Will adding a switch increase router performance?

[nick name]

I know this may be a dumb question, but I don't know what impacts performance and what doesn't.  So my question is: will performance (latency) for one machine benefit if I add a switch for everything else currently wired into the router?  My line of thinking being that some duties will be offloaded to the switch for the devices connected to the switch and leave more resources available to the one machine left plugged into the router.  

[Snipergod87]

Simple answer: No

Complex Answer: Yes but only in some very unique scenarios, for example if Device A and Device B are on the switch they won't have to go to the router to talk to each other only as far as the switch, but any modern router has more than enough throughput to handle that.

[nick name]

17 minutes ago, Snipergod87 said:

Simple answer: No

Complex Answer: Yes but only in some very unique scenarios, for example if Device A and Device B are on the switch they won't have to go to the router to talk to each other only as far as the switch, but any modern router has more than enough throughput to handle that.

Gotcha.  

 

I should have added what got my mind thinking of the scenario.  When playing CS:GO my ping is almost always 39ms.  However, when I restart my router my ping will drop down to about 22ms~26ms for several rounds before eventually going back up to 39ms.  And my CS:GO ping has been a curiosity ever since changing PCs because my previous Intel i7  6700 equipped machine was at that 22ms latency constantly, but my Ryzen 2700X machine sits at 39ms.  So at first I thought it was PC/NIC related, but seeing the latency drop after a router reboot had me thinking of other reasons.  

[Snipergod87]

Might be worth noting is the time of day changes it as well, could be just overall usage.  I notice my latency tends to go up a bit during the evenings for example.

 

A decent way to compare is try pinging like 1.1.1.1 quickly after reboot and like half and hour later see if it changes.

 

Video games dont use much in terms of bandwidth but are latency sensetive, if you have a bunch of other devices uploading or downloading on your network that can impact latency.

[nick name]

3 minutes ago, Snipergod87 said:

Might be worth noting is the time of day changes it as well, could be just overall usage.  I notice my latency tends to go up a bit during the evenings for example.

 

A decent way to compare is try pinging like 1.1.1.1 quickly after reboot and like half and hour later see if it changes.

 

Video games dont use much in terms of bandwidth but are latency sensetive, if you have a bunch of other devices uploading or downloading on your network that can impact latency.

I have ruled out time of day in regards to internet congestion and when I play my PC is the only active device.  

[Blade of Grass]

4 hours ago, Snipergod87 said:

Simple answer: No

Complex Answer: Yes but only in some very unique scenarios, for example if Device A and Device B are on the switch they won't have to go to the router to talk to each other only as far as the switch, but any modern router has more than enough throughput to handle that.

It’s not necessarily the throughput though, but whether or not the router’s built in Ethernet ports are directly connected through some switching fabric (low latency) or if they have to go through the router’s routing hardware (low-ish latency).

In reality though the difference is likely irrelevant for gaming and 98% of use cases. The other 2% of use cases are high-frequency trading firms—where microseconds count—and super computers

[Alex Atkin UK]

9 hours ago, Blade of Grass said:

It’s not necessarily the throughput though, but whether or not the router’s built in Ethernet ports are directly connected through some switching fabric (low latency) or if they have to go through the router’s routing hardware (low-ish latency).

In reality though the difference is likely irrelevant for gaming and 98% of use cases. The other 2% of use cases are high-frequency trading firms—where microseconds count—and super computers

Indeed, most routers do have dedicated switch fabric so using a dedicated switch makes zero difference.

What people do not realise though is that WiFi is ALWAYS software-switched, so heavy WiFi traffic can slow down your routers performance, depending on how powerful its CPU is.

[Slayerking92]

On 4/2/2019 at 12:36 PM, nick name said:

I have ruled out time of day in regards to internet congestion and when I play my PC is the only active device.  

What about your ISP congestion during that time of day?  or game server congestion?  There are more factors then what is in your house.

[nick name]

1 minute ago, Slayerking92 said:

What about your ISP congestion during that time of day?  or game server congestion?  There are more factors then what is in your house.

It's always 39ms on their servers.