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Do I "need" 50/25 Mbps speeds for gaming
Kyleran
Member LegendaryPosts: 43,498
Question for the tech folks out there. I know faster is better, and FIOS is offering to upgrade my internet to 50/25 Mbps Download/Upload speed for $10.00 a month.
But the question is, do I really need this? I currently am at like 20/5 or something, I don't download alot of videos or anything nor do I notice an issue when multiple users are online at my house. (up to 6 people gaming at a time).
So should I spring for it? I know its only 10.00 a month, but hey, that would be 2/3rds of a MMORPG sub fee but why spend more if there's no real benefit other than it seems cool?
I should mention, I don't run power gaming rigs, in fact mine is a rather slow gaming laptop. I hope to upgrade later this year, but still will be spending no more than $2K on my next laptop.
"True friends stab you in the front." | Oscar Wilde
"I need to finish" - Christian Wolff: The Accountant
Just trying to live long enough to play a new, released MMORPG, playing New Worlds atm
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Comments
do you need it? no
would i get it if i was in your shoes?
yes -- because it speeds up lengthy downloads if I wanted to try some 20 gig game
EQ2 fan sites
No you dont need more for gaming, all you can get is extra shaved miliseconds when gaming which is not that much.
But since its that cheap, for me i would just take it i guess, and if you decide to stream well you can stream perfect quality, not to mention extra DL speed.
If you can afford buy if you bit tight no need.
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You really only need that kind of speed for streaming HD content. When it comes to online gaming, latency (or "ping") is much more important than bandwidth. What you have now is perfectly adequate in that regard.
EXCEPTION: This assumes that you do not have a bunch of other devices bursting your current connection. In other words, if you have some number of family members/roommates, each trying to stream HD content or downloading music/movies on their own devices, then that could "fill" your bandwidth. That situation can negatively impact your latency.
I would say it is not worth the money, if you have the $10 spare and MUST have a faster connection for some reason then go ahead.
I wish I could get that sort of speed, here in the UK I get 19 DOWN and 0.9 UP!
Absolutely not.
Most online game normally send and receive data at less than 128 kb/second. Thats kilobits per second.
In some instances it can be beneficial to have a few mb/second speeds for game play.
Downloading patches and such is a different story.
What other people are doing on the segment you are on will have a greater impact on gaming than doubling the bandwidth you're receiving now. It could be even more evident if you do get that increase. At least during patching
This right here.
Would it speed up my downloads of large game files, i.e. these 20gb+ downloads we have these days that can take all night (12+hrs) to download? I always assumed that was more a limitation of the site I was downloading from, (I don't torrent) rather than my internet connection.
"True friends stab you in the front." | Oscar Wilde
"I need to finish" - Christian Wolff: The Accountant
Just trying to live long enough to play a new, released MMORPG, playing New Worlds atm
Fools find no pleasure in understanding but delight in airing their own opinions. Pvbs 18:2, NIV
Don't just play games, inhabit virtual worlds™
"This is the most intelligent, well qualified and articulate response to a post I have ever seen on these forums. It's a shame most people here won't have the attention span to read past the second line." - Anon
That is controlled by the other end. When patch day comes around they will try to maximize the download for the majority of people. That could mean limiting the maximum download speed of individual with fat pipes. It's something you would have no control over.
No. Unless the other end is uploading at 50 to you specifically, you won't see that speed.
However, I'd get it just b/c I like to be the fastest on the block.
As Grunty pointed out, that is not entirely under your control, but for most mainstream content providers (including online game companies); the answer is a resounding YES. I upgraded from a 15/5 to 25/25 about 18 months ago, and the difference it made in download speeds are significant. I probably only download a couple games a month (if that), but I am downloading DVD ISO images (2-4 GB) from MSDN (Microsoft) pretty regularly. It just made a lot of difference for me.
OK, since the cost is so small and there does seem to be some good reasons to spring for it even if it doesn't directly improve my actual game playing experience.
Thanks for all the advice folks, I am going to order it today.
"True friends stab you in the front." | Oscar Wilde
"I need to finish" - Christian Wolff: The Accountant
Just trying to live long enough to play a new, released MMORPG, playing New Worlds atm
Fools find no pleasure in understanding but delight in airing their own opinions. Pvbs 18:2, NIV
Don't just play games, inhabit virtual worlds™
"This is the most intelligent, well qualified and articulate response to a post I have ever seen on these forums. It's a shame most people here won't have the attention span to read past the second line." - Anon
You only need a stable connection for Gaming.
Most games operate at the 5KB/s to 15KB/s. Unless you're playing something like Secondlife that dynamically streams content and reaches towards 100MB/s if you let it, you won't notice a thing.
However considering most people download PC games now it would be nice for those nice couple of times a month.
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"At one point technology meant making tech that could get to the moon, now it means making tech that could get you a taxi."
Agree on the NO for the need, but get it..? OP told he's not downloading a lot, and if he downloads a 20Gb game a month, it'll be only 90 minutes max to download. I'd say I'd be fine with that then....
I personally upgraded from 8Mbps to 30Mpbs late last year, and that was indeed a NEED (3 PC's, 2 gamers, 2 uploaders to YouTube and 1 heavy YouTube viewer). If I can upgrade now to 50Mpbs, I'd probably say no to it, even if it's only €10 a month extra. We're not really neededing the extra speed. And I think the same goes for OP. With that, that $10/month he can use on games again ;-)
Not for gaming. Streaming and downloading/uploading maybe.
I skate to where the puck is going to be, not where it has been -Wayne Gretzky
Huge overkill.
You can probably play online with 1/10 of the cheapest internet connection you can find.
Latency is much more important, but you have no power over that.
For gaming, No you don't need it.
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Kyleran: "Now there's the real trick, learning to accept and enjoy a game for what it offers rather than pass on what might be a great playing experience because it lacks a few features you prefer."
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No, you certainly don't need it. I currently have FIOS running at 100/50 and it's no faster than when I was running 25/25 for gaming. It's great for other things but gaming... not very impressive.
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I would do it based on if you are switching to a better ISP. If the FIOS ISP is someone like Verizon then go for it. If its someone like ATT then don't.
If you are currently on a cable connection, then if you are not on the highest tier, your ISP throttles your connection. Under conditions where connections are throttled, there is the potential that packets are thrown out which can cause issue,