Fenvi AX3000[intel ax210] signal strength decrease when downloading

[RainingTacco]

So when i don't download anything i see one dot and two radial bars in the wifi strength indicator in the bottom right corner in windows OS, when i start to download at full speed it decreases to one dot and one radial bar.

I thought that download/uploading has nothing to do with signal strength, is the device working as intended or is it broken? I've checked if it switches between 2.4 and 5ghz but nope, i checked using "netsh wlan show interface" and it shows that signal drops from 75% to 51% or 43%. It doesn't matter whether it's downloading using p2p/other taxing mechanism or direct download from one host. I never seen anything like this, the heatsink attached over chip isn't hot just lukewarm under load. I've already tried installing older and newest drivers from intel and that doesn't do anything, the device is properly recognized by intel driver support assistant, so it is genuine intel chip. 

[Mike_Intel]

Hello RainingTacco,

Thank you for posting in Intel community Forum.

For me to further check this, please help provide the following details:

1. Can you share a photo of this Fenvi AX300?
2. Was it working fine before?
3. Did you change any settings before ethe issue started?
4. What is the brand and model of your system/motherboard?
5. What are the troubleshooting steps that you tried so far?

If you have questions, please let us know. Thank you.

Best regards,

Michael L.

Intel Customer Support Technician

[RainingTacco]

1. The photos are not mine, i took of radiator but i forgot to make pictures, from what i see the only thing that was different is that it was Made in Vietnam in my case. If it's really necessary i can take it off again, but it's using plastic expansion bolts to keep it secure against the hole, so i would rather not dissasemble it again.

Here are photos of the product[not mine, but the same product]

https://imgur.com/a/c2pZMFs

2. I don't know, it's my first time using such advanced chip with antennas, before that i had simple 2.4GHz Mercusys MW300UH adapter, nothing fancy with wifi 6, mimo, odfma i think. 

3. It's just installed as it is, i tried different drivers, older ones, newer ones and i see signal strength fluctuating. 

4. My motherboard is B450M Mortar Max, my CPU is ryzen 3600.

5. Forcing 5Ghz only, forcing 2.4ghz only, changed computer placement so it went from -68dB signal to -55dB signal strength using Acrylic analyzer, still i see drop from 85% signal to 70% signal when download start, different driver versions, disabling windows power saving and MIMO power saving feature. Tried pcie x1 as opposed to pcie x16 too.

I just want an answer - is it normal or not? If it's expected then im fine with it, as the internet is doing quite ok. For me, it's logical that signal strength should not drop it during download or other calculations the chip is doing, because signal strength is an innate propensity between transmitter and receiver, unless the chip is faulty and during processing there's some current leakage or other throttling into antenna, which should imho not happen. My router is funbox 6/sagemcom from orange, here are the specs:

https://wikidevi.wi-cat.ru/Orange_Funbox_6.0

I do not get any bluescreens, the wifi is not disconnecting, so it's kinda baffling, because it looks generally like it's working ok. just this signal strength drop according to windows netsh command. chatGPT claims that it can happen with rate adaptation/modulation and going from 1024 QAM to 256 QAM.

1. Rate Adaptation / Modulation Changes

Wi-Fi dynamically adjusts its data rate depending on link quality:

• When the connection gets busy or interference kicks in (like during a download), the chip might switch to lower modulation rates (e.g., from 1024-QAM to 256-QAM or lower).

• This can cause tools or OS utilities to show a drop in “signal quality” or “link speed,” even though the physical signal (RSSI) hasn’t changed much.

---

Indeed i don't see drop in RSSI. 

[Mike_Intel]

Hello RainingTacco,

Thank you for the update.

If you want a quick answer, the signal should not drop during download because the signal will always depend on the strength and how far away you are from the router.

However in this case, since it is an OEM card and they may have altered/modify the card, it is best that you contact the OEM manufacturer which is Fenvi. Let me also share the Regulatory document that we have in upgrading the wireless controller.

https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/support/articles/000005687/wireless.html

If you have questions, please let us know. Thank you.

Best regards,

Michael L.

Intel Customer Support Technician

[RainingTacco]

I decided to return the device. 

[Mike_Intel]

Hello RainingTacco,

Thank you for the update.

Since you already return the unit, I need to close this inquiry.

If you need further assistance, please post a new question as this thread will no longer be monitored. 

Thank you and have a great day. 

Best regards,

Michael L.

Intel Customer Support Technician