Wifi for the PC ?

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rb99

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#302173 4-Nov-2022 11:25

Am idly going through a phase of maybe possibly getting rid of ethernet and going wireless (maybe another thread for that ?) and am thinking of getting a pci-e wifi adapter for the PC.

Any recommendations please. Have had a browse around PBTech and ExtremePC (cause they sent Black Friday emails) and was look at stuff like -

https://extremepc.co.nz/msi-herald-ax-intel-ax200ngw-wi-fi-6-802-11ax-bluetooth-5-2-4-gbps-max-speed/

https://extremepc.co.nz/gigabyte-gc-wbax200-wifi-6-ax200-pcie-wireless-adapter-up-to-2400mbps/

https://www.pbtech.co.nz/product/NETGBM2400/Gigabyte-Aorus-GC-WBAX200-Dual-Band-AX2400--Blueto

https://www.pbtech.co.nz/product/NETAS0302/ASUS-PCE-AX3000-Wi-Fi-6-AX3000--Bluetooth50-PCI-E

https://www.pbtech.co.nz/product/NETTPL0301/TP-Link-Archer-TX3000E-MU-MIMO-Dual-Band-AX3000--B

https://www.pbtech.co.nz/product/NETAS0358/ASUS-PCE-AX58BT-MU-MIMO-Dual-Band-AX3000--Bluetoot

https://www.pbtech.co.nz/product/NETTPL0302/TP-Link-Archer-TX50E-MU-MIMO-Dual-Band-AX3000--Blu

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rb99

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#2991779 4-Nov-2022 11:40

If you game or do anything latency based, stick with cable, regardless of how good a wifi system you have. My 2c.... :)

From what I've seen, keep away from anything that advertises itself as "turbo", "gaming", "optimized".....

XPD / Gavin

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rb99

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#2991785 4-Nov-2022 11:51

Nah, not a gamer. Just got ethernet everywhere, but never installed properly, so literally cables over the floor. Not that thats a problem for this PC specifically, but thought I (might...) give it a go, and I'll get bluetooth thrown in as well.

Also, if non are particularly good, any particular ones to avoid, any chipsets to avoid ?

“The modern conservative is engaged in one of man's oldest exercises in moral philosophy; that is, the search for a superior moral justification for selfishness.” -John Kenneth Galbraith

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richms

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#2991788 4-Nov-2022 12:06

There is not a huge amount of different m.2 wifi cards available, so it comes down to what card is on the PCIe adapter and what antennas are supplied - the ones on the back of the PC will be worse than a desktop thing you can get away from metal.

These ones from hardware brands go to great lenghts to hide what the actual wifi card on them is with heatsinks and marketing waffle so it makes it really hard. I have always just bought intel ones in a carrier board off aliexpress for the desktop wifi needs. See if you have an open m.2 port first, as that means you dont need the carrier and can just buy the card and antennas.

Richard rich.ms

rb99

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#2991793 4-Nov-2022 12:12

Thanks. I was preferring the ones with the antennas separate from the card. I'll check out that m2 option thing, I do have a spare m2 connector...

“The modern conservative is engaged in one of man's oldest exercises in moral philosophy; that is, the search for a superior moral justification for selfishness.” -John Kenneth Galbraith

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OldGeek

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#2991847 4-Nov-2022 12:43

There is a speed and quality issues with WIFI - I would only ever use it when ethernet is NOT an option. In my opinion that is the WIFI use case.

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rb99

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#2991854 4-Nov-2022 12:48

OldGeek:

There is a speed and quality issues with WIFI - I would only ever use it when ethernet is NOT an option. In my opinion that is the WIFI use case.

I've always preferred ethernet, but do you think that still applies today with mesh systems and access points and things like that (again I'm not a gamer...)

“The modern conservative is engaged in one of man's oldest exercises in moral philosophy; that is, the search for a superior moral justification for selfishness.” -John Kenneth Galbraith

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OldGeek

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#2991855 4-Nov-2022 13:04

rb99:

I've always preferred ethernet, but do you think that still applies today with mesh systems and access points and things like that (again I'm not a gamer...)

I always understood that with ethernet each connected device has a dedicated pipe to the switch/router at the other end of the cable, with superior physical security and much faster dedicated bandpass. In comparison WIFI has no physical security and uses shared and slower bandpass to the AP. The lack of physical security (ie vulnerability to interference) and shared and slower bandpass may be changing a bit - I would defer to anyone with industry knowledge and experience on this. If I recall correctly ethernet outperforms WIFI with respect to latency but I don't have the technical expertise to know why.

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timmmay

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#2991857 4-Nov-2022 13:19

Ethernet is super reliable, fast, low latency. WiFi is higher latency, lower reliability. Go Ethernet unless you need to use WiFi.

rb99

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#2991905 4-Nov-2022 13:49

Well, maybe, but you're taking the fun out of spending money on stuff I don't actually need...

“The modern conservative is engaged in one of man's oldest exercises in moral philosophy; that is, the search for a superior moral justification for selfishness.” -John Kenneth Galbraith

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#2991906 4-Nov-2022 13:52

I have a D-Link DWA-X3000 Dual-band AX3000 Wi-Fi 6 PCIe Adapter with Bluetooth5 on my desktop and it works well - YMMV but using Wi-Fi 6 I (5 GHz) I get the same speed as my ethernet cable on the same desktop.

Also, if getting anything now make sure it supports Wi-Fi 6 or Wi-Fi 6E.

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#2991907 4-Nov-2022 13:53

I’ve never had issues with PC on wifi , don’t game but have had no issues with teams calls overseas or accessing systems and extracting data . Really depends on your wifi setup . I have the older Orbi satellites rock solid

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rb99

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#2991908 4-Nov-2022 14:02

freitasm:

I have a D-Link DWA-X3000 Dual-band AX3000 Wi-Fi 6 PCIe Adapter with Bluetooth5 on my desktop and it works well - YMMV but using Wi-Fi 6 I (5 GHz) I get the same speed as my ethernet cable on the same desktop.

Also, if getting anything now make sure it supports Wi-Fi 6 or Wi-Fi 6E.

Thanks. Shall add that to the list.

“The modern conservative is engaged in one of man's oldest exercises in moral philosophy; that is, the search for a superior moral justification for selfishness.” -John Kenneth Galbraith

rb99

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#2991926 4-Nov-2022 15:22

Also, if I buy must it be bought from NZ ? can it be bought from AU or US ? Do we use different bands in NZ so must be bought here ?

“The modern conservative is engaged in one of man's oldest exercises in moral philosophy; that is, the search for a superior moral justification for selfishness.” -John Kenneth Galbraith

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richms

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#2991928 4-Nov-2022 15:29

All my m.2 cards except one have been from aliexpress. All worked fine. Laptops are made to be mobile devices and it all seems to work out fine. This may change with wifi 6E but the chances of you using that at home are minimal right now and you will probably be on another hardware refresh before you do.

Richard rich.ms

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#2991934 4-Nov-2022 15:53

rb99:

Also, if I buy must it be bought from NZ ? can it be bought from AU or US ? Do we use different bands in NZ so must be bought here ?

Ideally from NZ as US and AU/NZ bands are different.

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