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Upgrading a XPS Gen2 to wireless-N?

post #1 of 13
1/3/08 at 8:46am
Thread Starter 
Hi

I have a XPS Gen2 which has a internal 54Mbit wireless card. Does anyone know if I can upgrade that internal card to draft-N or do I have to buy a PC-CARD to be able to get faster wireless?

Regards
Tobbe
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post #2 of 13
1/3/08 at 12:51pm
My guess is you'll have to get a PC Card for any newer Wi-Fi standards. The only draft N internal cards coming out are Mini PCI Express.
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post #3 of 13
1/3/08 at 4:25pm
Thread Starter 
Ok, thanks for the information. Well, if I decide to upgrade I'll get a PC-CARD.

Thanks again
Tobbe
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post #4 of 13
1/4/08 at 3:27am
http://www.gigabyte.com.tw/Products/...Wi-Fi+Mini+PCI

There are both PCI, PCI-express, miniPCI, and miniPCIExpress 11n flavors. It's not like even 11n comes close to outstripping PCI bus speeds.
(133 MByte/s bus speed) vs. ~38 MByte/s 11n signalling speed maximum - probably half that in actual throughput.

Don't get me wrong... the spatial multiplexing of 11n is great and range should be improved....
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post #5 of 13
1/4/08 at 9:17am
A friend of mine actually bought this one: Gigabyte GN-WI30N-RH

It works really well, and can be purchased from this place, which is where he got his from: http://aztekcomputers.com/detail.php...TE/GN-WI30N-RH
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post #6 of 13
1/4/08 at 11:29am
Thread Starter 
Will that Gigabyte GN-WI30N-RH work with the antenna for the old intel 2200bg card or will I have to change the antenna as well?

Is it hard to replace the old one?

/Tobbe
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post #7 of 13
1/4/08 at 12:03pm
You shouldn't NEED to change the antenna, the physical connections are the same, but the Wireless-N card has 3 connectors instead of two.

If you wanted to, you could replace the antenna, which would require you to remove the back of the LCD screen (the cover that has the "XPS" logos on it) if you could find a 3-wire antenna. The 3rd antenna *I THINK* is for extra range, but I could be wrong on that.

My friend didn't replace the antenna, and he's noticed no ill side-effects, so it shouldn't be too big of a problem.
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post #8 of 13
1/4/08 at 12:10pm
Thread Starter 
Ok, sounds great...

One more question regarding the antenna, is it obvious which two of the three connectors on the N-card to hook up the old antenna to or doesnt it matter which ones I choose?

/Tobbe
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post #9 of 13
1/4/08 at 12:14pm
It honestly doesn't matter, but would recommend using the two side connections. As far as which one (black or white) goes where, I don't think that matters either.
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post #10 of 13
1/25/08 at 8:40am
Thread Starter 
I just wanted to give an update.

I bought the recommended Gigabyte GN-WI30N-RH card and plugged it into my XPS Gen2. I hooked up the two antenna cables to the outer connectors on the card. At the same time I bought a D-Link DIR-655 router.

Result:

100% signal strength everywhere in my house

About 6.8MB/sec wireless transfer rate from my desktop to the XPS (compared to 800kb/sec with my old 2200bg card and Dell 2350 router)

I'm very pleased with the result.

/Tobbe
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post #11 of 13
4/8/08 at 10:38am
Great to see this worked. I also have an XPS GEN2 and would like to upgrade to wireless N. I connect to the net at 54Mbps now. What should I expect to connect at with the above card and new wireless-N router? Or are there any other options available now for the XPS GEN2?
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post #12 of 13
4/14/08 at 11:48am
Bump. Is there a significant difference in connection rates with the wireless-N and do I have any options to upgrade my XPS GEN2?
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post #13 of 13
4/24/08 at 12:46am
Also interested to know the answer to this one - I currently have the Atheros which is pretty good at 54Mbps - will this "N" business mean quicker speeds? Thanks!
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