Atheros WiFi Card is Much More Sensitive than Intel 3945ABG

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redburgundy · #1 Post by **redburgundy** » Thu May 25, 2006 7:38 pm

I just replaced the Intel 3945ABG card with the Atheros card 40Y7026.
Using Access Connections with the Intel card, I could see:
jk.............70%
linksys......33%
Bigelow.....16%
BGNet.......11%

After changing out the card to the Atheros card, I could see:
jk...............100%
BGNet.........22% to 82% (very strange)
linksys.........81%
Bigelow........67%
101.............45%
B19 Net.......15%

Since everything else was the same, this clearly shows that the Intel card is less likely to work in a weak signal environment than the Atheros card.

atlacatl · #2 Post by **atlacatl** » Thu May 25, 2006 10:08 pm

IMHO, you may need a couple of more test to make such strong assumption.

Although, it looks quite different...

pdudas · #3 Post by **pdudas** » Fri May 26, 2006 6:43 am

I have an atheros based card in my X60.
The best card I've ever seen!

It has a very good sensitivity...

trentblase · #4 Post by **trentblase** » Sun May 28, 2006 9:25 pm

Too bad the price you pay seems to be increased heat.

redburgundy · #5 Post by **redburgundy** » Mon May 29, 2006 10:34 am

trentblase wrote:Too bad the price you pay seems to be increased heat.

Actually, the palmrest seems cooler than when the Intel card was installed.

pdudas · #6 Post by **pdudas** » Mon May 29, 2006 10:37 am

Atheros cards are cooler than intel...

atlacatl · #7 Post by **atlacatl** » Mon May 29, 2006 10:54 am

pdudas wrote:Atheros cards are cooler than intel...

Just curious if you have empirical evidence.

What are your http://sourceforge.net/projects/tp4xfancontrol/ readings?

pdudas · #8 Post by **pdudas** » Mon May 29, 2006 11:22 am

My temps (after 3 hour working on wireless lan):

cpu:35C
aps:42C
gpu:35C
bat:32C
bat:30C
bus:39C
pci: 32C

This is not an optimal, because it was measured in bed.
When the TP is sitting on the table, I think the temps are lower.

atlacatl · #9 Post by **atlacatl** » Mon May 29, 2006 11:31 am

Wow!

That is very cool...Is this on AC or battery?

surg · #10 Post by **surg** » Mon May 29, 2006 12:29 pm

@pdudas

Now that's what I call a cool running machine.
My X60s is nowhere near that. On battery with WLAN on I have something like 46°C CPU and 48 APS. Turning off WLAN APS goes down to ~42°C (Atheros card).
Congrats to your cool edition Thinkpad!

pdudas · #11 Post by **pdudas** » Mon May 29, 2006 12:53 pm

atlacatl wrote:Wow!

That is very cool...Is this on AC or battery?

This is on battery, I'm in bed....

thibouille27 · #12 Post by **thibouille27** » Mon May 29, 2006 1:16 pm

Mmm my X60 (1706-85G) with Intel card is nowhere near those temps. It is more like 45°C cpu.

@RT · #13 Post by **@RT** » Tue May 30, 2006 2:57 am

I have X60s with an Intel card. this is mine when running on battery on the table in the air con. room.
CPU 45ฐC (0x78)
APS 42ฐC (0x79)
GPU 43ฐC (0x7b)
BAT 33ฐC (0x7c)
BAT 31ฐC (0x7e)
BUS 40ฐC (0xc0)
PCI 39ฐC (0xc1)

Ponch · #14 Post by **Ponch** » Tue May 30, 2006 5:28 am

35°C for CPU and GPU on a X60s???
I don't believe that! I am sure no one here in this forum has that low temperatures!

surg · #15 Post by **surg** » Tue May 30, 2006 6:05 am

Weather is freezing cold in Hungary right now!

hoya · #16 Post by **hoya** » Mon Jun 12, 2006 5:23 am

redburgundy - Have you done any throughput comparison of your Intel and Atheros cards? I'm curious to know if you're seeing faster download speeds as a result of the higher reported signal strength.

redburgundy · #17 Post by **redburgundy** » Mon Jun 12, 2006 6:38 am

hoya wrote:redburgundy - Have you done any throughput comparison of your Intel and Atheros cards? I'm curious to know if you're seeing faster download speeds as a result of the higher reported signal strength.

No. I don't have any way to compare the speed of the two cards. My download speed is limited by my Internet connection to a few Mb/s, and the WiFi speed is much greater than that, regardless of which card is installed.

hoya · #18 Post by **hoya** » Mon Jun 12, 2006 1:52 pm

Does the Atheros card require any services running in the background?

Intel's driver installs at least three services (EveEng.exe, Dot1XCfg.exe, S24EvMon.exe) that consume 21,928 K of memory on my system.

Antioch · #19 Post by **Antioch** » Tue Jun 13, 2006 10:35 am

Im also interested in knowing if the Atheros card runs any extra serices in the background.

Also, can anyone else report whether the Atheros card really is cooler than the Intel card? This will be a major factor in what X60s model I decide to buy.

Thanks!

neutron · #20 Post by **neutron** » Tue Jun 13, 2006 10:16 pm

I'm just curious whether we can choose either Intel or Atheros card when we customize X60s on lenovo website.

Antioch · #21 Post by **Antioch** » Tue Jun 13, 2006 10:32 pm

With the new system, yes you can.

Although I've yet to see anyone give some good evidence that the Atheros is cooler than the Intel (which is very important to me) to convince me to go with Atheros.

Still waiting for a solid comment on Atheros vs Intel temperatures.

bijou · #22 Post by **bijou** » Sun Jun 25, 2006 11:13 pm

[quote="Antioch"]With the new system, yes you can.
Although I've yet to see anyone give some good evidence that the Atheros is cooler than the Intel (which is very important to me) to convince me to go with Atheros.
Still waiting for a solid comment on Atheros vs Intel temperatures.[/quote]

The only choices you can make right now when you customize are either the Intel 3945abg or the Thinkpad miniPCI Express 11 a/b/g. Is this Thinkpad card the one you are referring to as the Altheros? Also, the part number they now show for the Thinkpad card is 41A4070 which is different from the 40Y7026 mentioned in the first post on this thread. If this Thinkpad card is not the Altheros card, soes anyone have an opinion on which is better between the Intel and the Thinkpad cards. Thanks.

pdudas · #23 Post by **pdudas** » Mon Jun 26, 2006 1:10 am

[quote="Antioch"]Im also interested in knowing if the Atheros card runs any extra serices in the background.
/quote]

I think the answer is no.
I installed it under Vista Beta2. it has only 3 file in the wlanath/w2k folder.
It seems simple device driver files (inf, sys....).
It works well on vista too.

Thinkpad760XD · #24 Post by **Thinkpad760XD** » Fri Nov 10, 2006 2:20 am

So, would the consensus be that the Atheros card has better sensitivity at the cost of increased heat?

For me, I'd sooner have the range and sensitivity, with a little added heat.

pdudas · #25 Post by **pdudas** » Fri Nov 10, 2006 3:06 am

In my opinion the atheros is cooler than intel.

andreas74 · #26 Post by **andreas74** » Fri Nov 10, 2006 4:33 am

well, could it maybe be that the heat is caused not just by the card but by some combination of card + whatelse i dont know...
that would explain the fact that it seems to be just 'bad luck' , with either atheros or intel...

Thinkpad760XD · #27 Post by **Thinkpad760XD** » Fri Nov 10, 2006 7:34 am

Let me rephrase....heat, or no heat, do most feel the Atheros has better range or sensitivity, or the Intel?

Atheros WiFi Card is Much More Sensitive than Intel 3945ABG

Atheros WiFi Card is Much More Sensitive than Intel 3945ABG

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