WiFi card replacement on an Asus (2019/2020) notebook

[kiddingguy]

I have an Asus ROG Strix GL731GV-EV026T notebook.

I was wondering... can the Intel Wireless-AC 9560 be replaced with a WiFi 6 variant?

e.g. Intel Wi-Fi 6E AX210 vPro or some other WiFi 6 card connected to the mobo?

I guess the drivers should be installed, but does it work?

[Mindovermaster Global Moderator]

If it is the same connection (M.2 card) It should work. Don't see really why it wouldn't.

I've seen this being done on Mini-pcs to upgrade the  Wifi 6 to Wifi 6e

[goretsky Supervisor]

Hello,

The Intel Wireless-AC 9560 Wi-Fi card uses an M.2 connector, but implements an Intel-proprietary interface protocol called CNVio that only works in with specific generations of Intel CPUs.  There are two generations of CNVio, referred to as CNVio (for 8th and 9th generation Intel CPUs) and CNVio2 (introduced with 10th generation Intel CPUs).  The two versions are not compatible with each other.

The good news, though, is that any M.2 slots that support CNVio or CNVio2 also seem to support support "standard" M.2 Wi-Fi cards that use a combination of PCIe and USB interface protocols to connect their Wi-Fi and Bluetooth radios, respectively.

I have successfully replaced Intel 9560 (Wi-Fi 5/802.11ac/CNVio), AX201 (Wi-Fi 6/802.11ax/CNVio2) and AX211 (Wi-Fi 6E/802.11ax/CNVio2) cards with Intel's AX210 card, which is functionally identical to the AX211 except that it uses the standard M.2 PCIe+USB protocol.  I have also replaced an Intel AX210 card in one system with an even faster BE200 card, which is a Wi-Fi 7/802.11be model that adds support for the 6 GHz Wi-Fi band.  I suspect the AX210 card will work just fine in your Asus notebook.  I have done these upgrades in Lenovo ThinkPads and some Asus and ASRock desktop systems, though, so it may be a good idea to confirm in Asus' own support forum.

Regards,

Aryeh Goretsky
 

[kiddingguy]

On 29/12/2023 at 08:55, goretsky said:

Hello,

The Intel Wireless-AC 9560 Wi-Fi card uses an M.2 connector, but implements an Intel-proprietary interface protocol called CNVio that only works in with specific generations of Intel CPUs.  There are two generations of CNVio, referred to as CNVio (for 8th and 9th generation Intel CPUs) and CNVio2 (introduced with 10th generation Intel CPUs).  The two versions are not compatible with each other.

The good news, though, is that any M.2 slots that support CNVio or CNVio2 also seem to support support "standard" M.2 Wi-Fi cards that use a combination of PCIe and USB interface protocols to connect their Wi-Fi and Bluetooth radios, respectively.

I have successfully replaced Intel 9560 (Wi-Fi 5/802.11ac/CNVio), AX201 (Wi-Fi 6/802.11ax/CNVio2) and AX211 (Wi-Fi 6E/802.11ax/CNVio2) cards with Intel's AX210 card, which is functionally identical to the AX211 except that it uses the standard M.2 PCIe+USB protocol.  I have also replaced an Intel AX210 card in one system with an even faster BE200 card, which is a Wi-Fi 7/802.11be model that adds support for the 6 GHz Wi-Fi band.  I suspect the AX210 card will work just fine in your Asus notebook.  I have done these upgrades in Lenovo ThinkPads and some Asus and ASRock desktop systems, though, so it may be a good idea to confirm in Asus' own support forum.

Regards,

Aryeh Goretsky
 

Thx. Can be done I guess.... I'll check with Asus Support Forum.