Choosing a wireless card/adapter?

[Fish181]

I just built a new computer, everything is set up except the wifi.

Is there really a quality difference between the PCI express wifi cards and the wifi usb adapters? I'd prefer to keep the USB slot free and just plop it into my pci express port.

Does it matter what kind of adapter/pci wireless card I get, performance wise?

I don't really know anything about these and in-fact did't even know that my motherboard didn't have a wifi scanner built in.

Thanks!

 

[Upgrades]

A PCI wireless adapter will give you better performance at the cost of convenience. You will need to open up your case whenever you want to put it in or take it out. With the USB, you can plug it into a USB port and eject it whenever you want.

So it comes down to: Do you need to bring it around (in which case get a USB) or will you be leaving it in your case anyway (in which case get a PCI adapter)?

Choose a best answer once you've found one to close the thread.

 

[Fish181]

I'm leaning more towards the PCIe or PCI wifi adapter. I'm not certain what I should choose though... it's on windows 8 and mainly meant for gaming and streaming so it needs to be nice.

Am I able to buy any adapter and it work, or do I need to meet certain specifications with my router?

I honestly do not understand how these adapters work whatsoever.