Ar9380

Is this a good wifi card? What is Beamforming? Can anything take advantage of it @ the moment? how would this compare to the Intel 6300? and finally is it even out yet?

 

You most likely already have this card- which is probably what you're suspecting. The whole Bigfoot thing is just a re-badged Atheros and for all I know Atheros has only one 3x3 radio chip.

One thing that doesn't match completely is that a card seen in Atheros brochure is slightly different than a Bigfoot one- almost the same but not quite.
Bigfoot card has Atheros written on it which suggests it's just a reference design and reference design should be identical to Atheros brochure although that can be explained too.

Can't say anything about performance though- haven't seen it in the wild yet.

 

I am talking about the Bigfoot card. I have purchased an 1103, but I was told it was a re-badged Atheros chip. I have only really ever owned Intel chips so I don't know anything about these @ all. The reason I suspect that it is a re branded AR9380 is because 99% of the specs fit the Bigfoot card. The only difference I have seen between the AR9380 and the 1103 is Maximal Ratio Combining, but everything else is identical.

EDIT* the Bigfoot card actually does use MRC. If it is indeed a re brand then it is most definitely an AR9380. They are 100% identical specification wise, even the new Imac has them in it.(different form factor full mini PCI-e vs Half Mini.)

 

I've been following the 93xx for awhile, they were delayed a bit and are a pain to find.

So far I've only found world-roam cards (100% suck for linux) special orders (don't need 100 units) and apple part sellers (full height)

It looks like this will be the first half height 3x3 version for those of us that like to have fun with access points. I only hope the country code is set to something sane, I wonder if I can get one of the early orders to boot up a live cd and check.

 

There are ways of changing the country code; for instance, do a google search for "rcu.exe tamosoft", and you will eventually find a utility that facilitates this.

 

I can bet that Dell will be offering more of Atheros/Atheros rebrands for their Alienware line and maybe their XPS Line. I saw an Alienware M17x-R3 testing out a new chipset by Qualcomm (they own Atheros) and Wilocity that's pretty much a tri-band chip with bluetooth 4.0, Wifi @ 450mbps and a 60 ghz band for Wireless HD. They call it the Atheros AR9004tb and it should be coming out late 2011/early 2012. Don't know what/if BigFoot will rebrand that chipset.

 

That sounds like an amazing chip Ichime. Why is there so much hate for Atheros chips? Is Intel really that much better?

 

Alright so I got my 1103 yesterday and installed it. On the current router I am on which is this

http://kbserver.netgear.com/datasheets/WNR834B_DS_31May07.pdf

I used to connect to it with my Intel 6300 @ 270 MBPS. With the AR9380 based Bigfoot Killer Wireless 1103 I am connected @ 405 MBPS. How is that possible? BTW this Killer card absolutely has decimated the 6300 in game and streaming.



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It's not possible- not with this router. Probably a driver glitch that reflects on windows somehow. Good to hear that it's fast though.

 

I was waiting for your response! Must be a glitch is there any other way to confirm this?

 

Hard to tell. Your best chance is to find more recent drivers.
That said it must be an error- both Netgear specs and calendar confirms this (first router ever to sport 3T3R radio was D-Link DIR-665 that had been launched in June 2010 while Netgear WNR834B both v1 & v2 hit the market in 2008).

I'm glad to see Atheros on top of the game again. I'm tired of people who consider Intel to be the best especially since Intel produced a whooping 3 good wireless cards and countless useless ones up to this point.

 

I figured as much, I have the most up to date drivers sadly. Atheros has definitely taken over the 6300 really does pale in comparison to this card and its software.