G73jh - any benefit in upgrading the wireless card?

My G73jh is currently away getting a thermal repaste (GPU temps were insanely high) and ive been asked if i wanted to upgrade the wireless card while its there.

To my understanding, as the G73 only has 2 antennas, there would be no real benefit to upgrading the wireless card beyond the stock card (i think atheros?).

Am i wrong? Has anyone seen any noticable improvement from upgrading the wireless card? (My connection sometimes drops, but i think thats more to do with the wireless router than anything).

 

Honestly, I've been using the 6200 for about 2 weeks and the difference is really minor as far as I've seen. The biggest difference I've seen is my latency is drastically lower in DPC Latency Checker but as far as wifi goes, it's about the same. The indicator is more sensitive and shows how strong your signal is more effectively but really it's pretty much the same.

 

Thanks for the input. I guess the 2 antennas really limits upgrade-ability in this unit.

 

Did you find the 6200 improved your range at all?

 

Well IMO its worth it if you can run it on the 5ghz band. And yes, my range seemed to increase slightly.

 

A little bit but not really anything majorly significant on my end. I'm fairly far from my router and my Atheros had trouble staying connected often, the Intel card seems a little more solid but I still have some trouble every now and then. Overall I find it to be a minor improvement.

 

Considering the small price you pay to have it upgraded (or upgrade it yourself) id say its worth it. Never used the Atheros though, so i cant compare, but the Intel 6200 has always worked perfectly in mine.

 

I actually saw a huuuuuge difference in performance by ditching the Atheros and upgrading to the 6200. . . every time someone went to use the microwave and I was anywhere near it I would be removed from the network until it [the microwave] shut off.

So it may not improve your range any, but I can definitely say it's a recommended upgrade from an avoid interference standpoint. It *IS* a notebook after all, and you never know where you might end up with it

 

The main advantage of the intel 6200 is that you get 5ghz like others have said. I also get interferience on 2.4 ghz. My microwave and my baby monitor both block my 2.4 ghz wifi signal. So if I want to use either of those AND the internet, I have to be on 5ghz. So I bought a 6200 to replace the Atheros. If 2.4 ghz works for you then I'd just stay with what you have.

 

The 6200 will give you 5GHz support plus a max transfer rate of 300mbit vs 150mbit. So yes, you do get something for your $21.

 

Where can I purchase the wireless card upgrade???

 

I had the atheros and upgraded a couple of weeks ago to the N6200.

Range is better, stability is better and all of the stuff above the others said is true.

Keep in mind that if the upgrade is being done by a pro, you might be able to have them install a third antenna and the N6300 or similar. Someone in this forum posted about having done that though I think he installed his antenna himself.

 

I bought my Intel 6200 card from Amazon for about $22. It was an easy install on my Acer (don't know about Asus but I've heard it's a snap).

I agree with others about range, interference filtering and stability of the 6200. Also, it's a dual-band card and you can get great speeds if you have the right router. Additionally, the Intel PROSet software comes with "MyWifi" if you want to set up a SoftAP to connect other devices for printing or ICS.

Also, if you ever use Linux, the Intel cards are trouble-free. All the others have "issues" of some kind or another with Linux.

 

I got mine from Provantage.com

 

Thanks Chastity! Just put in my order at Provantage! I heard alot of fake models of these cards are floating around everywhere.

 

Same for me. BTW, they didn't accept visa from European orders. Luckily had my brother travelling from the US so he ordered and brought it to me.

 

There seems to be a rash of them on ebay unfortunately. Funny part is that provantage isn't any more expensive, and is an authorized reseller, so you know the parts are legit.

 

In addition if you plan to run Linux the 6200 is much better supported.

 

Provantage is a really nice site. They ship fast and prices are great. They get a thumbs up from me.

 

I also got a engineering sample (or fake) on ebay. Fortunately the seller returned my money. Now I have one on order from a poster on this site named BabyHemi. He lives in the same town as me so I am meeting him. He sells the 6200 for $28 shipped. An excellent price. Apparently he has many happy customers here.

http://forum.notebookreview.com/com...-advanced-n-6200-advanced-wireless-cards.html

 

Sometimes I'm near the router and my signal is horrible.... is it due to the wireless card?

 

Maybe interference, I have a baby monitor that kills my 2.4ghz wifi signal, thats why I bought a 300 mbps 5ghz router ($60 on craigslist for a $150 router, that's a better deal than my G73! Now if someone will just buy my WNDR3300 $40 anyone?).

 

+1 for BabyHemi. I've purchased items from him including the 6300N and all have been shipped promptly and in perfect working order.

Cheers,

 

Hi guys,

My G73 is back from getting a repaste and temps are good (maxes out at 85C).

HOWEVER, the intel 6200 wireless card i had installed (from advice taken from this thread) cannot connect at higher than 150Mbs. I have upgraded the driver to the latest version (13.3.0.24), have set the channel width for bon 2.4 and 5.2 bands to auto, have AES enabled but cannot connect at higher than 150Mbs.

I have a Belkin N wireless router, if that helps..

 

You need WMM enabled plus WPA2-AES to get N speeds above 150 on the router.