (You can check it with your smartphone.)

If you're into multi-player "twitch" games you probably still want a wired connection, if that can be managed.

Thanks JBI - was hoping you would reply.

Unfortunately a wired connection is a non-starter - at least as far as running a wire from my BR to the router in the LR.

The signal is always strong - the speed isn't the fastest our ISP offers - I get about 30Mbps down / 10Mbps up - not bad. I don't play any online games, don't stream movies very often.

So a 2nd wifi router in my BR wouldn't help? I was thinking it could pick up the signal from the router in the LR; then I would have a wired connection to my old desktop that way.

But it sounds like a decent PCIe adapter is easy enough to find - I see tons on newegg. I just wasn't sure an old motherboard would accept a wifi card.

Thanks a lot for your reply J - I appreciate it.

canoli wrote:

So a 2nd wifi router in my BR wouldn't help? I was thinking it could pick up the signal from the router in the LR; then I would have a wired connection to my old desktop that way.

If you get one that can act as a bridge/repeater that would work, but I don't really see an advantage to doing that vs. just getting a PCIe or USB adapter for your PC, and the downside is that it'll probably be a little trickier to set up. There won't be any advantage in terms of latency, since the 2nd router is just another client as far as the router in the LR is concerned.

canoli wrote:

But it sounds like a decent PCIe adapter is easy enough to find - I see tons on newegg. I just wasn't sure an old motherboard would accept a wifi card.

As long as it has Windows 7 drivers you should be good to go. Needless to say, your odds of a satisfactory result go up if you avoid off-brand/generic gear.

As far as the motherboard itself is concerned, it's just another NIC. I've put PCI-based WiFi adapters in old Socket 754 motherboards, and they worked just fine.

How about some powerline homeplugs?

They're as plug and play as you can get and I've been impressed with the minimal impact on ping/lag. Much better than wifi.

These should do just fine, for example http://us.dlink.com/products/connect/po ... h-adapter/

Unless you're very unlucky, and have some sort of banged up electrical circuit in you home, you'll get the low lag of a direct ethernet connection and avoid the clutter of cables lying about...

thebluebumblebee wrote:

https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16833320333

Ha - this is the one I bought last night after searching around - good to know someone else around here likes it - thanks for the link!

@JBI - I see what you mean, a 2nd router offers no advantage - not sure why I thought it would - even if it did it's prob not worth the trouble trying to configure it. Thanks for your help!

the power line stuff from D-Link looks interesting - apparently it's come a long way in the past 5 years. We looked into power line networks when we wired my sister's brownstone (nyc apartment) - actually it was closer to 10 years ago - and back then it was real hit-or-miss from what we were able to learn. If for some reason the Asus adapter doesn't work the D-Link will be my next choice. Thanks!

canoli wrote:

thebluebumblebee wrote:

https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16833320333

Ha - this is the one I bought last night after searching around - good to know someone else around here likes it - thanks for the link!

@JBI - I see what you mean, a 2nd router offers no advantage - not sure why I thought it would - even if it did it's prob not worth the trouble trying to configure it. Thanks for your help!

the power line stuff from D-Link looks interesting - apparently it's come a long way in the past 5 years. We looked into power line networks when we wired my sister's brownstone (nyc apartment) - actually it was closer to 10 years ago - and back then it was real hit-or-miss from what we were able to learn. If for some reason the Asus adapter doesn't work the D-Link will be my next choice. Thanks!

Yeah, they used to be a bit crap and spotty but they've come a very long way indeed. I've installed them on my home network and was amazed to see a noticeable improvement even over 5Ghz wifi on my steam link. I expected them to be better over 2,4Ghz wifi, as those networks are pretty much swamped nowadays (in fact, I had bought it for my 2,4ghz-only ps4), but did not expect such a marked improvement over 5ghz.

(in fact, I was so impressed that I took them back in order to exchange for a more expensive powerline adapter with 3 ethernet ports, so I would connect everything to it... ps4, steam link, and the flatscreen tv )