Replacement options for Realtek RTL8188EE 802.11bgn Wi-Fi Adapter

[pijnboon]

My HP Pavilion 500-450nd has a Realtek RTL8188EE 802.11bgn Wi-Fi Adapter which is only a single band 2.4Ghz.

I want to upgrade to 5Ghz, does anyone has suggestions for a dual band WLAN card that will work with this model desktop?

Thanks in advance.

[Paul_Tikkanen · Accepted solution]

Hi:

How many antenna wires are connected to the Realtek 8188EE wifi card your PC has?

Most of those cards only come with one antenna wire and dual band HMC form factor cards need two in order to work properly.

If your PC has two antenna wires connected to the Realtek card, you can upgrade to this Intel card...

Intel Dual Band Wireless-AC 7260 802.11 ac 2x2 WiFi + BT 4.0    HP Part # 710661-001

You should be able to find this model on eBay pretty cheaply.

If your PC only has one antenna wire present, then you will have to either use a PCIe x1 dual band wifi adapter or a dual band USB adapter instead.

Your PC's motherboard shows that it has 3 PCIe x1 slots, so one of them should be available.

It also seems to have a 9 pin internal USB connector, so if the PCIe x1 card has bluetooth, you connect the included bluetooth cable to the card and that 9 pin connector so the bluetooth works.

[pijnboon]

Hi, there's only one antenna wire present.

I will go for an USB duel band adapter.

Thanks for your help!

[Paul_Tikkanen]

You're very welcome.