Customer Reviews

MSI PC60G Wireless 11g Turbo G PCI Card

5 star:		(149)
4 star:		(55)
3 star:		(7)
2 star:		(6)
1 star:		(11)

 

 

I had nothing but trouble with the Netgear wireless PCI card (NETGEAR WG311 Wireless-G PCI Adapter) that came with my XP PC. It kept locking up my PC at the worst possible times, and nothing I tried, even with the help of Netgear's tech support, was able to eliminate the problem. An attempted Trendnet replacement (Trendnet TEW423PI 54Mbps 802.11g Wireless PCI) was worse; I couldn't even get any driver to load. In contrast, this MSI Turbo mode wireless PCI card has worked like a charm and with its little separate antenna gets a much better signal from my wireless router. This is an inexpensive wireless PCI card that is compatible with my XP PC system and that instantly resolved my PC's locking-up problem.

I bought this because my crappy D-link wireless pci adapter was dying only after about 6 months into use. It was dropping connections every 10 minutes or so. Now after I plug this in, I get at least 4 bars compared to average 2-3 bars i used to get with d-link. I saw some users complain about the short antenna. Yes it is pretty short but long enough to get on top of the computer and that alone can make whole lot of difference. Otherwise spend little more money and get more expensive ones. For this price, this one is a steal. Also to anyone who bought/will buy this item. Do yourself a favor, dont use the crappy driver that comes with it. Go to ralink website and download their reference driver.

I recently upgraded my old Dell computer to Vista and needed to add a wireless card to it as it was going to be moved away from the main router. This card seemed to have good reviews although I wasn't sure if it worked with Vista. But installation was fast and easy, the card was recognized and I was connected to my wifi router in no time at all. I liked that this had a little antennae that you could move up to the top of your desk to get a better signal, but the cord on it is pretty short and really only long enough for it to sit on top of the tower case. Which seems to work fine for me, I have a good strong steady signal and have had no problems at all with this card dropping connections, etc. Now if I could just get Vista to behave when it comes to networking, I'd be all set!

I spent several hours trying to install this card into a new computer build that has a windows 7 64 bit OS.
First I found out that the 64bit Vista drivers from MSI's website wouldn't work. (and as of 11/03/09 I still don't see any windows 7 drivers for either 32bit or 64 bit) But then I found out that the chip manufacturer for the board has a "generic" 64 bit driver. The company is called Ralink. Look for the RT256x chip driver on ralink's website. (I would post the link, but amazon appears to remove it if you do) Once you download and install it, the card will work quite well in Windows 7 (don't forget to uninstall the MSI driver first).

So overall the card is pretty decent. I get good connection speeds and it reliably links up every time I power on the computer. But the driver for windows 7 just doesn't appear to be available yet. So I give it an overall rating of 3.

After reading so many positive reviews about this product I decided to give it a try. I have gone through two USB adapters from Netgear, (old wpn111 & wg111t). Both have had heat related problems which caused the connection to drop constantly.

1. Install
The install was a breeze.

2. Compatibility
Works with Windows XP 64 Bit, and Windows 7 64 bit beta. Should work with windows Vista but I have not tested it as Vista sucks in my opinion
anyways.

3. Speed
Let me tell you, this thing is FAST I mean REALLY REALLY FAST!!! When I downloaded the Windows 7 64bit version I had consistent download speeds of 1.3 mbps. Try achieving that with a USB wireless adapter, I haven't. I was able to achieve maximum connection with this adapter on Comcast internet. The router is in the basement and I am upstairs on the 3rd level and I have max signal strength.

Some people give the product 1-3 stars because they don't know what they were doing or were ranting on about "service experience" not the product.
That is why you should not believe the 1-3 star reviews.

Bottom line, this card is CHEAP, best bang for the buck PCI card, and out performs all other wifi PCI cards and USB adapters on the market.

The MSI PC60G wireless PCI card works very well, the performance is spectacular, and it is certainly easy on the wallet. Installation was relatively simple on my Windows XP SP3 system, and I was up and running in short order. The only reason this card didn't merit a 5 star rating is due to the following. I thought I'd share my experience in the event someone else comes across this issue.

I use ATT Yahoo! DSL service at home. We have two Desktop computers (Windows XP SP3) and a PlayStation 3 all hooked up via wireless to a fairly new 2WIRE 2701HG-B Gateway (proved by ATT Yahoo! and with built-in router and wireless access).

As an extra security layer, I wanted to enable MAC address filtering on the 2WIRE gateway. I realize MAC addresses are easily spoofed, that it's a low form of security, and that many find MAC address filtering unsafe. I do have WPA2-PSK AES enabled for top-level security.

With all that aside, one of the Desktops and the PlayStation 3 connect just fine with MAC filtering enabled. However, the Desktop with the MSI PC60G installed absolutely will not connect. The moment I disable MAC filtering on the 2WIRE, the MSI PC60G connects immediately. I tested the issue with my old D-Link 802.11b 11Mbs wireless card, and it worked flawlessly.

The Desktop's onboard Ethernet connection has been disabled, so the only available network connection is through the MSI PC60G. And as a result, the only available MAC address belongs to it.

Since I was able to use MAC address filtering with my old D-Link card, and because the other Desktop and PS3 work fine with it enabled, I believe the MSI card is the culprit.

Still, once again, the card performs very well and I recommend it. I will keep it, but have had to disable MAC address filtering on our home network.

Installing this wireless card was a breeze. It gets good range and most importantly it is compatible with Vista 64-Bit.

The included CD doesn't have the Vista 64-Bit drivers, so you have to get them off of MSI's website. However, they are easy to find and quick to install.

Overall, I would recommend this card for anyone having trouble finding a card that is compatible with 64-Bit XP or Vista. So far the card has been well worth the cheap price of $24.99.

I've tried several 802.11g cards from other big-name brands and had problems with all of them, so my expectations for this card were pretty low going in. All I have to say is I was pleasantly surprised by this card and so far it has proven to be the only card that works the way it's supposed to. A word of advise - don't waste your time installing the software included with the card; it's pretty much useless and does this otherwise perfect piece of hardware disservice by being unusable. It couldn't even detect a single network upon scanning, even though Windows could see at least half a dozen of networks available. I ended up uninstalling the software and letting the Windows (Vista) do its job; it detected the card, installed the drivers (Windows Update also found a newer driver available), and I was up and running in no time. It automatically reconnects after rebooting (which is something the Netgear card, for example, refused to do for some reason, so I had to manually re-connect it every time PC restarted). This card has got to be the best kept secret of 802.11g networking, and I would have gladly paid twice as much for it seeing how well it works.

I have this card for about 1 month and it works flawlessly.
I installed it on my Windows XP PC, followed the instruction, and...it just worked!
My router is about 25 feet and 2 walls away from my PC.
So, save your money, don't buy those expensive big name wireless card.s
Really recommend it for Windows XP. I'm not sure about other platforms.

I use Ubuntu 7.10 and this product works perfect, unlike the DWL-G510 that I used to have that didnt work. Also fits perfect on windows XP.

80% signal thru 3 concret walls which I think is excellent.