I apologize for not just googling this, it’s one of those questions that’s hard to look up for the layman, because I’m not sure how to word the question. We have cable going into a ARRIS Surfboard SB8200, ethernet cable out to a Netgear Nighthawk R6700-AC1750 Router. Our problem is we would like to use two different stations to play games and we aren’t certain that router is up to the task anymore. Both stations are hardlined. The general speed of the wifi is not AS important as the hardlined speeds.
Could I purchase a Microtik Ethernet router, run the Surfboard to that, hardline the gaming stations to that, then run another ethernet cable to the router?
I’m trying to avoid buying the latest snake oil gaming router.
You only want one router on your network – the one connected directly to your ISP/Modem.
Any other device after that should either be a network switch, and access point, or another router that is specifically set to access point mode.
If you attempt to use two routers in “routing mode” on your network, one of them will end up behind a 2nd layer of NAT, and potentially wreak havoc with gaming and any port-forwarding that you might have in place.