Msi laptop needs a new wifi chip and im a bit lost

sister has a msi ms 16-gd laptop which is doing ok but having wifi connection issue with my brother in laws new nighthawk router and i want to install the newest supported wifi network adapter and dont know where to start on figuring out what is or isnt compatible. help? not worried about price just performance and it actually working well.

I can’t find the specific model on MSI’s website but this one seems to be era appropriate: https://forum-en.msi.com/faq/uploads/169/MS-16GC_Disassembly_guide.pdf.

It looks like a mini PCIE card. I would just buy a new Intel Wireless AC 7265 or the newer 9260 (usually $15-20, based on EU prices).

Some laptops like older lenovos have a wifi card whitelist in bios and only accept specific models. I would try with a wifi card from another laptop first to see if it has a whitelist.

EDIT: The prices seem to change quite often. You may want to try the even newer Intel Wi-Fi 6 AX20. There are of course Broadcom, Realtek and Atheros cards but the performance on these Intel cards is excellent, especially for the price.

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I can’t find that machine anywhere on msi support to see what drivers it may have had available.

I’d say replace it with what’s there for compatibility or go for gold with an ax200ngw. There’s a chance the bios may refuse to work with the ax200 but if not, that’s as good as you can get right now.

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Anything Intel will work well and not give you any issues. I got the AC7265 for my old laptop (the best wifi card that’s available in that very short mini PCIe format) and has been working flawlessly for the two years I had it.
If you have more space for the longer cards I’d say just go with the AX200. It’s not much more expensive but it’s leaps and bounds more advanced than the 7265 (I have the AX200 in my desktop so I can give you more details if you need them. Feel free to ask).

I don’t know if MSI has any kind of whitelisting for wifi cards, but I don’t see why they would. In any case you can check if any other SKU of that laptop is using an Intel card. If that’s the case both the AC7265 and the AX200 have a very high chance to work.

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Just want to clarify that mini PCI-e and M.2 aren’t interoperable - mini PCI-e has the same physical connector as mSATA, albeit with a different pinout. The 7265 is the best thing you can put in there, unless you can fit in an adapter card. I’ll also vouch for its reliability.

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Thanks for the clarification. I didn’t see that the AX was m.2.

+1 for the 7265, it’s very very good.

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Just get an intel ax200 chip call it good.

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ok ax200 it is thankyou all for the help, used to think this was a much more “stick anything in there” type slot but everything i looked at has “does not work with XXXXXX” warnings.

That won’t work, my man.

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what am i not seeing?

The AX200 uses an M.2 interface. You need something with mini PCI-e, like the 7265.

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can you verify what card is already there?

I couldnt find that information

working on that

There’s some on alibaba tht are mpcie.

Or not alibaba, aliexpress.

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thoughts on using a 7260 vs ax200 with adapter?

vs

+

Yeah, that’s mini PCI-e.

Like @Jari said, you can get AX200 cards with mini PCI-e interfaces on Aliexpress, if you wanted Wi-Fi 6 over AC with the 7265.

The adapter card you linked may or may not fit.

Yeah, stick with the 7260. theres nothing wrong with it. You could adapt but then you’re gimping the card for no real advantage.

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gimp? got any more information on this?

the interface adapter is not a good way to get the pixies into the card. You’re adapting not only the interface but the wifi antenna. This introduces more links in the chain. At best you end up with a mild mismatch of antenna resistance, at worst you severely degrade the signal before it can reach the card.

In both cases you probably cant even use AC with the router in question and the laptop is already fairly outdated. Its not worth any extra money spent on adapting the interface. The 7260 is probably already faster than the internet that would be served to it. Your sister certainly wont be able to tell the difference.

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Check compatibility listing, if any newer chip variants can be supported [via update]. Otherwise safer to match, whats already contained internally [or sacrificing a USB port, for one of them mini add-on / dongle type adapters?]