ASUS Brings Wi-Fi 6 to Desktops with PCE-AX3000 Card
by Anton Shilov on November 19, 2019 3:00 PM EST- Posted in
- Networking
- Asus
- Wi-Fi
- Wi-Fi 6
ASUS has introduced one of the industry’s first Wi-Fi 6 cards for desktops. The ASUS PCE-AX3000 dual band PCIe 3.0 x1 adapter promises to provide up to 2.4 Gbps data transfer rates over 160 MHz channels when used with an appropriate router.
The ASUS PCE-AX3000 card is essentially an adapter carrying an M.2-2230 Wi-Fi 6 card for laptops. The actual radio that powers the card is unknown, however it supports all key features of the Wi-Fi 6 specification, including 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz bands, 80 MHz and 160 MHz channels, MU-MIMO, OFDMA (Orthogonal Frequency-Division Multiple Access) for allowing different devices to be served by one channel, and WPA3. Besides Wi-Fi 6, the card also supports Bluetooth 5.0 technology allowing desktops to connect to various mobile and peripheral devices.
The PCE-AX3000 Dual Band PCI-E Wi-Fi 6 has two large antennas to ensure strong signal and fast connectivity in various situations. The adapter should be compatible with all existing desktops that use Windows 10 (64-bit) or Linux.
UPDATE 11/20: The card appears to be based on Intel's AX200 Wi-Fi 6 solution CNVi solution and therefore requires an appropriate Intel platform.
Numerous modern laptops feature Wi-Fi 6, providing higher performance in crowded networks, but not everything is that rosy with desktops as Wi-Fi 6 adapters for desktops are practically nonexistent. Luckily, with products like the ASUS PCE-AX3000, 2.4 Gbps connectivity will now be available for desktop computers too.
Related Reading:
- Wi-Fi 6 Is Officially Here: Certification Program Begins
- Qualcomm Updates Wi-Fi 6 Lineup: Networking Pro Series for APs and FastConnect for Clients
- Intel Launches Wi-Fi 6 AX200 Wireless Network Adapter
- TP-Link Announces Archer AX6000 and AX11000 Wi-Fi 6 (802.11ax) Routers
Source: ASUS (via Hermitage Akihabara)
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23 Comments
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Qasar - Tuesday, November 19, 2019 - link
close, you have any proof of these claims ??close - Thursday, November 21, 2019 - link
Read the articles. Read the complaints in the comment sections (not just mine). None of them are ever addressed or they're always chalked up to some "one time random error".sorten - Tuesday, November 19, 2019 - link
I bought a WiFi5 + BT5 expansion card for my 7 year old computer back in the spring, and it has almost been life changing. Best $40 I've spent in a while.Golgatha777 - Wednesday, November 20, 2019 - link
Thinking a little outside the box, but if you have a box you don't mind keeping on that has a 2230 PCIe slot, you could setup a wireless Wi Fi 6 hotspot by sharing your wired connection.Alistair - Tuesday, November 19, 2019 - link
I'm just glad to see a new product. All the USB and even PCIe add in cards at the store are so old they have old outdated drivers and are buggy. This being new, hopefully the wifi stability and performance will be much improved.PeachNCream - Tuesday, November 19, 2019 - link
It is somewhat interesting how desktop PCs are an afterthought that get toss together solutions like a mobile NIC on an adapter card these days. Granted, wireless on a desktop PC is a lot less of a consideration than on a laptop, but CPU development favors mobile first as well. It just seems like desktops are getting the table scraps in a lot of ways besides graphics adapters and a few premium interface devices like keyboards and mice.DanNeely - Wednesday, November 20, 2019 - link
it's done this way for the same reason that many laptops use an m.2 card instead of integrating the wifi directly. The PCB with the radios on it has to undergo expensive FCC certification; someone who sells a device with a wifi card installed doesn't have to do any additional testing.Hyper72 - Tuesday, November 19, 2019 - link
Those are some giant antennas, I wonder whats really inside what with the wavelength of 5GHz being ~5cm.Death666Angel - Wednesday, November 20, 2019 - link
That's the normal desktop / rouiter antenna design. What tinfoil hat are you wearing today? A nice one I hope. :)brookheather - Wednesday, November 20, 2019 - link
"The actual radio that powers the card is unknown" - it is an Intel AX200 card - if you go to the ASUS support page for this adapter they have a download for the Intel driver. The driver is a slightly older one - version 21.40.2.2 instead of the current Intel 21.50.1 version.