Advice on choosing new wifi card for my PC.

January 25, 2005 2:29 PM

I need help selecting a new wireless card for my PC [more inside, obviously]

I'm downstairs and the router and modem are upstairs. Right now I have an older D-Link card (with antennae), but D-Link hasn't updated the drivers since mid 2003. My primary issue is with World of Warcraft, which hasn't been running properly (my computer blue screens immediately upon entering the game with one character). I've done troubleshooting on a variety of issues (memory tests, etc.), and although my blue screen no longer contains information for some reason, I'm pretty sure my network card is to blame. I've read some reports on my card, and it appears that there's some issue with it BSODing when it gets "too much info" or something.

Anyway, long story short, I'm also having issues with a few other programs (such as when I have bit torrents open) that cause a BSOD with a network card driver error, so I'd like to purchase a new card. I'm probably about fifty feet from the router, but you have to go through a few walls to get there; my current card has an antennae to help alleviate any issues this may cause, so that might be taken into consideration. I've also seen some of the USB 2.0 wireless adapters but have no experience with them--does anyone know how well they operate? I'd like a newer card from a company still updating its drivers so I can hopefully avoid similar problems.

Any help is appreciated.

posted by The God Complex to computers & internet (4 comments total)

Oh, and for the USB 2.0, I'd probably be looking at something like this, but, as I said, I have no real experience with them.
posted by The God Complex at 2:30 PM on January 25, 2005

What is the exact model number of your D-Link card? One can often download generic/OEM drivers for common chipsets which are often more up to date than those that D-Link, Linksys, etc make available.
posted by zsazsa at 2:38 PM on January 25, 2005

D-Link Air DWL-520 Wireless PCI Adapter(rev.D)
posted by The God Complex at 2:41 PM on January 25, 2005

Well, this won't exactly answer your question, but I've had fantastic luck with SMC products. I use an SMC 2532w PCMCIA card in my laptop, and I've never had any problem, and it's so sensitive and powerful that it picks up things no other card does.

It's possible there's a PCI version. If so, I'd highly recommend it.
posted by fake at 3:54 PM on January 25, 2005