Rosewill N150 Atheros PCI-E Wifi NIC $14.99 - $6 Promo = $8.99 FS @ Newegg

[VirtualLarry]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16833166047

$6 off w/ promo code EMCXTVP55, ends 4/1

Limit 5 per customer.

I've been using a lot of these WiFi PCI-E NICs lately in my builds. They are inexpensive, and they work pretty decently. Granted, they're only N150, but that hasn't been a significant limitation for most internet connections.

They are Atheros based, and work in Windows 7 64-bit HP without installing any drivers (they are built-in). Supposedly, they work out of the box in Linux as well, although I haven't tested that personally.

 

[lavaheadache]

in for one. THanks!

 

[AustinInDallas]

is there a measureable difference between a usb adapters and pci-e ones?

 

[txlonghorn]

is there a measureable difference between a usb adapters and pci-e ones?

I don't know about measurable differences, but from personal experience, I prefer PCI-e adapter.

1) It boots up faster than USB adapter. It appears to me that Windows has to load the USB hub driver first and then the wireless driver. With PCI-e adapter, Windows loads the wireless driver a lot quicker. I get wireless connection a lot quicker with PCI-e adapter than USB adapter.

2) Once in a while, Windows cannot find the USB adapter. This happened to me on multiple machines. Sometimes a reboot cured the problem. But there are times when I had to re-install the USB adapter. I never had this problem with PCI-e adapter.

3) The USB stick gets pretty hot. I always worry about it getting fried. Don't have this worry with PCI-e card.

 

[cytoSiN]

In for one, thanks. I love my Asus dual band USB wireless adapter, but I only need the wirless on my desktop for using wireless printers, so N150 is more than enough. And this way I don't have to keep the USB adapter handy all the time.

 

[VirtualLarry]

3) The USB stick gets pretty hot. I always worry about it getting fried. Don't have this worry with PCI-e card.

That's probably the #1 reason to stick with a PCI-E card. Those USB adaptors, especially those nano ones, really heat up if you are doing some heavy transfers. I know someone that burned out two USB adaptors, before finding a decent (more expensive) one.

On the other hand, with a PCI-E adaptor, the antenna is stuck behind the metal PC case, which shields the signal. A USB wifi, with a cheap USB extension cable, can be positioned anywhere to catch the signal.

Then again, these PCI-E adaptors do have a removable antenna, so you could attach a larger one or one with a longer cable.

There are tradeoffs, but one thing I like about these is that they are 1) cheap, and 2) driverless, in Windows 7 (8 too?), and modern Linux kernels.

 

[SunRey]

Thank You!

 

[CalebRockeT]

In for a few... Even if the range turns out to be terrible, the price is low enough that I wouldn't even care all that much. Thanks!

 

[VirtualLarry]

Well, bad news. I went looking for some more of these, and it seems that they have been discontinued???

Say it ain't so, Newegg.

The big appeal for me was the easy upgradeability of both Linux and Windows 7 systems with these cards, they being driverless.

Edit: Not to mention, they were darn CHEAP when they were on sale, too. Maybe that's why they were so cheap, Newegg was trying to get rid of them. I don't know why, they worked so well. I guess so many people see "N300" versus "N150" on the spec sheets, without realizing the amount of wireless channel congestion on 2.4Ghz, and the fact that channel-bonding in 2.4Ghz is next to useless.