Killer Wireless-AC 1550 Review

I just use Killer drivers without the Killer software. I prefer minimalism. Less is better than much And I don't talk about performance.

 

I use the full suite nowadays with zero issues. Even on Linux it works splendidly(I mean the driver and not priority engine).
You can download Killer Suite from Windows/MS Store on RS4 and above.

 

Hope this is just a software/driver issue.

 

I personally am more interested in Bluetooth 5 much more - 160MHz routers won't become mainstream anytime soon anyway, and I don't feel like throwing hundreds of $ towards some expensive wireless router which will be superceded by 802.11ax devices in the near future. No Bluetooth 5 devices in sight, though - so ordered a 18265 for now; 9260 will wait.

 

Do you know if BT 5 supports dual streaming BT audio with one source and two sinks? Example S9.

 

i own an AVM FritzBox 7590 and the newest "laboratory" Version (which means Beta) activate 160Mhz so it would be nice to get soon an 1550 in germany but at the moment there are only one reseller (clevo devices) and he told the people that the 1550 is only useable with the Z370 chipset.

 

AFAIK it does as long as driver/software supports it.

 

huh? why would that be? @Phoenix already proved that it works on a non-Z370 system

 

So BT5 is complete different and cannot have version bump like 4.0 to 4.2LE on killer 1535.

 

@Vasudev AFAIK yes.

 

Maybe the reseller don't know the difference between:

• Killer® Wireless-AC 1550 Wireless Network Adapter (9260NGW)
• Killer® Wireless-AC 1550i Wireless Netzwerk Adapter (9560NGW)
• Killer® Wireless-AC 1550s Wireless Netzwerk Adapter (9560D2W)

#1 is working as we know.
#2 and 3 are the new Adapters which will work with the new intel Coffee Lake (2nd Generation or what ) which has integrated the controller in the CPU.
find here the product brief https://www.intel.com/content/dam/w...t-briefs/dual-band-wireless-ac-9560-brief.pdf

if i'm wrong then let me know gents.

 

Didn't know there were 3 variants, Main website shows only a single version.
Maybe @Killer_Networking can shed some info.

 

@JeanLegi @Vasudev 9560D2W is 1216 module, whereas 9X60NGW are 2230 cards. I personally wouldn't touch CNVio cards with a long stick at the moment, because it may require motherboard support whereas many 8th-gen machines come with older WLAN cards and thus may lack it.

 

not sure if i understood everything. but why should they use older cards when intel will bring their was it ax (?) for wireless control with the 2nd generation of coffee lake cpus where the controller is integrated?

 

I changed my channel to 48 and for the 1st time ever I'm getting over 866.7 Mbps

See the inSSIDer screenshot that shows Data Rate of 936.0 Mbps



EDIT: BTW,the Intel 9560 requires a different M.2 key than what we currently have in our notebooks.

It will fit in but the pin outs are different.

I had one and sent it back

 

Yeah I noticed the same, probably because the 9260/1550 I assume does not support 80Mhz+80Mhz split bonding, it requires contiguous a 160Mhz that is available only in the lower channels. I get a 1-1.3 Gbps Link rate on average 15ft away with 2 walls and 108 MB/s Down and 45 MB/s Up in transfers between my Laptop and NAS via a Netgear R7800. The Uplink speeds didn't really improve with HT160 infact maybe a 5 MB/s decline. At 1.7Gbs which would require me probably being in the same room I don't think it will improve much as 108 MB/s is close to the Ethernet limit.

 

Here's another screenshot of combined tests

 

I managed to get a 1.7Gbs Link Rate directly one floor below the router, the router is on the ground and 1 floor is less an obstacle than the two walls to my room (same floor as router). At 1.7Gbps Link I am getting 112-114 Mb/s Down and 69-70 MB/s Up in transfer between my NAS and laptop. I don't think you can get any higher than that as you are pretty close to the Ethernet limit at this point.

If you want to truly test your WiFi card do LAN transfers between a NAS and your Laptop not the internet, because if your internet speeds are below gigabit then it will be the bottle neck.

Also note that depending on your house construction ie more concrete walls and granite flooring your speeds will take a massive hit, My home is mostly wood interior so I get really high speeds in most places.

 

I moved the notebook back into the livingroom 15' from the router and am getting 1,560.0 Mbps

 

aaah, so THERE we have the elusive "up to 1733 Mbps" rating nice results @WhatsThePoint appreciate your input!

 

You could run Speedtest.net module by clicking Set speed limits and thereby clicking Speed test.

 

Speedtest was run separately on purpose so not to change the manually entered information in the Killer Control Center and to be independent of other running software.

I will try placing the MSI GS60 notebook with the Killer 1550ac close to the Netgear R7800 router in future testing to see if I can achieve the full theoretical 1,733.30 Mbps data rate.

So far it's been fun.

 

The Wireless-AC Killer 1550 is a Windows 10x64 only piece of hardware and IMO drivers and software need to be developed just for it and only for the 5ghz band.

Bluetooth,2.4ghz band and other inclusions in the suite unrelated to W10x64 and 5ghz should be in separate optional downloads if someone needs them and wants to install them.

 

Just don't get closer than 6 feet. Interference at such a close distance makes everything worse rather than better. 6 feet is close enough to be really close but far enough so that there is no direct interference.

 

So here's what I did today. As I said my router is located in a little storage room 10 feet away from my room so you have my room's wooden door then the storage room door.

I managed to re-organize the cable and pull the router out of the storage room so it's lying in the hallway, that obviously boosted my signal by 1 bar but I am not going to try the Killer 1550 yet until I hear back from Killer Networking about a new driver.

Stay tuned.

 

from my experience, the signal strength (how many bars) dont always reflect accurately. i have had 1-2 bars while downloading at max speed and gaming just fine without extra latency. in my experience i find that the actual test result, speed test, latency test, stability, speed without fluctuation etc is far more important than just seeing the signal bars that window showing me so i grew not to trust that now.

 

Yes I know that, for example, on the Killer 1535, I would have 2 bars only yet an 866MBPS link and full speed as you mentioned for my internet. On the Killer 1550, I would have 4 bars, but the link is only 30-390MBPS.

I was just stating that I got 1 extra bar when I moved the router to indicate that the range got better due to the elimination of 1 door

 

do u know of any two intel cards that has AC/BT and can connect two laptop to each other without the help of a router or internet? or maybe just without internet but router is needed.

 

No sir.

 

was hoping to find wireless replacement of a LAn connection between 2 laptop computers

 

The elusive 1,733.30 Mbps

 

I'd like to try the Killer AC 1535 since it seems you guys like it.

Think it would work with a mpcie to m.2 adapter?

 

If you don’t care about the Killer software suite you could buy the Qualcomm QCA6174A it’s the1535 without the Killer branding. It may be cheaper and the Qualcomm drivers are the same for both. Rivet Networks is more of a software company, the actual WiFi cards are either rebranded Qualcomm/Intel units.

 

Its 35 bucks on amazon, just curious if it will not play nice with an mpcie to m.2 adapter

 

i dont see why such an adapter shouldnt work...

Sent from my Xiaomi Mi Max 2 (Oxygen) using Tapatalk

 

I dont either but sometimes hardware can be finnicky lol

Ill probably try it out after I get paid again

 

So I installed the Killer 1550 wireless AC cards in my notebook and desktop on the 21st of last month ,February,and all I could achieve up until 2 days ago was the same 866.7 Mbps that I was getting with a Killer 1525 in the notebook and 9260 in a newly built Coffee Lake desktop.The Netgear R7800 router settings remained the same with the beamforming,MU-MIMO and HT160 enabled in the setup.

The Killer Control Center shows the connection strength at 99.

Driver version is 20.30.1.2

Bluetooth is off

I have preferred 5ghz band,roaming low,5ghz band channel width auto,transmit high and thoroughput boost enabled in the adapter setting.

What changed?

The only things I did was change to channel 48 as suggest by inSSIDer app and manually imputing 1800.0 Mbps in the Killer Control Center for up and down speeds and not running a speed test in the app.

Was there something in a Windows update that triggered the enabling of the theoretical 1,733.30 Mbps?

 

That throughput booster gives worse speeds on intel cards, I don't know why they allowed that feature.

 

I think that the card doesn’t support 80Mhz + 80MHz split bonding that occurs on the higher channels. It seems to only work with a contiguous 160Mhz width which is only available on lower channels.

 

OK,I''ll run awhile with throughput boost disabled

I leave the U-APSD (Unscheduled Automatic Power Save Delivery)disabled.

 

U-APSD caused many people to hate the Intel 7260ac when it was originally introduced as not all devices supported that feature well and caused major issues so it’s usually disabled by default these days.

 

Review yours here!
I'd like to see more people with a Killer 1550 installed posting there opinions and test results with some screen shots,settings,router info,Internet service,environment ...

Is it still too new and you enthusiasts haven't gotten one yet?

For me,getting those tiny antenna wires connected to a new M.2 type wireless card is the hardest part of the upgrade.

Now,what to do with all my previously installed wireless cards
1102,1103,6200,6300,7260,7265,8265,9260

 

Here's a tip, place the metal part of the antenna on the corresponding dot, then have a flat head screw driver in your other hand and use it to slowly but firmly press the metal part of the antenna into the whole until you hear a click (or feel one for that matter)

Put em next to each other from newest to to oldest, take a picture, frame it, and call it a day

 

sell the old cards on ebay / use them to upgrade your loved one's machines / use them as laptop standoffs for improved airflow / send me that 9260 for free

Sent from my Xiaomi Mi Max 2 (Oxygen) using Tapatalk

 

"send me that 9260 for free"

I'll do that.The card will be Free but the shipping and handling will be $50.00US

I bought that card from Newegg for $33 + shipping when they had them in stock.

Had it in an MSI desktop PCI-E x1 adapter until the Killer 1550 arrived

 

lol in that case it actually wouldnt even make sense to just pay shipping hahaha

 

I got mine for ~$26 including shipping on eBay but that comes with the risk of getting a unit that didn’t meet standards and was discarded.


Better to get it on Newegg despite higher price plus shipping since you can at least get quick a replacement or refund should anything go wrong with it. Be careful on Amazon it’s becoming like eBay with resellers on that site, for example people were buying Samsung 960 Pro’s and replacing them with in one case a cheap msata LiteOn drive and sending them back to Amazon with the 960 Pro’s sticker crudely stuck on the cheap drive. Resellers/Amazon don’t check returns properly and people get defrauded.

 

@downloads

I have QOS in my Nighthawk X10 (R9000) router, should I enable it or not?

Reason I ask is, why would I want to cap my downloads at 89% to leave more juice for others it no one was using the internet at the time but me? or am I understanding this wrong and it doesn't work that way?

also, shall I just let it run the speed test and assign the speeds automatically or shall I put in the speeds manually and what should they be? my actual internet speed?

 

I havent had too much good experience with QoS but of course that always depends on the router.

 

What is your Internet speed as in both download and upload? If you have like symmetrical 100/100 internet speeds you generally don’t need QoS as it’s unlikely even with streaming your line would be under contention. Also by the time you get to like 500/500 QoS would be more of a CPU waste unless you really have massive contention between devices with is rare. If you have like 40/5 Internet like me then QoS is great as it prevents things like phones uploading photos or online backups from saturating the upload and balances upload rates between devices so things like gaming and VoIP don’t lag/dropouts.

Also gaming usually uses very little bandwidth like in kilobytes per second but it’s very sensitive to latency so QoS would help with that if your upload speed is low causing massive bufferbloat.

QoS for most people would apply more to the uploads which are usually the biggest bottleneck, and usually you set lower than the actual speed you get, anywhere between 75-95% of your tested average depending on how consistent speeds are.

Another reason for QoS is to buffer against speed dips and it helps prevent bufferbloat. DSL Reports Speed Test is the best one I have used as it shows buffetbloat and detailed upload and download pings. Based on those results set your QoS limits and retest till you get a good bufferbloat score.