pci-e vs usb wireless adapters

[Howitz]

what are the pros and cons of both, and which one would you go with in order to provide wifi capability to your desktop.

[pwn_intended]

2 minutes ago, Howitz said:

what are the pros and cons of both, and which one would you go with in order to provide wifi capability to your desktop.

From what I have seen (not extensive testing by any means) is that the PCIe ones will provide slightly better performance, due to generally having a better antenna setup, and forgoing the extra lag introduced by USB.

YMMV though.

Cons of pcie are that you will have to have a free pcie port.

[Joe_MacDougall]

It's hard to run a PCI-E wireless adaptor if you have more than 2 cards because all of your PCI-E lanes will be taken.

Otherwise PCI-E adaptors generally are faster and more robust than USB adaptors.

[Mark77]

3 minutes ago, Joe_MacDougall said:

It's hard to run a PCI-E wireless adaptor if you have more than 2 cards because all of your PCI-E lanes will be taken.

Otherwise PCI-E adaptors generally are faster and more robust than USB adaptors.

PCI-E lanes can be shared with ease.  Not sure why people keep making such a big deal out of this.  You can even get PCI-E expander cards, like the RB14eu, which allow for 4 PCI-E WiFi cards in a single physical 1X PCI-E slot. 

[Joe_MacDougall]

1 minute ago, Mark77 said:

PCI-E lanes can be shared with ease.  Not sure why people keep making such a big deal out of this.  You can even get PCI-E expander cards, like the RB14eu, which allow for 4 PCI-E WiFi cards in a single physical 1X PCI-E slot. 

Didn't know that was a thing.

[Mark77]

2 minutes ago, Joe_MacDougall said:

Didn't know that was a thing.

Yup, toss 4 miniPCI-E radios in one of these (or even 4G radios if you want, along with a SIM card and USB port attachments if needed for the 4G), and you're good to go:

 

 

Looks like it uses a PLX chip.

[Over9000Dude]

pcie

[Howitz]

alright guys i got this one from amazon.ca in cad dollars, i dont think it will have issues on an asus z170a right, also i will be gaming, i have no issues gaming on my old lenovo y510p laptop wifi, ill be damned if i cant on this pcie adapter...

 

https://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/B016K0896K/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1