We Pick The Best Wi-Fi Cards For Gaming Currently Available
Updated: Dec 8, 2022 5:36 pm
Over the past couple of decades, the technology industry has gone a bit bonkers for wireless compatibility. We’re seeing more wireless mice, headsets, and keyboards than ever before, mainly thanks to new, more cost-effective ways of removing the hassle of cables.
With that being the case, it’s no surprise that more and more people are now wanting to remove the hassle of cables when it comes to their internet needs as well. PCIe Wi-Fi cards have been growing in popularity exponentially over the past couple of years, with the marketplace now offering a sea of affordable options for all levels of performance. That makes choosing the best PCI-e Wi-Fi card for gaming all the more difficult.
Fear not though, here at WePC we like to lend a helping hand – do some of the hard work for you, if you will. We’ve got our hands on some of the best Wi-Fi adapters out there, and we’re gonna put them through their paces to see which is best for gaming.
In the following article, we’ll be exploring signal strength, signal distance, speeds, reliability, heatsinks, and everything else that comes with a PCIe Wi-Fi card purchase. We’ll be concluding with our four best PCIe Wi-Fi cards and why we think they’re worth your consideration.
So, with all that in mind, let’s waste no further time and dive straight into it!
Our Top Picks
01
The Best PCIe Wi-Fi Card For Gaming
ASUS PCE-AC56 PCI Wireless Express Adapter
02
The Second Best PCIe Wi-Fi Card For Gaming
TP-Link AC1300 PCIe Wifi Card
03
A Fast Bluetooth-Capable Wi-Fi Card
Ubit WiFi 6E Supports 6GHz 7th Generation PCIe WiFi Card
Things to Consider Before Buying A PCIe Wi-Fi Card For Gaming
Like all hardware components, choosing the best PCIe Wi-Fi card for gaming requires certain levels of consideration to ensure you choose the right one. As the market is currently flooded with a sea of options, it can sometimes be difficult choosing the one that best suits your setup.
For that reason, we’ve put together the main aspects of a Wi-Fi card that should always be considered prior to purchase. These will cover the main factors that affect you from a performance and gaming standpoint.
Data Transfer Speed And Bandwidth
Data transfer speed and bandwidth is a hugely important aspect when it comes to gaming, especially those that like to play more competitive titles. The speed and bandwidth of your Wi-Fi card will dictate how quickly you’ll receive your internet connection. For gamers, you want to be choosing a data transfer speed that covers the speed of your internet.
The speed of your Wi-Fi card is a combination of several factors working together, but ultimately all comes down to the demands of your network. A Wi-Fi card that works well for your work colleague might not work as efficiently for you.
That said, any PCIe Wi-Fi card worth its weight will provide adequate speeds for a gamer and their household. As a base figure, gamers should be looking for at least one Gigabit of data throughput. This is more than enough speed to accommodate your gaming/browsing needs. However, for those looking to achieve the highest levels of wireless connectivity, two and three Gigabit Wi-Fi cards are available.
Number & Quality Of Antennas
The antennas that come attached to your Wi-Fi card are probably much more important than you would initially think. Firstly, the antennas are the feature of a Wi-Fi card that transmits and receives the data given out by your wireless router. That makes them hugely important in the greater scheme of things. Whilst the quality of the antenna is extremely important, so are the number of antennas that your Wi-Fi card accommodates.
Each of the antenna on your Wi-Fi card can transmit and receive data. So, having more antenna theoretically means you can receive more data. Furthermore, positioning your antenna in different directions can increase the coverage of your wireless connection.
However, it isn’t all about quantity – we’ve also got to consider quality. The marketplace is a sea of Wi-Fi card options, many of which try to claim your cash by offering ‘bang for your buck’ price tags – achieved by reducing the quality of certain features. That said, if you are serious about wireless gaming, you must factor in the quality of your antennas.
The quality of your antennas will dictate certain characteristics of your Wi-Fi card, including signal strength, signal distance, speed, bandwidth, and overall coverage.
When purchasing a Wi-Fi card, try and discover what antenna the manufacturers have used. If they’re unimpressive stock antennas, you might want to consider replacing that.
Thermals
Like most PC components, thermals and cooling are some of the most important things to consider when it comes to gaming. If thermals start to increase, you see a rapid decline in the efficiency of that hardware component. The same can most definitely be said for Wi-Fi cards – the main reason why you’ll often see them equipped with fair large heatsinks.
Ultimately, if you want the best Wi-Fi experience, look for an adapter which comes equipped with a fairly good sized heatsink. This will ensure that your Wi-Fi card is running in optimal conditions.
Size
Whilst the size of your Wi-Fi card doesn’t actually have a direct correlation with gaming performance, it can affect you in other ways. For example, if your Wi-Fi card is too large, you might end up blocking other more important hardware components – such as the GPU.
Just keep in mind how much available space you have to play with when purchasing a Wi-Fi card. The last thing you want to be doing is sending stuff back and restarting your search.
01
The Best PCIe Wi-Fi Card For Gaming
ASUS PCE-AC56 PCI Wireless Express Adapter
Standard IEEE 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac
Frequencies 2.4Ghz or 5GHz
Connection PCIe
- Prioritizes data transfer
- Large wireless coverage
- Excellent speeds
The ASUS PCE-AC56 gets the number one spot for PCIe Wi-Fi card for gaming and it’s easy to see why. The AC56, as we’ll call it, not only provides excellent speeds and overall performance, it also brings a ton of reliability to the table as well.
The ASUS PCE-AC56 offers dual-band operations and supports transfer speeds up to 876Mbps (5GHz) or 400Mbps (2.4GHz). Alongside this, ASUS has equipped it with various modulation technologies, including OFDM, DQPSK, CCK, DBPSK, 64QAM, and 16QAM, all helping to improve the performance whilst allowing for data transfer prioritization.
Thanks to the two external antennae, locating the perfect position from your laptop/PC to your router couldn’t be easier. Pairing this with the wide-range the AC56 supports and you can pretty much put your computer wherever you want.
The easy to install AC56 is compatible with most versions of Windows and adds a certain level of aesthetic appeal to your build. Take all these factors into consideration, alongside the powerful heatsink it comes equipped with, and you have a superb little PCIe Wi-Fi card for your next build.
02
The Second Best PCIe Wi-Fi Card For Gaming
TP-Link AC1300 PCIe Wifi Card
Standard IEEE 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac
Frequencies 2.4GHz + 5GHz
Connection PCIe
- High quality range
- Excellent heatsink for the price point
- Doesn’t offer great speeds
If you’re looking for wide coverage, solid signal strength, and an affordable price tag, look no further. The TP-Link AC1300 PCIe Wi-Fi card is a well-balanced mix of all three, bringing the reliability of TP-Link’s name with it.
This particular adapter offers up speeds of 867Mbps in 5GHz range and 400Mbps in 2.4GHz range, putting it bang in line with the top performers in this guide. Speeds of this height are going to be more than enough to play most gaming scenarios, alongside excellent streaming and browsing results too.
Whilst the two external antennas aren’t the best in the world, they do provide adequate range reception for your Wi-Fi – allowing you more freedom when choosing a location to game. The heatsink on the AC1300 is up there with the best in this guide, providing excellent thermal dissipation whilst in use.
This model supports most versions of Windows – including Windows 10. However, that being said, it, unfortunately, does not cover Linux. Overall, it’s still one of the best Wi-Fi cards in today’s market – and a damn good value one too.
So, there you have it guys, our comprehensive rundown of the best PCIe Wi-Fi cards for gaming in 2021. We hope this article has shed a little light on a topic that is sometimes overlooked. We’ve tried to break the technology side of things down into easy-to-digest pieces of info that could actually aid you in your next Wi-Fi purchase.
All of these Wi-Fi adapters are great options, and each offers something slightly different, though our top all-rounder is the ASUS PCE AC56. This card comes with great range, solid coverage, and a well-designed heatsink are all factors that make this the best for gaming.
Let us know which Wi-Fi adapter you’re most likely to choose by dropping us a comment in the section below.
