Just finished building my first PC and everything works great except the WiFi.
I’m getting around 200 Mbps on a gigabit connection, which honestly wouldn’t bother me that much if Parsec wasn’t stuttering like crazy whenever I connect from my mom’s place. I also want to use the PC for wireless VR eventually, so I’m trying to figure this out now. I’ve moved the antennas around, updated the Intel AX210 drivers and even tried putting the AP closer to the PC. Barely made a difference.
My dad doesn’t want me dragging the PC downstairs to test Ethernet, and running a cable through the house isn’t really an option right now.
What else can I check before buying more hardware?
Grab a WiFi analyzer and see what’s actually going on around your PC. NetSpot is pretty decent for this. Check your signal level, channel and what other networks are using the same frequencies. If the 5 GHz channel is crowded or your signal is weak, that might explain the inconsistent connection.
@Feeling-Paramedic649 Would that still matter if the AP is right next to the PC? I thought moving it closer would fix any WiFi issues.
Better signal doesn’t magically give you a clean channel. Also, if that AP connects wirelessly to the main router downstairs, moving it closer to your PC might actually make its connection to the router worse.
Wait, is this a second AP connected via Ethernet or a wireless extender?
@ShadowBoxer_88 Wireless. It’s connected to the router downstairs. I moved it into my room because I figured the closer it was to the PC, the better.
Well, there’s your problem. Extenders are garbage for stuff like Parsec. You’re adding another wireless hop to a connection where latency actually m atters.
@ShadowBoxer_88 Oh come on. Extenders aren’t automatically garbage. If it’s getting a solid connection to the main router, it can work perfectly fine for normal use. OP probably just put it in the worst possible spot.
@UpbeatViolinist891 Normal use, sure. But he’s trying to stream games with low latency. A cheap repeater sharing the same radio for backhaul and clients isn’t exactly ideal.
@ShadowBoxer_88 So having it right beside my PC could actually make things worse? I thought it was supposed to boost the signal.
It boosts coverage, not the quality of the connection coming from downstairs. Try moving it somewhere between your room and the router, where it still gets a decent signal. And if the PC is close enough, you could try connecting it to the extender’s Ethernet port, assuming it has one. Just don’t expect that to fix a weak wireless backhaul.
Or run Ethernet from the main router and skip the whole circus.
@Ironman_1717 You sound exactly like my dad, except he won’t let me test Ethernet either 