Upgrade card to replace RLT8188EE

[PPetersen]

I have a HP Pavilion D550Z desktop computer operating Windows 10 and the download speed is limited by the Realtek RTL8188EE Wi-Fi card which came with the CPU.  I want to replace the Wi-Fi card with a faster card, preferably dual band.  What is recommended?

[Paul_Tikkanen]

Hi:

What is the full model number or product number of your PC?

Use this guide to find that information. Please don't post the serial number.

HP Desktop PCs - How Do I Find My Model Number or Product Number? | HP® Customer Support

[PPetersen]

Full model # 550-130Z

Product Number N1N00AV#ABA

Looking forward to your reply and thank you.

[Paul_Tikkanen]

You're very welcome.

Can you open up the PC and let me know how many antenna wires are connected to the RTL8188EE wifi card in there?

The parts list for your PC indicates that the card is of the HMC form factor, and in order to upgrade the HMC cards to a dual band one there would need to be two wifi antenna cables connected to the card.

If there is only one antenna cable, you can still upgrade to a dual band card, but the signal reception could be poor and the bluetooth would probably not work.

You would be better off going with a dual band USB wifi adapter, or installing a PCIe x1 wifi adapter that comes with external antennas.

[PPetersen]

I am assuming that this is my network/wifi card.  This is attached to the motherboard and the only other components I see are the two memory boards and hardrive; everything else is hardwired to the motherbaord.  The small card pictured has two terminals, but it appears to be only one wire that simply loops up over the top of the box and comes back to attach on the other corner of the chip.

[Paul_Tikkanen · Accepted solution]

Hi:

Your picture shows that there are two gold contacts on the black wires attached to the two wifi card antenna terminals on either side of the card.

That being the case, you should be able to upgrade to one of these two cards.

Dual band N:  Max 300 MBPS on the 5.0 GHz wifi band.

Broadcom BCM943228HMB 802.11abgn 2×2 Wi-Fi Adapter, Broadcom Bluetooth 4.0 Adapter   HP part # 730668-001

Dual band AC:  Max 867 MBPS on the 5.0 GHz wifi band.

Broadcom BCM4352 802.11ac 2x2 Wi-Fi + Bluetooth 4.0 combo HP part #  724935-001

You should be able to find the above 2 wifi cards on eBay.   Search by the HP part number, not the model of the wifi card.

[PPetersen]

Thank you for help and especially for your prompt response to my situation.  I will follow your suggestion and obtain the recommended card.  

[Paul_Tikkanen]

You're very welcome.

Please post back and let us know how your wifi card upgrade project went.

Here are the latest W10 drivers that HP has for either of those cards.

WiFi:  7.35.351.0    Windows will install 7.35.352.0 afterward.

https://ftp.hp.com/pub/softpaq/sp78001-78500/sp78044.exe

Bluetooth:  12.0.1.921 

https://ftp.hp.com/pub/softpaq/sp75001-75500/sp75330.exe

[PPetersen]

Perfect!  I should be set!

[PPetersen]

FYI, I installed the upgraded network card this morning.  It went perfectly.  The wifi connection has doubled.  I installed the 2 software utilities as well.   Thanks again for the help.