GIGABYTE Intros AORUS GC-WIFI7 PCIe WLAN Card Supporting up to 5800 Mbps Bandwidth, Comes with a Hardware Lottery

[btarunr]

GIGABYTE released the GC-WIFI7, a WLAN card in the PCIe add-on card form-factor, which, as its name suggests, gives your desktop the power of Wi-Fi 7. Given how the new wireless networking standard is exotic and provides a more than 2.2x gain in Wi-Fi bandwidth over Wi-Fi 6E, GIGABYTE decided to give this accessory its coveted AORUS Gaming branding and product design. The card supports tri-band, and a theoretical maximum bandwidth of 5800 Mbps, with support for 320 MHz and 160 Hz channels. The card also supports MLO, in which it simultaneously connects to a 2.4 GHz and 5/6 GHz network. The card comes with a stylish antenna array that supports up to 5 dBi signal strength. Besides Wi-Fi 7, the card also provides Bluetooth 5.3 connectivity.

The most interesting aspect about this product is that it has three hardware revisions at launch. The Rev 1.0 card is based on a Qualcomm chipset; Rev 1.1 is based on a MediaTek chipset, and Rev 1.2 is based on Intel, all three offering identical hardware specs and performance levels. Rev 1.0 is based on a Qualcomm QCA FastConnect 7800 controller; Rev 1.1 rocks a MediaTek MT7927 controller; while the Rev 1.2 uses an Intel BE200. All three revisions are sold under the same SKU, and it's only in a brick-and-mortar store that you can figure out what you want by looking closely at the barcode sticker, where the revision is mentioned. The company didn't reveal pricing.



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[joemama]

Hardware lotttery lol
Until all 3 versions have been tested, no one will know which is the big prize

 

[bonehead123]

PSA TO ANYONE WITH A WEAK HEART OR STOMACH ILLNESSES:

Be sure to cover your eyes/ears when they publicize the price tag, cause it's gonna be uber-massive-ultra-mega HIGH.. hehehe......​

 

[LabRat 891]

The Rev 1.0 card is based on a Qualcomm chipset; Rev 1.1 is based on a MediaTek chipset, and Rev 1.2 is based on Intel, all three offering identical hardware specs and performance levels. Rev 1.0 is based on a Qualcomm QCA FastConnect 7800 controller; Rev 1.1 rocks a MediaTek MT7927 controller; while the Rev 1.2 uses an Intel BE200. All three revisions are sold under the same SKU, and it's only in a brick-and-mortar store that you can figure out what you want by looking closely at the barcode sticker, where the revision is mentioned

This sucks but, AFAIK this is very common practice w/ consumer wifi kit.

I practically have nightmares about trying to get the right Rev. Wi-Fi card guessed w/o pulling the (PCI/PCIe) card. Gets even better with some of the USB units, where the markings wear off or get lost.

 

[seventy]

Until all 3 versions have been tested, no one will know which is the big prize

The big prize is anything but intel basically, mostly because of the anti-consumer design decisions in the drivers. Creating an AP is a very big mess with it.

 

[Chaitanya]

Apart from lottery on revision of chipset used there is also question of revision of PCI-e used for the card.

 

[JohH]

PSA TO ANYONE WITH A WEAK HEART OR STOMACH ILLNESSES:

Be sure to cover your eyes/ears when they publicize the price tag, cause it's gonna be uber-massive-ultra-mega HIGH.. hehehe......​

Shouldn't be expensive. Intel BE200 in M.2 2230 form-factor is less than $30 even at Mouser. Which you can install directly in your motherboard's M.2 Key E if it has one or combine with a cheap PCIE to M.2 Key E adapter if your board doesn't have one.

Apart from lottery on revision of chipset used there is also question of revision of PCI-e used for the card.

PCIE 3.0 x1 (~8000Mbps) should be sufficient for 5800 Mbps.
Some WiFi 6E cards used only PCIE 2.0.

 

[AusWolf]

Most companies try their best to hide such differences among hardware revisions, and now Gigabyte is advertising it like it was a good thing. Have they gone mad?

 

[TheLostSwede]

All three variants seem to support the things that matter on the WiFi side, such as 320 MHz wide channel support, MLO, 4K QAM, so there should be no major WiFi performance difference, assuming all other things equal.

The QCA FastConnect 7800 offers the best Bluetooth audio capabilities, assuming there are Windows drivers provided for aptX and LE audio. There's also support for Snapdragon Sound, for those that have suitable headphones/earphones.

The MT7927 (Filogic 380) is only Bluetooth 5.3 whereas the Qualcomm and Intel parts are Bluetooth 5.4. MTK mentions MRU support, which the others don't, not sure it'll matter or if it makes MTK's card stand out.

The Intel BE200 doesn't stick out in any way and there's a cut down version called the BE202 which is hard limited to 160 MHz wide channel support and 1k QAM.

 

[Assimilator]

The MT7927 (Filogic 380) is only Bluetooth 5.3 whereas the Qualcomm and Intel parts are Bluetooth 4.0.

Eh?

 

[[XC] Oj101]

You want to see a lottery? Check the H510M S2H V3 - it has an H470 or Q470 chipset depending on revision.

 

[TheLostSwede]

Eh?

Brain not working, 5.4 of course, not 4.0.

 

[Zareek]

Three different controllers in the same SKU is not a surprise to me. I gave up on Gigablows a while back, they were my go-to brand. They've completely lost their way.

 

[Readlight]

PCIe X1 is for USB 3