4 ms·

Are there any wi-fi dongles - or even PCI extensions - for PCs that are worth getting? Everywhere I look, it's usually down to hoping the one that comes with yo

by kmfrk 3y ago

Are there any wi-fi dongles - or even PCI extensions - for PCs that are worth getting? Everywhere I look, it's usually down to hoping the one that comes with your motherboard is any good, and those aren't easy to upgrade every now and then.

Latty 3y ago
This is very much the opposite of my experience, M.2 Wifi modules are very standard, cheap and solid. All my motherboards have one installed for the wifi and it's trivial to swap it out. I have just replaced it when it stopped working or I wanted some Wifi/Bluetooth spec it didn't support. The Intel AX210 is the most recent one I've used, but I assume they'll release a WiFi 7 version. M.2 is just PCI-E at the end of the day, so should be entirely viable to adapt one if something didn't have an M.2 A-key slot.
- megous 3y ago
  M.2 is a lot of things. You can get USB and SDIO wifi cards in this format, too. Something to be careful about when buying...
- felixg3 3y ago
  There’s the Intel BE200 and Qualcomm Fastconnect 7800. the former is available as a standalone m2 module and the latter only with a new device
r1ch 3y ago
Intel PCI-e cards are some of the best and quite reasonably priced (~$35 for 6E), unfortunately their Wi-Fi 7 card is only compatible with Intel motherboards so far.
vel0city 3y ago
I upgraded my previous laptop from an older intel ac wifi chip to a ax210 chip (6E). It really helped reduce latency and reliability especially on the 5G band. A good upgrade, it cost like $20 at the time. You can often find these mini m2 board to full size pci-e adapter cards or find these adapters pre-mounted on a board for sale.
zamadatix 3y ago
A lot of the motherboard ones do turn out to be upgradeable, basically just laptop m.2 cards in a custom built portion of the board. That said, if you want a low-touch option a PCIe form factor adaptor is generally the best bet. You can get them for ~10 dollars on Amazon. If the back of your case is a bad position you can get combo RP-SMA cable extenders/antenna mounts for about $20 (that'd be like the little antenna pair on a wire most motherboard options come with). For the actual Wi-Fi card you can use a standard m.2 2232 laptop card at that point.
jauntywundrkind 3y ago
Qualcomm is as usual absolutely no where to be found. There's some $300-$400 AP-class m.2 cards from Compex & clones, but stock is dodgy even for these. https://www.524wifi.com/index.php/network-modules-adapters/wifi-7-11be-modules.html https://www.524wifi.com/index.php/network-modules-adapters/w... MediaTek has been doing wifi 7 PCIe chips for a bit, but it seems like they're only really available on AMD motherboards so far. :( Reports from Intel side are that maybe they've started doing something fishy or some-such with their m.2 cards? Folks on non-Intel can't seem to use them. The lag here is alas, in my view all too typical. I'd really love for USB & m.2 cards to be out much faster, to speed adoption, but it feels like the industry always slow walks this shit out.

by kmfrk 3y ago

Latty 3y ago

This is very much the opposite of my experience, M.2 Wifi modules are very standard, cheap and solid. All my motherboards have one installed for the wifi and it's trivial to swap it out. I have just replaced it when it stopped working or I wanted some Wifi/Bluetooth spec it didn't support. The Intel AX210 is the most recent one I've used, but I assume they'll release a WiFi 7 version. M.2 is just PCI-E at the end of the day, so should be entirely viable to adapt one if something didn't have an M.2 A-key slot.

megous 3y ago
M.2 is a lot of things. You can get USB and SDIO wifi cards in this format, too. Something to be careful about when buying...
felixg3 3y ago
There’s the Intel BE200 and Qualcomm Fastconnect 7800. the former is available as a standalone m2 module and the latter only with a new device

r1ch 3y ago

Intel PCI-e cards are some of the best and quite reasonably priced (~$35 for 6E), unfortunately their Wi-Fi 7 card is only compatible with Intel motherboards so far.

vel0city 3y ago

I upgraded my previous laptop from an older intel ac wifi chip to a ax210 chip (6E). It really helped reduce latency and reliability especially on the 5G band. A good upgrade, it cost like $20 at the time. You can often find these mini m2 board to full size pci-e adapter cards or find these adapters pre-mounted on a board for sale.

zamadatix 3y ago

A lot of the motherboard ones do turn out to be upgradeable, basically just laptop m.2 cards in a custom built portion of the board. That said, if you want a low-touch option a PCIe form factor adaptor is generally the best bet. You can get them for ~10 dollars on Amazon. If the back of your case is a bad position you can get combo RP-SMA cable extenders/antenna mounts for about $20 (that'd be like the little antenna pair on a wire most motherboard options come with). For the actual Wi-Fi card you can use a standard m.2 2232 laptop card at that point.

jauntywundrkind 3y ago

Qualcomm is as usual absolutely no where to be found. There's some $300-$400 AP-class m.2 cards from Compex & clones, but stock is dodgy even for these. https://www.524wifi.com/index.php/network-modules-adapters/wifi-7-11be-modules.html https://www.524wifi.com/index.php/network-modules-adapters/w... MediaTek has been doing wifi 7 PCIe chips for a bit, but it seems like they're only really available on AMD motherboards so far. :( Reports from Intel side are that maybe they've started doing something fishy or some-such with their m.2 cards? Folks on non-Intel can't seem to use them. The lag here is alas, in my view all too typical. I'd really love for USB & m.2 cards to be out much faster, to speed adoption, but it feels like the industry always slow walks this shit out.