Gigabyte has launched a PCIe Wi-Fi 7 card, designated as GC-WIFI7, designed to upgrade current and older desktop PCs to the emerging Wi-Fi 7 standard. This new specification, expected to be finalized early next year, represents the next generation of wireless technology, surpassing the capabilities of Wi-Fi 6 and 6E. An accompanying antenna is encased in a magnetized black plastic cover, designed for easy management and placement on metal surfaces.

Wi-Fi 7 brings several advancements over its predecessors. One significant feature is MLO, allowing devices to utilize all three supported bands (2.4GHz, 5GHz, and 6GHz) concurrently, a step up from the dual-band access in previous standards. This multi-band usage contributes to the substantial speed increases expected from Wi-Fi 7.

Other enhancements include an expansion in MU-MIMO capabilities, doubling the number of spatial streams from 8 to 16, and an improvement in QAM from 1024 to 4000. Additionally, the maximum channel bandwidth has been increased from 160MHz to 320MHz. These upgrades collectively enable Wi-Fi 7 to deliver improved performance across all three frequency bands.

The GC-WIFI7 is among the first PCIe Wi-Fi 7 cards available, following the recent emergence of M.2 Wi-Fi 7 modules in the market. While the U.S. pricing for the Gigabyte card was not disclosed.