ASUS PCE-AC66 Extreme Performance AC Wireless Adapter Unboxing & First Look Linus Tech Tips
Linus Tech Tips
·Linus Tech Tips
·2013-05-07
·
1,022 words · ~5 min read
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Welcome to my unboxing and first look at the ASUS PCE-C66
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dualband PCIe adapter. Now, I have no
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idea what the truck ASUS is talking about when they call it the world's
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fastest 5G Wi-Fi because to my understanding five the G denotation is
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more of a cellular sort of wireless thing. And there's nothing 5G about it
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at all because this is actually u more
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of a gigabit sort of class of product.
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Um so whatever. And then it's oh it's not
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even not even all not even that. Okay. Here we're not even done making fun of the packaging yet. So this is a fast
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networking solution which is an abbreviation for fast
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a and stable. Like that's not how that's
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not how abbreviations work, but it's okay because as long as the product is
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freaking awesome, then it's fine. So it's so it can do 1300 megahertz
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wireless AC, 450 mega or 13 1300 mega
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1300 megabit per second wireless AC, 450 megabit per second wireless N. That
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makes it at the fastest tiers of both of those standards for a total throughput
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of about 1750 megabit per second. Now, in the real world, you're not going to
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observe this, but unlike one of the wireless AC solutions we looked at
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recently, which was a USB-based solution, this one actually has the
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horses to back up those specs. So, unlike some, you know, I mean, think
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about it this way, guys. USB is USB 2 is
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480 megabit per second. What were the odds it was going to deliver, 1700
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megabit per second or 1300 megabit per second or whatever it was rated for?
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It's not going to work. This on the other hand, PCI Express, so it can do up
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to 250 or rather 500 megabytes per second using PCIe2. Okay, it has the
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same class of chipset because it's got like actual power going to it. It has
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the same class of chipset that you find in dedicated routers and whatnot, which
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is why it has a beefy cooler on it. And it has a very unique antenna design that
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reminds me of ASUS's little So, sorry, we had some technical difficulties with
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our uh mic battery. Um, for those of you
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who have suggested that I use a lapel mic to fix the audio issues, I don't
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know if you've noticed this, but I've been using a lapel mic for months. It
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was actually other issues that were causing it. You know what? We're not actually quite done with the packaging
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yet anyway. So, power up to three times the speed of current wireless and standards. Yep. powerful two-way
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transmission gives 150% of the Wi-Fi range of generic client cards. This I
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believe just based on the like uberness of all of it. Um although we'd have to
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try it out to know for sure and bundled with extensions for the detachable antennas. And I'll show you how that
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works in just a moment. So the AC750 is
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ultimate and is suitable for web browsing, simultaneous downloading, HD
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video streaming, multiplayer gaming, interference resistant 5G signal. This
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is important. This is more of a characteristic of wireless AC in general
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than anything else. But because it uses
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the 5 GHz band rather than 2.4 GHz, it's
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not going to get the same kind of interference from things like wireless phones and cordless phones. I mean, do
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people still have cordless phones? I'm sure someone does. Diesel's putting his
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hand up. Slick's putting his hand up. Either way, um, it won't it's not as
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susceptible to interference from other devices that are on those bands. So,
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that's a good thing. Why don't we just put it that way? Although, the wireless
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N should still operate on 2.4 4 GHz for compatibility. So, you have two options
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when you install it in your PCI Express slot. You can either install the
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antennas on the card directly, so they'll stick out the back of your computer like this, and you can kind of
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orient them in such a way as you would like, or because again, interference
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behind your computer can be stronger than in other places, you can put them
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all on this little base station that you can then put up somewhere higher or, you
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know, at least have it a couple feet closer to your
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Oh, yeah. Oh, okay. Okay. So, apparently ASUS recommends mounting it to the side
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of your computer even. So, there's Oh, it has a magnetized base. Oh, that's
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cool. So, check this out. So, I could put it on the side of our server, which
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would probably be a good idea, right? I'm getting a look from Slick because the server hasn't been all that stable
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lately. But, uh, there you go. So, you could mount it to that with a magnet.
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You could just stick it up on your desk and sort of, you know, spread the
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antennas around like that. So, it's got a nice long cord on it. It looks like
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about 2 feet. and then that would plug
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directly into the wireless card itself. So, I have high expectations for this
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card and we'll be using it to film an episode of NCIX Tech Tips. So, I hope
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that whatever I'm able to show you is much more impressive than that USB card
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and more comparable to the wireless media bridge that we've used in the
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past. Thank you for checking out this unboxing and first look of the at the
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PCE AC66 from ASUS. what I would
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consider to be the first sort of real AC
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client card. And oh yeah, it also comes with a lowrofile adapter should you see
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fit to use it. Don't forget to subscribe to Linus Tech Tips for more unboxings, reviews, and other computer videos.