M17x R4 Changing Wireless Card

weird

seems there is an error that there aint anything displayed...

well i got an intel 2230 which is absolut bad in performance and i wanted to buy a 6300 but my question is does the r4 got 3 antennas inside?

 

yes it does have 3 antennas inside.

 

i will swap the intel 2230 with a bigfoot killer 1103 when my r4 comes.
always hated intel cards with there pathetic performance.
and love the 1103 card in my R3.

 

okay thank you guys

 

How are the Intel cards pathetic? Since I have never tried anything else, and I have never felt my wifi was weak or crappy, I have no point of reference. What exactly would be better with a Bigfoot card? Genuinely curious.

 

bigfoot:
less ping, more responsive.
on 450 mbit wifi i get 25/28 mb/s to my nas. thats fast for wifi.
had a few intel cards with too many issues, most were driver related.

like the 2230 is maxxes on 72mbit on 450mbit router and is labled N..

just my personal opinnion of intel wifi cards. experiences may differ

just an example.
9/10 tests the bigfoot smokes a 6300 intel card.

1102 vs 6300 intel
http://www.maximumpc.com/article/fe...less-n_1102_vs_intel_centrino_ultimate-n_6300

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/killer-wireless-n-1103-wi-fi-benchmark,3164.html

 

I sit with my Router right behind me so i really dont see what performance boost a bigfoot is going to offer me. Intel 6300 is fine btw, doesnt stop me owning on BF3.

 

This test shows the difference more whether you are far or just beside the router.

Killer Wireless-N 1103 Review: Can Qualcomm Take On Centrino? : Killer Wireless: Is It Able To Usurp Intel's Centrino?

 

I had posted about this earlier. It would seem the m17x r4 has 3 antennas reguardlss if you have a two antenna card or not. I opened mine today and it had the third antenna and i have a 6250. They just keep it taped off to the side with plastic protective covering. Can you guys confirm this is with all of them and I didn't get lucky with mine having the third one already ?

One more question. I'm doing this swap.. do I need to uninstall the Intel drivers first, then install big foot, and then install the card itself ?

 

Yup they should all come with the 3 antenna's

I would uninstall the intel drivers, and then swap out the cards. Then I would finally install the killer drivers from their website Not from dells support page. The ones on dells page are old.

 

cool, thanks alot

 

while someone is in there can you check to see if your motherboard has one or two connections for the monitor. would be greatly appreciated.

 

Has 3. Vga / mini displayport and hdmi

 

sorry, what i meant was where the internal display connects to the motherboard. the r3 has two. one for the 3d screen that bypasses the igpu and one that doesnt bybass the igpu. just wondering if the motherboard has been changed so that the 3d 120hz can do optimus now, as it cant on the r3

 

Its the same it has 2 connections like the R3.

 

thats sad to hear, thanks for the info though.

 

like bigtony said thats sad to hear, but thanks for the reply. + rep

 

I've been a lurker for awhile but finally got the guts to register/post. I got a question so I'll just post it here since it's about the wireless.

I recently just ordered my first Alienware (M17x r4) and I ignored the wireless and stuck with the default Intel 2230. I'm reading all over the place that this is trash so now I really want to get the killer 1103 off ebay. If anyone could be so kind to link me to a tutorial on how to put this in, i'd really appreciate it. (I've been browsing around and still no luck finding anything detailed)

Also, will swapping the card void my warranty? I chose the 3 year accidental one. Thank you!

 

First off welcome to NBR!!

Personally I'm running the stock wireless card that was available for the m17x r3 and have never had any issues. M17x r4 is probably the same way. If your dead set on getting a new card though, snag the 1103 off ebay like you said and install it using the directions that can be found below.

1. Uninstall the stock drivers via Device Manager and shutoff and unplug the system.
2.Take the battery out and take the back cover off.
3. Unscrew the screws holding the center control cover and carefully pry it off.(don't forget to unplug the connector)
4. Unscrew the keyboard and then carefully remove it.
5. Unscrew the old intel card and replace with new card.
6. Put everything back together and install drivers from the killer site not from dell. (Dell uses older drivers).
7. Test to make sure everything is working and frag some noobs!!

Hope this was what you were looking for. The Alienware Manual Found below goes into detail on how to remove everything, but I just listed the basic stuff that needs to be removed to get to the wireless card.

Alienware M17x r4 Owner's Manual

 

Is 1103 going to offer reasonably more performance than the 6300 when connected to a weak Wi-Fi connection far away?

 

You will find your answers and more here.

Killer Wireless-N 1103 Review: Can Qualcomm Take On Centrino? : Killer Wireless: Is It Able To Usurp Intel's Centrino?

 

I should've noted that I am on a 2.4Ghz wireless connection

The Intel and Qualcomm adapters failed the Location 3 test on 2.4GHz, so the results are inconclusive for me...

 

If your happy with what you got I would just leave it be for the time being.

 

just to be sure i jacked out the BT of my R3.
if the r4 comes in with intel+BT combined i will need this dell bt card to have BT and killer 1103 in the R4

only took me a hour to gut the R3 to the bone and rebuild it

 

I think you should get something from the result. If you are connecting 60 feet or more from the router then it doesn't matter which card to use since either will have a hard time.

But why is your router so far from you though?

 

I suppose I will just leave it be then

Lol it is because I am using my neighbors internet since I am living here only for the summer.

 

I also wanted to swap out the Intel for the killer ones but I need bluetooth for my mouse and I'm under the impression that the Intel chip is a single chip for both WiFi and bluetooth... someone correct me if I'm wrong...

 

i think the r4 comes with dells bluetooth chip anyway. i looked under blue tooth on my r4 which has the intel 6250 and it said it was running blue tooth off of the dell mod "dell wireless 380 bluetooth module". anyone correct me if im wrong in saying the r4s come with dells blue tooth chip regardless?

 

my r3 has bluetooth along with killer n so i would assume the r4 would be same

 

did you add the killer card later? i think his question is.. if you add the killer later, would you still have blue tooth if you have a card like the 6250 that was it already included

 

Im adding after but if i miss Bt i have a spare dell 375 module from r3.

 

yes I added mine later. it came with the intel card.

 

@ vic and it still had the bluetooth module right?

 

yes, im using a razer orochi right now.

 

hope this helps

 

Sweet, i'll be getting the Killer card also then...

Btw, where is everyone getting their Killer 1103 cards? I got my 1102 card from ebay for my m14x and even now, I can only locate the killer wifi cards on ebay...

 

yes it has seperate BT.
also finally found out where they put the msata slot.

 

Hey I bought the 17x r4 with the Intel 2230 wireless card and plan on upgrading to the killer n1103 myself. Can you by chance either send me a screen shot or tell me which order that the antenna are attached to the card?

 

the connectors and cables are coloured white grey and black so you cant miss it.

 

Thanks, from looking at the card it didnt seem to be color coded like the wires. It actually had numbers (1,2,3) next to each of the connections points.