Mediatek MT7921K failed

Mediatek MT7921K

The wireless chip that came with my primary PC motherboard ASRock B650E PG Riptide WiFi (Mediatek MT7921K)has finally failed.

After two and a half years of fine operation, one morning it suddenly stopped accepting input from Bluetooth devices, and while I was investigating the cause, the Bluetooth adapter disappeared from the PCI device list and never came back.

I had used Bluetooth almost every day, while Wi-Fi, which had never used at all, was still alive, so I think it has just ran its life. I decided to transplant it to a machine that does not use Bluetooth.

However, I found that there were many reports of problems with the chip¹, and I would have had to replace it sooner or later. I must rather be indebted to you for your thousands of hours of faithful service.

Intel AX200NGW

I decided to requisition Intel AX200NGW from my secondary PC to use for the primary one. It is a old fasioned product, and if you only look at Wi-Fi, it is a bit of a downgrade from 6E to 6, but I have not seen that many reports of problems, so I think it is a good option.

Looking at the datasheet, I’m getting worried because the upper temperature limit seems to be quite low at 50°C. I wonder I should replace the videocard with a low-power one?

Unnecessary Topic

The 2.5GbE chip on the motherboard is an Intel Killer E3100G, and when I thought that both of network chip is Intel now, I was surprised to find that it was made by Realtek not Intel.

Although Killer is not at all familiar in Japan, it is a company that made headlines in 2006 when it released a NIC that claimed to “eliminate latency by processing on the chip”. The concept was that Linux embedded in the NIC could save CPU resources by performing network processing, which was apparently revolutionary at the age.

Since then, they have been selling products for gamers mainly in North America, but in 2020, its parent company, Rivet Networks, was acquired by Intel, a major business partner, and became a brand of Intel.

ASRock’s PG series is targeted at North America, so using the Killer brand is understandable, but what is the point of Intel not using its own chips? Well, Intel’s 2.5GbE chips have a very bad reputation, so I am actually relieved that the chip is Realtek’s. Unlike wireless chip, Realtek’s 2.5GbE chip cannot be replaced even if it fails and there is actually only one PCIe slot left in the motherboard. Do not fail and live long please.