Most folks don't know that the router they have isn't powerful enough for intense, timing-senstive games and video streaming until it's too late. Most game enthusiasts figure out eventually that an ordinary Wireless N router just doesn't cut it when it comes to intense gameplay. You need a router that's been built with gaming in mind.

General performance

When taking into consideration gaming performance, the DLink XTreme N Gaming Router comes to mind. The ordinary wireless n router can not touch the DGL-4500 when it comes to shear performance. The DGL 4500 is available standard with gigabit ethernet ports in addition to dual band technology that enables any online games to run faster than ever before. Standard 100Mbps ethernet ports may be a bottleneck on a wi-fi network operating at 300Mbps. Typically the gigabit ethernet ports do away with this by enabling transfer speeds of up to 1000Mbps. Dual bands mean you can operate seperate networks. By placing your game on the 5GHZ frequency band instead of the 2.4GHZ frequency band which everybody else is using you're able to run your online games with less interference. The 5 GHz frequency band is remarkably interference free than the 2.4 GHz frequency band which is often interfered with by other wireless routers as well as household appliances.

QOS A vital Gaming Feature

QOS or Quality Of Service lets you to prioritize your video gaming sessions over surfing, e-mail and printing sessions. This prevents other sorts of network activities from interfering with your video games. The DLink DGL 4500 provides you control over what traffic to prioritize on your network.

Port Forwarding Controls and the DMZ

Two other issues that are crucial to gamers are port forwarding and also usage of a DMZ. Certain software programs and many game titles experience problems when trying to run across the Internet. If the proper ports aren't opened a lot of games simply will not run right. This can be resolved in one of two ways. Port forwarding lets you specify which ports the game needs to perform at it's best. The DMZ removes your online game from being blocked by any kind of firewall whatsoever which is in some cases the most effective solution for certain games. A word of warning however. You do not want to put computers or any device with sensitive or personal data on the DMZ.

Other Gaming Features

In addition to all of these capabilities the DGL 4500 provides other advancements that have been specifically created for avid gamers.You get graphic, up-to-the-minute updates of the state of your network from the DLinks ingenious "Heads Up Display" system. You will fully understand what is happening with your network and your router using this feature. Viewing the data on the screen is nearly as exciting as the video game itself. If you're a game lover the D-Link DGL 4500 was designed with you in mind and can help you get the best gaming experience possible.

Downside

Apart from the look being a little dated the only drawback with the D-Link DGL 4500 is that it's a "selectable" dual band router. If this is an issue a simultaneous dual band router such as DLink DIR 825 may be more suitable.

The big difference between a normal wi-fi router and a gaming router should be obvious to you by now. You are no longer among the many folks who don't know such a thing as a "gaming router" is out there. You have the knowledge to take your video gaming to the next level and leave your competition in the dust with a wifi router developed for gaming.