# Should I get a USB Wireless adapter or PCI Wireless adapter?



## Millgpc (Jan 15, 2014)

Hi, I am wondering if i should get USB Wireless or PCI Wireless. I am about 15 metres away from my router, and there is a wall in-between my computer and it. Thanks for the help.


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## Ja.KooLit (Jan 15, 2014)

i would say PCI. it is faster than USB.... but i could be wrong. lets see what other's say


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## kn00tcn (Jan 15, 2014)

usb is convenient, but i've used plenty of ones that suck (probably since the ones i've used are cheap & dont have an antenna sticking out)

since you mention pci, this sounds like a desktop.... why wouldnt you make it wired? i'm even using my laptop wired right now...


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## Kissamies (Jan 15, 2014)

I'd say PCI-E rather than PCI.


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## remixedcat (Jan 15, 2014)

What budget you got? There's an asus one right now but it's like 100 bucks or so though but it does 802.11ac. 

Amped's got one coming soon but I don't know when.


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## Jetster (Jan 15, 2014)

Its doesn't matter. What ever is on sale


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## BazookaJoe (Jan 15, 2014)

Yea look WiFi is already SO MANY MANY times slower than USB, even on its best day it makes no real technological difference, other than POSSIBLY, if you believe that you are going to be on the very edge of your routers WiFi signal, that some internal WiFi cards have nice big antennas on a length of cord that allow you to place the antenna here & there until you get it just right - that said there are also USB dongles with antenna but without a USB extension cord they can be difficult to position... 

So really whatever works best for you - if you are close enough to your WiFi source, you don't really care about loosing a USB port - and couldn't be bothered opening things up and messing around inside there is no problem with USB WiFi.

The only REAL issue could be if for example you have some REALLY super expensive latest revision WiFi router (you know the kind with about 7 antenna sticking out of it) that promises a Trillion Jiggabits per moment and you want to copy 300GB to and from a NAS on your router every night over WiFi, then you may very well want to invest in a high performance internal card that also has about 7 antenna sticking out of the back of your PC for full multichannel blibbedy blabbedy bloop but really that is just taking things way too far - apart from that just being completely ridiculous those super ultra multichannel blah blah routers are a pile of crap - there I said it!! They never deliver what they promise - although they do come close you need to be so damn physically close to it anyway to maintain any kind of real speed you could just plug a damn Ethernet cable in anyway and just do full Gigabit so why even bother with the WiFi?

If you are just looking for regular old b/g/n home Wifi for internet and things, just double check that if for example your router supports "n" that you actually get an "n" compliant USB dongle (or internal card or whatever) most routers will run their WiFi at the speed of the WEAKEST device on the network and an old model of device running mode "g" when everything else on the network is mode "n" compliant is far more often the cause of poor network performance than anything else.


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## micropage7 (Jan 15, 2014)

pci may have better signal coverage coz it has antenna, but usb is more simple and its easier- 
i prefer usb based than pci


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## Jetster (Jan 15, 2014)

USB 2.0 is _480 Mbit/s_ (effective throughput up to 35 MB/s or 280 Mbit/s)


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## remixedcat (Jan 15, 2014)

well going from regular 802.11n to 802.11ac MUMIMO is like going from a hub to a switch


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## Millgpc (Jan 15, 2014)

@kn00tcn I dont have a Ethernet port in my room. @9700 Pro That is what I mean, sorry. @remixedcat I have a budget of around 130 or so AUD.


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## Mussels (Jan 15, 2014)

i have about a dozen wifi devices here, and most of them are USB and work perfectly. USB is probably better because its easier to move around to get an unobstructed signal.


$30 will get you a high end 150Mb wifi N, or a cheap dual band N300 (aka N600, with 5Ghz support if your router has it)


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## Sasqui (Jan 15, 2014)

If you are strictly going to the internet through your wireless router, it really won't matter.  If you are transferring files between computers within your LAN, then go PCI or PCIe.

Case in point... *Wired* vs. *USB 'N'* adaptor test I did at my house, 30ft from an RT-N66U, speedtest gave virtually the exact ping, upload/download speeds for *BOTH*!


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## Mussels (Jan 15, 2014)

oh i should mention that on USB 2.0, N600 (5GHz, 300Mb really) testing i managed 19MB/s - dont go thinking that USB wifi adaptors are slow. some are, some are not. (past 3 rooms away, a 2.4ghz device was faster at 12Mb/s, 5ghz slows over distance faster)


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## remixedcat (Jan 15, 2014)

My Amped ACA1 USB3 802.11ac adapter:

Test environment: 

Specs of Building: This is going through about 32 ft through 2 walls, a solid all-wood dresser, and a chimney. The room has plaster walls in some places. 

Specs of server (my machine in the same room as the RTA15): Intel i5 3570K/16GB Corsair XMS3 DDR3 1600 RAM/Nvidia Geforce 650Ti/Samsung 840 120GB SSD/Windows Server 2012 Standard/Realtek GBE NIC


Specs of client (remote machine in other room): AMD Phenom 9650/4GB Corsair XMS2 DDR2 RAM/Nvidia Geforce 650Ti/Samsung 840 120GB SSD/Windows Server 2012 Standard/Amped Wireless ACA1 USB WLAN connection:USB3 via a PCI-Express addon card.


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## The Von Matrices (Jan 15, 2014)

Mussels said:


> USB is probably better because its easier to move around to get an unobstructed signal.



I completely agree.  The other advantage is that if you need to re position the access point far away from your PC, you can just buy a longer USB cable.  Finding extended antenna cables for an internal card is more difficult.  Plus, since USB is a powered bus, your connection speed is independent of the cable length (as long as you remain within the USB spec - a hub every 5 meters) whereas with a long antenna cable, you would lose signal and have a lower connection speed.


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## kn00tcn (Jan 16, 2014)

Millgpc said:


> @kn00tcn I dont have a Ethernet port in my room. @9700 Pro That is what I mean, sorry. @remixedcat I have a budget of around 130 or so AUD.



i never said port, you would have a cable going along the walls

another option is for your room to have the router, depending on where your ISP input comes from

basically i would wire the most important computer(s), where you play online games or do large amounts of transfers


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## Mussels (Jan 16, 2014)

you could get something like a wifi client router like the TP link i have, it connects to wifi and turns it back into 100Mb ethernet


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## Kissamies (Jan 21, 2014)

If you'd be in Finland, I'd would give u a PCI-E wifi card for free since I has one, and its totally useless for me


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## shovenose (Jan 21, 2014)

Most USB WiFi adapters are total garbage. So if you can go for an internal PCI or PCI-Express one you should do so.


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## Mussels (Jan 21, 2014)

shovenose said:


> Most USB WiFi adapters are total garbage. So if you can go for an internal PCI or PCI-Express one you should do so.



really? i use some 24/7 and have never had any issues. 12MB/s on 2.4GHz and 19MB/s on 5GHz.


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## remixedcat (Jan 21, 2014)

My Amped ACA1 has been awesome!


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## Deleted member 67555 (Jan 21, 2014)

I know its not what you were asking but I think its worth a consideration is the in between option...
Better than WiFi but not as good as running network cables is Powerline afapters...
I'm sure pricing is ~about the same
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16833704164


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## JunkBear (Jan 21, 2014)

PCI and PCI-E are more able to sustain a power demand-offer. So I think it might worth it to get a pci pci-e wifi card. The USB things also tend to overheat under heavy download or gaming making them fail or prone to mistakes. The chipset is enclosed in a small usb key then the internal card is open and can be cooled by the airflow inside the case.


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## Afterbite (Jan 22, 2014)

BazookaJoe said:


> Yea look WiFi is already SO MANY MANY times slower than USB, even on its best day it makes no real technological difference, other than POSSIBLY, if you believe that you are going to be on the very edge of your routers WiFi signal, that some internal WiFi cards have nice big antennas on a length of cord that allow you to place the antenna here & there until you get it just right - that said there are also USB dongles with antenna but without a USB extension cord they can be difficult to position...
> 
> So really whatever works best for you - if you are close enough to your WiFi source, you don't really care about loosing a USB port - and couldn't be bothered opening things up and messing around inside there is no problem with USB WiFi.
> 
> ...





You nailed it...................ESPECIALY the "g" and "n" business.


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## FreedomEclipse (Jan 22, 2014)

shovenose said:


> Most USB WiFi adapters are total garbage. So if you can go for an internal PCI or PCI-Express one you should do so.



Netgear or belkin wireless adapters tend to be complete garbage - I agree. However I have had 3 edimax USB dongles in the past and my newest one can hit 44mb/s DL semi-sustainable.

I think to a certain extend the TP-Link ones arent bad either though I have never bought or used one.


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## Mussels (Jan 22, 2014)

FreedomEclipse said:


> Netgear or belkin wireless adapters tend to be complete garbage - I agree. However I have had 3 edimax USB dongles in the past and my newest one can hit 44mb/s DL semi-sustainable.
> 
> I think to a certain extend the TP-Link ones arent bad either though I have never bought or used one.



i own and use TP link ones, i can vouch for them, especially the ones with external aerials. 19-20MB/s off a TP link 300Mb dual band, albeit that one has no aerial so its ranged is limited to ~10 meters at those speeds.


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