TRENDnet TEW-687GA 450Mbps Wireless N Gaming Adapter Review

Others/Networking Gear by stefan @ 2011-02-27

The new Wireless 450Mbps TEW-687GA from TRENDnet is not USB anymore like the previously released products, but offers a Gigabit network interface between itself and the computer we are connecting the adapter to; this way, we don't have to install drivers anymore and is compatible with any platform (we can even configure it through the Playstation3 Internet Browser). We will perform some data transfer speeds to see if it is really better in terms of performance.

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Test Setup and Test Results

The test setup was composed from the following hardware:

Wired Workstation

 

CPU: Intel I7 Retail @ stock

Motherboard: Foxconn BloodRage with G42 BIOS

RAM: 3x2GB Patriot PVT36G1600LLK 1600MHz

Video: Sparkle GTX 470 with stock and OMNI A.L.C.

Power Supply: Nexus RX-8500 850W modular

HDD: Seagate Barracuda 500GB 7200.11

Case: Thermaltake Armor+ LCS, stock cooling

OS: Windows 7 Ultimate x64


Wireless Router: TRENDnet TEW-691GR 450Mbps

For the client wireless tests I used an Asus X55SV Laptop. For testing the USB Wireless LAN adapter throughput, I have connected the server ( I7 PC ) to the router with a UTP wire and the client ( ASUS X55SV ) had installed the Wireless LAN adapter.

The application I have used to test the speeds was Performance Test 7.0, fully compatible with Windows 7

 

Test Results:

 

Detailed results

2.4GHz b/g mixed

2.4GHz b/g/n mixed

 

2.4GHz n

 

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Comment from jmke @ 2011/02/27
What use exactly would you give this product? Add highspeed wireless to a system at $100 ( http://www.google.com/search?q=TEW-6...874725 dc45b7 ) which doesn't have wireless network card? A PCI wireless network card is about $50 for high end one, how does this stack up? How many times do you switch around network between devices?

PS3 and XBOX 360 have wireless network integrated, so maybe for other devices like Popcorn Hour? That one only has LAN, with this you can give it a fast wireless access? It does come at a premium price though, to be honest
Comment from Stefan Mileschin @ 2011/02/27
These devices with the new speed are still at the beginning and I am sure that a lot of speed improvements will be made with firmware upgrades to both router and adapter.

I see this product as a great device to add Wireless LAN and Internet access to any device in our homes with a RJ45 connector, without the need to configure anything else after the main setup wizard has been completed.

The PS3 comes with Wireless B/G so this adapter is a great upgrade to the internal wireless solution.
Comment from jmke @ 2011/02/27
Would this setup be possible?

In a room where you don't have wired connection to your network
- PC1
- PC2
connected with RJ45 to a switch in that room
switch connected to TEW-687GA.
Does the 687GA provide DHCP to more than one client?
Comment from Stefan Mileschin @ 2011/02/27
That would be an interesting test to perform, but I do not have currently a switch handy.
Comment from jmke @ 2011/02/27
a router with 4 UTP ports and its internal DHCP disabled should work too
Comment from Stefan Mileschin @ 2011/02/27
Yes, that is a solution too, but with a regular switch it would have been much more simpler

 

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