Intel 6200 wireless card. Huge performance different from the previous intel 4965

I just go my thinkpad W510. So far so good.

Just played around the intel PROSet from the control panel, and found out a interesting thing here about the wireless card performance. The intel 6200 in my W510 is much worse than the Intel 4965 in T61p. All the tests were done at the same power setting not only in thinkpad power manager but also in windows power setting. Of course at the same spot (on the same desk) too. Both cards are connected to the same router.

I have the intel 6200 (2 antennas) with my W510. The statistics of it shows like this

From Wireless Test

Notice that the receive packages fall around 36 Mbps.

I compared it to the previous Intel 4965 (3 antennas) from my old t61p. The intel 4965 is much better, which is working at 54 Mbps most of the time.

From Wireless Test

All the tests were done at the same power setting not only in power manager but also windows power setting. Of course at the same spot too.

Any idea that it is normal or not? I assumed the reason would be the different number of antennas. But I did not expect so much performance gap.

 

which wifi card do you use on your desktop? Intel 6200 is quite new, so it may not work well with some old cards. I think you should retry with a newer, at least draft-N compatible card, and see some differences

 

Sorry for my bad english. What I am comparing are two wireless cards on W510 and T61p. Both are laptop wireless card. One is intel 6200, another is intel 4965. Both cards are connected to the same router.

 

You're comparing their abilities based on transmission bandwidth with your desktop's wifi card, right? There's a catch here, I think your desktop's wifi card is a bottle neck, which greatly limits Intel 6200's capacities

 

The T61p is a ThinkPad laptop and therefore the Intel 4965 is a mobile wireless chipset. So is the W510 and the 6200 he is referring to.

 

ahhh, my fast-reading made a small mistake. Not desktop's wifi card, but wifi router. (Of course, I know what T61p, W510 and Intel 4965/6200 are )But I keep my original idea that his router may be too old to fully compatible with Intel 6200. Based on tested speed (54Mbps), I guess that his router is just only 802.11a/b/g, not n compatible, in other words, it's quite old. That's why I suggest him to test with a newer router, which may unleash Intel 6200's power

 

Although the router is not working on 802.11n but 802.11g standard. But I think I made a fair compare that for both cards working on the same standard 802.11g. And I think both intel 6200 and 4965 is compatible with 802.11g. They should not behave so much different.

 

you're right. But there're so many vendors that no one can ever guarantee that their products works perfectly with all others. They're compatible, yes, but the standard doesn't mean that they will always at their best.

Intel 6200 works well with your router (as you've seen), but it's not at its best now. I think you might test with a newer router (which should support 802.11n, Intel 4965 supports this standard, too), and see the differences. It's much fairer for your Intel 6200

 

You'll need a dual-band "N" router to fully utilize the power of the 6200. It will really show you the difference then.

 

up again. any fresh idea?

 

did you properly optimise the wireless driver on your laptop? like no power saving, maximum power output, roaming aggressiveness low, and use it in g mode only?

 

I did not optimise it. But I did make the setting the same on both tests.

 

raymentchen


I can confirm your issue, and hopefully I will have a resolution soon. Here are my results and configuration:

1 - Cisco/Linksys E3000 (latest FW (Ver.1.0.02 (build 4)
tech support made me)

2 - T410s Intel 6200 Advanced-n AGN (latest driver
13.​​3.​​0.​​0 tech support made me)

wireless max download 14Mbps/upload 20Mbps
wired max download 50Mbps/22 Mbps

1 - T510 Intel 6250 WiMax - Not the latest (ha ha ha)

wireless max download 15Mbps/upload 20Mbps
wired max download 50Mbps/22 Mbps

1 - T61 Intel 4965AGN - Latest driver on my own 13.3.0.0

wireless max download 15Mbps/upload 20Mbps
wired max download 50Mbps/22 Mbps


2 - iMac 20 (2009 model) Built-in AirPort Extreme (802.11n - whatever
the all powerfull Apple System Updates makes me do - recent)

wireless max download 40Mbps/upload 18Mbps
wired max download 60Mbps/20 Mbps


ISP - 50Mbps download/10Mbps package just upgraded from 16/3

I called Linksys/Cisco, waste of time. They told me to return the router.

I called Lenovo, actually they tried but still they referred me to Intel.

I called Intel and the guy blamed me and told me he had never heard of this that thousands of users would be complaining if this were the case...
well I'm special....very special. Not too many people can afford to spend over $100 a month on just internet speed most people don't know the difference between a bit and a byte...most people wouldn't notice....I do.

And to top it off he said he did NOT have an environment to test at this capacity. Well then how can you say that there isn't an issue? Where is the QA team, Pakistan?

Needless to say I'm pissed...being a former tech support loser I love to prove them wrong.

Oh yeah...this IS an Intel issue.

Stay tuned,

Unsupported

 

What link speed is Windows showing? They look like G figures, not N.

Also, try copying files to test the speed from a local server, not through the internet... I'd expect wired to be 90-100Mbps on GbE so this is going through the internet which adds another random factor.

Copy a 1GB file as a test item and see what speed is shown then.

 

Windows is reporting 240Mbps on the t410s and 300Mbps on the t61.

Ran the test, 12Mbps.

BTW did you see the Mac note? That blows your test but I did it anyway.
This is an Intel issue.

No offense but unless you can fix the issue or have real plausible "try this" then please don't bother. I might be a "newbie" here....but only here.

 

Offense taken.

When troubleshooting, one likes to get facts and remove unknowns.

Don't ask if you don't expect people to diagnose...