Is the Intel AX210 compatible with the Dell G3 and what do I need to look for know if it's compatible

[ReHaNTHEREAL]

I'm planning on changing the WiFi card on my Dell G3 3579 and need to know if the Intel AX210 card is compatible with my motherboard.
And will it be a plug and play situation or will I have to install any further drivers.
Please advice.

I found this listing on AliExpress for the AX210 card, is a scam or the real deal?

 

Additonally, are there cards from any other manufacturers that I can use instead, that are better than the Intel counterpart?

 

I would also appreciate, I could be told what I need to look for to understand what crieteria needs to be satisfied for an M.2 WiFi card to be compatible with the motherboard.

 

For context, the one reason I'm doing this, is because whenever I connect to any WiFi network it says "No internet access". I tried with a USB card and I was able to connect.
Currently Bluetooth works fine.

Is this issue related to the WiFi card or is it something else?

Thank you everyone for your support!

[Tetras]

42 minutes ago, ReHaNTHEREAL said:

And will it be a plug and play situation or will I have to install any further drivers.

AX210 is normally detected by the OS if you have Windows 10 or newer, but you can download the drivers direct from Intel.

 

43 minutes ago, ReHaNTHEREAL said:

Additionally, are there cards from any other manufacturers that I can use instead, that are better than the Intel counterpart?

Most of these wireless cards are just a PCB with the wireless chip on it.

 

45 minutes ago, ReHaNTHEREAL said:

I found this listing on AliExpress for the AX210 card, is a scam or the real deal?

Well, you can't sell one for that price and make any profit, but I suppose they might be disposing of cards from broken PCs/laptops.

 

49 minutes ago, ReHaNTHEREAL said:

I would also appreciate, I could be told what I need to look for to understand what crieteria needs to be satisfied for an M.2 WiFi card to be compatible with the motherboard.

Wireless cards in desktops are usually Key-E.

 

For laptops, I don't know and I can't find any information about what is present in yours. I looked at motherboard pictures and I couldn't tell from those either.

 

55 minutes ago, ReHaNTHEREAL said:

For context, the one reason I'm doing this, is because whenever I connect to any WiFi network it says "No internet access". I tried with a USB card and I was able to connect.
Currently Bluetooth works fine.

Is this issue related to the WiFi card or is it something else?

Very hard to say, what troubleshooting steps have you done?

[Needfuldoer]

As far as I'm aware, Dell doesn't whitelist which PCIe devices you're allowed to use like HP and Lenovo have in the past.

[mariushm]

There are some wireless cards that use specific features of Intel chipsets or CPUs to work, like for example CNVi extensions

See for example What Are the Intel® Integrated Connectivity (CNVi) and Companion...

 

So avoid the cards listed on that page if your cpu  / chipset doesn't have CNVi.

 

As alternative to Intel cards, there's the Mediatek MT7922  / AMD RZ616 (rebranded mediatek)  cards, here's an example : https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005006269807901.html

 

description says works with most brands including dell, except lenovo

 

You can download drivers for it directly from Microsoft here, fairly new (december 2023): https://www.catalog.update.microsoft.com/search.aspx?q=rz616 wi-fi 6e 160mhz

 

This one is working with lenovo laptops : https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005005691874533.html

 

 

 

[Alex Atkin UK]

15 hours ago, mariushm said:

There are some wireless cards that use specific features of Intel chipsets or CPUs to work, like for example CNVi extensions

See for example What Are the Intel® Integrated Connectivity (CNVi) and Companion...

 

So avoid the cards listed on that page if your cpu  / chipset doesn't have CNVi.

 

Its far more complicated than that, as the specific CNVi version supported depends on the CPU.  Intel in their infinite wisdom don't seem to bother to list which cards work with which CPUs and its even more confusing on laptops as their CPU numbering is different to desktops.

Fortunately some boards support normal M.2 PCIe cards in their CNVi slot, but unfortunately they never advertise this so is trial and error.

15 hours ago, mariushm said:

As alternative to Intel cards, there's the Mediatek MT7922  / AMD RZ616 (rebranded mediatek)  cards, here's an example : https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005006269807901.html

SO many people are replacing these with the Intel cards due to compatibility issues with their router/AP.

 

Personally they work fine on mine, but I'd avoid them just in case.

[ReHaNTHEREAL]

19 hours ago, Alex Atkin UK said:

Its far more complicated than that, as the specific CNVi version supported depends on the CPU.  Intel in their infinite wisdom don't seem to bother to list which cards work with which CPUs and its even more confusing on laptops as their CPU numbering is different to desktops.

Fortunately some boards support normal M.2 PCIe cards in their CNVi slot, but unfortunately they never advertise this so is trial and error.

SO many people are replacing these with the Intel cards due to compatibility issues with their router/AP.

 

Personally they work fine on mine, but I'd avoid them just in case.

So in my case, my CPU doesn't seem to support CNVi.

 

On 3/30/2024 at 4:15 AM, mariushm said:

There are some wireless cards that use specific features of Intel chipsets or CPUs to work, like for example CNVi extensions

See for example What Are the Intel® Integrated Connectivity (CNVi) and Companion...

 

So avoid the cards listed on that page if your cpu  / chipset doesn't have CNVi.

 

And the Intel AX210 is not on this list

So it should not cause problems, correct?

[Alex Atkin UK]

2 hours ago, ReHaNTHEREAL said:

So in my case, my CPU doesn't seem to support CNVi.

 

And the Intel AX210 is not on this list

So it should not cause problems, correct?

Dell seem to be random in that they have a whitelist on some laptops models and not others.  But I do see some results on Google from people with your model saying the AX210 works.

[jre84]

avoid the ax210 at all costs. I just bought a BE200 and it is alot faster with better reception and the 6ghz band works out of the box. its future proof wifi 7 and is superior to the ax210 with 5800mbps data rate. Im currently trying to get the ax210 to detect the 6ghz band and after trying just about everything nothing. with my new be200 on my vivobook it was just good from the get go, nothing really needed to be set up

[Alex Atkin UK]

10 hours ago, jre84 said:

avoid the ax210 at all costs. I just bought a BE200 and it is alot faster with better reception and the 6ghz band works out of the box. its future proof wifi 7 and is superior to the ax210 with 5800mbps data rate. Im currently trying to get the ax210 to detect the 6ghz band and after trying just about everything nothing. with my new be200 on my vivobook it was just good from the get go, nothing really needed to be set up

That's interesting as I found the AX210 performs better on WiFi 5 than the AX200, and you're saying the BE200 performs better on WiFi 6e than the AX210.  No doubt the BE210 (should they release one) will perform better on WiFi 7 than the BE200.

 

I guess the age old thing of second generation WiFi devices always performing better is still true.

[jre84]

yeah I have 4 cards

 

rated best to worst

BE200  6e

MT7922 6e

AX210 6e

AX201 6

AX201 6

 

the mt7922 has been able to connect to 6ghz a few times, the be200 everytime and the ax210 almost never. ax201 just does 5ghz. here in canada internet speeds are going up and i currently have a 1.5gig connection and i get around 1400 with the be200 with the mt7922 its around 1150mbps. Im currently trying to get these cards(6e) all working and the most stubborn one is the ax210