WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:05.200 If you're a gamer, it seems like every new piece of tech on the PC market is trying to capture 00:00:05.200 --> 00:00:10.880 your attention, from graphics cards with ever so slightly higher boost clocks to headset stands 00:00:10.880 --> 00:00:16.880 tricked out with RGB lighting. Ugh, so cool. But one of the latest things you might want to actually 00:00:16.880 --> 00:00:23.600 pay attention to is Wi-Fi 6, also known as 802.11ax, which our friends at Intel asked us to talk about 00:00:23.600 --> 00:00:28.320 today. Now, we've already done a video explaining Wi-Fi 6 more generally, which you can check out 00:00:28.320 --> 00:00:33.360 right up there, but today we're going to specifically talk about how it can benefit gamers who don't 00:00:33.360 --> 00:00:39.360 want to be tethered down by an Ethernet connection, figuratively and literally. Speed is one of the 00:00:39.360 --> 00:00:45.360 most obvious improvements of Wi-Fi 6 over previous generations of Wi-Fi. The theoretical max bandwidth 00:00:45.360 --> 00:00:51.040 of a typical 2x2 connection is 2.4 gigabits per second, which is about three times as fast as 00:00:51.040 --> 00:00:55.600 the previous generation. However, real-world speeds won't be that high. Somewhere around 00:00:55.600 --> 00:00:59.840 1.5 gigabits per second might be more realistic, and of course you're going to be limited by 00:00:59.840 --> 00:01:04.240 however fast your internet connection is anyway unless you're playing on a wireless LAN. But 00:01:04.240 --> 00:01:09.520 the real benefit for gamers isn't just the extra speed to download large games, but also how Wi-Fi 00:01:09.520 --> 00:01:14.640 6 handles having multiple devices on the same network at once, as well as improvements to 00:01:14.640 --> 00:01:20.960 latency and responsiveness. It's like Wi-Fi took caffeine pills. You see, Wi-Fi 6 supports an updated 00:01:20.960 --> 00:01:26.800 version of a feature called MooMemo. And no, it's not a Pokemon. Although it may not seem like it, 00:01:26.800 --> 00:01:32.240 a router without MooMemo can only communicate with one device at a time, meaning all the other 00:01:32.240 --> 00:01:37.680 devices on your network have to wait their turn. And while it isn't exactly a long wait, it can 00:01:37.680 --> 00:01:42.320 still make a difference, especially if that device's parents didn't teach it to be patient. 00:01:42.320 --> 00:01:47.120 MooMemo gets rid of this bottleneck by allowing your router to communicate with multiple devices 00:01:47.120 --> 00:01:52.800 at once. And with Wi-Fi 6, up to eight devices on a network can take advantage of this capability, 00:01:52.800 --> 00:01:59.200 up from the four devices supported by Wave 2 versions of Wi-Fi 5. And it's cousin, Wi-Fi 555. 00:01:59.200 --> 00:02:04.640 And because Wi-Fi 6 will support upstream and downstream data transfer simultaneously on all 00:02:04.640 --> 00:02:10.080 eight devices, laggy game behavior caused by your PC having to wait for a slice of upstream time 00:02:10.080 --> 00:02:14.800 should be reduced. Especially if someone else on your network is engaged in some kind of 00:02:14.800 --> 00:02:18.800 bandwidth-heavy activity, like uploading every video they've taken of their cat, 00:02:18.800 --> 00:02:21.760 because there aren't enough cat videos on the internet. Karen! 00:02:22.320 --> 00:02:27.200 Another helpful feature is called OFDMA. And although that's a mouthful, the way it works 00:02:27.200 --> 00:02:33.520 is actually really cool and totally legal. Do you know how your Wi-Fi network lives on a single 00:02:33.520 --> 00:02:39.040 channel? Well, what ODFMA does is instead of just using the whole channel to talk to just one device, 00:02:39.040 --> 00:02:44.480 it divvies up the channel into smaller sub-channels so that data can be transferred to multiple 00:02:44.480 --> 00:02:49.600 devices at one time. The way the channels are chopped up depends on the needs of each device. 00:02:49.600 --> 00:02:54.400 So if you're gaming, pieces of data that need to be sent to or from your PC quickly to prevent 00:02:54.400 --> 00:02:59.680 lagginess can be prioritized over another user whose workload isn't as latency-dependent 00:02:59.680 --> 00:03:04.960 such as a large file download. So the bottom line for gamers is fewer dropped frames and more 00:03:04.960 --> 00:03:09.200 reliable connections that will keep you from lagging out or getting fragged if you're not 00:03:09.200 --> 00:03:14.160 playing over a wired connection. And with cloud-based gaming services like PlayStation Now and Google 00:03:14.160 --> 00:03:18.720 Stadia on the rise, having a connection you can count on will become even more important 00:03:18.720 --> 00:03:24.080 if you're planning to game without an expensive rig or console. Unfortunately, Wi-Fi 6 will likely 00:03:24.080 --> 00:03:29.520 require you to buy new devices, both a router and a wireless adapter or motherboard that support the 00:03:29.520 --> 00:03:34.400 new protocol. However, if you're tired of tripping over Ethernet cables when you have to run to the 00:03:34.400 --> 00:03:41.280 bathroom while you queue for a match, the extra cost might just be worth it. Well, that's about 00:03:41.360 --> 00:03:45.440 it. Thanks for watching guys, like the video, dislike the video, whatever floats your boat. 00:03:45.440 --> 00:03:50.720 Check out our other videos and comment below with video suggestions if that's also what floats your 00:03:50.720 --> 00:03:54.480 boat. More than one thing can float, someone's boat.