Killer Wireless-AC 1550 Review

Intel Bluetooth updated today on Windows Insider build 18305 to version 20.110.0.3

 

There's a new update for Killer 1550 with driver v2. Changelog
Ultra Male install Killer control center v2 driver and see if you notice any changes with WiFi and BT 5.0 antenna performance.
I'm clean uninstalling Killer SW.

 

Todays update of Windows Insider Skip Ahead build 18312.1001 contained Intel Wireless Proset version 20.110.0.3
BTW,IMO the Windows Sandbox in the new builds is my favorite feature

If any member of this forum would like the Intel Proset driver 20.110.0.3 send me a PM with the email you want the files sent to.I will share this with the 1st 10 PMs.
Those 10 can then share if they desire.

 

Killer_AC_1550_v20.110.0.3.7z (Incl. bluetooth)

Code:

NIC_9560_2x2_AC             = "Intel(R) Wireless-AC 9560 160MHz"
NIC_9560_2x2_AC_No_160      = "Intel(R) Wireless-AC 9560"
NIC_9560_2x2_AC_No_Limit    = "Intel(R) Wireless-AC 9560 160MHz"

NIC_9461_1x1_AC             = "Intel(R) Wireless-AC 9461 160MHz"
NIC_9461_1x1_AC_No_160      = "Intel(R) Wireless-AC 9461"

NIC_9462_1x1_AC             = "Intel(R) Wireless-AC 9462 160MHz"
NIC_9462_1x1_AC_No_160      = "Intel(R) Wireless-AC 9462"

NIC_1550s_2x2_AC            = "Killer(R) Wireless-AC 1550s Wireless Network Adapter (9560D2W) 160MHz"

NIC_1550i_2x2_AC            = "Killer(R) Wireless-AC 1550i Wireless Network Adapter (9560NGW) 160MHz"

NIC_9260_2x2_AC             = "Intel(R) Wireless-AC 9260 160MHz"
NIC_9260_2x2_AC_No_160      = "Intel(R) Wireless-AC 9260"
NIC_9260_2x2_AC_Indoor      = "Intel(R) Wireless-AC 9260 160MHz"
NIC_9260_1x1_AC_No_160      = "Intel(R) Wireless-AC 9260-1"

NIC_9270_2x2_AC             = "Intel(R) Wireless-AC 9270 160MHz"
NIC_9270_2x2_AC_No_160      = "Intel(R) Wireless-AC 9270"

NIC_1550_2x2_AC             = "Killer(R) Wireless-AC 1550 Wireless Network Adapter (9260NGW) 160MHz"

NIC_9162_1x1_AC             = "Intel(R) Wireless-AC 9162 160MHz"
NIC_9162_1x1_AC_No_160      = "Intel(R) Wireless-AC 9162"

 

Intel and killer which one is better for gaming?

Is there any wireless card that supports aptx? Watching movie with bluetooth is kind of disturbing......

 

Killer does not make any WiFi or Ethernet cards or even drivers. For WiFi cards, they just rebrand the Intel 9260ac as the 1550 or Qualcomm 6174/A as the 1435/1535 and then bundle their atrocious QoS software with the cards. Buying the standard Intel/Qualcomm version is just fine and actually better as you don’t need to worry about Windows auto installing the annoying Killer bloatware.

Even without AptX a decent headphone with AAC support would do just fine for videos. Never had any sync/latency issues with my Anker Spirit X Bluetooth earphones which only support AAC codec.

 

Killer Software v2 & its drivers did improve the WiFi signal in Win 10 as suggested in their Release Notes. I'm very happy.

 

1550 or 9260? that is still the question... or wait for ax cards to surface on the aftermarket? cant decide!

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

 

Wait for ax cards and WiFi 6 routers so that you can ditch old cards and routers to enjoy your 1Gbps internet from ISP.

 

If only, 1Gbps internet connection that's a dream for me, however WiFi 1 would still not limit my internet connection at all after all mine is 2mb lol.

Sent from my LLD-L31 using Tapatalk

 

I have both the 9260 and 1550 cards that I've been evaluting in an MSI Intel W10x64 notebook and custom built Intel 8700K/MSI Z370/W10 desktop since 02/2018.

In the desktop the cards are in a PCIe adapter.

With the newest Killer Control Center v2.0.2332.0 running I don't see much in the way of a performance hit/resourses hog.

I've not notice any difference in Internet downloads or home network file transfers.

With the Intel 9260 I did notice more lag and connecting time on bootup.

Between USB3.0 storge attached to an R7800 router I can often transfer some types of file to and from the 1550 client in excess of 120 MB/s but the 9260 at best gets to 100 MB/s

My Spectrum 200 Mbps Internet service is mostly at 240 Mbps downloading using speedtest.net and a few other tests with the 9260 but with the 1550 and Killer Control Center 2.0.2313.0 beta in app speedtest I've achieved close to 750 Mbps on occasion but usually in the 300 Mbps range.

inSSIDer Office shows my 1550 theoretical data rate on channel 48 often at 1733.33 Mbps but averaging 1300 Mbps.

My 9260 rarely hits the same high and the average is about 960 Mbps.

Like other computer hardware there's same model wireless cards that perform exceptionally well while another one of the same make and model does not.

My 2nd 1550 is a prime example of not being the equal of the other one.

Maybe your 9260 is superior to mine and my 1550 can outperform yours.It's the luck of the draw.

 

indeed! placing my machine with the 7265 directly next to the router gives me max. 450 Mbps throughput, thats a bit "lame" hahaha. and judging from reviews on notebookcheck both the 9260 amd 1550 would give around 600-700 Mbps, still not enough!

i know i know, first world problems... haha

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

 

In my tests with the 9260ac with the RAX80, bypassing the Ethernet limit by the use of a USB3.0 Samsung T5 SSD I git a steady 140 MB/s (1,120 Mbps) read rate that’s one floor below the router. The 1550 should be no different considering it’s the same exact card with the same drivers coming from Intel for both, if anything Intel uses the 1550 users to beta test newer driver revisions before appearing on Intel’s site.

If 2.5 Gbs Ethernet becomes more common on routers it would be nice. Down side to HT160 is greater chance for interference and reduced range so a 3 stream BCM 43602 Broadcom card is probably best such as the rebranded model known as the Dell 1830A, for 800-900 Mbps speeds on HT80.

I personally would not buy a first gen AX router as firstly we’d be guinea pigs as firmware takes a few months to be stabilized. Secondly current AX units are draft routers missing WPA3 and uplink MU-MiMO, best to wait for final revision AX/WiFi 6 routers coming later this year.

 

Aivxtla said "In my tests with the 9260ac with the RAX80"

Will the RAX80 get WPA3 support or is that only planned for the AX12?

Windows 10 Insider 19H1 builds will get WPA3 sometime around mid March but a capable device is still needed.

How's the theoretical Data Link speed?Do you get 1733.3 Mbps or close to it more with the RAX80 than with the R7800?

 

Some background info:
The RAX80 uses a newer gen Broadcom WiFi BCM43684 WiFi Chipset along with a 1.8Ghz BCM 49408 (ARM Cortex A53) CPU with hardware AES acceleration. The Cortex A53 clock for clock on paper is less powerful than the 1.7 GHz Cortex A15 in the R7800 (3.39 DMIPs/MHz) vs (2.3 DMIPs/MHz on the A53). However the BCM CPU has 2 more cores, has hardware AES acceleration for much better VPN performance (night and day difference) and storage performance on this router is also far better than the R7800.

Cost wise:
Stick to the R7800 as WiFi performance is still excellent on it and the RAX80 is only worth it you want better VPN performance as it’s effectively an AC router since there are barely any ax clients out. This is an early draft ax router so it’s unknown if it will get proper WPA3 support. Lastly never buy any router so soon after release because not only are you overpaying but you will be paying to be a “beta” tester effectively till firmware is stabilized and bugs worked out. Best to stick to a year or so old router with mature firmware. The RAX120 will be a final draft router with hardware WPA3 support and uplink side MU-MIMO support. Even if you want that I’d wait at least 6 months to a year after release before buying it.

HT160 Performance:
The RAX80 in my tests was a little better and I can hit 1,120 Mbps only because having a SSD (Samsung T5 1TB SSD in my case) connected directly to the router allows you to effectively bypass the 1Gbps Ethernet limit when doing file transfer tests. Internet and LAN side of things you will be limited to ~950 Mbps or so due to Ethernet.


Link rate on the 9260ac in my Dell 7577 showed 1.7-1.3 Gbps one floor below the router with real world transfer rates hitting 1,120 Mbps when reading from the router attached Samsung T5 SSD and uploads to it were a bit slower than that. The R7800 could probably do the same WiFi wise but it’s bottlenecked by USB storage performance so you would not notice such high WiFi transfer rates. Until 2.5 Gbps ports are more common HT160 won’t really help too much, plus HT160 can cause reduced range due to greater interference. My NAS has a 10Gb Eth port but none of the routers I’ve received for beta tests have had support for that with R9000 being the exception, but that was an overpriced unit for its features and very buggy.

Best client side option for good WiFi performance.
If you really badly want the best WiFi performance then HT80 with a 3 stream/antenna Broadcom based card like the Dell 1830A (rebranded from a Broadcom BCM43602) seen in some Latitudes is probably the best option. Even MacBook Pros have better WiFi performance because of 3 stream BCM cards. Other option is wait for newer AX cards but a 2 stream ax card won’t be much faster than a 3 stream ac card, but will save you the need for an extra antenna cable for similar performance assuming you have an ax router.

 

I'm curious, what kind of USB 3.0 storage are you using? I'm using a 9260 and R7800 and only get around 25-30 MB/s transferring to a Western Digital Easystore, no matter how close I am to the router.

I know it's a mechanical drive, but surely that's not the bottleneck. Any ideas on what it could be?

(Sorry for going a bit off topic here, was reading comparisons between the cards and this caught my eye!)

 

The R7800 doesn’t have the greatest USB 3.0 performance, only way you can hit 120 MB/s easily is on Ethernet connected storage like a NAS or another computer connected at the other end and with your laptop on WiFi being the test platform. That’s the other way to test WiFi performance. The 9260ac with HT160 enabled can hit 1120 Mbps (140 MB/s) as I showed in the post above.

The R7800’s WiFi capability is about just as good as the RAX80 but is limited by weak USB 3.0 and Ethernet max speed is theoretically 125 MB/s aka 1 GBs but after overhead etc 120 MB/s realworld, that’s you why you can’t truly take advantage of HT160 on it to the fullest.

You need a router 2.5 Gbps Ethernet routers or ones with fast storage capability to fully take advantage of HT160 on cards like the 9260ac.

 

I got the highest transfer speeds sending an ISO file using a Samsung USB 3.1 T5 SSD attached to the R7800 router to Killer 1550 client Desktop with a 1TB Samsung 970 Pro SSD using Tera Copy.
The Desktop was in line of sight 15' from the router.

Very good speeds were also achieved using a SanDisk Extreme Pro 256GB USB 3.1 flash drive attached to the router

 

Thanks for all the info, appreciate it.

Are you transferring by adding a network location on Windows with Basic ReadySHARE address, FTP client, or some other avenue? Wondering if I'm hurting myself by the method in which I'm reading/writing to the drive.

From searching, I've also read that some have had better transfer speeds using the eSATA port instead of the USB 3.0 port. Rosewill has a 3.5" enclosure with eSATA out, might have to give it a try eventually.

 

A future project,maybe next week,is using an a USB 3.1 external enclosure that has a Samsung 970Pro NVMe SSD attached to the R7800 as it should be faster than the Samsung T5.

This weeks project has been monitoring the Killer 1550 temperature during various activities starting with the temp when WiFi and Bluetooth are turned off

 

That won’t achieve anything, the T5 already can easily hit over 350 MB/s which is over 2.5Gbps Eth limit and any 4x4 router’s WiFi capability... an NVMe drive is overkill even if you have one of the recent ax routers.

 

The Samsung 970 Pro NVMe SSD while in my desktop uses the 4 PCIe lanes but in the Qnine USB 3.1 enclosure only 2 lanes are used thusly lower benchmark speeds.

In the enclosure using the Qnine type C to type C cable and an ASMedia USB 3.1 Gen 2 port It achieves scores of 6100 and 17000 in a PCIe x4 slot measured using the Anvil Storage Utility benchmarking tool.

I've been very satisfied using a SanDisk Extreme Pro USB flash drive attached to the R7800 and an R7000 before it.The T5 has been recently returned after a failure.

The MKV,MP4 and AVI video files play perfectly on all wireless devices accessing them from the router attached USB storage throughout this one level townhouse.

I don't run an Ethernet cable so all devices in my home connect using wireless ac on the 5ghz band.

I've not been able to get any better file transfer speeds from this NVMe SSD enclosure router attached USB storage than while using the Samsung T5 or the SanDisk Extreme Pro flash drive.

BTW,the Killer 1550 card in my desktop idles at 31.7C in a 24C room and rises to 37.8 surfing around and small app downloads.It has reached 41.2C downloading a large MKV or ISO.I can't swear by the thin wire sensor's digital readout accuracy.

 

Installed Intel Wireless ProSet 20.120.0.4

This driver version is included in the Killer Driver Suite dated 2019-02-01

 

where'd you get it from?

 

https://www.killernetworking.com

Killer Software Package for Windows 10 dated 2019/02/01

If anyone needs the files from my C:/windows/system 32/Driver Store

for your 9260 let me know.

 

Intel WLAN Driver 20.120.0.4/ Bluetooth Driver 20.120.0.3 (also works for the Killer 1550)

 

There's a large amount of people that only download from the /official /author's site.

I'm often in that category but not always

The Intel Wireless ProSet 20.120.0.4 is now an Official Intel release.
https://downloadcenter.intel.com/do...ers-for-Intel-Wireless-Adapters?product=59485

This driver is only supported on Windows 10 x64 for Intel Wireless cards
9560
9260
9462
9461

 

On latest INF drivers, this garbage installs automatically the Killer Dynamic Bandwidth Control for no reason. It didn't do that before, idk if it was windows update or them but ever since last INF driver update i had rubberbanding issues on Apex Legends and Rainbow six high ping. I stopped the service in "Services" and it magically stopped.

One more reason not to buy anything Killer products.

 

Once you put Dynamic Bandwidth service to manual it won't start again. Disable xTend utility in services.msc since they work only with killer 1550.

 

When I had the Killer 1550 installed on my system, the moment I get online the Windows store automatically install the Killer Software for me regardless of what driver I use. That's the main reason I switched to the Intel 9260 even though they are the same card, it doesn't install anything Killer related. Never touching anything which comes with ANY killer hardware in it ever again! Even if it was the best laptop in the world, if it had a Killer LAN chipset (ie. E3000), I won't buy it! I have 0 respect to any company that enforces bloatware and shoves it down its customers' throats!

 

Yeah man i know that feeling. I noticed this only now because Apex Legends was having rubber banding and it turns out disabling it worked. ****in' hell i hate having to deal with network issues since day one i bought this laptop. Only because of Killer drivers.

 

That's the main point why I despise this Killer Performance BS. Leave my freakin' bandwidth the heck alone! I have a 250MBPS connection and I don't wanna prioritize any bandwidth for anything! Let any app I use utilize the full bandwidth that I have it still won't affect anything! I could be downloading Windows or movies in the background and still play or go on doing anything I am doing without a sweat! We are not in 1999 anymore with dial up modems for the love of God!

 

The funny thing is that i have installed only the INF drivers because i hate the Killer Control Center! And it still installed that crap! I don't even know how that is possible

 

Doesn't matter, I also always install INF only drivers. They have a deal with Microsoft where if the app store detects you have any Killer hardware in your taptop, be it the Ethernet or WLAN card, it will install all their garbage which is not only a Windows Store app mind you, just check your services, you will probably find the Killer Networking service installed there to so you'd have to use the Killer Uninstaller to get rid of all that junk!

 

In services i have got Killer Network Service which is set to automatic, Killer Dynamic Bandiwdth Control (the one i disabled) and the xTend ******** that i have also disabled. I haven't managed to stop them from installing that crap, i even tried using Killer Uninstaller but everytime i reinstall the INF drivers, it puts back that junk.
I'm glad i can at least disable them and avoid further issues but this is annoying.

 

They're implementing truly killer features in their drivers.
I'm considering switching out the 1535 in the P751DM2-G with something else.

 

We should submit a ticket with this to the Killer devs.
A minimalist driver is now needed, since apparently even their INFs can no longer be trusted.

 

@Killer_Networking

 

The Intel Wireless ProSet works just fine for the Killer 1550 if the Killer software is not to your liking.

 

If you're installing the .INF only through Device Manager, then that literally cannot cause any application to be installed, as there is no installer run. Our driver-only installer also installs only the drivers. What you are probably seeing is the result of your machine or motherboard manufacturer pushing the Killer Control Center through Windows Update. We have no control over that. However, we do understand that some of our customers prefer not to use the Killer Control Center, so we have developed a blocking driver to prevent Windows Update from installing the Killer Control Center when it is not wanted. We have a guide for that here - https://support.killernetworking.com/knowledge-base/how-do-i-remove-the-killer-control-center/.

-- Anthony with Killer Networking

 

Intel Wireless ProSet Software v20.120.1.1 WHQL

Intel Wireless Bluetooth Software v20.120.2.1 WHQL

Both software available on Station-Drivers dot com

 

Thanks for the headsup, just noticed that you are from Texas. Used to live in Arlington back in 2000, best days of my life.

 

Texas = No State Tax,Excellent quality of life and respect for the 2nd Amendment.

Can't wait to get my paws on a production AX200 and a Netgear RAX120

 

I would hold off on a RAX120, RAX80. Neither are final draft ax, missing things like uplink MU. Not to mention you are essentially a beta tester if you buy one at this point and you are paying a higher price to top it off since these are new. It’s unknown if the RAX120 will get all draft 3 ax features.


If you really must have the latest and greatest, wait till final draft routers release, possibly at the end of the year. Expect a 20-25% real world boost over ac.

 

Draft 4 from January should be voted on at this months meeting and possible Draft 5 proposals discussed for future vote and approval in May to July time line.
I don't fear Daft routers that are late drafts silicon that can be finalized with firmware.
If it can't be completely updated with firmware I'll live with it or pass it on and get a finalized one.

I'll just spend less on fast women and slow horses.lol

 

802.11ac is a 5ghz only technology and WiFi 6 will have both 2.4ghz and 5ghz support and in all likelihood devices should be able to be upgraded to the upcoming 6ghz band.

Another thing to like about WiFi 6 is it being able to connect to up to 12 devices simultaneously.Currentl
y with AC only one device can connect at a time but the signal switch is so fast to other devices that it's not noticed.

All my smart home devices are on the 2.4ghz band and the phones,tablets,chromebooks,notebooks and desktop are set to the 5ghz band.Most evenings about 4+ computing devices are using 5ghz plus the android phones that are always on 24/7.

 

The 5Ghz ac band on a 4x4 router like the R7800 can deal with multiple MU clients at a time on downlink, 3 1x1 (Yes 3 not 4) devices or 2 2x2 devices simultaneously. Non MU obviously would work in a round robin fashion 1 at a time. The R8500 and similar 8x8 dual 5 GHz routers support 6x 1x1 or 2x 2x2 plus 2x 1x1 devices but as we know BCMs implementation is terrible. With the RAX120 since the 2.4 GHz also supports MU, we assume each of the 12 antennas can deal with 1 1x1 client or 6 total for 2x2 clients. EDIT: According to Netgear the RAX120 supports only 4x 2x2 MU devices / 8x 1x1 U Devices.

MU-OFDMA in ax is better at increasing device density especially in congested areas like corporate environments with multiple nearby APs but individual clients in a low density home network won’t really gain any night and day differences (especially with the routers out right now) in terms of per client speeds but will still you get things like lower latency etc.

I agree with you and think ax is a major shift especially with the nice upgrade to 2.4 Ghz and needed but some of these new changes will not make it into draft routers, even if they do it will be very hodge-podgy. Like how MU-MIMO was promised on 2nd gen ac Broadcom devices like the Netgear/Asus routers, and when it did come in an update after a long time it was so bad it caused a performance losses. It would be a stretch to expect Netgear to make necessary firmware changes in a proper manner at a later date, from my experience. Pretty sure some of the stuff won’t be a software change like uplink MU, requiring newer hardware. The current Broadcom based ones aren’t advertising WPA3. I see them more as glorified ac devices at the moment. Till recently the BCM based routers had backwards compatibility issues when ax was enabled causing various ac based adapters to not recognize the routers.

The Qualcomm based RAX120 unlike the RAX80, AX88U, AX11000 Broadcom based units, would probably be one of the closer to final draft hardware. I have more faith in Qualcomm in delivering advertised features in a proper fashion.

Well I apologize for deviating you off topic @WhatsThePoint.

 

The NETGEAR Premier Membership Beta

https://www.netgear.com/landings/premier/

 

Intel WLAN Driver 20.120.1/ Bluetooth Driver 20.120.2 (also works for the Killer 1550)

 

I just install this card in my GT80s a few hours ago... lol