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Want to Upgrade My Wifi Card
I have two XPS13s. One is the 9350; the other is the 9360. I'm upgrading my home network and installing a Netgear RAX40 router. To take better advantage of this I'm thinking I should upgrade the existing wifi cards, the Killer AC-1535. I'm looking at the Killer AX1650. Two questions:
1) Is the 1650 the same form factor as the 1535? Will it fit both laptops?
2) Will it make a difference in performance?
Thank you.
JOcean
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June 15th, 2019 06:00
Both are 2230 form but the AX 1650 appears to be the most compatible with the new router (160MHz). What speed is your ISP delivering now? The point is with the new hardware if you are on 60 or 120 MB speed or the like, it would make no difference to my way of thinking. But possibly someone can weigh in with a bit more Network experience.
Mac290
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June 15th, 2019 07:00
I'm with Xfinity. My current internet tier is 150Mbps. I can consistently pull around 180. But I'm planning on upgrading to either 400Mbps or 1Gbps, depending on the deal they cut me.
Saltgrass
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June 15th, 2019 10:00
If you upgrade the card, a couple of things to watch for. I am currently running a 1550, which is the same as an Intel 9260. When I first set it up, I show link speeds of 1733/1733 Mbps. After a while, when I check it, the link speed is down to 173/173 Mbps. Possibly it is adjusting based on my usage but rebooting the ASUS AX router will usually bring it back for a while. Does the reduction effect my performance, not really sure.
The 1550 will also show as an "ac" card when running on a 5.0 GHz network. You might check if you new card shows as ac or ax in that same area.
I might order a couple of the new ones for testing... But, since I don't have many devices needing the bandwidth, I won't really get any benefit from the increased speed.
Mac290
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June 15th, 2019 10:00
Looking around a bit more today, I think I'm going to buy a pair of Intel cards, the Wifi 6 AX200. For starters, they are half the price of the Killer 1650 over on Ebay. From what I'm reading Killer is a rebranded Intel, so I might as well go with the Intel. For $15/ea, not much downside.
Saltgrass
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June 20th, 2019 10:00
Rivet Networks is working with Intel to develop the cards, so saying they are rebranded may not be accurate. They are designated as 200NGW as you can see from the attachment, but software other than the drivers, may be different.
As you can see from the link speeds, my network speed is now limited by the Ethernet Gbps speed limitation.. And the card does show as an ax version while using a 5.0 GHz radio. The 2042/2042 will go higher with a stronger signal.