Wireless connectivity has become a given for mobile computing in today’s society, particularly with smartphones, laptops, and smart home devices. However, it’s not necessarily a foregone conclusion that desktop computers come standard with Wi-Fi connectivity.
While some prebuilt desktops and motherboards include integrated Wi-Fi, many users needing wireless connectivity must opt for an add-in card or USB Wi-Fi dongle . You may also want a Wi-Fi card if your desktop came with built-in Wi-Fi 5 or 6 and now you want to upgrade to a newer standard. Luckily, a wide variety of cards are available covering the three most recent Wi-Fi standards: Wi-Fi 6, Wi-Fi 6E, andWi-Fi 7.
Best Wi-Fi 7
Best Wi-Fi 7 PCIe AdapterOur overall speed champion is the MSI Herald BE, which is a PCIe Wi-Fi adapter with an optional Bluetooth 5.4 module. It blazed through our iPer3 tests, surpassing 2,800 Mbps at close range, and has a price tag of just $50.
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Best Wi-Fi 6E
Best Wi-Fi 6E PCIe AdapterThe GC-WBAX210 wasn’t the fastest Wi-Fi 6E card we tested, but its performance was near the top of the charts. Better yet, the card is priced at just $39, making it an excellent bargain for those not yet ready to make the full transition to Wi-Fi 7 gear.
Best Wi-Fi 6 PCIe Adapter
The Cudy name might not be familiar, but the company’s AX3000 Wi-Fi 6 adapter has the basics right, thanks to an Intel AX200 NGFF 2230 M.2 Wi-Fi chip. And with a $26 price tag, it won’t break the bank.
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The MSI Herald BE topped our leaderboard on the 6 GHz band when using Wi-Fi 7. It achieved over 2,800 Mbps at close range with uncongested traffic and only dropped to just over 2,700 Mbps at long range (25 feet). That consistent performance continued with our congested tests.
The wireless adapter has an external antenna attached to a 2.5-foot cable, allowing you to magnetically attach it to the top of your PC’s enclosure or desk. The adapter sports a theoretical maximum transfer speed of 5.8 Gbps (we saw roughly half that maximum) and includes a USB cable in the box that connects to your motherboard to enable Bluetooth 5.4 support.
With a price tag of $49.99, the MSI Herald BE is an easy-to-recommend upgrade to add Wi-Fi 7 to your desktop PC.
iPerf3 Uncongested 6 GHz
2830
2730
iPerf3 Uncongested 5 GHz
1830
1373
iPerf3 Uncongested 2.4 GHz
187
131
iPerf3 Congested 6 GHz
2566
2060
iPerf3 Congested 5 GHz
1290
1005
iPerf3 Congested 2.4 GHz
166
100
The Gigabyte GC-WBAX210 is a great, all-around Wi-Fi 6E adapter. At its fastest (6-feet, uncongested traffic), the GC-WBAX210 topped out at nearly 1,900 Mbps on the 6 GHz band. But even at 25 feet, performance was still admirable at around 1,700 Mbps. 5 GHz performance was equally as good.
While it didn’t have the highest performance for a Wi-Fi 6E adapter (that honor goes to the Asus PCE-AXE58BT, the GC-WBAX210 costs just $39 compared to $59 for the Asus. That extra $20 isn’t worth the few percentage points in difference separating the two cards.
We should also note that the GC-WBAX210 includes a USB cable that plugs into the card to enable Bluetooth 5.2 for your supported devices.
1870
1696
1790
1510
160
127
1500
1163
1446
947
132
85
Cudy might be a brand few people are familiar with, but the AX3000 Wi-FI 6 adapter gets the job done. It uses an Intel AX200 NGFF 2230 M.2 card and a standard PCIe adapter card. The antennas screw directly into the back of the card without an extension.
Its overall performance was strong among the Wi-Fi 6 competition, and we can’t argue with its price tag of just $26. That price also includes a half-height/low-profile PCI bracket for use in more compact systems, a driver CD, and a screwdriver in the box to aid in installation. Some of the Wi-Fi adapters we tested that are twice this price don’t even include those extra pack-ins.
1363
823
167
118
1123
1120
101
98
The MSI AXE5400 is one of the two USB solutions we’ve tested so far, and it uses the Wi-Fi 6E standard. At first, it looks like a large USB thumb drive, but you’ll notice it has a flip-out antenna that sweeps 180 degrees. In addition, MSI provides a stand for the wireless adapter in the box with a 2.5-foot-long USB cable, allowing you to place the AXE5400 where you prefer for the best reception.
Regarding performance, the USB 3.0 interface blunts performance by about 20 percent compared to the best PCIe Wi-Fi 6E adapters we tested. However, we’re still talking Gig+ speeds, which should be sufficient for most home users. It’s also reasonably priced at just $51.
1350
1183
1413
800
142
30
1320
1260
735
597
63
35
Wi-Fi 7 adapters currently offer the best performance when using the 6 GHz channel, but their Wi-Fi 6E counterparts are more than capable of delivering Gig+ speeds. When it comes to the best bang for the buck, it’s hard to get any better than the OKN AX5400. The wireless adapter provides solid performance at close range on the 6 GHz and 5 GHz bands.
The only place where the card falters is at 25-foot distances on the 5 GHz band. However, your mileage may vary depending on the layout of your home and any obstacles that may be in the way.
The best part about the OKN AX5400 is its price. At $26, it’s roughly half the price of our top pick for Wi-Fi 7 adapters and $14 less than our best Wi-Fi 6E adapter.
1670
1473
1246
1126
153
77
1650
1063
1036
590
130
87
The MSI BE6500 is by far the fastest USB-based wireless adapter we’ve tested, thanks to its Realtek RTL8912AU Wi-Fi 7 chipset. The adapter supports up to 688 Mbps on the 2.4 GHz band, up to 2,880 Mbps on the 5 GHz band, and up to 2,880 Mbps on the 6 GHz band. Add those numbers up, and that’s how you get to the “6500” in the adapter’s name.
The BE6500 adapter features a movable antenna and can be plugged directly into a desktop or laptop. MSI also provides a weighted base in the box that features an integrated 2.5-foot USB cable. The added accessory makes it easy to place the BE6500 in the optimum spot for the best reception.
We came super-close to hitting 2,000 Mbps on the 6 GHz band at close range with the BE6500, and still managed a respectable 1,444 Mbps at 25 feet. Performance on the 5 GHz and 2.4 GHz bands was also competitive. The BE6500 couldn’t quite match the performance of the PCIe-based Wi-Fi 7 competition, but it nipped at their heels in all the throughput tests. If you have a free PCIe slot to accommodate a Wi-Fi 7 upgrade, we’d still recommend going with a PCIe add-in card. But if you don’t have the ability to upgrade via PCIe and have a free USB 3.0 port, you can’t go wrong with the BE6500.
1989
1444
1534
1238
149
56
1811
1400
1209
1176
124
55
PCIe Wi-Fi adapters versus USB Wi-Fi adapters
There are two primary ways for users to add Wi-Fi connectivity to a desktop. The first option is a PCIe add-in card, which offers the best performance and is typically the cheapest option. Interestingly, all the PCIe solutions feature an NGFF 2230 M.2 Wi-Fi card used in laptops that is inserted into a PCIe x1 adapter card.
The backplate of each PCIe add-in card includes two antenna ports. On some cards, moveable antennas screw directly into the back. On the rest of the cards, wire leads screw into the antenna ports, which then attach to an external antenna base that typically attaches magnetically to the top of your desktop enclosure or sits on your desk. The idea here is to give the user more control of where the antennas point to improve overall performance.
The second option is to go with a USB wireless adapter. These Wi-Fi adapters plug into a free USB port and are the quickest and easiest way to add wireless connectivity to a desktop. However, they are typically slower than their PCIe counterparts.
Another less common option is for a desktop motherboard to include an NGFF 2230 M.2 slot, allowing you to swap out Wi-Fi adapters at your leisure.
Of course, you’ll need one of thebest Wi-Fi routersto get the absolute best speeds from any Wi-Fi adapter.
802.11ax
802.11be
2.4 GHz, 5 GHz
2.4 GHz, 5 GHz, 6 GHz
1024-QAM
4096-QAM
160 MHz
320 MHz
8
16
Testing Procedures for all Wi-Fi Adapters and Benchmark Results
To test each Wi-Fi adapter, we relied on an IntelCore i7-14600KFdesktop with a built-in 10 GbE port on the motherboard (MSI MEG Z790 Godlike Max) acting as a server. The server was then connected to an open 10 GbE LAN port on aTP-Link Archer GE800Wi-Fi 7 router. Each Wi-Fi adapter was then installed in a mini-tower desktop with an MSI Pro B650M-A Wi-Fi AM5 motherboard and aRyzen 5 7600processor runningWindows 11Home.
The Wi-Fi adapters were tested usingiPerf3on the 2.4 GHz, 5 GHz, and 6 GHz (where applicable) bands. Tests were conducted at six feet and 25 feet, with no network traffic and congested traffic (six devices running 4K YouTube video streams across all wireless bands).
We tested the following cards:
Performance Charts
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Brandon Hill is a senior editor at Tom’s Hardware. He has written about PC and Mac tech since the late 1990s with bylines at AnandTech, DailyTech, and Hot Hardware. When he is not consuming copious amounts of tech news, he can be found enjoying the NC mountains or the beach with his wife and two sons.
