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Forum Discussion
Upgrading Router; Should I Upgrade WiFi Card?
Looking at various router options. Right now I'm leaning towards the RAX40. Two primary devices are a pair of laptops, two Dell XPS13 models. One has a Killer 1535 wifi card; the other an Intel AC-8265. Would there be a noticeable performance increase if I replace both cards with the new Killer AX-1650?
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AJ290 wrote:
Looking at various router options. Right now I'm leaning towards the RAX40.
There are many other messages that cover your quest.
Buy the original Intel AX200, easily ~$20 on ebay. The AX1650 is just a rebrand of that card, it uses the same drivers obviously as Intel is the creator. Only difference is that Killer card comes with the ability install the atrocious Killer Software Center thats more bane than boon and you are paying more for the "Killer" branding. They really dont make any cards or drivers they only rebrand Intel and Qualcommc cards, they use the same drivrs as stock cards too...
I mean there is a increase in bandwidth, in realworld use I found about a 10-25% gain over ac on 5Ghz. On 2.4 Ghz this is where the biggest difference occurs, up to a 2x increase over n, on HT20, less so on HT40 in my testing. Considering if you need high bandwidth you'd be using 5Ghz anyway, unless you have gigabit internet or you do a lot of transfers on LAN to NAS or something, you wont really notice much difference in day to day use. Well battery life is supposed to increase a little but I'm not sure if the current routers support most of the AX features yet. I believe certain features from the final draft such as BSS coloring are missing.
I see on Intel's site they offer two versions of their wifi 6 card: AX200 and AX201. What's the difference? I'm guessing the 200 is the correct card for my laptops, (Dell XPS13, models 9350 and 9360)?
On Ebay they are half the cost of the Killer card, but I've always been skeptical about buying crap from sellers, especially when they are shipping from China. Are they knock offs or the real item? And why is it these cards aren't available from any known websites or retailers?- The AX201 is functionally the same as the AX200 except that the AX200 is a full RF+WiFi chipset solution like a standard card. The AX201 is just an RF module with the Intel CPU (need latest gen CPU) acting as the WiFi chipset. This just like the Intel 9260ac and 9560ac.
I would buy the AX200. Just look at sellers with 100s if not thousands of ratings they’re usually pretty reliable. I got two on eBay for like $19, I got 2 AX1650 earlier on Amazon for $35 as well because the unbranded Intel version want out yet at the time, but considering I don’t use the atrocious Killer QoS Software in the end it’s effectively just a more expensive Intel AX200.
