PCI-E Wi-Fi Card vs USB 3.0 Dongle

[Cthdarren]

I know there're alot of threads already created but i still needed an answer for my case. I am currently using a TP-Link WN727N and I am getting very bad connection, especially when someone watches videos in the house, so i was thinking of getting a new adapter. I know PCI-E is better due to the amount of power, but the thing is the back of my pc is facing the corner of the wall and theres very bad signal there since my room is pretty far from the router. However, if i get a usb adapter i can wire it to a better place for better signal, would it still be better to get a pcie-e or a usb 3.0 adapter?

Thanks in advance

 

[VincentP]

If you have a free PCI-E slot, I think the card will be more reliable.
Some wireless cards have an extendable antenna which would give you the best wireless connection.

 

[Cthdarren]

thanks for the prompt reply, i saw a few of them but they were out of my budget, are there any good and cheap ones that you would recommend?

 

[VincentP]

In general, really cheap parts aren't good quality.
If you already have a cheap one and are having problems, you need something better.
The extendable antenna will help much more with signal than having a USB adapter on an extension.

Netgear is usually pretty good value for the low to mid-end parts.
TP-Link has some affordable products as well usually.

 

[rhysiam]

It's actually much less about the USB vs PCIe than it is about the quality of the aerials and wifi controllers in the device. This USB adapter, for example, is going to be far more effective than most PCIe wifi cards on the market: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=9SIA4M54T34936&cm_re=usb_wifi-_-33-156-537-_-Product

What's your budget? Have you looked into powerline adapters? That might be a better solution if you're struggling for wifi signal.

Though there are certainly significantly better adapters than the one you have at the moment in the $30 to $50 price range. Whether they're good enough is an extremely difficult question to answer without being able to try it.

 

[bill001g]

Have you tried a 15ft usb extension. This is a very cheap test. You might get lucky and be able to place it away from the case or in a better part of the room.

If your router has the feature you want to see what the utilization of your internet connection is. If you have a small connection a video stream may just be using all the internet bandwidth so a new wireless card will not fix that.

PCI is not better because of power....although some of those tiny usb device are low power. When you look your device up in the FCC database the test reports show it puts out near the maximum allowed power. Hard to say for sure because the reports are hard to read.

The main advantage to PCI cards is they can have more and larger antenna than USB which will increase you speed but not so much the coverage. The main disadvantage is they sit so close to the case.

 

[Cthdarren]

I was going for something around $50 for my budget, i was thinking of something like the TP-Link Archer T4U AC1200

 

[Cthdarren]

Furthermore, I havent tried a 15ft cable haha didnt think of that but it just might work, maybe i'll try that, only problem is it looks very messy as my room is at the end of a hallway.

 

[bill001g]

You could use a 1ft one, 15ft was just used as a example of how far you could it go away from the computer if you really wanted. They sell them at the dollar store by me but they are less than $5 in most places.