Best motherboard for lowest ping for e-sports

Ghostknight · Apr 6, 2023

Hello, I want to buy a new motherboard as my old one gave up. So, i have 1Gbit optical line directly to my home. I play e-sports games as a "work". If i want to be the best i need as low ping as I can reach. So i want to ask you about that is this motherboard ok for me? Asus Alaplap - Intel ROG STRIX B760-F GAMING WIFI s1700 (B76 it has two 2,5Gbps rj45. but it also has wifi too, is that make sense to use wifi instead of rj45?

Thanks

FreeBooter · Apr 6, 2023

There could be several reasons why your ping rate spikes while playing games. Here are some possible causes of high ping:

You are too far away from your router.
There is a problem with your Wi-Fi connection.
Your ISP is throttling your internet speed.
The router or modem you're using is outdated or has technical problems.
Other processes are sucking up your network resources.
Too many devices are on your network, causing it to slow down.
You're playing a game with a VPN enabled.
Slow response from the game server.

Considering it could be any of the factors we listed above, you'll need to monitor your network until you find the culprit and make some changes to your settings.

x BlueRobot · Apr 6, 2023

FreeBooter said:
You are too far away from your router.

There is a problem with your Wi-Fi connection.

Your ISP is throttling your internet speed.

The router or modem you're using is outdated or has technical problems.

Other processes are sucking up your network resources.

Too many devices are on your network, causing it to slow down.

You're playing a game with a VPN enabled.

Slow response from the game server.

Source: Why Is My Ping So High? How to Get the Best Ping Rate

bobkn · Apr 6, 2023

I'm not a gamer, but as far as I know, the ping time has little or no dependence on the NIC (network interface controller) in the motherboard.

I also doubt that the ping time would be different between hardwired (Ethernet) and WiFi, unless there is something wrong with either. I'd use Ethernet just for the steadiest connection, with the highest data rate, if possible. (One caveat: I've used a wireless router that only had 100Mbps Ethernet ports. Its available WiFi rates were higher. I presume that wouldn't be an issue for you, with a 1Gbps optical service.)

SlicEnDicE · Apr 6, 2023

bobkn said:
I also doubt that the ping time would be different between hardwired (Ethernet) and WiFi, unless there is something wrong with either. I'd use Ethernet just for the steadiest connection, with the highest data rate, if possible. (One caveat: I've used a wireless router that only had 100Mbps Ethernet ports. Its available WiFi rates were higher. I presume that wouldn't be an issue for you, with a 1Gbps optical service.)

There's definitely a huge difference between WiFi and LAN response times. Especially if in congested area.

Always use LAN if ping is important, for stability, response time and reliability sake. It's a matter of life and death in eSports.

pparks1 · Apr 6, 2023

Use a network cable for best connectivity. unless you have a bum cable/switch/NIC, you won't see any difference in these components.

bobkn · Apr 6, 2023

SlicEnDicE said:
There's definitely a huge difference between WiFi and LAN response times. Especially if in congested area.

Always use LAN if ping is important, for stability, response time and reliability sake. It's a matter of life and death in eSports.

I'm on a Comcast/xFinity network. I don't observe any difference in ping. The download data rate from the WiFi connection is about half that from the hard wired rate, but that's good enough for my purposes.

My primary system is wired to the gateway (modem/router). The secondary system is connected by WiFi. Using Speedtest, a 19ms ping is reported for both. (Same router.) Not a good response time, but Comcast's network gives me a geolocation that's far from my true location.

I'm not into eSports, but I'd still use the wired connection, if available. I haven't had a lot of glitching with WiFi, but I wouldn't trust it for competitive purposes.

SlicEnDicE · Apr 7, 2023

bobkn said:
Using Speedtest, a 19ms ping is reported for both. (Same router.)

What is more important is the spread (variability in ping). 19ms is pretty good for eSports, but if spread is high, it's no good. A high end router can compensate for this quite a lot.

I've got a ~500€ router with very fast CPU and a lot of RAM and very stable MU-MIMO where I can dedicate and prioritize a channel for a specific computer, so won't see so much of a difference between LAN and WiFi.

But not everyone can afford such devices. These are things to keep in mind while eSporting. A pingtest with Speedtest services with a few pings aren't the same as game IO data, which happens constantly for the duration of the gaming session.

bobkn · Apr 7, 2023

SlicEnDicE said:
What is more important is the spread (variability in ping). 19ms is pretty good for eSports, but if spread is high, it's no good. A high end router can compensate for this quite a lot.

I've got a ~500€ router with very fast CPU and a lot of RAM and very stable MU-MIMO where I can dedicate and prioritize a channel for a specific computer, so won't see so much of a difference between LAN and WiFi.

But not everyone can afford such devices. These are things to keep in mind while eSporting. A pingtest with Speedtest services with a few pings aren't the same as game IO data, which happens constantly for the duration of the gaming session.

Maybe so. I lack the skill/software to test such things.

My uninformed belief is that while pings of tens of milliseconds exist, the connection between the PC and the router should be insignificant, as long as it doesn't have intermittent dropouts.