Upgrade to Ryzen 7 5700G + Intel ARC A380. I replaced the 3400G in the server with the 5700G ($169 at MicroCenter) and gave the server machine a new lease on life. This system has presented a number of surprises including PCIe 4.0 for both m.2 NVMe (4x lanes) and graphics card (8x lanes) and the A380 can run Hogwarts Legacy through HDMI in 1440p in low settings while holding around 60 FPS (with 8-bit PC color), made possible ironically by NVIDIA upscaling. I intended this build to be experimental, but it’s more solid than I could have imagined. It’s perfect for a TV that can handle 1440p at 120 Hz. The 5700G is more common in budget-oriented pre-built machines that people are less likely to upgrade, so the true capabilities are somewhat mysterious to most PC builders.
Frontier 2.5 Gig Internet. I’ve been a massive fan of Frontier services for a while now, but we took things to the next level with their multi-Gig Internet and the speed is life-changing. We recommend Ethernet to reach full potential, but the WiFi 6E on their provided modem/router seems to work well, too. And that leads to our next test.
WiFi 6E with Intel AX210 reaches 1.3 gigabits/second. The 6 GHz band is allowing us to reach beyond the speed of single Gigabit Ethernet and the results are stunning. Device compatibility is currently limited, but that’s also probably part of why it works so well. 6 GHz offers more bands, but if nobody around you is using them, there’s no need to fight for bandwidth yet. We see the same speeds from Pixel 7, but we don’t yet have any 6E-compatible Macs or iPhones.
We predict WiFi 6E technology could have massive implications for office productivity, but the infrastructure requirements are still fairly high because this type of upgrade requires new PoE switches and new Access Points to break through the previous Gigabit speed barrier. While many PC laptops with upgradeable WiFi cards might be ready after a quick upgrade (assuming the antenna is good), Apple’s 6E support is currently limited to only the newest devices.