I want to upgrade my WiFi adapter...

Arjai · Apr 16, 2014

I have a ASUS S56CA-DH51 with an Atheros N card.

I want, and need, a Dual Band a/c adapter. ASUS will not give me any recommendations, Literally said they cannot comment.

Why they would want to put me through this run-around is beyond me!

So, yea, Google, so far? Nothing. Perhaps I don't know how to narrow it down.

I want to know what WILL work in my laptop. I went through an agonizing nightmare, a few years ago, trying to update my brother's wifi card in his Acer. I was hoping that I could avoid that by contacting ASUS. No go.

Anybody here have any advice? I cannot afford to be opening this thing up a bunch of times and buying and returning parts.

Thanks, in advance for the endless help I am sure to find here on the World's best website!!

:lovetpu:

I would like to avoid having to use a USB adapter. I have enough stuff to lug around and try not to break!!

remixedcat · Apr 16, 2014

For USB I recommend the Amped Wireless ACA1. For internal PCI-E I recommend Intel. Intel for PCI-E has higher compatibility and works well.

USB is always easier and more recommended for laptops since some laptops have BIOS/EFI "whitelists" and you have to get certain cards that work with it and often times the cards are only available through the laptop vendor and they gouge you on pricing.

However USB has the added bonus of bulk too.

Some Azurewave ones might work as well.

95Viper · Apr 16, 2014

You may want to look at this page over at Gen Tech PC for configuring their ASUS S56CA-DH51.
Scroll down to the WiFi card section and it lists quite a few choices.

WiFi

802.11 Wireless-N 2.4Ghz Single-Band 130 Mbps + Bluetooth 4.0
Intel Wireless-N 2230 2.4Ghz Single-Band 130 Mbps / WiDi [+ $15.00]
Intel Advanced-N 6235 Wireless-N 2.4Ghz/5.0Ghz Dual-Band 300 Mbps + Bluetooth 4.0 / WiDi [+ $29.00]
Intel Advanced-N 6250 2.4Ghz/5.0Ghz Dual-Band 300 Mbps + WiMAX / WiDi [+ $75.00]
Intel Ultimate-N 6300 2.4Ghz/5.0Ghz Dual-Band 300 Mbps with 2 antenna / WiDi [+ $49.00]
Intel Ultimate-N 6300 2.4Ghz/5.0Ghz Dual-Band 450 Mbps with 3 antenna / WiDi [+ $69.00]
Killer Wireless-N 1202 2.4Ghz/5.0Ghz Dual-Band 300 Mbps + Bluetooth 4.0 [+ $55.00]

If you email them a question or two maybe they can give you definitive info.

Goodluck.

flmatter · Apr 16, 2014

Did you go to the Asus forum boards? Or the RoG forum boards? Sometimes you will get more info there as well, they helped me with my ROG G75VW laptop. Unfortunately my recommendation is a usb adapter dlink has some good and small dual band units, asus usb ones are a tad long but take up no more space than a thumb drive.... my .02

you have 1 usb 3.0 so you should be fine on faster bandwidth's

Arjai · Apr 16, 2014

flmatter said:
Did you go to the Asus forum boards? Or the RoG forum boards? Sometimes you will get more info there as well, they helped me with my ROG G75VW laptop. Unfortunately my recommendation is a usb adapter dlink has some good and small dual band units, asus usb ones are a tad long but take up no more space than a thumb drive.... my .02

you have 1 usb 3.0 so you should be fine on faster bandwidth*fixed it*

Yes, not the ROG but, I spent a few hours on the ASUS forums and Site. Service guy chatter was very cordial but, could not tell me any recommendations.

flmatter · Apr 16, 2014

I am going to buy this Intel® Dual Band Wireless-AC 7260 for mine here shortly. Although disassembly for me is going to be a biotch and I might as well buy matching ram for mine because 2 sticks are under keyboard, lol. Good luck with your upgrade

Arjai · Apr 16, 2014

95Viper said:
You may want to look at this page over at Gen Tech PC for configuring their ASUS S56CA-DH51.
Scroll down to the WiFi card section and it lists quite a few choices.

WiFi

802.11 Wireless-N 2.4Ghz Single-Band 130 Mbps + Bluetooth 4.0
Intel Wireless-N 2230 2.4Ghz Single-Band 130 Mbps / WiDi [+ $15.00]
Intel Advanced-N 6235 Wireless-N 2.4Ghz/5.0Ghz Dual-Band 300 Mbps + Bluetooth 4.0 / WiDi [+ $29.00]
Intel Advanced-N 6250 2.4Ghz/5.0Ghz Dual-Band 300 Mbps + WiMAX / WiDi [+ $75.00]
Intel Ultimate-N 6300 2.4Ghz/5.0Ghz Dual-Band 300 Mbps with 2 antenna / WiDi [+ $49.00]
Intel Ultimate-N 6300 2.4Ghz/5.0Ghz Dual-Band 450 Mbps with 3 antenna / WiDi [+ $69.00]
Killer Wireless-N 1202 2.4Ghz/5.0Ghz Dual-Band 300 Mbps + Bluetooth 4.0 [+ $55.00]

If you email them a question or two maybe they can give you definitive info.

Goodluck.

Fired off an E-Mail...Hopefully they will, at least, give me a dual band card recommendation, that is not Black-listed....Or White-LISTED... however it is. I just want to get a DUAL-BAND A/C Card for this comp....Why should it be so effing crazy?

ASUS knows what will work, they built the frickin' thing!! But, NO, they can't tell me what will work....sad. :confused:

Arjai · Apr 16, 2014

flmatter said:
I am going to buy this Intel® Dual Band Wireless-AC 7260 for mine here shortly. Although disassembly for me is going to be a biotch and I might as well buy matching ram for mine because 2 sticks are under keyboard, lol. Good luck with your upgrade

Um, really? 32 bucks? Dual Band...? AWESOME!! Found one for $22!!

Arjai · Apr 17, 2014

flmatter said:
Or the RoG forum boards? Sometimes you will get more info there as well, they helped me with my ROG G75VW laptop.

Just posted on the ROG site. We'll see what they come up with.

Arjai · Apr 17, 2014

flmatter said:
I am going to buy this Intel® Dual Band Wireless-AC 7260 for mine here shortly. Although disassembly for me is going to be a biotch and I might as well buy matching ram for mine because 2 sticks are under keyboard, lol. Good luck with your upgrade

I replaced my memory a few weeks after I got this thing, waiting on shipping, opened up the back...only one was free to remove!! ASUS said I would void the warranty by opening up the back. Did it anyways. Now I have a 2x4 GB set of Kingston DDR3 1600's.

Definitely an improvement from the mismatched 6GB that came with it! Unfortunately, did not even think about looking at the WiFi adapter. I certainly hope it isn't soldered in!! That would suck!! :shadedshu:

flmatter · Apr 22, 2014

I did get that AC7260 and installation went smooth. Running on my 5ghz now and everything is stable and quick. Google disassembly of your laptop and watch youtube vid or 2 of the disassembly of your laptop to familiarize yourself with the process so it goes smoothly

Arjai · Apr 22, 2014

I'm gonna order one later this week, after I get paid.

System Name	Bay2- Lowerbay/ HP 3770/T3500-2+T3500-3+T3500-4/ Opti-Con/Orange/White/Grey
Processor	i3 2120's/ i7 3770/ x5670's/ i5 2400/Ryzen 2700/Ryzen 2700/R7 3700x
Motherboard	HP UltraSlim's/ HP mid size/ Dell T3500 workstation's/ Dell 390/B450 AorusM/B450 AorusM/B550 AorusM
Cooling	All stock coolers/Grey has an H-60
Memory	2GB/ 4GB/ 12 GB 3 chan/ 4GB sammy/T-Force 16GB 3200/XPG 16GB 3000/Ballistic 3600 16GB
Video Card(s)	HD2000's/ HD 2000/ 1 MSI GT710,2x MSI R7 240's/ HD4000/ Red Dragon 580/Sapphire 580/Sapphire 580
Storage	?HDD's/ 500 GB-er's/ 500 GB/2.5 Samsung 500GB HDD+WD Black 1TB/ WD Black 500GB M.2/Corsair MP600 M.2
Display(s)	1920x1080/ ViewSonic VX24568 between the rest/1080p TV-Grey
Case	HP 8200 UltraSlim's/ HP 8200 mid tower/Dell T3500's/ Dell 390/SilverStone Kublai KL06/NZXT H510 W x2
Audio Device(s)	Sonic Master/ onboard's/ Beeper's!
Power Supply	19.5 volt bricks/ Dell PSU/ 525W sumptin/ same/Seasonic 750 80+Gold/EVGA 500 80+/Antec 650 80+Gold
Mouse	cheap GigaWire930, CMStorm Havoc + Logitech M510 wireless/iGear usb x2/MX 900 wireless kit 4 Grey
Keyboard	Dynex, 2 no name, SYX and a Logitech. All full sized and USB. MX900 kit for Grey
Software	Mint 18 Sylvia/ Opti-Con Mint KDE/ T3500's on Kubuntu/HP 3770 is Win 10/Win 10 Pro/Win 10 Pro/Win10
Benchmark Scores	World Community Grid is my benchmark!!

System Name	RemixedBeast-NX
Processor	Intel Xeon E5-2690 @ 2.9Ghz (8C/16T)
Motherboard	Dell Inc. 08HPGT (CPU 1)
Cooling	Dell Standard
Memory	24GB ECC
Video Card(s)	Gigabyte Nvidia RTX2060 6GB
Storage	2TB Samsung 860 EVO SSD//2TB WD Black HDD
Display(s)	Samsung SyncMaster P2350 23in @ 1920x1080 + Dell E2013H 20 in @1600x900
Case	Dell Precision T3600 Chassis
Audio Device(s)	Beyerdynamic DT770 Pro 80 // Fiio E7 Amp/DAC
Power Supply	630w Dell T3600 PSU
Mouse	Logitech G700s/G502
Keyboard	Logitech K740
Software	Linux Mint 20
Benchmark Scores	Network: APs: Cisco Meraki MR32, Ubiquiti Unifi AP-AC-LR and Lite Router/Sw:Meraki MX64 MS220-8P

System Name	Matter's / Helios 300 Predator
Processor	Ryzen 7 2700 / i7 7700HQ
Motherboard	B450 Tomahawk / Acer Helios 300 Predator
Cooling	Arctic Freezer eSports Duo
Memory	Patriot Viper ddr4 32gb / 32gb gskill ddr4
Video Card(s)	MSI RTX 2080 Super Ventus OC / GTX 1060 6gb
Storage	Patriot Viper nvme M2, crucial MX300 275gb, Samsung 860 qvo 1tb
Display(s)	Acer 24" 1080p / 15.6 1080p HD
Case	Antec 300 / Acer Helios 300 Predator
Audio Device(s)	On Board - Steel Series Arctis Pro Wireless Cans
Power Supply	Antec 850watt high current pro
Mouse	Steel series Rival 600
Keyboard	Corsair K70 / Acer Helios 300 Predator
Software	Win 10 Pro / Win 10 Home

System Name	Bay2- Lowerbay/ HP 3770/T3500-2+T3500-3+T3500-4/ Opti-Con/Orange/White/Grey
Processor	i3 2120's/ i7 3770/ x5670's/ i5 2400/Ryzen 2700/Ryzen 2700/R7 3700x
Motherboard	HP UltraSlim's/ HP mid size/ Dell T3500 workstation's/ Dell 390/B450 AorusM/B450 AorusM/B550 AorusM
Cooling	All stock coolers/Grey has an H-60
Memory	2GB/ 4GB/ 12 GB 3 chan/ 4GB sammy/T-Force 16GB 3200/XPG 16GB 3000/Ballistic 3600 16GB
Video Card(s)	HD2000's/ HD 2000/ 1 MSI GT710,2x MSI R7 240's/ HD4000/ Red Dragon 580/Sapphire 580/Sapphire 580
Storage	?HDD's/ 500 GB-er's/ 500 GB/2.5 Samsung 500GB HDD+WD Black 1TB/ WD Black 500GB M.2/Corsair MP600 M.2
Display(s)	1920x1080/ ViewSonic VX24568 between the rest/1080p TV-Grey
Case	HP 8200 UltraSlim's/ HP 8200 mid tower/Dell T3500's/ Dell 390/SilverStone Kublai KL06/NZXT H510 W x2
Audio Device(s)	Sonic Master/ onboard's/ Beeper's!
Power Supply	19.5 volt bricks/ Dell PSU/ 525W sumptin/ same/Seasonic 750 80+Gold/EVGA 500 80+/Antec 650 80+Gold
Mouse	cheap GigaWire930, CMStorm Havoc + Logitech M510 wireless/iGear usb x2/MX 900 wireless kit 4 Grey
Keyboard	Dynex, 2 no name, SYX and a Logitech. All full sized and USB. MX900 kit for Grey
Software	Mint 18 Sylvia/ Opti-Con Mint KDE/ T3500's on Kubuntu/HP 3770 is Win 10/Win 10 Pro/Win 10 Pro/Win10
Benchmark Scores	World Community Grid is my benchmark!!

System Name	Matter's / Helios 300 Predator
Processor	Ryzen 7 2700 / i7 7700HQ
Motherboard	B450 Tomahawk / Acer Helios 300 Predator
Cooling	Arctic Freezer eSports Duo
Memory	Patriot Viper ddr4 32gb / 32gb gskill ddr4
Video Card(s)	MSI RTX 2080 Super Ventus OC / GTX 1060 6gb
Storage	Patriot Viper nvme M2, crucial MX300 275gb, Samsung 860 qvo 1tb
Display(s)	Acer 24" 1080p / 15.6 1080p HD
Case	Antec 300 / Acer Helios 300 Predator
Audio Device(s)	On Board - Steel Series Arctis Pro Wireless Cans
Power Supply	Antec 850watt high current pro
Mouse	Steel series Rival 600
Keyboard	Corsair K70 / Acer Helios 300 Predator
Software	Win 10 Pro / Win 10 Home

I want to upgrade my WiFi adapter...

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