Gigabyte WI06 with Dlink DIR-655 WIFI Performance

[mobilenvidia]

After all my Parity errors with the Atheros AR5008X based Gigabyte WI06 and Sparklan 214N, it's good to finally get some performance results of meaning.

I got the Gigabyte WI06 some time ago, I got the Dlink DIR-655 Router last week to see if it would fix my parity errors (which at the time it didn't)

Now that the parity errors are all fixed here are my results with and without the Dlink DIR-655 router.

In all the tests below a 305MB file was transfered from a Gigabit LAN to the router then wireless to the Gigabyte WI06

Dlink DIR-655 router results:

Range 3m

132.6Mbps draftn only connection (50% utilization)

99.5Mbps draftn 11g only connection (35% utilization)

79.6Mbps draftn 11b/g connection (30% utilization)

Range 20m

66.3Mbps draftn only connection

15.3Mbps draftn 11g only connection

12.6Mbps draftn 11b/g connection

Buffalo WZR-AG300NH

Range 3m

39.8Mbps in 11b/g only mode

72.3Mbps in 11a only mode

range 20m

22.7Mbps in 11a only mode

Gigabit Lan via Dlink router to 100M Lan = 90.9Mbps (99% utilization)

As we can see above the Atheros Chipset on both the Gigabyte WI06 and Dlink DIR-655 give a huge performance boost over a non Atheros based router (Buffalo's Marvell chipset)

Performance in draftn mode is quite simply amazing, had to do the test multiple times as I couldn't believe my eyes.

At 3m the performance is greater then 100Mbps cable LAN, even in mixed n and G modes.

If you only have 11n gear your transfers are going to fly.

Even with some 11g gear 100Mbps performance is excellent.

At range the Atheros based router does great in draftn only mode, but quite mediocre in other modes, here the Buffalo in 11a mode does better.

Performance with non Atheros router was quite OK in 11a only mode, 11g (mixed 11g/ :) was quite poor.

For some reason internet is really slow with 11a even though the transfer rates are fast, too slow to be of any good, must look into this some more.

Final words, if you are going to get an Atheros WLAN card also get an Atheros based router, you'll not be dissapointed.

Keep in mind the 2 atheros based WLAN cards I have BOTH need the parity fix modded INF for them to work at all.

This could be a big downer for some, as all the drivers upto and including v7.3.1.109 DON'T work.

This applies for the Dell i9400/E1705, Dell Latitude D820 and the Satellite A100, all of which have the parity error bug.

Celly's Dell XPS M1710 laptop works just fine with the Gigabyte WI06 so it could be a hit and miss wether the parity error happens.

If you don't mind using the modded INF to have a blazingly fast WLAN experience at this point in time you cannnot beat this combo.

If you are using a non Atheros based router then I would not recommend the Atheros based WLAN cards as performance is too unstable.

The Broadcom based 11n WLAN cads do much better here.

For more info and purchasing options head on over to OxfordTec for all your WLAN card needs.

These guys deal with Gigabyte and Sparklan cards which are nearly all Atheros based.

I cannot wait till the Dlink DIR-855 comes out this will allow 11a to be used as well, this should give the Buffalo the big boot I would think

If a reseller feels the need to have this product reviewed when it comes out I'll be more than happy to do so (blatent groveling :) )

[uPDATE]

Hmmm, the Gigabyte and the Sparklan refuse to surf the web with any speed, it's like dialup speeds :P

So strange that transfers are fast but surfing is soooo slow.

If I plug the wired LAN cable in then all is good and fast again.

Once again the Atheros Chipsets at the moment are very fussy on routers (well the Buffalo anyway)

I highly recommend you get an Atheros based card ONLY if you have an Atheros based router to go with it for blazing speed.

There is a fairly good chance that you may face all sorts of isuues.

Bugger I like the Buffalo's 11a band, but I may need to keep the Dlink DIR-655 just for all that speed.

[uPDATE II]

Took the SparkLan card for a spin, expecting even greater things from this card as it was only just released (I got one just before official release)

But with the same setup as for the Gigabyte WI06 above, the card installed flawlessly I reinstalled the drivers and logged in to Dlink DIR-655 router with no probs.

Tried to do the same speed tests as above but the tests would not start or start then stop then start again.

It would take many tries to get a test completed, I'll not do any test results for this WLAN card as it's unusable, the speed when it did go was on a par with the Gigabyte.

I also had 3 parity errors with the Sparklan card these were NMI-hardware failures no the memory or IOcheck parity error I would get before the modded INF was made.

Now I cannot be sure wether the card is just plain faulty or it needs more driver tweaking for it to work with my system.

But as it is, I cannot recommend this card at all.

I've since put the Gigabyte back in and this is working fine except for the slow surfing, webpages are OK downloads are at about 1/2 speed.

Make of the above what you will, these are my experiences others may vary.

If you do a lot of file transferring and have a slow DSL account then this card will do just fine.

Also remember it took me weeks to get this card to work at all on my i9400 so there might be some driver issues to get sorted in the future.

I'll keep the Gigabyte for now only because I'll try and find a fix for the surfing, or I'd be looking for a Broadcom based card to get my surfing speed back again.

[uPDATE III]

No sleep for me for me tonight world ending rain an lightning storm put an end to that.

But it meant I was able to hunt down the slow surfing bug, INF fix can be found here

Now the Gigabyte has become an option for me to keep (as I would have to spend more money on another card)

Although if I was to hit the road, I'd not be sure how I'd get on with connection speed.