Wireless Network card replacement on G74SX-A1

[CYberjudas]

Anyone have suggestions for a replacement card for the Atheros wireless card that came with the G74SX-A1 ? I have heard that the Intel 6200 Half Height mini pcie wireless card is a good card with both bands, 2.4-G and 5-G bands. There is also the 6300 from Intel that seems to be the same as the 6200 but has 3 antenna for 3X MIMO. The G74SX-A1 only has 2 antenna, is there any place to buy a third antenna for this laptop to use this card properly ? and is there a dual band card available that has Clear network like the Best buy version of these laptops ? What are you all using ? Any other suggestions would be great. Thanks in advance !

On a side note. When i opened the access door on the bottom of this laptop the Wireless card is only held in by one screw. Is this common ? I have always seen these kept in place with two screws. Anyone else have one screw keeping the card in place ?

[Snelk]

CYberjudas wrote:
Anyone have suggestions for a replacement card for the Atheros wireless card that came with the G74SX-A1 ? I have heard that the Intel 6200 Half Height mini pcie wireless card is a good card with both bands, 2.4-G and 5-G bands. There is also the 6300 from Intel that seems to be the same as the 6200 but has 3 antenna for 3X MIMO. The G74SX-A1 only has 2 antenna, is there any place to buy a third antenna for this laptop to use this card properly ? and is there a dual band card available that has Clear network like the Best buy version of these laptops ? What are you all using ? Any other suggestions would be great. Thanks in advance !

On a side note. When i opened the access door on the bottom of this laptop the Wireless card is only held in by one screw. Is this common ? I have always seen these kept in place with two screws. Anyone else have one screw keeping the card in place ?

The problem with the 6300 is that it does not have Bluetooth capability like the original Atheros card. Personally I got a 6230, it can do both the 2.4 and 5 ghz bands unlike the pre-installed card and is Bluetooth capable. Unfortunately it only has two antenna slots so it can only do 300Mbps instead of the 450Mbps the 6300 can handle. As for another antenna, most places you can buy the card will probably have an antenna that should work fine, installing it would be the real challenge.

As for the screw, as far I know that seems to be pretty standard for the G7x series, it isn't really necessary to have both screws and I guess Asus decided they didn't need the second one.

[Norsky48]

Snelk wrote:
The problem with the 6300 is that it does not have Bluetooth capability like the original Atheros card. Personally I got a 6230, it can do both the 2.4 and 5 ghz bands unlike the pre-installed card and is Bluetooth capable. Unfortunately it only has two antenna slots so it can only do 300Mbps instead of the 450Mbps the 6300 can handle. As for another antenna, most places you can buy the card will probably have an antenna that should work fine, installing it would be the real challenge.

As for the screw, as far I know that seems to be pretty standard for the G7x series, it isn't really necessary to have both screws and I guess Asus decided they didn't need the second one.

Snelk,

I am interested in the 6230. Perhaps you can tell me, does it work with the fnF2 sequence to turn it on and off? Thanks.

[Chastity]

Norsky48 wrote:
Snelk,

I am interested in the 6230. Perhaps you can tell me, does it work with the fnF2 sequence to turn it on and off? Thanks.

Yes, it does

[Norsky48]

Chastity@ASUS wrote:
Yes, it does

Thanks Chastity! I have it on order.

[JRd1st]

Norsky48 wrote:
Thanks Chastity! I have it on order.

Let us know how that works out for ya, ok?

[Norsky48]

JRd1st wrote:
Let us know how that works out for ya, ok?

Will do.

I am currently in Europe on a business trip and won't be home for a couple of weeks, so it will be a little bit.

[BrodyBoy]

Fn+F2 toggles the Wi-Fi adapter on/off. That's true regardless of which card you have installed.

EDIT: But oh yeah.....you were originally asking about BT. Without WC3, toggling the Wi-Fi with F2 is the easiest way, IMO. If you want BT switchable, too, you can just put the little blue BT icon on your taskbar and toggle it there. No WC3 needed at all.

Then you have one less chunk of Asus bloatware to troubleshoot! 😉

[Norsky48]

JRd1st wrote:
Let us know how that works out for ya, ok?

Well, I'm back from Europe and got the 6230 installed. It works very well, the speeds in our home office (where the router is located) went from ~14 MB/s to +20 MB/s and if I'm down stairs, I was getting ~12 on the Atheros and now with the 6230 I'm still at +20! A great upgrade for ~$20. These speeds are from Speedtest.net

[AQUASTEVAE]

have ordered the 6300 ult n, and couldn't care less about bt. connection strength and speed are the god's of my world. now, the only thing is, i am still interested in installing that third antenna wire. i know it probably won't come into play very often right now, but down the road... i'd rather have it and not need it, than to need it and not have it. i know that the keyboard of the g74 pop's out pretty easily, but what about the palmrest's and screen bezel? i need brodyboy, or who ever else has them, to post some pic's or vid's.