intel dual band wireless ac 7260 vs killer wireless n 1202

hey guys,as the title suggests I would like help in choosing between the two cards wifi + bluethooth.the difference in price is 3 euros so the problem is not this.I'd like to know what is the difference in terms of:
-ping
- wifi speed
-signal stability
-everything I need to know to discern between the two cards.

thanks in advance.

 

Have you read the thread further down the page asking for almost the exact same information?

http://forum.notebookreview.com/net...7260-vs-killer-1202-wireless-card-gaming.html

 

1. I've had better experiences with non-Intel cards than Intel ones
2. If your router only supports N the choice is obvious. But if you wanna be "future proof" then get AC.
3. If you intend to Hackintosh, Intel cards are a no-go.

 

yes,of course but I haven't caugth the conclusion.I would trust on intel but many people says the opposite like @Jobine...

 

Well, it's mixed experience with Intel. The 7260 is extremely good if it works perfectly (speed, connected indefinitely, and < 10 ms MAX when pinging the router 500 times to ensure that it's not the WiFi when lagging while gaming). The same card with the same drivers just don't work for others that well. Out of the 2 intel cards I've used, one of them performs poorly (Centrino 1000) while the Dual Band 7260 N (not AC) performs perfectly. There's no harm in buying both and then compare their performance when inserted to your laptop.

 

ok but I have to configure a new laptop on a web site so I can't choose BOTH of them...

 

I'm not a fan of 7260 (which I own by the way) nor am I a fan of Intel Wi-Fi cards - most cards they made up to this point were rubbish.
Intel 7260 is problematic to say the least - there is a dedicated thread that's over 400 posts long and it's not 400 posts of pleased users.

While recent driver updates have made it better than it used to be, 7260 under windows still struggles with 2.4GHz band. It's far more stable than it used to be but performance is dreadful (I've tested it under Ubuntu and it was twice as fast as under Windows).

There's also the idea of future-proofing which (in my opinion) is wrong as far as networking is concerned- you either need high (W)LAN throughput or you don't. If you don't transfer files from your laptop to a NAS or a local server over Wi-Fi and don't plan on building such a setup, you don't need 802.11ac.
If you do need such transfers (as I do) you know that immediately - it's usually not something that comes up out of nowhere at some point.

Both these cards have their uses- Killer is more stable on both bands but Intel 7260 hands down beats it when 5GHz throughput is concerned.

 

In fact I need only to surf on the net.maybe I could change the wifi card in the future if I qould need such specific use (NAS and so on)...

but killer isn't able to connect with ac mode...

 

True, but you don't have 802.11ac router not do you need it judging by the first part of your post. Connecting to a Wi-Fi network via 802.11ac won't make browsing or downloading any faster compared to 802.11n unless you have a really fast Internet connection (at least 100mbps or whereabouts).

 

I'm referring to wifi at university that is maybe 20Mps (not more,I don't think there's optical fibre at Federico II in Naples)...

 

20mbps is within the scope of what 802.11g could do (although barely), let alone 802.11n. That shouldn't be a factor.

Don't get me wrong I'm not very displeased with 7260 myself. It's not a good card but I needed it for a specific task, I spend most of the time connected to 5GHz band (that works well) and minutes before I finished my previous posts I transferred 67.2GB of data to my NAS over Wi-Fi - for me 7260 is more appropriate choice than Killer 1202. For you it seems like Killer would do better since you couldn't possibly have any benefits of 802.11ac but you would suffer all the drawbacks of 7260 - especially if you plan on using Wi-Fi at the university where (I assume) you can't replace the router yourself.

 

ok but I've read that the atheros killer wirelles were included in the 10 most epic fail of the last 10 years of the world of computer hardware, from tom's hardware...

P.S. Can I change the wifi card of the laptop in a second moment even if I would buy the killer?

P.P.S.But have you ever tried the killer wifi card?

ok but WHERE I could buy laptop component from Italy?I have no idea...

 

Tom's Hardware is obviously right, I've been banging on about this ever since AnandTech released that ridiculous review of Killer cards that got everyone so excited.
What those cards could do was prioritize traffic on your computer - UDP packets over TCP packets basically. I was quite surprised that people bought this and continued running around saying that there are benefits to gaming because of this. Sure if you are a person who downloads huge files in the background while playing BF at the same time, there are benefits of Killer cards, otherwise there are none.

Still it's not an epic failure of hardware- more of an epic failure by users who bought ridiculously overpriced cards. I personally wouldn't buy Killer cards because of the price-tag but since we were comparing 7260 with 1102 and price difference is negligent, I don't think that matters.

As for upgrading - of course you can change a card, how easy or hard it is depends on a notebook. If there is a service hatch available it's like adding RAM- will take minutes to complete, if we're talking about an ultrabook, that might require some disassembly and be harder to do.

 

Are you talking about this?

You are giving me so much useful information...
Thanks!

Also this kind of fail exists...

I'm going to buy a Schenker a504.It's easy enough to open in the back part...

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Anyway Killer card is convincing me less an less...

 

I meant this review made by AnandTech.

If it's easy to open the notebook than you can easily upgrade the card whenever you feel like it.

It's your choice as to the card- I'm not invested either way. As you can see I'm not a big fan of Killer's antics but I admit that Atheros cards these are based on are good (these were actually Atheros reference designs even before Quallcom Atheros bought Killer Networks).

On the other hand I own 7260 which has its share of issues (especially for those unfortunate enough to be stuck on 2.4GHz band) but I'd buy it again as I'm using its high throughput on daily basis.

 

Anyway Intel is Intel...isn't it?

About Schenker a504 the choice is between these wifi card

Intel Centrino Wireless - n2230
Intel Centrino Wireless - n135
Intel Centrino Advanced - n6235
Intel Dual Band Wireless - ac7620
Qualcomm Atheros Killer Wireless - n1202

(The price is almost the same...)

 

Err. This list doesn't matter. First two cards are out of the question anyway, 6235 is only a slightly improved 6230 which had throughput issues that Intel failed to address- so not this one either and we're back to square one.

 

I'm convincing about Intel because of good support they offer...I don't think Dell is used to give so good support to users like Intel does...
please correct me if I'm wrong.

 

Intel do provide driver updates quite often, but even more often than not these drivers do not solve any issues - 7260 seems to have gotten pretty stable after at least 5 updates (although performance really sucks on 2.4GHz band) and Intel 6230 never got a driver that would solve its issues completely.

Intel usually claim that they can't recreate the issue or blame improper design done by notebook's manufacturer. Honestly I wouldn't call their support good but Atheros has its drawback too- they release terrible drivers whenever new OS is launched. Win 7 hot the market and they provided complete crap, the same thing happened after Win 8 hit the shelves. In time they get it and most driver releases by Atheros are good.

 

what a mess...

 

My 2 cents:

The Killer wireless cards I've used performed very well with the routers I've paired them with>1103 with 3rd antenna and 1102.

The 1103 paired with a Netgear WNDR4500 and R6300 was a solid 450Mbps on 5ghz and the 1102 was at 300Mbps most of the time on both bands.

The AC-7260 is AC tech that's designed for 5ghz.If you are "not" going to use the 5ghz band almost exclusively paired with a quality AC router and do a lot of wireless file transfers across your home network then the Killer cards may better serve your purpose.

As downloads pointed out AC and N will show no noticeable difference surfing and downloading on your Internet connection.Downloading is mostly about the quality of your service and the site you are connected to.

My 1103 is in an old netbook and has almost identical speedtest score as my AC-7260 in an MSI GT780DX

Be aware that Qualcomm Atheros is now using generic Atheros drivers for Killer cards.

The Killer 1202 may be the last of the Bigfoot Killer Wireless line?

My AC-7260 performs exceptionally well on 5ghz after careful driver testing/selection and system tweaking but all cards are not created equal.

Good home networking is not plug n play.

 

oh it's true...I've had some problems with adsl filters and I solved trying different filter s and splitters...
anyway following your advices I think Killer is a better choice for me...
but what are you specifically talking about drivers of killer?

 

Bigfoot Networks the original owner of Killer cards sold out to Qualcomm and was added to the Atheros division.

There was a development team that worked on just Killer hardware and software.

That team is gone and all development is with Atheros including drivers.

The same drivers released for Atheros wireless cards are now released for Killer cards

The Killer 1103/1102/1202 driver release v2. 1.1.38.1281 has the Network Manager but the driver part as viewed in Device Manager
is the generic Atheros v10.0.0.274

The Bluetooth drivers are also generic Atheros.

Release notes for Killer driver v2 1.1.38.1281
Changes:
Now using base Atheros WiFi drivers for Killer releases
Updated Atheros WiFi drivers and Bluetooth Suite
Wifi 10.0.0.274
Bluetooth 8.0.1.312
Localization reworked and redone via new
translation house
Added Access Point tracker

 

I have killer 1202 on my Clevo P170SM. Wireless performance/range is very good (5Ghz Band). BTW I don't use Killer network suite, I'm using generic Atheros driver.

 

so what are the good driver I have to install?can you link me?I'm newbie enough...

these?
version 1.1.38.1281

 

For bullet proof(almost) stability, I would suggest the old 6xxx. The killer/atheros have nice performance but the lacking driver turn me away. No way to force 5ghz band is the deal breaker for me.

 

where can I find them?

 

I'm on a 4 year old LG netbook thakt has a Killer 1103 installed with a 3rd antenna added.

I have the newest generic Atheros driver installed v10.0.0.285

Below are screenshots of the 1103 on 5ghz while connected to a router able to connect at 450Mbps and a screenshot on 2.4ghz connected to a 300 Mbps router.

The Atheros driveris the one I recommend
Qualcomm/Atheros AR5xxx/9xxx Version 10.0.0.285

 

but how can you switch from 300 to 450 Mbps?It's automatic?

Another question:Is it preferable to choice a trusted brand as Intel or a not so trusted like Atheros?Much people support the thesis Intel is always Intel...maybe they could be right...

 

Atheros is a far more established brand than Intel will ever be when we talk comes to wireless cards. The fact that people think something doesn't make it real or true - let's not try to get into general public's head. Most people aren't very competent when it comes to networking issues so I don't see a reason to even consider their opinions.

And Intel is indeed Intel - they did manufacture SSDs that lost capacity (and your data) and ended up displaying is 8MB, they did produce a dreadful series of chipsets HM/PM55 that were basically unable to work properly with SSDs (offering reduced performance especially with 4K) and they did manufacture a magnificent 6230 - card so bad that they still haven't made it work properly (not that they really tried). That's just lat 4 years or so...

Make your purchase decisions regarding the particular hardware in question not some other people's general opinion on a given brand or manufacturer.

 

If you read the info in my post it says
"5ghz while connected to a router able to connect at 450Mbps"
"2.4ghz connected to a 300 Mbps router"

I used 2 different routers for my 1103 Atheros 10.0.0.285 driver test.

BTW,the Linksys E4200 dual band N router has a max throughput of 450Mbps on the 5GHz band, but the E4200 only reaches speeds of 300Mbps on the 2.4 GHz band

 

station-driver got 10.0.0.287 now

 

yes they do
http://forum.notebookreview.com/networking-wireless/750057-place-find-1202-drivers.html#post9643656