Looking for a WiFi solution

[lithium_6]

Hi all,

 

A year ago I build a system for a small 3D printer shop. I used a Gigabyte B450 DS3H MB I wasn't concerned about WiFi at that time, I was running everything over ethernet. But I got a new printer and different layout in the shop, so I had to get a WiFi dongle to connect to the printer and internet.

 

I have a TP-Link usb adapter, but it has been very unreliable. Every time I plug a USB device or if I transfer large file to an external SSD or USB drive it drops the connection. Sometimes I get a BSOD. I troubleshoot the issue and it is the WiFi dongle. I tried different drivers to no avail. I purchased a PCIE wifi adapter and works fine but it covered the intake of my GPU so I returned.

 

I was about to buy an Intel WiFi 6 (Gig+) AX200 but I realized it is M.2 Key A-E and my motherboard only has a M.2 M-Key 2242/2260/2280/22110.

 

Is it possible to use and adapter? or can you recommend me a different solution or wifi adapter?

 

Thanks.

 

 

[RAS_3885]

11 minutes ago, lithium_6 said:

purchased a PCIE wifi adapter and works fine but it covered the intake of my GPU so I returned.

What do you mean covered the GPU intake? What GPU? Wifi cards are really small 1x cards and as long as you had the physical space to plug it in it shouldn't really be blocking anything critical.

 

PCIE card is my vote for best solution. You can also likely find some sort of M-key to A/E key adapter for the M.2 slot.

[lithium_6]

1 minute ago, RAS_3885 said:

What do you mean covered the GPU intake? What GPU? Wifi cards are really small 1x cards. If you got so far as to get it plugged in and working I'm curious why you returned it.

 

PCIE card is my vote for best solution. You can also likely find some sort of M-key to A/E key adapter for the M.2 slot.

I'm using a minitower case with Micro Atx MB. I don't have that much real state available.

 

The PCI card was pretty big, I used an Archer T6E that was 4.8 x 4.5 x 0.85 in.

 

I'm going to look for adapters, I didn't know that I can use them.

 

 

[RAS_3885]

You can find significantly smaller PCIE wifi cards without a heatsink.

 

https://www.amazon.com/TP-Link-Bluetooth-Wireless-Browsing-Streaming/dp/B084JPFKQ5/ref=sr_1_3?dchild=1&keywords=pcie+wifi+card&qid=1632249329&sr=8-3

 

Otherwise an adapter like this should work. (Not endorsing this one specifically, just an example product)

 

https://www.amazon.com/Converter-Wireless-BCM94352Z-BCM94360NG-Including/dp/B09CD767SV/ref=sr_1_5?dchild=1&keywords=m.2+e+key+adapter&qid=1632249451&sr=8-5

[lithium_6]

54 minutes ago, RAS_3885 said:

You can find significantly smaller PCIE wifi cards without a heatsink.

 

https://www.amazon.com/TP-Link-Bluetooth-Wireless-Browsing-Streaming/dp/B084JPFKQ5/ref=sr_1_3?dchild=1&keywords=pcie+wifi+card&qid=1632249329&sr=8-3

 

Otherwise an adapter like this should work. (Not endorsing this one specifically, just an example product)

 

https://www.amazon.com/Converter-Wireless-BCM94352Z-BCM94360NG-Including/dp/B09CD767SV/ref=sr_1_5?dchild=1&keywords=m.2+e+key+adapter&qid=1632249451&sr=8-5

Thanks for the links. I will try a PCIe that doesn't extend over the x1 slot. Otherwise, I will try the adapter.

[lithium_6]

Thanks a lot for your suggestion. I purchased MSI WiFi 6 PCIe adapter. Night and day, with my previous TP-Link USB dongle my maximum transfer rate over my wifi network was 4 MB/s

 

Now with this new adapter my transfer rate went up to 90 MB/s