TP-Link AXE5400 Tri-Band Wi-Fi 6E Bluetooth 5.2 PCI Express
TP-Link AXE5400 Tri-Band Wi-Fi 6E Bluetooth 5.2 PCI Express Adapter with Two Antennas, Intel Wi-Fi 6E Chipset, Low-Profile Bracket Included, WPA3 Security (Archer TXE72E)
Your Security Guard
The latest Wi-Fi security protocol, WPA3, brings new capabilities to improve cybersecurity. More secure encryption in Wi-Fi password safety and enhanced protection against brute-force attacks combine to safeguard your home network.
| Weight: | 240 g |
| Dimensions: | 12 x 7.85 x 2.1 cm; 240 Grams |
| Brand: | TP-Link |
| Manufacture: | TP-Link |
| Dimensions: | 12 x 7.85 x 2.1 cm; 240 Grams |
I’ve probably used at least 100 of these over the years and fingers crossed so far I have never had one fail, these are my go to card when I need a gigabit Ethernet card
Excellent inclusion for revival of a 12 year old Desktop PC, add to this an SSD drive and upgrade to Windows 10.
PC is now fully usable and much faster with the quad core processor that was already installed.
Please note the Bluetooth requires a usb connection on the motherboard and my spare was already taken with a card reader device so I also use a Bluetooth usb external dongle.
What more can I say? Ethernet card does Internet things. My b550f onboard 2.5g is dodgy, good old intel IC’s. Had to get this to have any Internet over 100mbps. Works as intended with no down time so fa
I have struggled with bluetooth connections on my PC for some time. I have tried updating drivers, different usb dongles and have blamed the hardware such as headphones. Turns out all along all I needed was a decent bluetooth card. Everything connects without issue and works so much better, even hardware (and software such as Boom) I didn’t realise was underperforming! Wish I’d spent the little extra years ago!
The card is decently low-profile for an easy fit, and the drivers were picked up right away by Windows 10 (and still function fine having now updated to Windows 11). I get solid connection to my nearby router, and a good speed (the router itself is not WF6, so I’m not getting the peak of what this card can do, but it’s about as fast as the router can handle). Bluetooth stays connected and stable with no drops. Very happy.
Be aware, however: you have to have a free internal usb header to connect a small cable from the card to your motherboard if you want to utilise the Bluetooth functionality. I knew and had checked this in advance, but I can see it catching some people out as it’s not made as clear as it might have been on the listing.
Easy to install, mostly works brilliantly, it does momentarily have a break in the Bluetooth audio, a very short drop, about one an hour or so. Other than that it’s perfect.
Installed easily replacing the old adapter. Only complaint is that I can’t screw it into the case as it doesn’t line up exactly with the screw hole, if I were to screw it into the case then it would pop slightly out of the slot.
Aside from that, this works brilliantly. I haven’t opted to connect the bluetooth as I don’t have the confidence to do that myself, I personally don’t need it.
Still worth it in my opinion though based on the high download speeds.
Bought to upgrade an older WiFi card and the performance is night and day improvment. Will be upgrading my aging router shortly too Zane the inclusion of 6ghz on this NIC means I can grab a 6ghz router to compliment it and future proof my home.
My only issue, as with another review is it didn’t seat well in the slot when screwed into the case. Definitely not my motherboard or case as the old one was fine and all my other cards likewise, but it does work so I have left it screwed in but not fully seated.
Installation:
I built my own PC so found installing the card into my rig pretty straight foward. Installed into a spare PCIE x1 slot and USB to a USB header. Simple.
Powering on – I had numerous issues, including no network devices found to Blue screens, to my computer boot looping to the point where I had remove the card and reinstall windows.
After the PC was back up and running, I found on the TP-Link FAQs website for this card that if your MB already an intel Wifi chipset – it is likely to conflict with the new card, causing issues. They recommend disabling the intel wifi (Intel Wifi AX200 or similar) in device manager and reinstalling.
I did just that – and straight away, with a cable plugged into the network via powerline – drivers downloaded and the card started to work.
My new 6E network was not showing- but going to TP Link and downloading the new drivers fixed that.
Overall the product teamed with a 6E router is fantastic and faster than my powerline set up by some distance. 4 stars as it would have been nice for a note in the quickstart guide to warn of the potential Wifi conflict.
When paired with Netgear Orbi wifi 6 mesh network I get nearly 900mbps Internet speed tests and a very stable connection overall. Latency is comparable to an ethernet connection.
The Bluetooth is strong and, with 3rd party software, supports LDAC codec for high bit rate streaming of HQ audio to my headphones (Sony XM5s + Tidal) .
I did experience one glitch and that is my everytime I turn the PC my pixel bud headphones disconnect from my phone. Perhaps the Bluetooth signal is so strong it causes interference? Once I reconnect it’s fine though and I don’t experience that issue with my other headphones.
I just installed this in a Dell Optiplex 5040 SFF and it works really well. Download speed = 870Mbps and Upload speed = 50Mbps, which is not much under the speed for a CAT6 connection on the same PC.
Easy to install but be warned, it needs an internal USB pin header connection for the Bluetooth. If your mainboard doesn’t have one (most do) you have a problem! It comes with a spare low profile backplate, which made it ideal for the small form factor Dell.
I ran the autoinstall.exe program from the supplied CD and drivers installed seamlessly. One re-start and all was good.
I’ve not fully connected the Bluetooth yet as I have a specialised device to connect to it and need time to set it up. So far I have no reason to believe that it won’t work.
All in all I’m very pleased.
So I installed it, powered on, and it wasn’t recognised automatically by Windows. I installed the WiFi drivers first (directly from the website mentioned in the small print of the instructions) because I don’t have a CD-ROM drive, so couldn’t use their included CD. As soon as the WiFi driver was installed I was able to easily connect to my home WiFi. I then repeated the same process for the Bluetooth drivers and then Windows recognised it had Bluetooth capability – so far, so good.
So everything was working perfectly and I was very happy. I had a nosy around in the settings. Then a few hours later, I couldn’t get WiFi to connect. It would just timeout when verifying the connection, every time. I scratched my head for around half hour. I had another nosy in the settings and saw that I had checked “Use random hardware addresses” when logging on to WiFi networks. This is an option in the Windows WiFi settings, and I thought it sounded like a good idea. Turns out that, for some unknown reason, this isn’t compatible with my system or the TalkTalk router we have here. The moment I switched that setting off, my connection issue resolved. The router isn’t configured to limit connections to certain MAC addresses, so a connection from a randomised address *should* work. It’s weird that it doesn’t. So take that as a heads up: if you turn that feature on, and experience connection issues on new connections, turn it back off again! 🙂
Overall I’m really happy with the purchase in terms of reliability (no connection dropouts), ping time, download speeds etc.
Firstly, the installation process is very simple. The card will fit into any sized PCIe slot which allows you to place the card anywhere on your motherboard and be spaced around other components. In addition, the card itself is rather thin an does not take up much room; so, you’ll easily be able to fit it around any graphics card etc. A small USB cable will need to be connected to your motherboard to power that card, so make sure you have a spare header available. To finish the installation, you simply screw in the bracket to the back of your PC case, then screw on the antennas which can be done easily by hand. There is no additional adapter to move around, only the antennas at the back which can be rotated — so very convenient.
As for performance: the card worked perfectly straight out of the box in combination with the MSI B450M MORTAR MAX Motherboard. The drivers installed themselves, and there was no struggle to get things going. My connection speeds have noticeably increased from what I was using prior. Importantly, if you want to make the most out of the Wifi-6 technology then pairing the card with a Wifi-6 router will greatly increase your speeds. However, the card will work great with older routers with no problem.
Overall, I’d say this is a perfect WIFI-card when considering the price, ease of use, looks, and performance.
I purchased this mini-pci card to set up Wi-Fi signal in my flat. The card is so tiny that even when it’s plugged in right next to my graphics card, it doesn’t block the fan. The included antenna is really tiny though. The card itself doesn’t produce much of a signal so you get 1 bar of signal where another Wi-Fi card I have will get full bars. However, this card does work well and is a good value for money. Installation into windows 7 x64 was flawless. This card is Rev. 2 so perhaps some of the other bad reviews were for Rev. 1? The drivers on the mini cd are exactly the same as the ones you can download so everything is up to date. I recommend that when you install the drivers that you select “use windows to manage connections” because if you don’t then the TP-Link seems to reset everything to it’s own settings.
This card doesn’t drop signals like some other cards I’ve owned so it will be useful for those who are playing games. I ordered an additional antenna. The “TP-Link TL-ANT2405C 2.4GHz 5dbi Indoor Omni-Directional Antenna,” which has a 2 meter cable and boosts the signal up to 4 bars. [link below]. I highly recommend this antenna as it’s under a fiver shipped. It really high quality, does exactly what it claims to do and has a coated magnet in the base so it sticks tightly to the top of my computer case.
You could spend the 15 on a more expensive card but it’s not going to work any better than this card plus the antenna would still be tethered to the back of the card which gets in the way of the DVI cable and being hidden away in the back always diminishes the signal strength.
Otherwise except for a few minor drawbacks, I’m very happy with my purchase all around and I recommend this if you’re on a tight budget.
TP-Link TL-ANT2405C 2.4GHz 5dbi Indoor Omni-Directional Antenna