Recommended Wifi PCIe Card

[Generic User #2]

My cousin just bought himself a ASUS RT-N66U. He was planning on connecting his family's gaming machines with ethernet cable, but there is someone wrong with the in-wall wiring he needs to use to connect the last machine.

What card do you recommend for him? Keep in mind that there is only about 10m and a single floor between his computer and the router. As well, the ability to maintain a stable connection is absolutely key and good latency is very important. He does NOT need high throughput for things like sharing networked files; he doesn't do that ever.

[Chris]

I was using wireless router for a long time, have one that is supposed to do 300mbps, but I only got 130mbps out of it. Not bad for video streaming. But I have moved my router to the basement and cannot get a strong signal on my second floor where my desktop is, so I bought a pair of Trendnet TPL-401E which are rated at 500mbps. It works through the house wiring, and I got consistent speed of about 200 mbps.I recommend doing this better than a wireless router unless you are using a laptop.

[great_big_abyss]

I bought the Gigabyte BT4.0 & Wifi for my son's rig. it works well, and as an added bonus has BlueTooth. Only $20 at Memory Express.

[Generic User #2]

Originally Posted by Chris

I was using wireless router for a long time, have one that is supposed to do 300mbps, but I only got 130mbps out of it. Not bad for video streaming. But I have moved my router to the basement and cannot get a strong signal on my second floor where my desktop is, so I bought a pair of Trendnet TPL-401E which are rated at 500mbps. It works through the house wiring, and I got consistent speed of about 200 mbps.I recommend doing this better than a wireless router unless you are using a laptop.

Yes, I recommended this to him already, but he thinks it will mess up his other electronics. Couldn't convince him that it wouldn't.

[sswilson]

Do you know what router he is using? I went whole hog and bought a high end dual band wireless N Linksys external that I've been quite pleased with, but there'd be no use in spending $60 on a high end wireless card if his router isn't simultaneous dual band / high speed.

[Michael DeAbreu]

I have a D-LINK DWA-552 Xtreme N Desktop Adapter connecting to a D-LINK DIR-655 Xtreme N Gigabit Router. They are only 1 floor apart, but the heating ducts are directly in-between. I can only get ~ 60% signal strength. Good enough for streaming HD content.

[sswilson]

Heating ducts are death on wireless reception. Might as well have the router's antenna shielded. :)

[NyteOwl]

Originally Posted by sswilson

Heating ducts are death on wireless reception. Might as well have the router's antenna shielded. :)

Yep, but they are great for laying cable in. Just make sure it's plenum rated.

[Generic User #2]

yep, he's using the RT-N66U