D-Link DIR-645: Which laptop wifi card for streaming HD content

[Morgan]

I've been waiting and looking for more than a year now for a fast and stable Wireless-N router to stream HD content (h264 1080p). I've been following all articles on SmallNetBuilder and read a lot of other reviews. But until now unable to find a reliable solution tot wirelessly stream HD content throughout my house.

Recently I bought a new laptop an Asus X5QS (N55 series) which is a wonderful laptop which effortlessly plays HD content.

After waiting so long I finally read some reviews about the D-Link DIR-645 300 Mbps 2,4 Ghz router with smartbeam technology and a Ralink RT3662 chipset (According to this Smallnetbuilder article) which sounded really nice. The reviews were very promising but the only downside was that the maximum speed was 300 Mbps. But I thought well my notebook also has a wireless card with max 300 Mbps, so I'm going to give it a try and I bought it.

Well when I tested it on the first floor were also the D-link DIR-645 router resides I got a signal strenght of 4 bars and I could play h264 1080p content.

On the second floor at the back of the house, thing quickly went down and I had a signal strength of max 2 bars and a lot of stuttering unfortunately.

After some research I found out that my laptop WIFI/Bluetooth card supports only one stream of 150 Mbps It's an Atheros AR9002WB-1NG, how on earth could they put such a crappy wifi card in such a nice laptop

Well now I'm thinking of getting another halfsize wifi mini pci-e card for my laptop which will hopefully improve the signal strenght and maybe make it possible to watch some HD content on the second floor.

The only dilemma I face is which card would be the best choice. I would prefer to have a combo card with bluetooth, but don't know if I will sacrifce on performance with that.

I did some research and came up with the following cards:

• Intel 6230 (2T2R 2.4/5 GHz, 300 Mbps, Bluetooth)

• Bigfoot Killer Wireless-N 1102 (2T2R 2.4/5 GHz, 300 Mbps, No Bluetooth, Atheros AR9382)

• Bigfoot Killer Wireless-N 1103 (3T3R 2.4/5 GHz, 450 Mbps, No Bluetooth, Atheros AR9380)

• Ubiquiti SR71-E (2T2R 2.4/5 GHz, 300 Mbps, No Bluetooth, 400mW / 26dbm, NOT half-size afaik, Atheros AR9280 chipset)

• Ralink RT3592BC8 (2T2R 2.4/5 GHz, 300 Mbps, Bluetooth 4.0, same brand chipset as D-link DIR-645)

• Ralink RT3593 (3T3R 2.4/5 GHz, 450 Mbps, Bluetooth 4.0, same brand chipset as D-link DIR-645 and also support for "Transmission Beam Forming" like the D-link DIR-645 router)

Well as far as I know is the Ubiquiti very strong in both receiving and sending and but no halfsize mini pci-e and also no bluetooth unfortunately.
Both Bigfoot Killer wifi cards don't have bluetooth, but from what I read are also quite good, I would have to sacrifice bluetooth for them.


Keeps 3 going:

1. 
   The Intel 6230 with 300 Mbps and Bluetooth. I'm only affraid that this one will give the least strongest signal of all in the list.

• The Ralink RT3592BC8 with 300 Mbps and bluetooth 4.0 and also has the same brand chipset as the D-link DIR-645 router, which is something that Mr. Thiggings actually recommended in one of his reviews as I recall.)

• The Ralink RT3593 which has bluetooth 4.0 and also has the same brand chipset as the D-link DIR-645 router, which is something that Mr. Thiggings actually recommended in one of his reviews as I recall. And it also even has support for "Transmission Beam Forming" like the D-link DIR-645 router). The only bad thing is that I can't find it for sale anywhere and I don't know if the 3TTR wil have negative impact as the DIR-645 is 2T3T and I recall Mr. Thiggings run into such a problem with a Netgear test)

Could anyone give me any advice in this matter

 

[thiggins]

You need to choose a card to match the number of antennas in your laptop. Putting a three-stream card in a laptop with only two antennas doesn't get you anything and can lead to erratic performance when used with two-stream routers. (explanation)

Why do you way the Intel will have the lowest signal? I'd go with an Intel card.

Even with that, flawless 1080p streaming "throughout my house" will probably not be possible. 802.11n just can't provide high enough, consistent enough bandwidth for 1080p streaming.

 

[Morgan]

You need to choose a card to match the number of antennas in your laptop. Putting a three-stream card in a laptop with only two antennas doesn't get you anything and can lead to erratic performance when used with two-stream routers. (explanation)

That was the article I referred in my posting. I have two antenna's in my laptop, though I could add a third antenna like this one. If I add such an extra antenna will that still lead to erratic performance?

Why do you way the Intel will have the lowest signal? I'd go with an Intel card.

Well for example a wifi card like Ubiquiti SR71-E (which I can't use because it's not half-size) has a higher gain of 400mW and should give better range (Indoor Range (Antenna Dependent): Up to 300m, Outdoor Range (Antenna Dependent): over 50km.)
Bigfoot Killer Wireless-N 1102/1103 are also known to be a step up in that regard from Intel wifi cards.
Both lack bluetooth though.

And considering the Ralink wifi cards I'm referring to something you said (though more typically meant for 3 stream clients) in the Closing Thoughts of this article. Though I don't know if you meant exactly the same chipset or that another similar chipset from the same manufacturer will suffice.

Closing Thoughts

I said right in the article tease that these tests produced pretty disappointing results, especially in light of the optimistic view the combination of TRENDnet TEW-691GR and TEW-687GA previously produced. I think, however, there's a clue to the reason why in those very results: the TEW-691GR and TEW-687GA both use the same chipset.

In the early "draft" days of 802.11n, the technology was developing so quickly that for best results, you had to match clients and AP / routers using the same manufacturer's chipsets for best performance. As 11n matured with successive chipset generations and driver tunings, this recommendation became less important. It also became less practical given the number of chipset manufacturers and the fact that some (I'm looking at you, Intel) produced only client products.

It seems like we're back in that mode with three-stream N. The technology behind dual-stream 802.11n is hellaciously complex. And I'm told that moving from two to three streams isn't just a matter of adding another antenna and transmit / receive chain. The math behind optimally handling that third stream is exponentially more difficult. So it appears that the cake once again ain't fully baked. And you, dear consumer, may get a bellyache if you choose to partake.

I'm surprised, however, that the results are so bad with Intel's client. Intel was one of the first to support client-side three stream N in its 5300 chipset, even before there were three-stream N AP's on the market! So it's not like Broadcom and Ralink (and Qualcomm/Atheros, who isn't represented in this roundup) haven't had time to test their products with Intel clients.

The three stream Ralink RT3593 also has the same "Transmission Beam Forming" technique as the D-link DIR-645 router so that seems to me quite a positive point.

 

[StratmanX]

How do you know there are only two antenna inside the notebook? Just because your current NIC adapter is a two antenna model does not mean there isn't a third antenna inside but not used.

My Dell Vostro has three antennas despite Dell not selling a 3x3 NIC adapter for that notebook. Some were told by tech support. Others opened the notebook up to make sure and indeed found three antenna.

Yes, it may be possible to add a third antenna.

I searched on the internet for discussions about how many antennae are in your notebook, but was unable to find anything definitive. No doubt others have thought about replacing with a 3x3 NIC adapter, and maybe some already have. Maybe there's something in the Asus forum.

 

[Morgan]

Hello Stratman,

When I opened my notebook at the bottom to see my wifi mini-pci-e card I only saw 2 wires connected to it and no other antenna wires. But that's not a big problem as I still have an extra antenna like this one to use as third if necessary.

 

[StratmanX]

Don't know how much latitude you have in antenna placement inside your notebook, but a recent article on SmallNetBuilder talked about interference and antenna placement.