Killer AX1650 Info And Review

There's a very thick concrete wall in between.

 

Not everyone’s test environment is the same, a lot of things can impact range/performance. (Routers and their locations, to build materials, to other electronics near AP)

My house for example is mostly wood/drywall interior so even with the router in the top floor (2nd floor) I can get excellent speeds and signal even in the basement.

Similarly a family friend with granite flooring and concrete walls gets massive signal attenuation especially on 5Ghz with much lower speeds. 5Ghz is more sensitive to obstructions than 2.4 GHz in general.

 

Ah,Important information left out of post.

When I resided in the land of the morning calm all residential construction was reinforced concrete,no wood or sheet rock..

The ROK had great and cheap Internet service with most newly constructed high rise apartment buildings having central wiring(no modem needed) just R45 jack wall outlet.

In the room with the router I could get -10dbm and with concrete walls between I'd still get -20s.This was more than 5 years ago.

We pay a lot and get little in return here.

 

got our 2 intel ax200 in today installation was a straight swap and driver update, currently testing bandwidth.

also gonna check and see if there are any differences between the two chips haha wifi adapter binning anyone?

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Here'a a link to my Mediafire account file for Intel WiFi driver 21.20.0.1 if anyone wants to try it.

The files were part of a Windows 10 Insider Preview build 18898

I've been using it since it came out.

There's no setup exe file so you'll need to update through device manager/update driver and point the installation to the unzipped folder.

http://www.mediafire.com/file/hnse5xtx3kp0ude/21.20.0.1.zip/file

 

any differences in performance based on the new drivers?

ok, so my first conclusions so far:

unfortunately, my router (linksys EA8100) doesnt support 160 Mhz channels, so im stuck at 80 Mhz ac and thus 867 Mbps max throughput. sitting right next to the router my previous 7265ac was getting around 450-460 Mbps whereas the AX200 sits at around 500-510 Mbps (tested via speedtest.net). so only a difference of around 9-13%.

however, sitting at my desk in the office, which is abouuut.... 10-12 meters down the hall from the living room with the router and through the wall the throughput has massively improved by about 40-45%. previously with my 7265 i was getting around 240-250 Mbit, now with the AX200 that rose to 350-360 Mbit, me likes

still, after this im considering getting a powerline adapter set to finally get that gigabit throughput to my laptop!

 

For me the biggest boost came when Rivet Networks(killernetworking)released driver version 21.10.1.2 on May 7th.

The driver versions that I've used that are more recent have stabilized fluctuations a bit with each new release but nothing to shout about.

The WiFi 6 router is the big improvement dealing with range to my devices furthest from the router in the far end of my one level townhouse.Not a lot but enough to notice.

 

btw guys, powerline adapters are NOT a direct replacement for direct ethernet connection! i got myself a set of adapters advertized for "up to 2000 Mbps" and also got two Cat7 ethernet cables to be on the safe side (rated up to 10Gbps) and the results were VERY disappointing to say the least....

throughput of 120 Mbps returning these and sticking to wifi via the AX200, that at least nets me 350 Mbit of my 1Gbps connection

 

Anyone know where to get one for UK users, I have had a look on amazon https://www.amazon.co.uk/Killer-Wi-...reless+AX1650&qid=1559250875&s=gateway&sr=8-1

However its list as Killer Networking but it shown as the seller being nimo.store.

 

fleabay

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Found one in Germany but it was like £40+. It was Clevo something or other.


Right Ordered one from Ebay! have to wait now 2 weeks but heyho.

Sent from my LLD-L31 using Tapatalk

 

Will this work on an i7-8750H, was going to order this from the US. I have the GS65 8SE.

Sent from my BLA-L09 using Tapatalk

 

Yes, it doesn’t matter what CPU you have, the AX1650 is a an Intel AX200 which is a full fledged WiFi card (RF+WiFi Chipset).

It’s not a 2 part solution like the Intel AX201 cnvio card which is just the RF portion and relies on a compatible latest gen CPU for the WiFi chipset.

 

Windows Insider Preview build 18898 Pro x64 installed Intel Wireless driver version 21.10.2.2

 

Mine arrived today, having latency issues like the last Intel Wireless AC card i had what driver should i be running as i am currently using 21.10.1.2

Is anyone getting latency issues on 5Ghz? reason i ask is because my Killer 1535 was getting a solid range of 35-50ms with SQM but with the Killer AX 1650 i am getting 100-200ms latency unless i go to 2.4Ghz and even then its 35-200ms. I am currently stumped.

Decided to try the old Intel fixes i used to use for this issue and even that doesn't fix it.

Code:

ScanDisableOnLowTraffic 1

Code:

ScanWhenAssociated 0

Then i rebooted, had no more issues with latency spikes for about 5 minutes then the latency issue came back.

@Killer_Networking I have sent you an E-mail about this issue.

Code:

Pinging google.co.uk [172.217.169.67] with 32 bytes of data:
Reply from 172.217.169.67: bytes=32 time=24ms TTL=53
Reply from 172.217.169.67: bytes=32 time=24ms TTL=53
Reply from 172.217.169.67: bytes=32 time=23ms TTL=53
Reply from 172.217.169.67: bytes=32 time=24ms TTL=53
Reply from 172.217.169.67: bytes=32 time=23ms TTL=53
Reply from 172.217.169.67: bytes=32 time=24ms TTL=53
Reply from 172.217.169.67: bytes=32 time=24ms TTL=53
Reply from 172.217.169.67: bytes=32 time=24ms TTL=53
Reply from 172.217.169.67: bytes=32 time=25ms TTL=53
Reply from 172.217.169.67: bytes=32 time=24ms TTL=53
Reply from 172.217.169.67: bytes=32 time=24ms TTL=53
Reply from 172.217.169.67: bytes=32 time=25ms TTL=53
Reply from 172.217.169.67: bytes=32 time=23ms TTL=53
Reply from 172.217.169.67: bytes=32 time=25ms TTL=53
Reply from 172.217.169.67: bytes=32 time=25ms TTL=53
Reply from 172.217.169.67: bytes=32 time=27ms TTL=53
Reply from 172.217.169.67: bytes=32 time=31ms TTL=53
Reply from 172.217.169.67: bytes=32 time=28ms TTL=53
Reply from 172.217.169.67: bytes=32 time=24ms TTL=53
Reply from 172.217.169.67: bytes=32 time=24ms TTL=53
Reply from 172.217.169.67: bytes=32 time=24ms TTL=53
Reply from 172.217.169.67: bytes=32 time=24ms TTL=53
Reply from 172.217.169.67: bytes=32 time=24ms TTL=53
Reply from 172.217.169.67: bytes=32 time=24ms TTL=53
Reply from 172.217.169.67: bytes=32 time=24ms TTL=53
Reply from 172.217.169.67: bytes=32 time=24ms TTL=53
Reply from 172.217.169.67: bytes=32 time=24ms TTL=53
Reply from 172.217.169.67: bytes=32 time=24ms TTL=53
Reply from 172.217.169.67: bytes=32 time=24ms TTL=53
Reply from 172.217.169.67: bytes=32 time=24ms TTL=53
Reply from 172.217.169.67: bytes=32 time=24ms TTL=53
Reply from 172.217.169.67: bytes=32 time=25ms TTL=53
Reply from 172.217.169.67: bytes=32 time=24ms TTL=53
Reply from 172.217.169.67: bytes=32 time=24ms TTL=53
Reply from 172.217.169.67: bytes=32 time=124ms TTL=53
Reply from 172.217.169.67: bytes=32 time=61ms TTL=53
Reply from 172.217.169.67: bytes=32 time=78ms TTL=53
Reply from 172.217.169.67: bytes=32 time=66ms TTL=53
Reply from 172.217.169.67: bytes=32 time=24ms TTL=53
Reply from 172.217.169.67: bytes=32 time=24ms TTL=53
Reply from 172.217.169.67: bytes=32 time=38ms TTL=53
Reply from 172.217.169.67: bytes=32 time=43ms TTL=53
Reply from 172.217.169.67: bytes=32 time=60ms TTL=53
Reply from 172.217.169.67: bytes=32 time=71ms TTL=53
Reply from 172.217.169.67: bytes=32 time=63ms TTL=53
Reply from 172.217.169.67: bytes=32 time=72ms TTL=53
Reply from 172.217.169.67: bytes=32 time=24ms TTL=53
Reply from 172.217.169.67: bytes=32 time=24ms TTL=53
Reply from 172.217.169.67: bytes=32 time=38ms TTL=53
Reply from 172.217.169.67: bytes=32 time=43ms TTL=53
Reply from 172.217.169.67: bytes=32 time=62ms TTL=53
Reply from 172.217.169.67: bytes=32 time=82ms TTL=53
Reply from 172.217.169.67: bytes=32 time=77ms TTL=53
Reply from 172.217.169.67: bytes=32 time=24ms TTL=53
Reply from 172.217.169.67: bytes=32 time=33ms TTL=53
Reply from 172.217.169.67: bytes=32 time=52ms TTL=53
Reply from 172.217.169.67: bytes=32 time=76ms TTL=53
Ping statistics for 172.217.169.67:
    Packets: Sent = 57, Received = 57, Lost = 0 (0% loss),
Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:
    Minimum = 23ms, Maximum = 124ms, Average = 36ms
Control-C
^C

2.4Ghz range is perfectly fine, only 5Ghz is having this issue and its on the same channel i used on the Killer 1535.

 

Stranger things have happened but....

Two builds ago Windows Insider Preview update installed Intel WiFi driver 21.20.0.1 dated 04/29/2019.Yesterdays new Insider build installed Intel WiFi driver version 21.10.2.2 dated 05/13/2019.Going from a 21.20 series driver backwards to a 21.10 series driver was not expected.
Here's a link to my Mediafire account for the 21.10.2.2 driver if anyone wants to try it.

http://www.mediafire.com/file/cd2r3aqjc6c8nce/21.10.2.2.zip/file

The link to Intel WiFi driver 21.20.0.1 is in post #55

 

I'm using 5ghz channel 36
ping google.com -t
ping google.com

 

Ping to the router directly first to see the issue more clearly. Rather than adding your ISP as another variable with things like congestion etc when using actual websites. I said ping to router since this is a Wireless issue you are having not an internet issue.

I’m getting 1ms average pinging to router with the AX1650/AX200, 1000 pings to the router. Max was 2 pings at 19ms and 25ms. I believe that small spike was due to background scan. So it’s all normal for me, having tested with the RAX80/120. I also didn’t tweak any settings either for the adapter.

Disable all Killer features like stream detect, if that doesn’t help, do the following below:

Few things to try as a combination, in advanced settings for the adapter:

Try disabling packet coalescing, it Groups packets before transmission to lower number of CPU interrupts and increase throughput, but the feature can increase latency.

Try setting roaming to lowest.

Try setting BG (Background Scan) scan blocking to “Only on Good RSSI” or “Never”.

 

Hey guys,how about screenshots of pinging google dot com

 

So this is 2.4Ghz, 5Ghz and from the router which had one packet drop (as its in the evening)

I have done the above and during this test i was on top of the router with the connection being idle.
Still awaiting reply from @Killer_Networking support from my last e-mail with all the tests they asked.

However didn't have this issue with AC 1535 even though 3 walls left alone 1 wall, it seems its only with the Intel Wireless, doesn't matter which Wireless AP i connect to same issue.

Its like the AC 7260 curse all over again.

I have even dropped both ranges to 20mhz and the issue still persists. Even wiped both routers i tested with just incase, but the issue remains.

What i have noticed if i change any setting on the Wireless card, its fine for a few minutes then the issue comes back which points to drivers rather then hardware to me.

However will give Killer Networking till end of sunday then i will simply put my old card back in and send this AX 1650 back to Clevo Computers if they are willing to accept the return.

 

Right I replaced the card back to the 1535 and that the same issues till I changed the bandwidth from 160mhz to 80mhz (which is understandable with the 1535 not supporting 160mhz) so next question is there a way to go Usb to NGFF M.2 2230? That way it will safe me from swapping the cards all the time.

Sent from my LLD-L31 using Tapatalk

 

Hey guys,

Probably not the best place to ask but I figured you guys might know.

I have the AW13 R3 equipped with the AX 1650 but under linux it doesnt seem to work, I think I may need a driver but a little looking on killers site says they dont support linux.

Anything I can do or do I just go back to Windows for the 13 R3? If I must thats ok, I have the t440p that will be full blown linux but I was hoping to have this scenario going.

1. Ranger w/ Win10x64
2. 13 R3 w/Dual Boot Win10x64/Pop_OS!x64
3.T440p w/Pop_OS! w/ KDE

Something of a balance.

 

Killer can’t do anything about it, as all they really control is the Killer Suite and don’t really work on hardware or any drivers regardless of Windows or Linux.


Assuming you are on a newer kernel supporting the AX200, you need to add/create a patch to show that the AX1650 is an AX200 for the iwlwifi driver to recognize it. Or wait for it’s ID to be added in iwlwifi with newer kernels. Similar issue happened to 1550 users till they either patched or waited for newer kernels/backports with the fix. The Intel Windows drivers have those missing lines (take a close look at the inf) specifying that the AX1650 is an AX200 hence no issues using Intel drivers from the Intel’s site, which also happen to be the drivers Killer posts as well.

@TheReciever here is the information on AX1650 patch & backports installation for Debian/Ubuntu based distros:
https://support.killernetworking.com/knowledge-base/killer-ax1650-in-debian-ubuntu-16-04/

 

@TheReciever It should be baked into Kernel 5.1 what kernel version you one right now ?

 

I dont have my machine with me at the moment but I downloaded the ISO from system76 maybe 2 days ago, non LTS version. I can find out more this afternoon when I get back home.

 

Look likes Pop_OS! on the t440p is on 5.0.0.12-generic but Im not sure how to check it on vanilla Pop_OS! (the t440p is running KDE so it displays as Kubuntu to the best of my knowledge) which is formally under Gnome to my understanding.

If this will take some dialogue I can (and probably should) create another thread, thanks in advance everyone

 

Placing in my spare NVME SSD with clean install of Windows 1809 ran all the tests again and latency issue has gone so going to see if an upgrade to 1903 upsets the cart and if it does then I know what the issue is, if it doesn't then I will do a BFR.

Still feels like @Killer_Networking support has dropped me like a hot bun. Guess I am finding a big drive to back everything up again as I am running out of storage for backups.

Sent from my LLD-L31 using Tapatalk

 

Here's a link to my Mediafire account for Intel Wireless driver version 21.20.0.5 if anyone needs it or want to give it a go.

http://www.mediafire.com/file/9ufyn70yb9ryqvh/21.20.0.5.zip/file

 

Already on it now, Issue was resolved by simply nuking my OS install and starting again. Thank fully i have a system in place where everything is on a User Profile which is on another drive and only bare minimum software is installed on the OS Drive, Which ment after starting the exporting of all my Hyper-V images and grabbing all the newer drivers, i will able to nuke my OS and be up and running before the evening. Pings to my Linksys WRT 32X which channel 64 @ 160mhz is between 1ms and 2ms with google.co.uk its 23ms-25ms, so i am quite happy. The only thing that took the most time was Microsoft Updates and Windows Store updates.

So the issue was neither hardware or drivers for a change it was the OS which is not suprising to be honest.

 

I just received the AX1650 purchased from Amazon and my MSI GS75 does not recognize it, not even the bios. Looking in detail, I see that the AX1650 is M2 A / E key and the 1550 is M2 E key:



They are not compatible?

 

Mine was A/E to A/E. Although it should work with either key as they are the same slot.

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E and A/E cards are interchangeable as long as you dont sport an A/E slot (physical incompatibility with E only cards).

have u tried the 1650x in another laptop?

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I do not have another laptop .......

 

This may seem pointless but here was a recent experience with an old Dell Latitude 7440 I upgraded from the Intel 7265ac to 9260ac; it didn’t work until I reset the bios, FYI enabling disabling WiFi in bios didn’t make a difference. Apparently on some laptops WiFi card can be sometimes set to disabled when changed as was my case when I checked status in Ubuntu via command line as on GUI it simply showed as no adapter installed.

So @Pepillo try resetting the bios to defaults or worst case disconnect the main battery and CMOS battery and do a hard reset or whatever the MSI procedure for it is. I believe I actually was forced to do the latter before I got my 9260ac to work.

 

One of my AX1650 cards is in a 5 year old MSI GS60 2PL and it works without issue.

Install the newest Intel WiFi driver downloaded from the Intel website since it contains a exe file.
https://downloadcenter.intel.com/product/59485/Wireless-Networking

Without a compatible driver installed the wireless card may not be seen in device manager.

Once the driver is installed the card should show up in device manager and working when choosing your SSID and entering your password if needed.

WPA2,WPA3 or WPA2 + WPA3 should be your security setting for best performance.

The driver then can be updated with inf file driver updates like the ones supplied by Killer Networking or those I have supplied links for.

The newest is version of the wireless driver is 21.20.0.5

 

Thanks for the tip, if I try it I will post results.

 

Report back please, I am a few days away from receiving mine via Grabr (US -> AU) and would hate to have to pay the retailer 2x to swap them back and forth.

Sadly in order to conserve warranty in AU upgrades must be done by authorised MSI retailers or MSI themselves.

Mine is gs65 8se, I will be upgrading RAM, SSD and tossing in the WiFi card.

Sent from my BLA-L09 using Tapatalk

 

Along with today's Windows Insider Preview build 18917 is Intel Bluetooth driver version 21.20.0.4

I've uploaded the files needed to update the Intel BT driver to my Mediafire account to share them with my fellow forum members.

There is no exe file so they are for updating an existing Intel BT driver though device manager.

Please let me know if you have any problems using the files.

http://www.mediafire.com/file/vok1lc6q0s19bij/BT_21.20.0.4.zip/file

 

New driver 21.20.0.5
https://www.catalog.update.microsoft.com/Search.aspx?q=21.20.0.5

 

Intel AX200 wireless adapter and Dell xps 15 (9570)


I use Dell xps 15 (9570) and i did upgrade the Wi-Fi Card to Intel AX200 Wi-Fi 6 Card with the AX Standard.
I have a Fiber internet connection FTTH) 500Mbit/s Download and 200Mbit/s upload.
Calling Dell support before installing the card they assured that I could use the Card but Dell does not support it officially at least until now..

I am using a Router with the ac standard or Wi-Fi 5...

The card is slow and the connection to the internet is breaking from time to time. And the range of Signal is not that Great.
And the Speedtest is showing Download at Maximum about 300 MBit/s
When I use my IPad Pro 11 I am getting download at about 500Mbit/s

When I right click on the WiFi connection and then go to property I could see the card speed is about 390 MBit/s in the 5 GHz canal..rarely it would show 430 MBit/s .. and twice it showed for few seconds the speed of 866 MBit/s
I use the latest WiFi drive..did reset the WiFi connection in Windows 10 ..the router has the latest drive..

What can I do to resolve the problem?

 

Are you sure you connected the antennas properly and firmly?

 

Hey there,

What version of the Linux kernel do you have installed and running?
You can confirm this by running:

uname -r

According to Killer Networking, Linux support is confirmed via the iwlwifi-backports kernel branch.
I'll be able to test and confirm this when the P775TM-R arrives as my configuration had this selected at check-out (from HIDEvolution).

 

It does work, I mentioned the same a few pages back, he never replied I assume he gave up?

I installed an AX200 on an old Dell Latitude 7440 on Ubuntu 19.04, and those instructions worked, pretty much just a copy/paste job:
https://support.killernetworking.com/knowledge-base/killer-ax1650-in-debian-ubuntu-16-04/

 

Yeah gave up as I needed the laptop at the time, I havent checked the thread since it didnt say that I was quote or anything sorry about that.

Running 5.0.0-15-generic.

I tried updating to 5.1 and it broke graphics switching in Pop_OS which is more important, so I am going to install it in my Ranger as well as the t440p when I get the whitelist removed.

 

BIOS whitelists are still a thing...in 2019?

 

Yep it's still a thing.

Sent from my LLD-L31 using Tapatalk

 

To be fair the laptop is from 2013, but yes it still exists sadly lol

That and I have to install Windows to install the BIOS too, some things were a little backwards but its overall a wonderful machine.

 

i had hard time to connect the 2 wires to the Card..but finally i managed to connect it correctly i guess ..on Dell notebooks you do have also to swith the colors on an Intel card..
if the wires are not firmlly connected could this result to a slower speed? i thought if they arent connected corrected that there would be no speed at all.

i would try again to connect firmly and see what will happen...any idea how to connect it firmly? any tools to use with that?

is there a possibility that the card if defective? if so how to test that?

thank you

 

The m.2 wifi cards are a pain to connect the antennae.

I use a bottle cap or the flat end of a pry tool to get the pressure needed to get that 'click',

 

I re-connected the antennas properly and firmly and the results are great.. download speed is as it should be about 500Mbit/s and upload 200Mbit/s..and the speed of the card in the status shows 1Gb to 1.7 GBps

thank you for your tips and hints