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Airport Extreme/Wifi card for 2009 Mac Pro

Sharky II

Sharky II

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Jan 6, 2004
975
355
United Kingdom
Hi,

I see so many Airport Cards on eBay for a 2009 Mac Pro, but some of them look very old and say 2006 on them.

Can someone tell me which card will work on my 2009 (flashed to 5,1, etc)? I know there's the new card that works at AC speed, but I think that's quite pricey, There seems to be some cheap cards for £10-20 that work on 802.11n.

What are the best options in 2016?

Thanks!

Ed
 
Sharky II said:
Hi,

I see so many Airport Cards on eBay for a 2009 Mac Pro, but some of them look very old and say 2006 on them.

Can someone tell me which card will work on my 2009 (flashed to 5,1, etc)? I know there's the new card that works at AC speed, but I think that's quite pricey, There seems to be some cheap cards for £10-20 that work on 802.11n.

What are the best options in 2016?

Thanks!

Ed
Click to expand...

Here's the one you want : BCM94322MC with the Apple copyright notice .

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Apple-Airpo...795860?hash=item3d07426154:g:-1sAAOSwL7VWjakb

It's actually an iMac 802.11n card that works great with the MP 4,1 and 5,1 workstations . Make certain seller sends you the two tiny screws as they are hard to find . This card has great range and can pick up a lot of networks . And will go at least up to 100 Mb/s throughput actual . Use antenna 1 and 3 from your Mac , ignore 2 . Reverse cable attachment if it improves performance . I usually use antenna number 3 on top .

AC is really overkill bandwidth-wise and might reduce range on a lot of available channels .
 
As the previous post says, any mini-PCIe Airport card intended for a Mac Pro or iMac should work. Personally, I like part number 661-5946 from the 2011 iMac since it's one of the few cards that can use all three of the antennae in the Mac Pro. I've installed it in three different 2009 Mac Pros without any problems.
 
Would the card with model number AR5BXB112 (which have the three connectors for all 3 wires) work? If it does, how should I attach the wires? CH0 to wire 1, CH1 to wire 2, etc.? Or should only 2 wires be attached 1 and 3 like in the other cards? What are the advantages of attaching all three wires? More coverage?

Thank you so much.
 
beccas said:
Would the card with model number AR5BXB112 (which have the three connectors for all 3 wires) work? If it does, how should I attach the wires? CH0 to wire 1, CH1 to wire 2, etc.? Or should only 2 wires be attached 1 and 3 like in the other cards? What are the advantages of attaching all three wires? More coverage?

Thank you so much.
Click to expand...

Yes, that's the card that I mentioned. I don't think that it really matters, but I usually just go (antenna:connector) 1:0, 2:1, and 3:2.

Yes, you have better coverage and a stronger connection with all three antenna. If you're using a 5 GHz Wireless-N network, you should see a 450 Mbit/s link speed in Network Utility, versus the 300 Mbit/s you'd see with just two antenna.
 
Thank you scott. My last question is whether I need both screws to install it or if 1 screw would be fine.

Thanks again.
 
beccas said:
Thank you scott. My last question is whether I need both screws to install it or if 1 screw would be fine.

Thanks again.
Click to expand...
I've always used two, but just one might work.

These use size M2 X 3mm screws, not difficult to find cheap.
 
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He'll pay more for the postage for those tiny screws than the actual cost of the screws themselves ! Have the WiFi card seller toss them into the deal . I ship Mac Pro Systems and it is best to secure everything properly . Apple used two screws at the factory , after all , for a reason . Even if you never plan to ship a System , moving it around roughly could knock components out of place .
 
Thanks you guys.

The one I bought may only come with 1 screw though. :( It is from a pull from an iMac (those only used 1 screw). I am hoping it is ins't as big a problem but I do agree, 2 would be better to secure it properly.

By the way, it's she. No worries though. :)
 
scott.n said:
I've always used two, but just one might work.

These use size M2 X 3mm screws, not difficult to find cheap.
Click to expand...
You should be able to find these screws at a larger hardware store or at Lowes or Home Depot. I say, "should", because I've found motherboard screws at my local h/w store. Call them before going to save yourself a trip.
 
scott.n said:
As the previous post says, any mini-PCIe Airport card intended for a Mac Pro or iMac should work. Personally, I like part number 661-5946 from the 2011 iMac since it's one of the few cards that can use all three of the antennae in the Mac Pro. I've installed it in three different 2009 Mac Pros without any problems.
Click to expand...
Dude, thank you so much! I purchased the "Intel iMac 21.5" / 27" Airport Card, Mid 2011 - 661-5946" after reading your comment and this thing freaking rocks! I connected all three antennas and get great speeds (about 450 transmit rate). Worked perfectly on my MacPro 4,1 (2009). Thanks again!!
 
lgonzo99 said:
Dude, thank you so much! I purchased the "Intel iMac 21.5" / 27" Airport Card, Mid 2011 - 661-5946" after reading your comment and this thing freaking rocks! I connected all three antennas and get great speeds (about 450 transmit rate). Worked perfectly on my MacPro 4,1 (2009). Thanks again!!
Click to expand...
The best bet for a 4,1 or 5,1 is the following, giving you 802.11AC 1.3Gbps WiFi and Bluetooth 4.0.
http://www.osxwifi.com/apple-broadc...-with-adapter-for-macpro-2009-and-macpro-2010
 
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Edit: was going to say if you cant find wifi card screws for the afapter board, just wrap it in electrical tape. But realized that post was from March now.
 
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lgonzo99 said:
WOW! that is awesome! Will this also allow a 4,1 to install MacOS Sierra without a firmware flash?
Click to expand...
No, but there is literally NO reason not to flash a 4,1 to a 5,1.
If you haven’t yet done so I highly recommend that you do.
 
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Squuiid said:
No, but there is literally NO reason not to flash a 4,1 to a 5,1.
If you haven’t yet done so I highly recommend that you do.
Click to expand...
I was afraid of borking something in the process and what if I want to go back to 4,1 for any reason? Not sure if there would be a reason to go back to 4,1 but in case of any incompatibility issues.
 
lgonzo99 said:
I was afraid of borking something in the process and what if I want to go back to 4,1 for any reason? Not sure if there would be a reason to go back to 4,1 but in case of any incompatibility issues.
Click to expand...

The only compatibility issue so far I know is the Sonnet Tempo SSD card cannot shows boot manager with 5,1 firmware, but work flawlessly with 4,1 firmware.

However, by considering 5,1 firmware can use Westmere CPU, 1333MHz RAM, HDMI Audio, running High Sierra natively.... I will say it's the 4,1 firmware has more incompatibility issue. Not the 5,1 firmware.
 
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h9826790 said:
The only compatibility so far I know is the Sonnet Tempo SSD card cannot shows boot manager with 5,1 firmware, but work flawlessly with 4,1 firmware.

However, by considering 5,1 firmware can use Westmere CPU, 1333MHz RAM, HDMI Audio, running High Sierra natively.... I will say it's the 4,1 firmware has more incompatibility issue. Not the 5,1 firmware.
Click to expand...
Thanks h9826790, I'll have to look into flashing my 4,1 to a 5,1 for sure.
 
scott.n said:
As the previous post says, any mini-PCIe Airport card intended for a Mac Pro or iMac should work. Personally, I like part number 661-5946 from the 2011 iMac since it's one of the few cards that can use all three of the antennae in the Mac Pro. I've installed it in three different 2009 Mac Pros without any problems.
Click to expand...
I am having trouble getting this to show up in the system. Any ideas?
 
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