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ZombiePhysicist

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Original poster
May 22, 2014
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In the past with the 5,1 cMP, we could just swap out the Airport card for essentially a newer card, and everything automagically worked to upgrade our WiFi.

Is there a similar upgrade path available today? Particularly, I'm curious what WiFi 6 upgrades are available for the 7,1?

Thanks for any pointers!
 
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Apple never released a Intel Mac with 802.11ax, just M1 ones where the Wi-Fi and BT controller is on-board, so no new modules available.

All Intel Macs released after 2019 Mac Pro have the same Wi-Fi and BT specs as it.
 
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I have the same question as the OP but 3 years later. Did anything change in 2025? Thanks in advance.
 
I have the same question as the OP but 3 years later. Did anything change in 2025?

No more new Intel Macs that you can buy upgraded modules and install to old Mac Pros, Apple Silicon Wi-Fi controller is still integrated, so, obviously nothing changed.

If you are asking if you can upgrade a 2019 Mac Pro Wi-Fi to the one from 2023 Mac Pro, the answer is also no.

If you are asking if any Wi-Fi 6 & 7 PCIe cards can be used with a Mac Pro, then is maybe and with caveats.

There is a slow going open source project to make OpenBSD drivers for Intel Wi-Fi 6&7 cards to work with macOS. The project focus is hackintoshes and currently working cards, work at AC speeds at best and have issues with sleep, so probably won't help you.

 
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Easiest and most effective way is to fake it. Use a mesh router (WiFi 6, 6e, or 7) and run an ethernet cord from a node to your Mac. ie - use a WiFi router as an external WiFi adapter.

I did it with my MacPro 4,1 -> 5,1 using a 6e mesh pair. Was trying to get speeds above 1 Gb (my ASUS ET12s have 2.5 Gb ports + pairable 1 Gb ports).

The connection is fast and stable, but usually at 1 Gbps. I've gotten the higher speeds sometimes, but not consistently, and it usually falls back to gigabit for reasons I've yet to trace. Internal backhaul between the nodes shows as 3 Gbps most of the time, so that isn't the problem.
 
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