1.2gb/s AC GHz USB 3.0 WiFi Adapter vs ASUS PCE AC68 PCI-E Card

[Deanyo2k7]

Hi, which of these would be better?

1200Mbps Dual Band 802.11ac 2.4/5GHz PC USB 3.0 WiFi Adapter Network LAN Dongle http://

Or

ASUS PCE-AC68 802.11ac Dual-band Wireless-AC1900 PCI-E Adapter http://

The USB 3.0 Version is cheap at £15, yet the ASUS PCI-E is a lot more at £70. Is the ASUS much faster and worth the money? Or would the cheap version hold up just fine?

Thanks

 

[jimmysmitty]

The Asus will get you greater range than the USB one will.

It does depend on how far from the router you are planning on being though.

 

[Deanyo2k7]

The Asus will get you greater range than the USB one will.

It does depend on how far from the router you are planning on being though.

The router is downstairs in the living room and i will be upstairs in the bedroom (about 15-30m direct distance)

 

[bill001g]

It also depends on your router, obviously if you do not have 802.11ac router it does you little good to have 802.11ac nic cards. This is true of the speeds also. Unless your router supports the 3 feeds required to get 1900 it will drop back to whatever is common.

Most PCI cards have the issue that the antenna are partially blocked by the case. Expensive PCI cards like this one allow you place he antenna away from the case. This antenna cable and the antenna is primarily what increases the price.

The most important factor tends to be your internet speed. Does little good to hook a monster pc and router with 10g ports to a DSL line that can only run 1.5m. You will always only run as fast as the slowest connection in the path. So if you have a slow internet connection it may not be worth the money to get high end 802.11ac stuff. A year ago I would say stay with 802.11n but the price has come down that low end 802.11ac is about the same price.

Most times the only people that can really use 802.11ac effectively either have 1g google fiber or more commonly have some kind of large server in their house.

 

[Deanyo2k7]

It also depends on your router, obviously if you do not have 802.11ac router it does you little good to have 802.11ac nic cards. This is true of the speeds also. Unless your router supports the 3 feeds required to get 1900 it will drop back to whatever is common.

Most PCI cards have the issue that the antenna are partially blocked by the case. Expensive PCI cards like this one allow you place he antenna away from the case. This antenna cable and the antenna is primarily what increases the price.

The most important factor tends to be your internet speed. Does little good to hook a monster pc and router with 10g ports to a DSL line that can only run 1.5m. You will always only run as fast as the slowest connection in the path. So if you have a slow internet connection it may not be worth the money to get high end 802.11ac stuff. A year ago I would say stay with 802.11n but the price has come down that low end 802.11ac is about the same price.

Most times the only people that can really use 802.11ac effectively either have 1g google fiber or more commonly have some kind of large server in their house.

I have a BT Hub 5, and my broadband is up to 73Mb/s

 

[jimmysmitty]

It also depends on your router, obviously if you do not have 802.11ac router it does you little good to have 802.11ac nic cards. This is true of the speeds also. Unless your router supports the 3 feeds required to get 1900 it will drop back to whatever is common.

Most PCI cards have the issue that the antenna are partially blocked by the case. Expensive PCI cards like this one allow you place he antenna away from the case. This antenna cable and the antenna is primarily what increases the price.

The most important factor tends to be your internet speed. Does little good to hook a monster pc and router with 10g ports to a DSL line that can only run 1.5m. You will always only run as fast as the slowest connection in the path. So if you have a slow internet connection it may not be worth the money to get high end 802.11ac stuff. A year ago I would say stay with 802.11n but the price has come down that low end 802.11ac is about the same price.

Most times the only people that can really use 802.11ac effectively either have 1g google fiber or more commonly have some kind of large server in their house.

The Asus he linked has a placeable antennae so that would help avoid the signal loss due to the case.

 

[Deanyo2k7]

It also depends on your router, obviously if you do not have 802.11ac router it does you little good to have 802.11ac nic cards. This is true of the speeds also. Unless your router supports the 3 feeds required to get 1900 it will drop back to whatever is common.

Most PCI cards have the issue that the antenna are partially blocked by the case. Expensive PCI cards like this one allow you place he antenna away from the case. This antenna cable and the antenna is primarily what increases the price.

The most important factor tends to be your internet speed. Does little good to hook a monster pc and router with 10g ports to a DSL line that can only run 1.5m. You will always only run as fast as the slowest connection in the path. So if you have a slow internet connection it may not be worth the money to get high end 802.11ac stuff. A year ago I would say stay with 802.11n but the price has come down that low end 802.11ac is about the same price.

Most times the only people that can really use 802.11ac effectively either have 1g google fiber or more commonly have some kind of large server in their house.

The Asus he linked has a placeable antennae so that would help avoid the signal loss due to the case.

Im not bothered about the antenna placement. The USB antenneas can also be placed anywhere. I just want to know if there is any benifits in speed from the cheap USB adapter to the PCI-E card. My router supports dual band, it is the BT Home Hub 5.

 

[jimmysmitty]

The problem with cheap is just that. You are comparing a cheap USB adapter to a high end PCIe adapter. The PCIe adapter will connect at a higher speed, especially the one you listed. I have a USB N 300 for my HTPC and even only about 20 feet away and through one wall I barely get 150Mbps. If my HTPC could support it, it doesn't, I would get a Asus PCIe wifi adapter so I could get a faster connection to allow for better transfers between my systems and to fully support the max download speed of my ISP.