What do you use for a WiFi connection?

Note: I gave some of this info in another unrelated post. I was curious what all of you use, so I broke it out into a separate post.

Since my Vanquish 4 didn't come with WiFi built-in, I installed the: ASUS Dual-Band Wireless-AC1900 PCI-E Adapter (PCE-AC68) and it works great.

My router is downstairs and the computer is upstairs and receives a great signal.  I put the card into the vacant PCI-E x4 slot instead of the x1 slot to give the video card some breathing space. Yes, a x1 card can go into the x4 slot.

You can attach the antennas directly to the card or use the supplied magnetic base to move the antennas to a better spot (I stuck it to the side of the case)


Anyone who might use this, download and install the Windows 10 64bit driver from Asus directly before installing the card.  I installed driver, then the card. The system started using the WiFi card on reboot without any notifications or troubles.

Driver: https://www.asus.com/us/Networking/PCEAC68/HelpDesk_Download/

Don't use the included disc. There are two driver versions: a non EU and only EU driver. If you're in USA use the "It is for all sku except EU"

I transitioned from a laptop that used a USB stick for WiFi to my new desktop. I didn't want the stick to take up a valuable USB 3 port, so I bought this card instead. It works flawlessly.

Video showing features: https://youtu.be/slnfNRFFsK4?t=4m26s

Definitely more pricey than a USB stick, but you are getting a quality build that plugs directly into the MB.

Prices:https://pcpartpicker.com/part/asus-wireless-network-card-pceac68








Edited by SoCal65 - 04 Feb 2016 at 5:26pm

Originally posted by  I'm not positive, but you may be dropping the PCI-e bandwidth to your GPU to x8 by putting the Wi-Fi card in that particular slot. [...]

Not with this particular motherboard. http://www.gigabyte.com/products/product-page.aspx?pid=5495#sp

Others are different.

The second x16 slot only runs at x4 speed and shares bandwidth with the x1 slot above it. (Which I didn't want to use since it would directly block the video card's fan)

The bottom two slots are old school PCI, not PCI Express.

Specs:
1 x PCI Express x16 slot, running at x16 (PCIEX16)
* For optimum performance, if only one PCI Express graphics card is to be installed, be sure to install it in the PCIEX16 slot.

1 x PCI Express x16 slot, running at x4 (PCIEX4)
* The PCIEX4 slot shares bandwidth with the PCIEX1_2 slot. The PCIEX1_2 slot will become unavailable when a PCIe x4 expansion card is installed.
* The PCIEX4 slot will run at up to x1 speed if the PCIEX1_2 slot is populated with an expansion card.

2 x PCI Express x1 slots
(All of the PCI Express slots conform to PCI Express 3.0 standard.)

2 x PCI slots



Edited by SoCal65 - 04 Feb 2016 at 7:22pm

Hi No Name,

I think they dropped the SLI back when they first built the level 4 with the 980 GPU. I remember because I was disappointed that they did that. DS wanted to keep the new level 4 at the same cost as the old one. I guess SLI was sacrificed to help keep the cost down. Makes sense with the Vanquish.

Frank    

That makes sense...the 980 is about a $170 premium over the 970 in retail, whereas the i5-6600K is only $107 less than the i7-6700K. Gotta sacrifice elsewhere to keep the price points the same. Sorry for hijacking your thread SoCal65.

Originally posted by  [...] Sorry for hijacking your thread SoCal65.

No worries... that's why I started this one because I basically hijacked another one.

Originally posted by FrankW Hi SoCal65, Did you try to aim the router and the computer antennas towards each other to maximize power. Is your Router directly below your computer? Or are they also separated by some distance horizontally besides vertically? What router do you have? Just curious about your setup with the AC-68. Frank

The computer is upstairs and across the floor from the router which is a ARRIS SURFboard SBG6782AC DOCSIS 3.0 Cable Modem/ Wi-Fi AC1750 Router. The card's antennas are the way they are in the photo. The modem's antennae are internal. I know some like to separate their router from their modem, but I've had no issues keeping them together.



Even though DOCSIS 3.0 modems can go much higher, this particular one has a max speed of 100 because it only has 8 channels. For faster speeds than 100 you need to get a 3.0 modem that has 16 channels.

Even with that stated, I get over 100Mbps down and 10 Mbps up from my cable company.

Will the Asus card improve my chances of using the 5Ghz side of my router? Also, would it help with my down and up speeds vs my little netgear N600 wireless USB card?

My router is not AC and I have 1 wall between my computer and router. I am curious to use 5Ghz because I have so many devices on the 2.4Ghz band. It sounds like I should really look into getting a newer generation of router. 

You mean the N600 Wireless USB you mentioned?     That's a USB adapter and won't effect the Pcie.

If you do get a wireless card that plugs in, most are the Pciex1 and I would use the PCie x1 slots.  The 2x PCIEx16 slots might share bandwidth, however, even if it did, the video card would still have X8 lanes and be good to go.

I have to say this network card is very nice and has improved my LAN speed on the 5GHz network. I would have to say it is worth the price and I love the clean look with it being inside the case vs a USB stick.

I am using a Airport Extreme AC1900 router. Thanks for the recommendation.

Edited by krazyhippy - 14 Mar 2016 at 9:02am