Most of the mid-high end motherboards offer wifi onboard. More than that, many offer 2230 PCIe slots on the motherboard which makes for easy inexpensive upgrades. (AsRock comes to mind, as I recently upgraded the wifi on one of those from an Intel 9560 to an Intel AX200.)
That's well and good for those mid-high end motherboards, but what about any other motherboard, or for that matter the 16 X570 motherboards that don't have WiFi on board?
I view these cards as a retrofit option, and I'm glad they exist. You might not need WiFi when you build a computer, but then you move or change the purpose of the computer and need WiFi suddenly. Do you buy a new motherboard or a WiFi AIB?
Exactly. I've just repurposed an MSI B450M Mortar. It has no M.2 wifi options and I didn't need one for its first job (cable all the way), but where it is now, I need wifi. So I bought a Chinese Intel AX200 PCIe card and some antennae for 18€ and am living a happy live. At the same time I bought an X570 with an M.2 wifi slot, so I also just purchased a clean Intel AX200 and some antennae for 20€ (card cheaper but antennae not included and more expensive). Now I'm set either way.
As for the card, I'm not sure what's "industry first" about it. A lot of AX200 PCIe cards from no-names around and even a Gigabyte branded one. And ASUS even has another one with a nice heatsink.
What I find most interesting is that these integrated solutions are price competitive with USB solutions for Wifi 5. And there are no off the shelf Wifi 6 USB solutions as far as I know.
These are press releases. They're not Anton Shilov's words and personal evaluation but rather Asus'. Of course Asus would sing their own praise. Every single article Anton Shilov posts should be clearly marked as PR in the title so the reader knows before clicking that it's no different from any other ad you'd see on the internet. But AT doesn't really care if they shovel sh*t on the front page as long as the clicks come. So what if they peddle misleading or outright wrong information?
Yes... I must be the dumb one for ignoring that dozens of M.2 WiFi 6 cards + PCIe x1 adapter combos have been on the market for at least half a year (I have one since June).
"What's misleading or incorrect?" > "ASUS has introduced one of the industry’s first Wi-Fi 6 cards for desktops."
This is not "a card for desktop" it's an adapter with a run of the mill M.2 card. Where's the novelty? Why the bombastic introduction making it look like more than it is? These have been on the market for quite some time, including in card"adapter kits.
Most of Anton's articles is peppered either with mistakes or plain marketing talk. The PCIe 4.0 motherboard that was just PCIe 3.0, or the x16 that was just x8, or the 3x32=128GB RAM kit (https://www.anandtech.com/show/14964/gskill-launch...
Unlike a review posted by Andrei Frumusanu where I can take 99.9% of the info and conclusions at face value, when it comes to Anton's articles t's hard to trust anything. Might just be coming straight from the manufacturer and not be validated/vetted in any way, might be a bucket of typos, might be him misinterpreting the info and presenting it as such.
Read the articles. Read the complaints in the comment sections (not just mine). None of them are ever addressed or they're always chalked up to some "one time random error".
I bought a WiFi5 + BT5 expansion card for my 7 year old computer back in the spring, and it has almost been life changing. Best $40 I've spent in a while.
Thinking a little outside the box, but if you have a box you don't mind keeping on that has a 2230 PCIe slot, you could setup a wireless Wi Fi 6 hotspot by sharing your wired connection.
I'm just glad to see a new product. All the USB and even PCIe add in cards at the store are so old they have old outdated drivers and are buggy. This being new, hopefully the wifi stability and performance will be much improved.
It is somewhat interesting how desktop PCs are an afterthought that get toss together solutions like a mobile NIC on an adapter card these days. Granted, wireless on a desktop PC is a lot less of a consideration than on a laptop, but CPU development favors mobile first as well. It just seems like desktops are getting the table scraps in a lot of ways besides graphics adapters and a few premium interface devices like keyboards and mice.
it's done this way for the same reason that many laptops use an m.2 card instead of integrating the wifi directly. The PCB with the radios on it has to undergo expensive FCC certification; someone who sells a device with a wifi card installed doesn't have to do any additional testing.
"The actual radio that powers the card is unknown" - it is an Intel AX200 card - if you go to the ASUS support page for this adapter they have a download for the Intel driver. The driver is a slightly older one - version 21.40.2.2 instead of the current Intel 21.50.1 version.
It's likely used to connect the USB pins on the M.2 slot. M.2 offers USB + PCIe, a PCIe adapter board like one (and it's not alone) only supplies... well PCIe. The USB pins are used by the integrated BlueTooth controller built into the AX200.
Yes they could have integrated a PCIe to USB bridge... but this is (much) cheaper... This isn't unusual for products like this. Even Intel's 7260 Desktop Kit had this USB cable.
Sounds like Asus made a breakthrough. But Intel AX200 has been available out there for months and there are tones of Key.E WiFi M.2 to PCIe adapters, like this fenvi flagship with m.2 slot and powerful heatsink for $30 https://www.aliexpress.com/item/33034513938.html
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James5mith - Tuesday, November 19, 2019 - link
Most of the mid-high end motherboards offer wifi onboard. More than that, many offer 2230 PCIe slots on the motherboard which makes for easy inexpensive upgrades. (AsRock comes to mind, as I recently upgraded the wifi on one of those from an Intel 9560 to an Intel AX200.)I mean, from your own AMD X570 motherboard roundup https://www.anandtech.com/show/14161/the-amd-x570-...
Out of 35 motherboards, 19 had Wifi6 onboard.
Inteli - Tuesday, November 19, 2019 - link
That's well and good for those mid-high end motherboards, but what about any other motherboard, or for that matter the 16 X570 motherboards that don't have WiFi on board?I view these cards as a retrofit option, and I'm glad they exist. You might not need WiFi when you build a computer, but then you move or change the purpose of the computer and need WiFi suddenly. Do you buy a new motherboard or a WiFi AIB?
Death666Angel - Tuesday, November 19, 2019 - link
Exactly. I've just repurposed an MSI B450M Mortar. It has no M.2 wifi options and I didn't need one for its first job (cable all the way), but where it is now, I need wifi. So I bought a Chinese Intel AX200 PCIe card and some antennae for 18€ and am living a happy live. At the same time I bought an X570 with an M.2 wifi slot, so I also just purchased a clean Intel AX200 and some antennae for 20€ (card cheaper but antennae not included and more expensive). Now I'm set either way.As for the card, I'm not sure what's "industry first" about it. A lot of AX200 PCIe cards from no-names around and even a Gigabyte branded one. And ASUS even has another one with a nice heatsink.
What I find most interesting is that these integrated solutions are price competitive with USB solutions for Wifi 5. And there are no off the shelf Wifi 6 USB solutions as far as I know.
close - Tuesday, November 19, 2019 - link
"Source: ASUS"These are press releases. They're not Anton Shilov's words and personal evaluation but rather Asus'. Of course Asus would sing their own praise. Every single article Anton Shilov posts should be clearly marked as PR in the title so the reader knows before clicking that it's no different from any other ad you'd see on the internet. But AT doesn't really care if they shovel sh*t on the front page as long as the clicks come. So what if they peddle misleading or outright wrong information?
devione - Tuesday, November 19, 2019 - link
If you're too dumb to tell a press release from actual content... Well maybe you shouldn't be browsing Anandtech.close - Thursday, November 21, 2019 - link
Yes... I must be the dumb one for ignoring that dozens of M.2 WiFi 6 cards + PCIe x1 adapter combos have been on the market for at least half a year (I have one since June).At least I didn't pay to read this...
Ryan Smith - Tuesday, November 19, 2019 - link
"So what if they peddle misleading or outright wrong information?"1) To be sure, these are not press releases. They are written up by Anton. (I'm not even aware of Asus issuing a press release for this adapter)
2) Hmm. I personally went over this article before it was posted. What's misleading or incorrect?
close - Thursday, November 21, 2019 - link
"What's misleading or incorrect?" > "ASUS has introduced one of the industry’s first Wi-Fi 6 cards for desktops."This is not "a card for desktop" it's an adapter with a run of the mill M.2 card. Where's the novelty? Why the bombastic introduction making it look like more than it is? These have been on the market for quite some time, including in card"adapter kits.
Most of Anton's articles is peppered either with mistakes or plain marketing talk. The PCIe 4.0 motherboard that was just PCIe 3.0, or the x16 that was just x8, or the 3x32=128GB RAM kit (https://www.anandtech.com/show/14964/gskill-launch...
Unlike a review posted by Andrei Frumusanu where I can take 99.9% of the info and conclusions at face value, when it comes to Anton's articles t's hard to trust anything. Might just be coming straight from the manufacturer and not be validated/vetted in any way, might be a bucket of typos, might be him misinterpreting the info and presenting it as such.
sorten - Tuesday, November 19, 2019 - link
Harsh and unnecessary, Mr. Close. Correct me if I'm wrong, but nobody is compelling you to read the free content here.close - Thursday, November 21, 2019 - link
You're correct that nobody is compelling me. But your attitude that "it's free so quality doesn't matter" is pretty sad.Qasar - Tuesday, November 19, 2019 - link
close, you have any proof of these claims ??close - Thursday, November 21, 2019 - link
Read the articles. Read the complaints in the comment sections (not just mine). None of them are ever addressed or they're always chalked up to some "one time random error".sorten - Tuesday, November 19, 2019 - link
I bought a WiFi5 + BT5 expansion card for my 7 year old computer back in the spring, and it has almost been life changing. Best $40 I've spent in a while.Golgatha777 - Wednesday, November 20, 2019 - link
Thinking a little outside the box, but if you have a box you don't mind keeping on that has a 2230 PCIe slot, you could setup a wireless Wi Fi 6 hotspot by sharing your wired connection.Alistair - Tuesday, November 19, 2019 - link
I'm just glad to see a new product. All the USB and even PCIe add in cards at the store are so old they have old outdated drivers and are buggy. This being new, hopefully the wifi stability and performance will be much improved.PeachNCream - Tuesday, November 19, 2019 - link
It is somewhat interesting how desktop PCs are an afterthought that get toss together solutions like a mobile NIC on an adapter card these days. Granted, wireless on a desktop PC is a lot less of a consideration than on a laptop, but CPU development favors mobile first as well. It just seems like desktops are getting the table scraps in a lot of ways besides graphics adapters and a few premium interface devices like keyboards and mice.DanNeely - Wednesday, November 20, 2019 - link
it's done this way for the same reason that many laptops use an m.2 card instead of integrating the wifi directly. The PCB with the radios on it has to undergo expensive FCC certification; someone who sells a device with a wifi card installed doesn't have to do any additional testing.Hyper72 - Tuesday, November 19, 2019 - link
Those are some giant antennas, I wonder whats really inside what with the wavelength of 5GHz being ~5cm.Death666Angel - Wednesday, November 20, 2019 - link
That's the normal desktop / rouiter antenna design. What tinfoil hat are you wearing today? A nice one I hope. :)brookheather - Wednesday, November 20, 2019 - link
"The actual radio that powers the card is unknown" - it is an Intel AX200 card - if you go to the ASUS support page for this adapter they have a download for the Intel driver. The driver is a slightly older one - version 21.40.2.2 instead of the current Intel 21.50.1 version.DigitalFreak - Wednesday, November 20, 2019 - link
What is that connector on the back of the card? Hopefully it doesn't require a separate power connector.weilin - Wednesday, November 20, 2019 - link
It's likely used to connect the USB pins on the M.2 slot. M.2 offers USB + PCIe, a PCIe adapter board like one (and it's not alone) only supplies... well PCIe. The USB pins are used by the integrated BlueTooth controller built into the AX200.Yes they could have integrated a PCIe to USB bridge... but this is (much) cheaper... This isn't unusual for products like this. Even Intel's 7260 Desktop Kit had this USB cable.
regsEx - Friday, November 22, 2019 - link
Sounds like Asus made a breakthrough. But Intel AX200 has been available out there for months and there are tones of Key.E WiFi M.2 to PCIe adapters, like this fenvi flagship with m.2 slot and powerful heatsink for $30https://www.aliexpress.com/item/33034513938.html
Or this simpler one, for $25
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/33014502853.html