Which is the best WiFi 7 adapter: Intel vs Qualcomm

SamB@lemmy.world to Technology@lemmy.world – 81 points – Which is the best WiFi 7 adapter: Intel vs Qualcomm
youtube.com

I tested the Intel BE200 and the Qualcomm NCM865 using the EnGenius ECW536 and these are the results that I got.

12

In a nutshell
Qualcomm: better support for amd, no support for linux
Intel: support for linux
Other than that it is too early to tell because drivers continue to be developed and it's still early days for wifi 7

Qualcomm: better support for amd

Intel usually has two type of WiFi adapters. One tries on things in their CPUs, the other one doesn't. So it a bit strange that this video finds it surprising that there's a version tied to Intel CPUs. I'd always get the one that doesn't need an Intel CPU. This as it'll impact your CPU less,, Intel or not.

Can you please provide a link to the Intel WiFi 7 adapter that does work with AMD systems? I would really like to test it asap.

If I recall well it is the no-vPro ones that works, but currently there is a bug on AMD systems that prevent the BE200 to work. Windows already got a partial fix, but not Linux.

I got two BE200 adapters and both are non-vPro. I did not know about the AMD systems bug, I thought it's just basic driver incompatibility. So I will look a bit more into it.

Some of us remember win modems and their ability to kill your computer by tying your network performance to your CPU usage. Good times...

From my tests, Intel wifi 7 chip currently do not work with an AMD CPU on Linux. Qualcomm does work with a manual blob pull, but drop under load.

Some Qualcomm adapters do work with Linux, those that were available last year. The MSI does not seem to work with anything else than Windows 11 at the moment.

Does Wi-Fi 7 have the same restrictions on AP mode for these cards as wifi 6e?

I, too, would like to know this.

I would love confirmation but I'm assuming they are also restricted due to 6ghz license holders