posted 03-26- 12:06 AM
Spanky here.. Great question man. This is VERY important to online gaming, most people just buy that cheapy on sale at staples thinking "Well its 56k thats good" The fact is there is a differece bettween a software modem or "Winmodem" and a hard ware modem. A winmodem is always cheaper and its cheaper for a reason. They offload alot of the work onto the CPU, this does 3 things:
1. It steals power from your CPU that could be better used on other stuff, This is still important even if you have a High end CPU, You paid all that money for that CPU to do a job(play games, do work) Not to do the job that the Modem is supposed to be doing.
2. Higer Ping: the ping times are almost always higher. I'm not even sure why, I guess part of it is the modem waiting for the CPU to do its computations and send the info back to the modem. Lower ping is better.
3. Then in a 1-2 combo it does both. Think of this. All of a sudden there is 8 planes in front of you so the CPU needs all the power it gets, it steals some from its modem operations, then the Modem doesn't get attention. Then the ping skyrockets. So all of a sudden the game is lagging cause you don't have enough power to keep up 20FPS AND your ping is higher then it could be.
Another reason to stay away from Winmodems is compatibilty. They need special drivers and software to run you can't just run a standard windows driver with them. Lose the Disk or CD with the drivers and your screwed till you can get them again. And how you going to do that if your modem is not configured yet? A hardware modem will run as a windows 56k until you can DL the actuall manufacturers modem drivers. Also you probly won't be able to run it with other OSes there is a reason its called a "WINMODEM". Don't exspect it to work with Linux, OS/2, BEos or any of the other alternative OSes.
In other words Winmodems should all die and be bansished from this earth. 
Ways to tell them apart
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One of the easiest ways to get a hardware modem is to just get an external, which is exactly what my ISP recommends for gamers.
Some other ways to tell the difference is price. That 30$ special is probly not a hardware modem.
The requirments, Most hardware modems say they want a 486 or pent. While most winmodem say they want a pent 133 or 166 or higher.
If your buying an OEM modem (in the static bag with a cd or disk and peice of paper) Take a look at the modem. The smaller one with barely any chips on it is probly a winmodem. Most hardware modems have 2xs the chips.
Most Winmodems are PCI while ISA modems are usually a Hardware modem. This isn't a rule though and can be either way.
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I personally run a USR ISA internal Not sure of the model # the computer just calles it a "USR 56000 internal fax modem."
I can tell you from experience that a hardware modem is worth that extra money. My ping from me to my ISP went from 105-120 to a more stable 83-90. every little bit counts and its not stealing any of your cpu power. They tend to be easier to install too.
As you can see I did some research on this subject.
I recommend you buy something with a good name brand. USR (now owned by 3 Com) is great stuff usually but even they sell Winmodems I think. External is another thought.
Another is wait for Dsl or cable modems if they are not in your area yet. Even at 2xs the cost per month that extra speed will be more then worth it. Online gaming will be better and your online surfing will move faster. Giving you more time for other things. Plus they don't steal your phone line like a teenage girl.
Now that was a freaking post.
I'm pretty sure I got everything correct. Others will correct me as they should if I havn't.
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