Question Help with speeding up home network

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Samsun

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Hi all,

I've recently built a gaming PC which is set up to stream to my Nvidia Shield so I can play in the living room. This has however exposed the weakness of my home network, so I'd like some advice before throwing money at the problem. My setup is:

Living Room:
Shield connected by ethernet to Virgin Hub 3.0 - connected at 1000mbps
Tp-link powerline adapter to router (TL-WPA4220KIT - I think the actual unit is the N300)

Room with the PC:
Other end of the powerline kit (AV600) connected by ethernet to my pc at 100mbps (the max the port supports)
I also have the wifi extender option enabled on the AV600, if I connect via wifi I get variable connection speeds, sometimes 300mbps, sometimes 144.4, sometimes it constantly changes from approx 30mbps to 100mbps

When playing on the shield, with connection status displayed on screen, I get the following:
-When PC on ethernet @ 100mbps, it's just about playable but not that smooth, I get between 7-20mbps bit rate reported, I believe I need approx 30 for smooth playback
-When on wifi, not matter the connection speed, it's unplayable - low single digits mbps, and high latency warnings, sometimes just disconnects altogether

So I think my options are:
1. try and get a more solid wifi connection as in theory it should be able to connect @ 300mbps. I believe to do this I'd need to split my 2.4ghz and 5ghz networks, and force my pc onto the 5ghz one, assuming it's close enough to be stable. This is the free option so is preferable if it works. Any advice or alternatives here?
2. Upgrade my powerline kit so I can get 1000mbps via ethernet. My questions here are a) can I just get a new unit for the PC side, or do I need a whole new kit? and b) is there a way I can test what the expected speed in my property might be? No point spending money on a new kit if my wiring is too poor for decent speed anyway

Any advice very much appreciated!
 
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For me I would not waste money on powerline or WiFi as they are too much of a gamble and instead run a proper ethernet cable or pay someone to do it for you if it's a pain.

The only thing I can suggest for Powerline is make sure you have both powerline adapters directly connected to the wall outlet, no multi socket adapters or anything else like that. If buying a new kit you do need a pair I believe.

If the Shield is closer to the Virgin WiFi router a cheap gamble option might be to get an external USB 5Ghz receiver with a large antenna for the PC and get a USB extension cable, place it as close as you can to the WiFi router away from the PC. There are better peforming WiFi systems out there but you should ask here for advice on those.
 
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Thanks for the reply. I completely missed the networking forum, I'll repost there.

I can't see a way to delete this post but if a mod wants to, fine by me.

Cheers
 
1000Mbps powerline adapters will not give 1000Mbps transfer rates. Real world performance is significantly less as there are other considerations such as packet overhead, electrical interference etc. As a rule of thumb the best case scenario would be about 1/3 of the headline quoted speed. You would have to replace both adapters. Ideally get an Ethernet connection or consider a WiFi mesh system, these offer better speeds than a simple extender which is only half duplex transmission, which actually reduces the speed by 50%
Another option might be to place the VM super hub in modem mode and get a better router
 
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