Hey! I am planning on getting a new laptop sometime soon after Christmas and these are the two options that are available to me.
From what I have heard, the Killer does better in gaming situations (prioritizing gaming packets or something of the like) however the Intel would offer better signal reception/range.
The upgrade is $15 to the Killer variant, worth it?
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Spartan@HIDevolution Company Representative
Everytime I read one of those threads I smile and feel happy that I paid extra to get the Intel AC-8260 FTW. It simply works, no stupid bandwidth control or buggy drivers or useless gimmicks.
Never once did I have a disconnection or lag
Here is my speedtest results using the Intel AC8260, notice the ping rate how low it is (lower is better)
Will Kavanagh likes this. -
Thanks for the advice - are wireless adapters usually user-upgradable?
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Yes they are user upgradeable with the exception of convertible notebooks where it's a part of the motherboard in the tablet-part of the notebook.
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Just some other info.
The Killer supports Wave2 features, the Intel does not.
Intel doesn't support MU-MIMO while Killer does.
As for the "faster when gaming" that's just a gimmic. Your internet is only so fast, that is your limit. The only way the killer wins is if you're doing other things on you same laptop. For example downloading something. In that case the killer will use QoS and make the game packet have priority over the download.
It however doesn't do anything if another machine is using internet also.
End of day, I say go for cheapest one.
Personally I'm going for Killer just for the better chipset. I don't plan on installing the bloat software, just the basic driversWill Kavanagh and downloads like this. -
Well, it's not my money...Spartan@HIDevolution and Will Kavanagh like this. -
Thanks for the advice - I think ill stick with intel. As for QOS support - I already have my laptop set up as a priority device on my network, so that should be enough already. Thanks for the advice!
hmscott and Spartan@HIDevolution like this. -
Are you sitting on the floor just outside the inside router for ETISALAT?
1ms is from being on the same subnet... 3ms, well, maybe 2 switches / routers in between.
Nice setupLast edited: Dec 21, 2015 -
Spartan@HIDevolution Company Representative
This is on an ETISALAT eLife 4.0 connection. Recently they upgraded all customers from eLife 3.0 to eLife 4.0 which basically is also a fibre optic connection but is double the speed of whatever you had before.
So I had a base connection of 20 MBPS and I opted to for the speed booster service which means you pay AED 100 more per month and the speed goes from 20 to 50. After the upgrade which was done free of charge to all customers, the base speed became 50 MBPS and with the speed booster it is now 100MBPS Down / 20 MBPS up
When they announced this on their website, I had to call more than 20 times each day to expedite the migration / upgrade to the eLife 4.0alexhawker likes this. -
hmscott and Spartan@HIDevolution like this.
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Spartan@HIDevolution Company Representative
hmscott likes this. -
No, I am not in Dubai, and I was only joking, showing the difference between your local exchange throughput and my long distance throughput to contrast the awesome speed you are getting for throughput.
Glad to hear the 8260 is a good card and drivers are working well, that is one of the choices for Wifi in the builds I have been quoting.
Usually I try to avoid relatively new Wifi cards until the drivers work out, but it sounds like you think they are solid.
Thanks for the feedbackalexhawker and Spartan@HIDevolution like this. -
I've actually seen a decent performance boost when using a Wave 2 router and client with MU-MIMO, even if the other devices don't support it.
A few routers out do support it now and mostly and new routers in the future will support it as it's part of the new standard.
This also makes me think Intel is using older hardware since they don't support the newer technology.
I personally just purchased an 1535 and am going to use the basic drivers only without the other software (since it doesn't matter much).
I'd rather have things as late of versions as they can be now so I don't have to upgrade as soon laterhmscott likes this. -
Spartan@HIDevolution Company Representative
hmscott likes this. -
Intel is usually good about supporting all new protocols, but sometimes they choose their own in house solutions as well.
Intel is also plugged in to the standards community and has a good view of what is coming down the road; they may choose to skip a generation as they want to implement the "final" iteration in products.
Note that the 1535 is short on BT tech, they are still at BT 4.1 and the 8260 is at 4.2 which may be a bigger deal as "the internet of things" progresses.
Bluetooth 4.2® Smart Ready (Low Energy) (from 8260 pdf)
"Dual mode Bluetooth 4.2® connects to the newest low energy Bluetooth® products as well as your familiar devices, such as headsets, keyboard, mice and more. "
I think either one would be a good choice. If I were actively traveling these days, I would carry both in some form; one internal and one as an external dongle.Spartan@HIDevolution likes this. -
The prioritization works well locally for giving priority to Video vs large downloads - even though I have QOS prioritization in my router, locally the high transfer rate for long periods of time can have a glitchy effect on video.
What I have found is if I configure the Network Manager upload / download speeds accurately it works great. If I ignore it, and just run anyway, it can occasionally cause glitchy video. It also works to not install the Network Manager or Filter driver.
It's silly that Killer wouldn't put up a series of sites for automatic setting of upload / download speeds, that would have solved the whole problem, but for whatever reason they haven't.
It's a crap shoot with Wifi compatibility, so far all new vintage routers accessed with 1525 have been working fine, and with all the 5 year old routers I come across the same, but I am sure there are some that the 1525 won't do well with, it's just luck of the draw.
I usually upgrade my routers when I have a new Wifi card coming, and it has been a couple of years since I have upgraded. I do test first, but I expect newer Wifi cards need protocol support of new routers - make sure to do your homework on what both support before committing to a purchase. -
Spartan@HIDevolution Company Representative
hmscott likes this. -
My Netgear WNDR3700 was going great for years, then fell victim to the transmitter burn out on 2.4ghz they all seem to suffer from eventually - and I took special care to give it plenty of cooling and run the power at lowest setting - went on to use 5ghz only for a while, but time marches on, new routers gotta be bought
It sounds like you hit the RT-AC88U at the wrong time. I got one that out of the box dropped connections like crazy, but the latest firmware fixed it and I got slightly better throughput with it than the RT-AC68U. Timing.
I have let pass several new routers, waiting for the "final version" before I get another.
Maybe the AC5300 will be "it", err nope, latest firmware is dropping 2.4ghz connections...Spartan@HIDevolution likes this. -
The only issue killer has is that "sometimes" the silly app they include screws with people, BUT you can opt to just run the drivers without the app.
The killer cards themselves use a good chipset. Atheros (Qualcomm) have often been seen as better vs. Intel for many things. I've personally always seen better compatibility, drivers, range and speed on them. (Not just Killer but vanilla also).
Most routers are either Broadcom or Qualcomm chipset. None are Intel. Also FWIW intel just re-brands and customized some things from major other vendors. SSD and WiFi they do that with also but this isn't a well known fact...
I've had as many issues with Intel as I have any other vendor. End of the day they are all the same. Intel actually annoys me more because they hide things more and are harder to work with.
Have you ever had to work with Intel support? They want to send you to the OEM always and wont support you at all if you buy a WiFi card yourself etc.
The full specs of Intel cards I only got from contacting an Engineer I know. That's also the only way I could ever get help about finding out how to deal with the latency spike Intel cards have every 60-90 seconds.
If you search the internet about ScanWhenAssociated setting, that was discovered by me from an back-end Engineer and something Intel doesn't/didn't want known existed. Now tons of places are starting to share it. I posted it on NBR first though of course
Here is a fairly recent review that includes MU-MIMO before and after:
http://www.pcper.com/reviews/Networking/Killer-Wireless-AC-1535-Review-MU-MIMO-Era-Begins
Grant it the card they compared to was single band but just look at the killer even with MU-MIMO on vs. off.
As for QoS. It doesn't always work properly on routers.
Anyway, don't get me wrong, I'm not trying to say Killer is better over Intel. They both have pro and con, but don't go by the killer app and it's issues as saying hardware is better or not. I am comparing pure hardware and driver level. Run the native Qualcomm or Killer only drivers and not the app if you don't like the QoS stuff, but the hardware is still decent hardware...
Also if I had to compare better WiFi to better BT I rather have better WiFi but that's just my 2 cents. It comes down to what your use cases are. If you just use a BT mouse/keyboard well, 4.2 probably doesn't matter.
I do wish a Wave 2 BT4.2 device existed, even better if it was 3x3 channel lol.
Right now only can find older draft 3x3 cards. Even Intel which will soon release a 3x3 AC card, it won't be wave 2... Sad...hmscott likes this.
Advantages of Killer 1535 compared to Intel 8260
Discussion in 'Networking and Wireless' started by Will Kavanagh, Dec 19, 2015.