Testing

     Now that our new wireless network is installed and setup, let's run a few basic benchmarks to see just how EnGenius hardware performs. For benchmarking the network gear I'll be using SiSoftware Sandra Network Bandwidth Benchmark. What this benchmark does is test the ICMP (ping/echo) interface to measure the response time and transfer bandwidth to a host. In this case the "host" will be another one of my gaming systems with a gigabit network card. I'll be using 2 separate systems in testing. Test System 1 will be a Toshiba notebook computer with an integrated 802.11n wireless adapter and Test System 2 will be using D-Link's Extreme N Desktop Adapter. Let's see how the EnGenius ESR-9710 performs...

Test System Configurations

SiSoft Sandra Test Results

μs = Microsecond

Notes on the results & conclusion:

Test #1 (Toshiba to EnGenius):

     With this test I used the integrated 802.11n wireless adapter on the Toshiba notebook. The Toshiba notebook had no problems finding and connecting to the EnGenius router. Sadly, I was only able to connect at 130 Mbps, which is about the norm for this notebook, even on other brand 802.11n routers. The data bandwidth of 1.963 Megabytes per second is respectable, but not all that impressive. Just keep in mind that this is due to the connection speed of the adapter. Data latency is also fairly high, but it's good enough to play games wirelessly.

     Next let's try out the D-Link Xtreme N Desktop Adapter and see how that performs.

Test #2 (D-Link to EnGenius):

     On the second test, I broke out the D-Link Xtreme N Desktop Adapter, which has shown phenomenal performance when connected to the D-Link Xtreme N router. But what happens when we use the Xtreme N adapter with the EnGenius router? The answer is excellent performance. The performance seen here isn't quite that of a total D-Link Xtreme N network, but it isn't bad. This time we see a dramatic increase in data bandwidth with an impressive decrease in data latency.

Bonus Test (D-Link to D-Link):

     For comparison I connected the D-Link Xtreme N Desktop Adapter to the D-Link Extreme N Router (DIR-655). With D-Link to D-Link I have a data bandwidth benchmark of around 8 MB/s and a data latency of 575 microseconds. The data bandwidth is much higher, but the data latency is also higher. Higher is better in bandwidth, but not when it comes to latency. So in our testing we find that the less expensive EnGenius ESR-9710 can outperform the high end D-Link DIR-655!

Final words on the EnGenius ESR-9710

     Although I didn't break any records in data bandwidth, the EnGenius ESR-9710 Wireless-N Gigabit Router's performance was very good. The D-Link Xtreme N gear is a little faster, but the EnGenius ESR-9710 is actually better when it comes to data latency, which is extremely important when gaming on line or on a local network. I have to hand it to EnGenius for taking advantage of the performance enhancements that Ubicom's StreamEngine has brought to the wireless networking industry. When it comes to gaming or streaming media, the ESR-9710 will get the job done. It's quick and inexpensive which makes it a very attractive product. The EnGenius ESR-9710 Wireless-N Gigabit Router is a great product for the price and I have no problem recommending it to our readers.

Performance:	4 out of 5
Innovation:	5 out of 5
Quality:	4 out of 5
Stability:	5 out of 5
Aesthetics:	4 out of 5
Software/Drivers Pack:	N/A
Overclocking:	N/A
Value:	4 out of 5
Project Skill Level (5 being most difficult)	2 out of 5