ASUS PCE-AC88

Overview
See also Broadcom BCM94709R4366AC - WFA64986 (12/05/2016)
 * Reference design - 802.11ac 4x4 Wireless Adapter

News

 * ASUS Networking @ CES 2016 on HardwareZone forums
 * CES2016: ASUS PCE-AC88 on HispaZone

Reviews

 * ASUS PCE-AC88 - Adapter WiFi PCI-E AC3100 on OpenITforum (PL)

Forum threads
Network controller [0280]: Broadcom Device [14e4:43c3] (rev 04) Subsystem: ASUSTeK Computer Inc. Device [1043:86fb] Kernel modules: brcmfmac
 * ASUS PCE-AC88 on fedora forum
 * ASUS PCE-AC88 on ubuntu forums
 * As of 18 Oct 2016 there is still no Linux-compatible firmware for this device

Pictures
Retail Images 

Wireless

 * The PCE-AC88 uses the 802.11a/b/g/n/ac standards with Broadcom's TurboQAM
 * (256 QAM) and NitroQAM (1024 QAM) to reach speeds up to 2167 Mbps.

This device is using a Broadcom BCM4366 (4x4 11ac) for maximum PHY rates of 2.1Gbps
 * on the 5GHz band (11ac) and 1Gbps on the 2.4GHz band (11n w/ 1024 QAM [NitroQAM]).

In order to reach 1Gbps/2.4 GHz, RT-AC88U must connect to the ASUS PCE-AC88
 * or RT-AC88U in media bridge mode.

Speeds

 * 802.11n: With 802.11n (both 2,4/5 GHz) the speed is 150, 200 and 250 Mbps per stream
 * for respectively 802.11n, w/ TurboQAM and w/ NitroQAM, all with 40MHz bandwidth
 * (so with 4 streams 600, 800 and 1000 Mbps).


 * 802.11ac: With 802.11ac (only 5 GHz) it is possible to reach 433 and 542 Mbps per stream
 * with respectively 802.11ac and 802.11ac with NitroQAM when 80MHz of bandwith is used
 * (so with 4 streams 1733 and 2167 Mbps).

Antenna

 * The adapter has 4 detachable RP-SMA dual-band antenna's, connected to a magnetic base.
 * The base has 4 cables with RP-SMA connectors that connect to the PCIe card, one for each antenna.
 * The antenna's can also be mounted directly on the RP-SMA connectors of the PCIe card
 * instead of the magnetic base.

Adapter

 * The adapter uses the PCIe x1 interface and fits in a single PCIe x1, x4 and x16 slot.
 * If the card uses the PCIe 2.0 x1 or PCIe 3.0 x1 protocol is yet unknown.
 * It doesn't matter anyway, because PCI-E 2.0 x1 provides 500MBps,
 * which the fastest 802.11ac connection can't even half-saturate.
 * The card is passively cooled by a fairly large heat sink for a single-slot card.

Per ASUS's drivers, the PCI ID for the device is 14e4:43c3.. which seems to be the default 4366 ID. BCM4366_D11AC_ID	0x43c3   /* 4366 802.11ac dualband */ BCM4366_D11AC2G_ID	0x43c4   /* 4366 802.11n 2.4G device */ BCM4366_D11AC5G_ID	0x43c5   /* 4366 802.11ac 5G device */