1 x 1 ac client upgrade?

[ct1615]

I recently purchased a refurbished Dell laptop that I upgraded with more RAM and a SSD drive (I had spare parts already). I have a desktop PC I built that handles all my heavy work. The laptop is mostly for the wife to surf the web and something to take on vacations that works better then our tablets.

I noticed the wi-fi card is a 1x1 Intel 3165ngw with a max connection of 433mbps.
https://ark.intel.com/products/89450/Intel-Dual-Band-Wireless-AC-3165

would it worthwhile to swap it out for a Intel 2x2 8265?
https://ark.intel.com/products/94150/Intel-Dual-Band-Wireless-AC-8265

or simply go for a USB adapter like the Asus AC53 nano (realtek chip)? The cost would be the same as the Intel 8265.
https://www.asus.com/us/Networking/USB-AC53-Nano/

Or is this overthinking something that would offer little gain?

Router at home the netgear r6700 v3

 

[sfx2000]

would it worthwhile to swap it out for a Intel 2x2 8265?

Yes...

 

[Internet Man]

I recently purchased a refurbished Dell laptop that I upgraded with more RAM and a SSD drive (I had spare parts already). I have a desktop PC I built that handles all my heavy work. The laptop is mostly for the wife to surf the web and something to take on vacations that works better then our tablets.

I noticed the wi-fi card is a 1x1 Intel 3165ngw with a max connection of 433mbps.
https://ark.intel.com/products/89450/Intel-Dual-Band-Wireless-AC-3165

would it worthwhile to swap it out for a Intel 2x2 8265?
https://ark.intel.com/products/94150/Intel-Dual-Band-Wireless-AC-8265

or simply go for a USB adapter like the Asus AC53 nano (realtek chip)? The cost would be the same as the Intel 8265.
https://www.asus.com/us/Networking/USB-AC53-Nano/

Or is this overthinking something that would offer little gain?

Router at home the netgear r6700 v3

Unless the laptop already has a second antenna built-in for the second spatial stream I wouldn't bother upgrading from a 1x1:1 card to a 2x2:2 card.

 

[coxhaus]

I kind of did the same thing as I bought an Intel AC7260 wireless card. The Intel AC7260 card would not work in my old Dell laptop so I had to go shopping for another Dell refurb laptop.

 

[ct1615]

Unless the laptop already has a second antenna built-in for the second spatial stream I wouldn't bother upgrading from a 1x1:1 card to a 2x2:2 card.

thanks for the feedback
there is single white antenna cable attached to the current card but according to the dell part list the laptop supports two antenna as a 867mbps connection is possible (see below)

Wireless module
Table 10. Wireless module
specifications
Transfer rate
Up to 433 Mbps - Dual band 2.4
GHz/5 GHz

Up to 867 Mbps - Dual band 2.4
GHz/5 GHz

Up to 150 Mbps - 2.4 GHz only

Also wouldn't the Asus Nano adapter have the antenna internally?

 

[ct1615]

I kind of did the same thing as I bought an Intel AC7260 wireless card. The Intel AC7260 card would not work in my old Dell laptop so I had to go shopping for another Dell refurb laptop.

Thanks, sitting on the couch I was getting my full 100mbps down although the uplink seemed off on speed tests. I have an Asus PCE-AC55BT card in my PC. I may just test the laptop next to the PC in my basement office when I have some free time. I can always purchase the USB adapter and return it if it doesnt work out.

 

[coxhaus]

I get a 390mbps up and down anywhere in my house. There may be a limitation with my laptop as I did this a couple years ago. The wireless speed is faster than the old card and faster than my internet speed so I have not worried about it.

 

[sfx2000]

I kind of did the same thing as I bought an Intel AC7260 wireless card. The Intel AC7260 card would not work in my old Dell laptop so I had to go shopping for another Dell refurb laptop.

Can happen - as long as the replacement card is something that was offered via configure to order, it should work fine - I know some vendors whitelist cards (HP/Lenovo), but I don't recall if Dell does that. Best case is to source the part directly from Dell (it's a user replaceable item).

FWIW - I've had Intel cards sourced from eBay work and then fail later on, but that was back in the older 802.11 a/b/g days...

 

[coxhaus]

I bought my Intel AC-7260 card from New Egg a couple of years ago. So it is a generic real Intel card, not a Dell version. It seems to work. I just have not tried to push it. If I had a gig internet service I would figure it out.

 

[thiggins]

Don't do the internal upgrade unless you see a second antenna cable. Running a 2x2 card with a single antenna will provide lousy performance. Card will try to use two-stream link rates and not be able to achieve them and may keep trying, killing performance.

 

[coxhaus]

I don't remember if my laptop had 1 or 2 antennas. Is 390 mbps a 1 antenna or 2 antenna speed rate?

I think my link speed is 585. My top end speed varies. I sometime see 866.

PS
I just looked it up. My Dell laptop is not certified for the Intel 7260 card. It is the next generation of my laptop which is. It still works for me.

 

[ct1615]

so I ran two tests each on ookla speedtest using the following three clients all from the exact same location (my basement office one floor directly under the router). My ISP provides 100mbps down and 25 mbps up.
client - down/up in mbps in AC connection

Desktop - Asus PCE-AC55BT
test 1 - 115/20
test 2 - 115/ 22

Google Pixel XL - 2x2 wi-fi (i checked the connection and it stated 866mbps)
test 1 - 110/19
test 2 - 113/17

Dell Laptop - Intel 3165ngw
test 1 - 52/7
test 2 - 54/21

Maybe I'll order the Asus AC53 nano and see if there is a justifiable difference for the purchase.

 

[thiggins]

I don't remember if my laptop had 1 or 2 antennas. Is 390 mbps a 1 antenna or 2 antenna speed rate?

390 could be 1,2,3 or 4.

I think my link speed is 585. My top end speed varies. I sometime see 866.

Either of those connote 2 stream support.

 

[ct1615]

Update: hopefully this help someone down he road

Looking at the Dell support page for the 5570, it does in fact support the Intel 8265 as there is a bluetooth driver to download for it (along with several other cards, see below)

Intel-3160-7260-3165-7265-8260-8265-Bluetooth-Driver_YV365_WIN_20.60.0_A06.EXE

I opened up the laptop again and there are two wires (antennas) connecting to the wi-fi card, one white and one black each labeled Main & Aux. I also noticed the antennas connectors are tiny, like something you would see in your cell phone. I pulled each off the wifi card and had the white antenna connector pop off (they seem cheap). I could replace the antennas but I would have to pull out the LCD screen and camera. Maybe if I have a free day to play around with the laptop.

The Asus AC53 nano arrived that day from Amazon and installed it. Laptop hit the ground running with the wi-fi adapter right after boot up. I checked my connection and it stated 867mbps. I checked my download speed on ookla, 100mbps down and 28mbps up - twice what the Intel 3165ngw was giving me from the exact same location.