Intel Wi-Fi 6 AX200 Launches With Linux Support In Tow

[DeepDayze]

7260 were shite on Windows too, I had to replace every single one with older atheros chips in work laptops :^)

Yep, can't go wrong with Atheros as I even have issues with many Broadcom chips (not just Intel) whether on Linux or Windows.

[willmore]

It's been pointed out that it might be using CNVi and, hence, no amount of adapters will make it work.

[moriel5]

Afaik Lenovo dropped this whitelisting years ago, the T450 should not care about what card you install.

That's only a few years ago, not even 5 years ago.
But thanks, I was looking for an answer to that for quite some time.

[moriel5]

It's been pointed out that it might be using CNVi and, hence, no amount of adapters will make it work.

The AX200 will not use CNVi, that will be the AX201.
Interestingly, there appears to be a AX101 in the latest Windows drivers.

[moriel5]

Looking at Intel's latest Windows drivers, it looks like we'll soon have the Intel WiFi 7 AX210 and AX211 (as well as the AX411).
Wireless-AY, anyone?

Update: They are also on iwlwifi-git (also the AX101).

[moriel5]

Why though. a single PCIe lane can do fine with gigabit ethernet, why would gigabit wifi be different? The PCIe does not care about the medium.

But anyway.

Best theoretical max of the wifi 6 spec with the best protocol and frequency is 1200 Mbit/s, which is 150 MB/s. I highly doubt you can get anywhere near half that in real life but whatever.

m-pcie has a single lane of PCIe 1.0 (usually, it could theoretically have any PCIe revision but for some reason I always see them locked at the 1.0), which provides up to 250 MB/s up and 250 MB/s down at the same time, and it's a pretty efficient bus with low overhead so you are getting close to that in practice.

M.2 key A/E has 2 lanes of PCIe 2.0 (or better), which is something like complete fucking overkill, 1GB/s up and down at the same time.

WiFi 6 has a maximum theoretical speed of ~1200Mbt/s per stream, and the AX200 is a 2x2 card.
1200x2=2400.
Just like the 9260 supports up to ~1733Mbt/s, via 2 streams.
866x2≈1733.

Edit: I just saw that the ~1200Mbt/s is only available via utilization of 160Mhz channels, the same as with the ~1733Mbt/s

20Mhz: 135-143.4Mbts
40Mhz: 271-286.8Mbts
80Mhz: 567-600.5Mbts
170Mhz 1134-1201Mbts
I merged the specs of the guard intervals, the full table can be found on Wikipedia.

[starshipeleven]

WiFi 6 has a maximum theoretical speed of ~1200Mbt/s per stream, and the AX200 is a 2x2 card.

Hm, so the highest possible step will get cut off a bit in a mini-pcie with a mostly-download environment (300MB/s vs 250-ish MB/s up and down at the same time).

Close enough I guess.

[starshipeleven]

It's been pointed out that it might be using CNVi and, hence, no amount of adapters will make it work.

Intel Ark says otherwise https://ark.intel.com/content/www/us...i-6-ax200.html
This is another Intel card using CNVi (look at the "system interface type" line) https://ark.intel.com/content/www/us...s-ac-9560.html

[starshipeleven]

The AX200 will not use CNVi, that will be the AX201.
Interestingly, there appears to be a AX101 in the latest Windows drivers.

Do you know if CNVi is going to be an option (i.e. they will make 2 versions of the card, like they do now with the 9560 vs 9260) or they will eventually make only CNVi cards?

I think the latter is most likely as they can control the obsolescence of the system or of the cards (they can make a newer system that is no more compatible with CNVi 1.0 but only with CNVi 2.0 cards).

[moriel5]

Intel Ark says otherwise https://ark.intel.com/content/www/us...i-6-ax200.html
This is another Intel card using CNVi (look at the "system interface type" line) https://ark.intel.com/content/www/us...s-ac-9560.html

I had just taken a look, and nowhere does it say that the AX200 supports CNVI, only "M.2: PCIe, USB", Which is the same as the 9260's WiFi(PCIe), BT(USB) (fun fact, the 9260 used to show M.2: PCIe, USB at first as well).
Whereas the 9560 shows M.2: CNVio.

I have been tracking Intel wireless cards since the 9260 was only rumored, to say the truth (though I had also been researching older cards, ever since the 8265 was released). .

Do you know if CNVi is going to be an option (i.e. they will make 2 versions of the card, like they do now with the 9560 vs 9260) or they will eventually make only CNVi cards?

I think the latter is most likely as they can control the obsolescence of the system or of the cards (they can make a newer system that is no more compatible with CNVi 1.0 but only with CNVi 2.0 cards).

Yes, based upon the commits (I had not taken a serious look, however this much I think I had gleaned), and previous behaviour from Intel, I can safely say that the AX200 is, and AX210 will probably be, the standard PCIe/USB(for BT) cards, while the AX201 will definitely be, and the AX211, AX101, and AX411 will probably be, CNVi only.