My wife's socket 775 (2.2 GHz E4500) is now smoking my Quad 4 GHz AMD 955 rig over AC

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alkemyst

Limp Gawd
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I have an AMD 955 system at 3.75GHz and the Intel Intel Dual Band Wireless-AC 7260 for Desktop Network Adapter (7260HMWDTX1.R) https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16833106192 which I was told was one of the better adapters to use. My antenna has line of site to the AP only about 4 feet away (a cisco 2702i). I get 90-105Mbps over 802.11ac down. One other thing it's doing is when it hits 100Mbps+ it starts backing down speed.

My wife I am putting together an older desktop which is current a stock Dell Vostro 400 with a E4500 CPU (2.2GHz). I installed my old Linksys WMP600N and she was getting 50Mbps https://www.amazon.com/Linksys-Wireless-N-Adapter-Dual-Band-WMP600N/dp/B0028N6VN2, I picked up an $18 ac600 usb adapter by Realtek https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B019SRBUNG and it was getting about 50Mbps too. I then activated both and she's getting consistent 120-126Mpbs over the air. She is about 1 foot further away than my antenna. Her speeds don't throttle back like mine when she is at 100Mbps+

Is there a better PCI-E card I can use for faster speeds? If the difference was close, I wouldn't care; but at 20+% that is pretty major. Could there be something configured wrong I could look at?
 
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alkemyst said:
I have an AMD 955 system at 3.75GHz and the Intel Intel Dual Band Wireless-AC 7260 for Desktop Network Adapter (7260HMWDTX1.R) https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16833106192 which I was told was one of the better adapters to use. My antenna has line of site to the AP only about 4 feet away (a cisco 2702i). I get 90-105Mbps over 802.11ac down. One other thing it's doing is when it hits 100Mbps+ it starts backing down speed.

My wife I am putting together an older desktop which is current a stock Dell Vostro 400 with a E4500 CPU (2.2GHz). I installed my old Linksys WMP600N and she was getting 50Mbps https://www.amazon.com/Linksys-Wireless-N-Adapter-Dual-Band-WMP600N/dp/B0028N6VN2, I picked up an $18 ac600 usb adapter by Realtek https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B019SRBUNG and it was getting about 50Mbps too. I then activated both and she's getting consistent 120-126Mpbs over the air. She is about 1 foot further away than my antenna. Her speeds don't throttle back like mine when she is at 100Mbps+

Is there a better PCI-E card I can use for faster speeds? If the difference was close, I wouldn't care; but at 20+% that is pretty major. Could there be something configured wrong I could look at?
Click to expand...

There's a mouthful in that paragraph.

To break it down, it sounds like this:

Intel 7260 -> Cisco 2702i = ~100mbps

Realtek AC600 + Linksys WMP600N -> Cisco 2702i = ~ 120mbps


So right off the bat, I would assume that the 7260 probably isn't operating in the 5ghz band, and is only using N to the AP and not AC. That would be enough to explain why it's not going as fast as it should. Check the link rate on the status page and make sure it is above 300mbps. With what you have I'd expect it to have a link rate of around 867mbps. If you don't have a link rate OVER 300mbps then it's not using AC.

I'd actually check her connection as well. If that realtek is actually using AC, disabling the older Linksys should actually make the speeds go up. It should be able to connect at up to 433mbps and needs to be above 150mbps link rate in order to be using AC.

Make sure nothing else is in the 5ghz band. N device can run in the 5ghz band, but might slow down AC connections by using air time. I can't tell if that AP is 2.4ghz and 5ghz concurrently, but if it is push anything that is not AC onto the 2.4ghz band to make room for your faster devices. (Cell phones included)



EDIT: I actually thought of something else you'd need to check. How are you feeding power to that AP? If you're using a POE injector, you need to make sure it was rated for gigabit communication. A lot of older POE injectors are only 10/100 which might explain why both are capping out around 100mbit. Make sure that you see a gigabit connection on the AP, and that it's plugged into a gigabit port on your switch. That 7260 should be capable of ~400mbps downloads if it's the only thing active.
 
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Dual band is still valuable if you travel as some sites do not have 5GHz or their Guest access is 2.4GHz only.
 
bman212121 said:
There's a mouthful in that paragraph.

To break it down, it sounds like this:

Intel 7260 -> Cisco 2702i = ~100mbps

Realtek AC600 + Linksys WMP600N -> Cisco 2702i = ~ 120mbps


So right off the bat, I would assume that the 7260 probably isn't operating in the 5ghz band, and is only using N to the AP and not AC. That would be enough to explain why it's not going as fast as it should. Check the link rate on the status page and make sure it is above 300mbps. With what you have I'd expect it to have a link rate of around 867mbps. If you don't have a link rate OVER 300mbps then it's not using AC.

I'd actually check her connection as well. If that realtek is actually using AC, disabling the older Linksys should actually make the speeds go up. It should be able to connect at up to 433mbps and needs to be above 150mbps link rate in order to be using AC.

Make sure nothing else is in the 5ghz band. N device can run in the 5ghz band, but might slow down AC connections by using air time. I can't tell if that AP is 2.4ghz and 5ghz concurrently, but if it is push anything that is not AC onto the 2.4ghz band to make room for your faster devices. (Cell phones included)



EDIT: I actually thought of something else you'd need to check. How are you feeding power to that AP? If you're using a POE injector, you need to make sure it was rated for gigabit communication. A lot of older POE injectors are only 10/100 which might explain why both are capping out around 100mbit. Make sure that you see a gigabit connection on the AP, and that it's plugged into a gigabit port on your switch. That 7260 should be capable of ~400mbps downloads if it's the only thing active.
Click to expand...

I am a network engineer :) The link is at 867Mbps over 802.11ac. I will verify her N card....I think everything on 5GHz. When I had her N card disabled she was only getting half the speed.
 
I think the two of you are talking about two different things. Dual band = 2.4ghz + 5ghz. Dual spatial streams would be 2 x 2 antenna configuration. I assumed the 2nd one was what cyclone meant even though he said dual band.

I'd definitely take a look at how the AP is connected then alkemyst, because if you're seeing a 867mbps link rate then it's probably not the link between the pc and the AP. I will say I've seen AV cause bottlenecks like that as well so obviously try disabling that and see if it makes a difference. Like I said in the previous post, do you have an injector? If so I'd definitely look at taking that out of the equation for testing if you can.
 
bman212121 said:
I think the two of you are talking about two different things. Dual band = 2.4ghz + 5ghz. Dual spatial streams would be 2 x 2 antenna configuration. I assumed the 2nd one was what cyclone meant even though he said dual band.

I'd definitely take a look at how the AP is connected then alkemyst, because if you're seeing a 867mbps link rate then it's probably not the link between the pc and the AP. I will say I've seen AV cause bottlenecks like that as well so obviously try disabling that and see if it makes a difference. Like I said in the previous post, do you have an injector? If so I'd definitely look at taking that out of the equation for testing if you can.
Click to expand...
Yeah, I used the wrong term. My bad.
 
Just an update. We are neck and neck now and I removed that Wireless N card. Something went wrong at the same time as these upgrades with my home office power. There is a ceiling fan, wall plug and outside light that weren't working and then started too about the same time. They went back out today and my wireless is working perfectly. Now I have to figure out what the previous home owner did to wire this office up. It was converted from a carport.

It also fully discharged (and killed) my APC Smart UPS 1500 battery ($80 or more).

Thanks for the time and sorry about the wild goose chase. FML.
 
cyclone3d said:
What I don't get is why are dual band cards even a thing anymore.
Click to expand...

If it ain't broke, don't fix it? 802.11n is plenty fast for your average internet connection, so a lot of places still only have 2.4. Swapping out access points for something as finiky as wireless means hours of troubleshooting.

Also, 2.4GHz has vastly higher range, and goes through walls. This is the reason 2.4GHz is so crowded for people living in apartments, while 5GHz is pretty clean. BUT FOR A HOTEL,WIFI range is paramount, especially through walls, so 2.4GHz is IMPORTANT.

Sounds like you never even leave your home, so don't pretend like you're some kind of wireless Guru.
 
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