Would I benefit from a PCI-E Wifi card?

Hatake

Hatake

Hatake

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Joined
7 Mar 2005
Posts
196
Location
Glasgow, Scotland
My desktop PC has no Wifi and is currently using a relatively old TP-Link TL-PA8030P AV1200 Mbps Gigabit Powerline V1 adapter. I have a FTTP 910mbs connection and I recently updated to Qualcoms latest firmware (QCA75XX-2.13.0053) as TP link have stopped supporting this adapter since V2.6 and speeds improved from 60mbps to around 95mbps on speedtest.net. However, my laptop over wifi 5Ghz gets around 500mbps.

I'm wondering what the bottleneck in my setup (powerline?) is and would a basic AC1200 PCI-E wifi card be better?
 
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What router have you got, as ideally you want a WiFi card that supports the same standard e.g presumably AX.

Something like the below are ideal as they have an external aerial, so you have some flexibility in it's positioning for best signal (rather than stuck behind the PC)

My basket at OcUK:

Total: £122.98 (includes delivery: £3.99)[/I
NDENT]​
 
jake000 said:
You'd benefit from it but if can use cables and be wired instead, it will be much better :)
Click to expand...
wired would also be a lot more hassle though to avoid cables running around my flat. I'd have to go through the loft and that's a pain. I'd be willing to trade a bit of speed for ease:)

Armageus said:
What router have you got, as ideally you want a WiFi card that supports the same standard e.g presumably AX.

Something like the below are ideal as they have an external aerial, so you have some flexibility in it's positioning for best signal (rather than stuck behind the PC)

My basket at OcUK:

Total: £122.98 (includes delivery: £3.99)[/I​
NDENT]​
Click to expand...

My router is a TP Link VR900 AC1900. No Wifi6 unfortunately. Can you get longer cables for the external aerial? I would need to run it around my room and out the door to get it into the hall for somewhat direct line of sight of the router and the pictured ones look like they'd only be long enough to get into the centre of the room.
 
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Hatake said:
My router is a TP Link VR900 AC1900. No Wifi6 unfortunately. Can you get longer cables for the external aerial? I would need to run it around my room and out the door to get it into the hall for somewhat direct line of sight of the router and the pictured ones look like they'd only be long enough to get into the centre of the room.
Click to expand...

You can get longer cables, but it's double edged sword, the longer the cable the more the signal is reduced and the more interference you may pick up.

You don't need line of sight to the router, and an ax pci card will work with a, but you won't get full speeds. I think you'll probably be able to connect at 866Mbps.
 
Usually they come with
Enough cable length to get the antennas
Away from the actual tower unit
Since it can block signals

As armageus said shouldn't really need
Line of sight
And longer cable leads to loss through the cable
Unless it's a Victorian type property with
All brick walls
Or a very long distance between router and PC
The 3dbi or 5dbi antennas That Usually are on those cards
Should be sufficient without line of sight

If the antennas are replaceable
Can always replace them with higher dbi ones
If you try it and it's not up to the job
When I lived in a Victorian property
I made a biquad antenna which I still have somewhere
Made a huge difference Went through all the
Brick walls no problem
 
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