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How to Find Intel M.2 WiFi compatibility

nightmarevoid
By nightmarevoid
in Networking
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Update: turns out, she was really far behind on updates. It was probably a compatibility issue. Problem seems to be solved now. I guess I jumped to conclusions 😅

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I don't expect an easy answer but I thought I should ask. My girlfriend's wifi card in her Spectre laptop seems to be going south, and I wanted to pick up another one. I figured any M.2 chip would work but apparently they are chipset specific, and installing the wrong one may cause the computer to appear bricked. How can I figure out what wifi card is compatible with her chipset? (I don't remember it off the top of my head).

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first, what makes you thing it is "going south" ? slow speed could be caused by a loose antenna. 

We can't Benchmark like we used to, but we have our ways. One trick is to shove more GPUs in your computer. Like the time I needed to NV-Link, because I needed a higher HeavenBench score, so I did an SLI, which is what they called NV-Link back in the day. So, I decided to put two GPUs in my computer, which was the style at the time. Now, to add another GPU to your computer, costs a new PSU. Now in those days PSUs said OCZ on them, "Gimme 750W OCZs for an SLI" you'd say. Now where were we? Oh yeah, the important thing was that I had two GPUs in my rig, which was the style at the time! They didn't have RGB PSUs at the time, because of the war. The only thing you could get was those big green ones. 

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First as VioDuskar mentioned, I would first confirm that the issue is actually with the WiFi NIC and not some other part of the system. This can be done by running speed tests to see what the speed you get. (Although not as useful if you don't have a reference for what speeds you should be getting) so I would also run speed test on your laptop to compare to**. You can also see if she is complaining that the laptop is dropping connection often, although that could be an issue with the router.

 

This would be the first time that I have heard that WiFi NICs are chipset specific. If this is a concern, why not just by the same one she has now?

 

If you want to upgrade the WiFi NIC I would just stick with an Intel NIC. In terms of WiFi, Intel NICs are hard to beat. Remember, there is no reason to upgrade to WiFi 6 if you don't plan to upgrade to a WiFi 6 router before you plan to replace the laptop. Also remeber to get a NIC that is physically the same size and format as your current NIC.

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CNVi? If your laptop doesnt support it, just get Wifi cards that is not CNVi. Those are only from Intel atm anyway, simply avoid Intel if you want to be sure.

CPU: i7-2600K 4751MHz 1.44V (software) --> 1.47V at the back of the socket Motherboard: Asrock Z77 Extreme4 (BCLK: 103.3MHz) CPU Cooler: Noctua NH-D15 RAM: Adata XPG 2x8GB DDR3 (XMP: 2133MHz 10-11-11-30 CR2, custom: 2203MHz 10-11-10-26 CR1 tRFC:230 tREFI:14000) GPU: Asus GTX 1070 Dual (Super Jetstream vbios, +70(2025-2088MHz)/+400(8.8Gbps)) SSD: Samsung 840 Pro 256GB (main boot drive), Transcend SSD370 128GB PSU: Seasonic X-660 80+ Gold Case: Antec P110 Silent, 5 intakes 1 exhaust Monitor: AOC G2460PF 1080p 144Hz (150Hz max w/ DP, 121Hz max w/ HDMI) TN panel Keyboard: Logitech G610 Orion (Cherry MX Blue) with SteelSeries Apex M260 keycaps Mouse: BenQ Zowie FK1

 

Model: HP Omen 17 17-an110ca CPU: i7-8750H (0.125V core & cache, 50mV SA undervolt) GPU: GTX 1060 6GB Mobile (+80/+450, 1650MHz~1750MHz 0.78V~0.85V) RAM: 8+8GB DDR4-2400 18-17-17-39 2T Storage: HP EX920 1TB PCIe x4 M.2 SSD + Crucial MX500 1TB 2.5" SATA SSD, 128GB Toshiba PCIe x2 M.2 SSD (KBG30ZMV128G) gone cooking externally, 1TB Seagate 7200RPM 2.5" HDD (ST1000LM049-2GH172) left outside Monitor: 1080p 126Hz IPS G-sync

 

Desktop benching:

Cinebench R15 Single thread:168 Multi-thread: 833 

SuperPi (v1.5 from Techpowerup, PI value output) 16K: 0.100s 1M: 8.255s 32M: 7m 45.93s

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Thanks for the replies. I think the wifi card is failing because the wifi isn't necessarily slow so much as it is constantly disconnecting and having very intermittent latency issues. I can see how this will also be caused by bad antenna, but I want to have a wifi card on hand to replace it with.

 

I can't find any non-intel M.2 modules on the first few pages of newegg. I'm worried they don't exist lol. I'll keep looking. I'm trying to avoid Amazon.

Ryzen 7 3700X

Aorus GTX 1080ti

G.Skill TridentZ 3200MHz 2x8GB

Corsair SFX 750W

Phanteks Evolve Shift Air (glass front)

2x Corsair Force GS 120GB SSD (RAID 0)

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20 hours ago, Jurrunio said:

CNVi? If your laptop doesnt support it, just get Wifi cards that is not CNVi. Those are only from Intel atm anyway, simply avoid Intel if you want to be sure.

That's silly advice considering the AX200 and AX210 seem to be the best WiFi adapters right now and are not CNVi.

 

Plus if you have a CNVi only laptop then you HAVE to buy an Intel WiFi 5 adapter, nothing else will work.

Router:  Intel N100 (pfSense) WiFi6: Zyxel NWA210AX (1.7Gbit peak at 160Mhz)
WiFi5: Ubiquiti NanoHD OpenWRT (~500Mbit at 80Mhz) Switches: Netgear MS510TXUP, MS510TXPP, GS110EMX
ISPs: Zen Full Fibre 900 (~930Mbit down, 115Mbit up) + Three 5G (~800Mbit down, 115Mbit up)
Upgrading Laptop/Desktop CNVIo WiFi 5 cards to PCIe WiFi6e/7

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17 hours ago, nightmarevoid said:

Thanks for the replies. I think the wifi card is failing because the wifi isn't necessarily slow so much as it is constantly disconnecting and having very intermittent latency issues. I can see how this will also be caused by bad antenna, but I want to have a wifi card on hand to replace it with.

 

I can't find any non-intel M.2 modules on the first few pages of newegg. I'm worried they don't exist lol. I'll keep looking. I'm trying to avoid Amazon.

OK. We’re flying in the dark here. You need to provide us with the exact serial number of the HP Spectre for us to determine the exact card that you have and if it can be replaced to begin with. Some of these ultra-portable laptops do not always have user-replaceable WiFi adapters.

 

Your description of a “failing card” is not necessarily a hardware issue. Have you run a wireless survey in an area where these issues are experienced? Find WiFi Analyzer on the MS Store and post the channel output from the ‘Analyze’ page for both 2.4GHz and 5GHz frequencies.

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19 hours ago, nightmarevoid said:

 

I can't find any non-intel M.2 modules on the first few pages of newegg. I'm worried they don't exist lol. I'll keep looking. I'm trying to avoid Amazon.

Intel also makes non CNVi modules, just make sure it's not one of them.

CPU: i7-2600K 4751MHz 1.44V (software) --> 1.47V at the back of the socket Motherboard: Asrock Z77 Extreme4 (BCLK: 103.3MHz) CPU Cooler: Noctua NH-D15 RAM: Adata XPG 2x8GB DDR3 (XMP: 2133MHz 10-11-11-30 CR2, custom: 2203MHz 10-11-10-26 CR1 tRFC:230 tREFI:14000) GPU: Asus GTX 1070 Dual (Super Jetstream vbios, +70(2025-2088MHz)/+400(8.8Gbps)) SSD: Samsung 840 Pro 256GB (main boot drive), Transcend SSD370 128GB PSU: Seasonic X-660 80+ Gold Case: Antec P110 Silent, 5 intakes 1 exhaust Monitor: AOC G2460PF 1080p 144Hz (150Hz max w/ DP, 121Hz max w/ HDMI) TN panel Keyboard: Logitech G610 Orion (Cherry MX Blue) with SteelSeries Apex M260 keycaps Mouse: BenQ Zowie FK1

 

Model: HP Omen 17 17-an110ca CPU: i7-8750H (0.125V core & cache, 50mV SA undervolt) GPU: GTX 1060 6GB Mobile (+80/+450, 1650MHz~1750MHz 0.78V~0.85V) RAM: 8+8GB DDR4-2400 18-17-17-39 2T Storage: HP EX920 1TB PCIe x4 M.2 SSD + Crucial MX500 1TB 2.5" SATA SSD, 128GB Toshiba PCIe x2 M.2 SSD (KBG30ZMV128G) gone cooking externally, 1TB Seagate 7200RPM 2.5" HDD (ST1000LM049-2GH172) left outside Monitor: 1080p 126Hz IPS G-sync

 

Desktop benching:

Cinebench R15 Single thread:168 Multi-thread: 833 

SuperPi (v1.5 from Techpowerup, PI value output) 16K: 0.100s 1M: 8.255s 32M: 7m 45.93s

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Update: turns out, she was really far behind on updates. It was probably a compatibility issue. Problem seems to be solved now. I guess I jumped to conclusions 😅

Ryzen 7 3700X

Aorus GTX 1080ti

G.Skill TridentZ 3200MHz 2x8GB

Corsair SFX 750W

Phanteks Evolve Shift Air (glass front)

2x Corsair Force GS 120GB SSD (RAID 0)

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