ASUS PCE-AC88

abgn+ac (AC3100)
AC3100 Dual-Band PCIe Wi-Fi Adapter
Homepage	Product page
Support	Support page
Downloads	Download page
WikiDevi.wi-cat.ru	ASUS PCE-AC88
Platform
Brand • Model • Rev	ASUS PCE-AC88
Interface	PCIe
Connector	PCIe
Form factor	single-lane
ID:14e4:43c3 (1 addl. devices) SS: 1043:86fb Windows: PCI\VEN_14E4&DEV_43C3&SUBSYS_86FB1043
FCCID	MSQ-PCIE0U00
ICID	3568A-PCIE0U00
Chip1	Broadcom BCM4366
OUI: 34:97:F6 (3 E, 3 W)
Antenna Connection	RP-SMA
MIMO status	4x4:4
Wireless Standards	IEEE 802.11a/b/g/n/ac
802.11ac	up to 2167 Mbps
N-QAM	up to 1000 Mbps
802.11n	up to 600/600 Mbps
802.11g	up to 54 Mbps
802.11b	up to 11 Mbps
802.11a	up to 54 Mbps
Operating Frequency	2.4 or 5 GHz
Other
Flags: MU-MIMO, DFS (slave)
Probable Linux driver brcmfmac (PCIe in backports) PCI ID first seen in kernel v4.4 (2016-01-10) (see also passys)
Retail
FCC approval date	23 November 2015
Newegg	N82E16833320313
ASIN	B01H9QMOMY
FCC ID Broadcom BCM94709R4366AC MSQ-PCIE0U00

For a list of all currently documented Broadcom chipsets with specifications, see Broadcom.

For a list of all currently documented ASUS device with specifications, see ASUS.

• 2167 Mbps - 4SS 5GHz 802.11ac (80MHz chan., 1024-QAM),

• 1000 Mbps - 4SS 2.4GHz 802.11n (40MHz chan., 1024-QAM) = AC3100 class

Overview

See also Broadcom BCM94709R4366AC - WFA64986 (12/05/2016)

Reference design - 802.11ac 4x4 Wireless Adapter

Links of Interest

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

• ASUS PCE-AC88 on fedora forum
• ASUS PCE-AC88 on ubuntu forums

Network controller [0280]: Broadcom Device [14e4:43c3] (rev 04)
   Subsystem: ASUSTeK Computer Inc. Device [1043:86fb]
   Kernel modules: brcmfmac

As of 18 Oct 2016 there is still no Linux-compatible firmware for this device

Pictures

Retail Images

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Notes

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 */